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Page 21
LADY. I hear nothing.
STRANGER. Am I ... am I. ...
LADY. Shall we go home?
STRANGER. The last place. The worst of all! To arrive like an
adventurer, a beggar. Impossible!
LADY. Yes, I know, but. ... No, it would be too much. To bring
shame, disgrace and sorrow to the old people, and to see you
humiliated, and you me! We could never respect one another again.
STRANGER. It would be worse than death. Yet I feel it's inevitable,
and I begin to long for it, to get it over quickly, if it must be.
LADY (taking out her work). But I don't want to be reviled in your
presence. We must find another way. If only we were married--and
divorce would be easy, because my former marriage isn't recognised
by the laws of the country in which it was contracted. ... All we
need do is to go away and be married by the same priest ... but
that would be wounding for you!
STRANGER. It would match the rest! For this honeymoon's becoming a
pilgrimage!
LADY. You're right! The landlord will be here in five minutes to
turn us out. There's only one way to end such humiliations. Of our
own free will we must accept the worst. ... I can hear footsteps!
STRANGER. I've foreseen this and am ready. Ready for everything. If
I can't overcome the unseen, I can show you how much I can endure. ...
You must pawn your jewellery. I can buy it back when my publisher
gets home, if he's not drowned bathing or killed in a railway
accident. A man as ambitious as I must be ready to sacrifice his
honour first of all.
LADY. As we're agreed, wouldn't it be better to give up this room?
Oh, God! He's coming now.
STRANGER. Let's go. We'll run the gauntlet of waiters, maids and
servants. Red with shame and pale with indignation. Animals have
their lairs to hide in, but we are forced to flaunt our shame.
(Pause.) Let down your veil.
LADY. So this is freedom!
STRANGER. And I ... am the liberator. (Exeunt.)
SCENE IV
BY THE SEA
[A hut on a cliff by the sea. Outside it a table with chairs. The
STRANGER and the LADY are dressed in less sombre clothing and look
younger than in the previous scene. The LADY is doing crochet work.]
STRANGER. Three peaceful happy days at my wife's side, and anxiety
returns!
LADY. What do you fear?
STRANGER. That this will not last long.
LADY. Why do you think so?
STRANGER. I don't know. I believe it must end suddenly, terribly.
There's something deceptive even the sunshine and the stillness. I
feel that happiness if not part of my destiny.
LADY. But it's all over! My parents are resigned to what we've
done. My husband understands and has written a kind letter.
STRANGER. What does that matter? Fate spins the web; once more I
hear the mallet fall and the chairs being pushed back from the
table--judgment has been pronounced. Yet that must have happened
before I was born, because even in childhood I began to serve my
sentence. There's no moment in my life on which can look back with
happiness.
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