This is the garden which no one visits. The sun does not enter here; the poor wild flowers upon which men wage war because they are not beautiful here await death; and the birds are silent. Here are the violet, which has lost its perfume, the trembling, shrinking buttercup and the scarlet poppy, which sheds its petals without ceasing.... Here are the scabious begging for a little water, the deadly spurge hiding its green blossoms, the blue campanula silently shaking its useless bells.... I know you all, you humble and despised flowers, so good and so ugly!... You could be beautiful; it needs scarce anything: a ray of happiness, a minute's grace, a bolder smile to attract the bee.... But no eye sees you, no hand sows you, no hand gathers you; and I have come among you to be also alone.... How gloomy everything looks!... The grass is neglected and parched, the leaves are sick, the old trees dying; and spring itself and the dew of dawn are afraid lest they should grow sorrowful in this solitude.... [_LANCÉOR appears behind the railed gate._ LANCÉOR. Joyzelle!... JOYZELLE. Lancéor!... LANCÉOR. Joyzelle!... JOYZELLE. Go away!... Go away!... Take care!... It is death if he sees you!... LANCÉOR. He will not see us; he is very far from here. JOYZELLE. Where is he?... LANCÉOR. I saw him go away. I watched his departure from the top of that tower in which I am a prisoner.... He is at the other end of the island, near the blue forest that shuts in the horizon.... JOYZELLE. But he may return; or some one will tell him.... Go away, go away, I say!... Your life is at stake!... LANCÉOR. The palace is deserted; I have gone through the rooms, the gardens and the courts, the long box hedges, the marble staircases.... JOYZELLE. Go away, it is only a trap.... He has a design upon your life; I know it, he said so.... He suspects that I love you.... He is only seeking an excuse for what he would like to do.... Go away!... As it is, you have done too much.... LANCÉOR. No. JOYZELLE. If you do not go away, then I shall go. LANCÉOR. If you go, Joyzelle, I shall remain at this gate until night brings him back to the palace.... He will find me on this forbidden threshold.... I have passed the limits assigned to me; I have therefore disobeyed him and I wish him to see it and I wish him to know it!... JOYZELLE. Lancéor, have pity! I entreat you, Lancéor!... You are risking all our happiness!... Do not think only of yourself!... I will go where you please, if you will leave this gate!... We shall see each other elsewhere, later, another day.... We must choose the time, we must take care, we must make our preparations.... See, I am stretching out my arms to you ... what would you have me do?... What must I promise you?... LANCÉOR. Open the gate. JOYZELLE. No, no, no, I cannot.... LANCÉOR. Open, open, Joyzelle, if you would have me live.... JOYZELLE. Why do you wish me to open?... LANCÉOR.