WOMAN. Oh! I shan't stay in the company of such swine! (She gets up and moves to another seat.)
STRANGER. I know we've sunk very low; yet I believe the deeper I sink the nearer I'll come to my goal: the end!
WAITRESS. Don't speak so loud, there's a dying man in there!
STRANGER. Yes, I believe you. The whole time there's been a smell of corpses here.
DOCTOR. Perhaps that's us?
STRANGER. Can one be dead, without suspecting it?
DOCTOR. The dead maintain that they don't know the difference.
STRANGER. You terrify me. Is it possible? And all these shadowy figures, whose faces I think I recognise as memories of my youth at school in the swimming bath, the gymnasium.... (He clutches his heart.) Oh! Now he's coming: the Terrible One, who tears the heart out of the breast. The Terrible One, who's been following me for years. He's here!
(He is beside himself. The doors are thrown open; a choir boy comes in carrying a lantern made of blue glass that throws a blue light on the guests; he rings the silver bell. All present begin to howl like wild beasts. The DOMINICAN then enters with the sacrament. The WAITRESS and the WOMAN throw themselves on their knees, the others howl. The DOMINICAN raises the monstrance; all fall on their knees. The choir boy and the DOMINICAN go into the room on the left.)
BEGGAR (entering and going towards the STRANGER). Come away from here. You're ill. And the bailiffs have a summons for you.