_Plaintively._ Tell me, will Anathema ever learn the truth? GUARDIAN. No. ANATHEMA. Tell me, will Anathema ever see the gates open? Shall I ever see your face? GUARDIAN. No. Never. My face is open, but you see it not. My speech is loud, but you hear it not. My commands are clear, but you know them not, Anathema. And you will never see, and you will never hear, and you will never know, Anathema, unfortunate spirit, deathless in numbers, ever alive in measure and in weight, but as yet unborn to life. _Anathema leaps to his feet._ ANATHEMA. You lie,--silent dog, you who have robbed the world of the truth, you who have barred the entrances with iron! Farewell; I like a fair game, and I pay when I lose. And if you will not pay, I shall cry before the whole universe: "Help! I have been robbed!" _He bursts into laughter. Whistling, he retreats a few steps, and turns around. He speaks unconcernedly._ ANATHEMA. I have nothing to do, so I roam about the world. Do you know where I am going now? I shall go to the grave of David Leizer. Like a grieving widow, like the son of a father who had been murdered from behind the corner by a traitor's blow,--I shall sit down on David Leizer's grave and shall weep so bitterly, and cry so loudly, and call so terribly, that not one honest soul will remain that would not curse the murderer. Insane from grief, I shall point to the right and to the left.... Was not this the one who killed him? Did not that one assist in the bloody crime? Did not that one betray? I shall cry so bitterly, I shall accuse so sternly, that all on earth will become murderers and hangmen, in the name of Leizer, in the name of David Leizer, in the name of David, who brought joy to mankind! And when from the heap of corpses, of filthy, foulsmelling, and disgusting corpses I shall announce to the people that you are the one who killed David and the people,--they will believe me. _Bursts into laughter._ For you have such a bad reputation--of a liar, a deceiver, a murderer. Good-by. _He goes off laughing. His laughter resounds once more from the depths. And then everything relapses into silence._ CURTAIN.