class="smcap">Merlin.

And if he love Joyzelle and she do not love him with the love which fate demands?...

Arielle.

Then we shall have to intervene more openly.

Merlin.

How?

Arielle.

I will try to learn.

Merlin.

Arielle, I conjure you, as this concerns the dearest being, much dearer than myself; as I have only one son and he can become what we well know that I could never be: is it not possible to make an unexampled, an almost desperate effort with regard to the future; to violate time; to snatch from the years, even were they to revenge themselves upon us two, the secret which they conceal so strictly and which contains much more than our own life and our own happiness?...

Arielle.

No, strive as I may, I can reach no further.... The future is a world limited by ourselves, in which we discover only that which concerns us and sometimes, by chance, that which interests those whom we love the most.... I see very clearly all that unfolds itself round Lancéor, until his road meets Joyzelle's road. But around Joyzelle the years are veiled. It is an effulgent veil, a veil of light, but it hides the days as profoundly as a veil of darkness.... It interrupts life. Then, beyond the veil, I again find happiness and death awaiting him, like two equal, indifferent, inscrutable hosts; and I cannot tell which is the nearer, the more imperious.... It is not possible for me to know if Joyzelle is the predestined one.... Everything promises that it is she, but nothing confirms it.... Her face is stretched towards the coming years ... and, call to her as I may, with all my might, she does not answer, does not turn her head. Nothing can distract her; and I have never seen her features, which I can only imagine.... One sign alone is certain: it is that of the very sharp and cruel proofs which she will have to overcome.... By these proofs alone we shall know her....

Merlin.

And, therefore, starting from this point which I can surmount, we must submit to unknown powers, question facts like other men, await their reply and try to conquer them if they threaten harm to those whom we love....

Arielle.

But here they come, in the breaking dawn.... Let us hasten away, they are coming near.... Let us leave to their destiny, which is beginning its work, the solitude and the silence which it demands.

[Exeunt Merlin and Arielle. A few moments after, while the daylight swiftly increases, Joyzelle and Lancéor enter from opposite sides and meet.

Joyzelle.

(Stopping, astonished, before Lancéor.) What are you seeking?

Lancéor.

I do not know where I am.... I was seeking a shelter.... Who are you?

Joyzelle.

My name is Joyzelle.

Lancéor.

Joyzelle.... I am saying the name.... It is as caressing as a wing, the breath of a flower, a whisper of gladness, a ray of light.... It describes you completely, it sings in the heart, it lights the lips....

Joyzelle.

And you, who are you?

Lancéor.

I no longer myself know who I am.... A few days ago, my name was Lancéor; I knew where I was and I knew myself.... To-day, I seek myself, I grope within myself and all around me and I wander in the mist, amid mirages....

Joyzelle.

What mist? What mirages?... How long have you been on this island?

Lancéor.

Since yesterday....

Joyzelle.

Strange, they did not tell me....

Lancéor.

No one saw me.... I was wandering on the shore, I was in despair....

Joyzelle.

Oh! Why?...

Lancéor.

I was very far from here, I was very far from him, when a letter told me that my old father was dying.... I took ship at once. We were long at sea; then, in the first port at which the ship put in, I learnt that it was too late, that my father was no more.... I continued my voyage, at least to be on the scene of his last thoughts and carry out his last wishes....

Joyzelle.

Why are you here?

Lancéor.

Why? I do not know, nor do I know how.... The sea was very still and the sky was clear.... We saw only the water slumbering in the azure.... Suddenly, without warning, the waves were invaded by thick blue mists.... They rose like a veil, which clung to our hands, to the rigging, to our faces.... Then the wind blew, our anchor broke loose and the blind ship, driven by a current that made her timbers creak, arrived towards evening in the unknown harbour of this unexpected island.... Sad and disheartened, I landed on the beach; I fell asleep in a cave overlooking the sea; and, when I awoke, the fog had lifted and I saw the ship disappear like a radiant wing on the horizon of the waves.

Joyzelle.

What had happened?

Lancéor.

I do not know.... I would have tried to follow her, but I could find no boat in the harbour.... I must wait, therefore, until another vessel passes....

Joyzelle.

That is curious.... It is like myself....

Lancéor.

Like you?...

Joyzelle.

Yes, I too came to the island through a thick fog.... But I was shipwrecked....

Lancéor.

When was that? And how?... Where do you come from, Joyzelle?...

Joyzelle.

I was coming from another island....

Lancéor.

Where were you going?

Joyzelle.

Where some one was awaiting me....

Lancéor.

Who?

Joyzelle.

One whom they had thought right to choose for me....

Lancéor.

Were you betrothed?...

Joyzelle.

Yes.

Lancéor.

Do you love him?...

Joyzelle.

No.

Lancéor.

But then?...