He asked me, too, but to me it was not laughable. The ear of him who waits is keen,--even the stones seem to sing to him. WANDERER. Only the footsteps of the blind are short, but their thoughts are long. _He steps aside and, watches David. It is near sunset and the earth is in the embrace of shadows. Abraham Khessin bids David farewell and goes away. The shopkeepers prepare to close their shops. Silence and peace._ ANATHEMA. _Breathing with difficulty._ At last. We have worked quite hard, David--the trumpet alone (_closes his ears_)--what is that worth? (_Candidly_) My misfortune is that my ear is keen, unbearably sharp, almost--yes, almost like that of a dog. If I hear-- DAVID. I am very tired, Nullius, and I want to rest. I do not feel like seeing any more people to-day, and you will not be offended, my old friend-- ANATHEMA. I understand. I will only escort you to your palace. DAVID. Yes, yes, to my palace. According to my contract, I am king for six months more. Come, Sarah,--with you alone I want to pass the remainder of this great day in peace and joy. SARAH. You are not an ordinary man, David. How did you guess my desire? _They go away towards the pillars. David pauses, looks back, and says, leaning upon Sarah's shoulder:_ DAVID. Look, Sarah; this is the place where our life has passed--how sad and poor it is, Sarah, and it breathes of the homelessness of the desert. But was not it here, Sarah, that I learned the great truth concerning the fate of man? I was poor, alone, and near death, a foolish old man, seeking an answer from the waves. But now people have come--Am I alone now? Am I poor and near death? Listen to me, Nullius; there is no death for man. What death is there? What is death? Who was the mournful one that invented this strange word--Death?--Perhaps it does exist, I do not know--but I, Nullius--I am immortal. _As though struck, he lends down, but lifts his arms upward._ Oh, how terrible it is: I am immortal! Where is the end of the sky? I have lost it. I am immortal! Oh, the breast of man aches from immortality, and his joy bums him like a fire. Where is the end of man?--I am immortal. Adenoi! Adenoi! Blessed be the mysterious name of Him who has given immortality to man, forever and aye. ANATHEMA. _Hastily._ The name! The name! Do you know the name? You have deceived me. DAVID. _Not listening to him._ I give the spirit of man over to the boundless space of Time. May it five immortally, in the immortality of fire. May it live immortally in the immortality of light, which is life. And may darkness stop before the dwelling of immortal light. I am happy, I am immortal--O my God! ANATHEMA. _Ecstatically._