CYRANO, CHRISTIAN. CYRANO. Embrace me! CHRISTIAN. Sir!.... CYRANO. You are brave. CHRISTIAN. Perhaps. But.... CYRANO. Very brave. I prefer it so. CHRISTIAN. Kindly explain.... CYRANO. Embrace me! I am her brother! CHRISTIAN. Whose brother? CYRANO. Her's! Roxane's! CHRISTIAN (_running up to him_). You! The brother of Roxane? CYRANO. Well, very much the same: a brotherly cousin. CHRISTIAN. And she?.... CYRANO. Told me all! CHRISTIAN. Does she love me? CYRANO. Perhaps! CHRISTIAN (_taking Cyrano's hands_). How happy I feel, Sir, to know you! CYRANO. Rather a sudden sentiment, is it not? CHRISTIAN. Forgive me, but.... CYRANO (_looking well at him, and laying his hand on Christian's shoulder_). It's a fact. A fine-looking fellow, this rascal! CHRISTIAN. I only wish you knew, Sir, how much I admire you. CYRANO. Yes? But what of all those noses that you.... CHRISTIAN. I withdraw them, Sir! CYRANO. Roxane expects a letter to-night. CHRISTIAN. That is the trouble. CYRANO. How so? CHRISTIAN. I am lost if I remain silent!.... CYRANO. Well then?.... CHRISTIAN. But, I am ashamed to own it, I am too stupid to write. CYRANO. Stupid? You are not, friend, since you realise your inability. Moreover, your attack upon me was not that of a dunce. CHRISTIAN. Oh! it is easy enough to find words for a fight! Yes, perhaps I have a sort of easy, military wit; but, facing women, I am struck dumb. Oh! their eyes seem favourable enough as I pass them.... CYRANO. Are not their hearts the same when you stop? CHRISTIAN. No, for I belong to those--and I know it--who tremble, and know not how to speak of love. CYRANO. Strange!.... It seems to me that, if I were better looking, I should belong to the other class: those who know and dare. CHRISTIAN. Oh! that I could with elegance express my feelings! CYRANO.