BERTHA.
[Closes her eyes and kisses him quickly.] There. [Puts her hands on his shoulders.] Why don’t you say: thanks?

ROBERT.
[Sighs.] My life is finished—over.

BERTHA.
O, don’t speak like that now, Robert.

ROBERT.
Over, over. I want to end it and have done with it.

BERTHA.
[Concerned but lightly.] You silly fellow!

ROBERT.
[Presses her to him.] To end it all—death. To fall from a great high cliff, down, right down into the sea.

BERTHA.
Please, Robert...

ROBERT.
Listening to music and in the arms of the woman I love—the sea, music and death.

BERTHA.
[Looks at him for a moment.] The woman you love?

ROBERT.
[Hurriedly.] I want to speak to you, Bertha—alone—not here. Will you come?