Oh, what joy! What exquisite joy. For ten thousand years I have had no prettier mistress!
KARL, turning to him
What do you say?
DEVIL, sitting L. head of couch
Mistress, I said. Come tonight—to her house—when the lights are burning—when the air seems to be filled with music and perfume. You'll see—before day dawns.
KARL
Enough! Enough!
DEVIL
How you will run after your lost sovereign! Every hour when you wonder where she is, she spends with me. A carriage passes: your heart stands still. Who's in that carriage? Shall I tell you? We! You see a couple vanish around a corner, clinging lovingly to one another. Who were they? We! Always we. A light goes out in some window. Who put that light out? We! We sit in every carriage, we vanish around every corner—clinging lovingly together; we stand behind every window curtain in close embrace, looking into your tortured face, your maddened eyes—and we cling closer—closer—and we laugh—-we laugh!
[Laughs long.