JUDGE. [Frightened] Who are you?
GHOST. I am not—I have been. I have been that unrighteous judge who is now come here to receive his sentence.
JUDGE. What have you done then, poor man?
GHOST. Everything wrong that an unrighteous judge might do. Pray for me, you whose conscience is clear——
JUDGE. Am I—to pray for you?
GHOST. Yes, you who have caused no innocent blood to be shed——
JUDGE. That's true; that's something I haven't done. And besides, as I have always obeyed the letter of the law, I have good reason to let myself be called a righteous judge—yes, without irony!
GHOST. It would, indeed, be a bad moment for joking, as the Invisible Ones are sitting in judgment——
JUDGE. What do you mean? Who are sitting in judgment?
GHOST. [Pointing to the table] You don't see them, but I do. [The bell rings; a chair is pushed back from the table] Pray for me!