I want to see you closer, I want to touch your hands which I have not yet touched, to look at you once more as I looked at you on the first day.... Open, or I am determined to be undone; I shall not go away.... JOYZELLE. Will you go away then?... LANCÉOR. I promise you, Joyzelle.... As soon as you open the gate, before a swallow, before a thought has time to hasten from wherever it may be to surprise my hand as it touches yours.... I beseech you, Joyzelle: this is too cruel.... I am standing at this gate like a blind beggar.... I can see only your shadow moving among the leaves.... These bars are hateful and hide your face.... One look alone, Joyzelle, in which I shall see you wholly; and then I will go like a robber flying with a great treasure dragging noisily behind him.... No one will know and we shall be happy.... JOYZELLE. Lancéor, this is terrible!... I never tremble, but I am trembling to-day.... Perhaps it means your life; and it already means mine.... What is that light which rises so quickly?... It has come to threaten us, it is going to betray us!... LANCÉOR. No, no, it is the sun rising behind the wall.... It is the innocent sun, the good May sun, which has come to delight us.... Open, then, open quickly: each minute that passes adds its dangers to the dangers which you fear.... A single movement, Joyzelle; a turn of your hand; and you really open the gates of life to me! (_JOYZELLE turns the key; the gate opens; LANCÉOR crosses the threshold._) LANCÉOR. (_Taking JOYZELLE in his arms._) Joyzelle!... JOYZELLE. I am here!... LANCÉOR. I hold your hands and your eyes, your hair and your lips, in the same kiss and at the same moment, all the gifts of love which I have never had and all its presence!... My arms are so surprised that they cannot carry them; and my whole life cannot contain them.... Do not turn away your face, do not draw back your lips!... JOYZELLE. It is not to escape you, but to be closer to you.... LANCÉOR. Do not turn your head; do not deprive me of a shadow of your lashes, a gleam of your eyes: it is not the hours, but the very minutes that threaten our happiness.... JOYZELLE. I was seeking your smile.... LANCÉOR. And your own meets mine in the first kiss that passes between our lips to unite our destinies.... It seems to me to-day as though I had always seen you and always clasped you and as though I were repeating, in reality, on the threshold of paradise, what I did on earth when embracing your shadow.... JOYZELLE. I used to embrace you at night when I embraced my dreams.... LANCÉOR. I knew no doubt.... JOYZELLE. I knew no fear.... LANCÉOR. And everything is granted me.... JOYZELLE. And everything makes me happy!... LANCÉOR. How deep your eyes are and how full of confidence!... JOYZELLE. And how clear are yours and full of certainty!... LANCÉOR. How well I recognize them!... JOYZELLE. And how well I know yours!... LANCÉOR.