_The noise outside the windows subsides. Suddenly it is heard again: Sarah had notified them that they must wait._ DAVID. Mercy! Mercy! ANATHEMA. _In a commanding tone._ David be a man in the face of the great fear. Did you not call them here? Did you not call loudly, in a voice of love, to the silence and the darkness where unspeakable horror dwells? And now they have come to you--North and South, East and West, and like four oceans of tears they have stretched themselves at your feet. Rise, David! DAVID. What shall I do, Nullius? ANATHEMA. Tell them the truth. DAVID. What shall I do, Nullius? Shall I perhaps take a rope and, hanging it upon a tree, strangle myself like the one who had once betrayed? Am I, perhaps, a traitor, having called them and not given anything to them, and loving them in order to destroy them? Oh, how my heart is aching!... Oh, how my heart is aching, Nullius! Oh, I feel as cold as the ground that is covered with ice, and within it there is heat and white flame. Oh, Nullius, have you seen the white flame on which the moon turns dark and the sun burns like yellow straw? _He tosses about._ Hide me, Nullius. Is there not a dark room, where the light does not penetrate? are there not strong walls through which I would not hear these voices? Whither are they calling me? I am a sick old man, I cannot endure and suffer so long--I myself had small children, and did they not die? What were their names, Nullius? I have forgotten. Who is it they call David, the man who has brought joy to mankind? ANATHEMA. That was your name, David Leizer. You are deceived, Leizer. You are deceived even as I am deceived! DAVID. _With entreaty._ Protect me, Nullius. Go out to them and tell them aloud, so they all can hear: "David Leizer is a sick old man, and he has nothing left." They will listen to you, Nullius,--you have such a respectful appearance,--and they will return to their homes. ANATHEMA. Yes, yes, David. You see the truth already, and you will soon proclaim it to the people. Ha, ha! Who said that David Leizer could perform miracles? DAVID. _Folding his arms._ Yes, yes, Nullius. ANATHEMA. Who dares demand miracles of Leizer? Is he not a sick old man,--mortal like all the rest? DAVID. Yes, yes, Nullius,--a man. ANATHEMA. Did not love deceive Leizer? It said to him: "I shall do everything,"--and it raised only dust on the road like the blind wind from behind a corner, which bursts in noisily and lies down quietly, which blinds the eyes and stirs up the dust. Let us go, then, to Him who gave love to David, and ask Him: "Wherefore did you deceive our brother David?" DAVID. Yes, yes, Nullius! Of what good is love to man if it is powerless? Of what good is life if there is no immortality? ANATHEMA. _Rapidly._