Yes, I think it is. SISTER MARTHA. He has not come to see her for months! SISTER CLAIRE. The court--the army--the world--keep him away, I suppose. (_Exeunt Sisters. Guiche and Roxane come down in silence, and stop near the tapestry frame. A pause._) _SCENE II._ ROXANE, DUKE DE GRAMMONT (_formerly Count de Guiche_); _later_ LE BRET _and_ RAGUENEAU. DUKE. And so you persist in remaining in this seclusion, uselessly lovely, forever in mourning? ROXANE. Forever! DUKE. Ever true to his memory? ROXANE. Ever! DUKE. You have forgiven me? ROXANE. Yes! Since I am here. (_A pause._) DUKE. And he was truly so?.... ROXANE. You never really knew him! DUKE. Probably!.... And his last letter lies on your heart always? ROXANE. Like a blessèd talisman it hangs on this ribbon. DUKE. You love him even dead? ROXANE. At times it seems as if he'd left me not, As if our hearts still beat as one, as if His love still coiled around me, strong, alive! (_Another pause._) DUKE. Does Cyrano ever come to see you? ROXANE. Yes, often. He is a very dear old friend, and he brings me all the news. He comes regularly, every Saturday. As the hour strikes, while I am at work on my tapestry, I know, without even turning around to see, that he is here, for I can hear his stick on the stone steps. If the weather is fine, he sits under this tree, where his chair awaits him. He laughs at what he calls my eternal work, relates to me the events of the week, and.... (_Le Bret appears on the porch._) Why! here is Le Bret! (_to Le Bret, who has come down_). And how is our friend? LE BRET. Not at all well. DUKE. Oh! I'm sorry. ROXANE (_to Duke_). Le Bret exaggerates! LE BRET. All as I predicted: desertion and poverty!.... His epistles have made him new enemies! He denounces mock nobility, mock piety, mock bravery, plagiarism,--in fact everybody! ROXANE. But the fear of his wonderful sword holds them all in respect. They'll never reach him. DUKE (_shaking his head_). Who knows? LE BRET.