sp it.

JULIAN

Felix...!

FELIX

Since I learned of this, you have become a stranger to me. (_He turns
away_)

CURTAIN

THE FOURTH ACT

_The garden belonging to Mr. von Sala's house. At the left is seen the
white, one-storied building, fronted by a broad terrace, from which six
stone steps lead down into the garden. A wide door with panes of glass
leads from the terrace into the drawing-room. A small pool appears in
the foreground, surrounded by a semi-circle of young trees. From that
spot an avenue of trees runs diagonally across the stage toward the
right. At the opening of the avenue, near the pool, stand two columns
on which are placed the marble busts of two Roman emperors. A
semi-circular stone seat with back support stands under the trees to
the right of the pool. Farther back glimpses of the glittering fence
are caught through the scanty leafage. Back of the fence, the woods on
a gently rising hillside are turning red. The autumnal sky is pale
blue. Everything is quiet. The stage remains empty for a few moments._

_Sala and Johanna enter by way of the terrace. She is in black. He has
on a gray suit and carries a dark overcoat across his shoulders. They
descend the steps slowly._

SALA

I think you'll find it rather cool. (_He goes back into the room, picks
up a cape lying there, and puts it around Johanna's shoulders; little
by little they reach the garden_)

JOHANNA

Do you know what I imagine?... That this day is our own--that it
belongs to us alone. We have summoned it, and if we wanted, we could
make it stay.... All other people live only as guests in the world
to-day. Isn't that so?... The reason is, I suppose, that once I heard
you speak of this day.

SALA

Of this...?

JOHANNA

Yes--while mother was still living.... And now it has really come. The
leaves are red. The golden mist is lying over the woods. The sky is
pale and remote--and the day is even more beautiful, and sadder, than I
could ever have imagined. And I am spending it in your garden, and your
pool is my mirror. (_She stands looking down into the pool_) And yet we
can no more make it stay, this golden day, than the water here can hold
my image after I have gone away.

SALA

It seems strange that this clear, mild air should be tinged with a
suggestion of winter and snow.

JOHANNA

Why should it trouble you? When that suggestion has become reality
here, you are already in the midst of another Spring.