Where is he and what have you done with him?...
Merlin.
He is wherever I am; and, if your eyes mislead you....
Joyzelle.
Do you not know that I carry him here, in these eyes which see you and compare what he is with what you are?... Have you not seen what he is in my heart, that you should copy him thus?... You, beside him; you, in his clothes and under his aspect: ah, it is as though death pretended to be life!... But there might be twenty thousand of you resembling him and he alone be changed from what he was yesterday; and I would sweep away the twenty thousand phantoms, to go to the only man who is not a dream among the other dreams!... Oh, do not try to hide in the shadow.... You retreat too late; I have discovered you and I know who you are... I know your spells; and how I should laugh at them, did I not fear that, by your witchcraft, when usurping that dear and unrecognizable shape, you have caused him to suffer!... What have you done to him?... Where is he?... I will know.... You shall not go without answering.... (Seizing Merlin's hand.) I am alone, I am weak.... But I insist, I insist.... I will know, I will know!...
Merlin.
I love you too much, Joyzelle, to do him any harm, so long as you love him.... He has therefore nothing to fear.... Do you not fear me either. I am not here to take advantage of the darkness and surprise your heart. I had another object.... Listen to me, Joyzelle; it is no longer the rival or the unhappy lover that speaks to you; it is a prudent and anxious father.... Before he came who conquered you, as never man in this world conquered woman, I had, I confess, caught a glimpse of a happiness which it is idle to pursue in the decline of years.... To-day I retire, sadly, but in good faith.... I know how much you love the poor unconscious being whom malevolent chance has placed upon your road.... And do not mistake me: I am speaking of him now without hatred or envy, but not without dismay, when I think of the heart-rending days which he is preparing for you.... That is why I insist on enlightening you as regards him, at the risk of displeasing you.... I have no other care than to make you turn away from an unhappy love in which nothing but tears and disillusion awaits you.... I have no hope for myself.... I do not ask you to love me in his stead.... You have shown me fully that that is impossible.... I desire only that you will cease to love him: that is all that I implore of the kindness of fate; and fate to-night hears my prayer....
Joyzelle.
How?...