HE OLD SERVANT.

Yes, yes; once ill-fortune is in the house, one keeps silence in
vain....

THIRD SERVANT.

Yes; it finds you all the same....

THE OLD SERVANT.

Yes, yes; but we do not go where we would....

FOURTH SERVANT.

Yes, yes; we do not do what we would....

FIRST SERVANT.

They are afraid of us now....

SECOND SERVANT.

They all keep silence....

THIRD SERVANT.

They cast down their eyes in the corridors.

FOURTH SERVANT.

They do not speak any more except in a low voice.

FIFTH SERVANT.

You would think they had all done it together.

SIXTH SERVANT.

One doesn't know what they have done....

SEVENTH SERVANT.

What is to be done when the masters are afraid?... [_A silence_.

FIRST SERVANT.

I no longer hear the children screaming.

SECOND SERVANT.

They are sitting down before the ventilator.

THIRD SERVANT.

They are huddled against each other.

THE OLD SERVANT.

I no longer hear anything in the house....

FIRST SERVANT.

You no longer even hear the children breathe....

THE OLD SERVANT.

Come, come; it is time to go up....
[_Exeunt in silence._

SCENE II.--_An apartment in the castle._

ARKEL, GOLAUD, _and the_ PHYSICIAN _discovered in one corner of the
room._ MELISANDE _is stretched upon her bed._

THE PHYSICIAN.

It cannot be of that little wound she is dying; a bird would not have
died of it.... It is not you, then, who have killed her, good my lord;
do not be so disconsolate.... She could not have lived.... She was
born without reason ... to die; and she dies without reason.... And
then, it is not sure we shall not save her....

ARKEL.

No, no; it seems to me we keep too silent, in spite of ourselves, in
her room.... It is not a good sign.... Look how she sleeps ... slowly,
slowly;... it is as if her soul was cold forever....

GOLAUD.

I have killed her without cause! I have killed her without cause!...
Is it not enough to make the stones weep?... They had kissed like
little children.... They had simply kissed.... They were brother and
sister.... And I, and I at once!... I did it in spite of myself, look
you.... I did it in spite of myself....

THE PHYSICIAN.

Stop; I think she is waking....

MELISANDE.

Open the window;... open the window....

ARKEL

Shall I open this one, Melisande?

MELISANDE.

No, no; the great window ... the great window.... It is to see.