SCENE 1
Three years elapse.
Scene: The street outside the Acacias.
Time: Evening.
[Ali leans on a pillar-box watching. John shuffles on L. He is miserably dressed, an Englishman down on his luck. A nightingale sings far off.]
JOHN
A nightingale here. Well, I never.
Al Shaldomir, Al Shaldomir, The nightingales that guard thy ways Cease not to give thee, after God And after Paradise, all praise...
The infernal place! I wish I had never seen it! Wonder what set me thinking of that?
[The nightingale sings another bar. JOHN turns to his left and walks down the little path that leads to the door of the Acacias.]