XVII. THE SHADOWS
We hear the Fate motive when Mélisande warns Pelléas that it is late, that they must take care, as the gates of the castle will soon be closed for the night. There is a gracious variant of this motive as Mélisande tells how she caught her gown on the nails of the gate as she left the castle, and so was delayed. Then comes a reminiscence of the Fountain theme (the authentic wonder of which is that it is not a theme at all, but merely a single chord introduced by a grace-note; yet the vividness of its effect is indisputable), suggested, pp, by horns and harp, at Mélisande's words: "We have been here before." As Pelléas asks her if she knows why he has bidden her to meet him, strings and horn give out, pp et très expressif, a lovely phrase derived from the Pelléas theme (page 242, measure 1). Their mutual
XVIII.
confessions of love, so simply uttered in the text, are entirely unaccompanied by the orchestra; but as Pelléas exclaims: "The ice is melted with glowing fire!" four solo 'cellos, with sustained harmonics in the violins and violas, sound,
pianissimo
, a ravishing series of "ninth-chords" (page 244, measure 6)—a sheer Debussy-esque effect, for the relation between the chords is as absolutely anarchistic as it is deeply beautiful. "Your voice seems to have