I already told you, before we came in here, that Joyzelle can change the future which she faces.... She possesses a force which I have seen in none save her; that is why I do not know whether the great victory which your love expects will not be mingled with some little shadow and tears....
What do you mean?... You seem perturbed.... What are you hiding from me?... How can you believe that Joyzelle would ever be the cause of a tear or the cause of a shadow?... There is nothing in Joyzelle, not even the suffering which she might inflict, there is nothing in her but brings health, happiness and love!... Ah, how well I see that you know little of the living triumph, the endless dawn contained in her voice, her eyes, her heart!... One must have held her in his arms to know what treasures of hope, what torrents of certainty issue from the least word murmured by her lips, from the slightest smile that plays upon her face.... But I am too long delaying the impatient victory. Go, father, go.... I will remain here, I will wait, I will watch the happy moments pass, until my Joyzelle utters a great cry of joy which shall tell me that love has determined destiny....
[_MERLIN embraces LANCÉOR and exit slowly._
SCENE II.--_The same room as in Act IV. The moon lights it with its blue radiance._
[_On the right, MERLIN is seated on the great marble bed. ARIELLE is kneeling at the head of the bed, on the steps of the dais that supports it._
Arielle, the hour is striking and Joyzelle is approaching.... I have made the sacrifice of my useless life; and yet I would that my death, if possible, should not come to sadden the most ardent and innocent love that the world has known.... But you tremble, you weep, you hide from me your eyes swollen with tears.... What do you see, my child, that you contemplate with so great a dread?...
Master, I beseech you, abandon this proof: there is yet time!... My eyes cannot see through the mist that surrounds it.... It may be mortal, I see it, I feel it; and chance has placed our two lives in the hand of a blind and infatuated virgin.... I do not want to die!... There are other outlets.... I have always served you as your very thought.... But to-day I am afraid, I can follow you no longer.... You well know that my death is the echo of yours.... Abandon this: we will look elsewhere, in the future; and we can still escape the danger....