that seems to hide secrets. He grows agitated and troubled, his anger shows, and he forces Mélisande to her knees, then seizes her hair cruelly, wrenching her head right and left with a violence and roughness that drive King Arkel to intervene, crying: “Golaud!” Golaud draws back, feigning a magnanimity he does not feel. But he departs, saying: “Do as you please — I am old, and I shall wait.” As for poor Mélisande, she speaks for the first time, repeating: “He does not love me... I am wretched!”

Scene Two: The fountain in the garden.

That night Pelléas and Mélisande meet for the last time in the garden, by the fountain. Pelléas tells her that he is compelled to leave her because he loves her, and she murmurs: “I love you too.” That was her first and only confession of love, uttered in a whisper. And the happiness they knew was a brief happiness, for the hour is late and danger presses close; the castle gates are shut, and they sense that Golaud too is in the garden, watching them. He is there, wrapped in darkness, his sword drawn. They embrace without turning toward him. Golaud falls upon his brother Pelléas and deals him a mortal blow. Terror runs through Mélisande's limbs and she turns to flee, and Golaud pursues her in his fury without uttering a word.

Act Five

The Scene: A room in the castle.

Mélisande is on her deathbed, and the physician tells Golaud that the slight wound he inflicted on her is not the cause of her dying. But Golaud refuses all consolation, and drags himself in bitter remorse to her bed, asking

to be left alone with her. He asks her whether she loved Pelléas; she answers yes, and asks where he is. Golaud asks her whether her love was an impure love, and she answers no. But Golaud does not believe her, and torments himself with doubts and suspicions. Mélisande feels cold; she thinks winter is coming, and says how she hates it. King Arkel enters and places her infant child in her arms, but Mélisande is too weak to embrace it. Six women come quietly into the room and kneel beside the bed. Soon the physician perceives that Mélisande has

passed to the other world. Golaud bursts into anguished weeping, and the king takes up the child and carries it out of the room, saying sorrowfully to Golaud: “Now let this child live!”

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