OUR ETERNITY ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Illustration: _Hope._ _After the painting by G. F. WATTS._] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ OUR ETERNITY BY MAURICE MAETERLINCK TRANSLATED BY ALEXANDER TEIXEIRA DE MATTOS METHUEN & CO. LTD. 36 ESSEX STREET W.C. LONDON ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER I OUR INJUSTICE TO DEATH 1 It has been well said: “Death and death alone is what we must consult about life; and not some vague future or survival, where we shall not be. It is our own end; and everything happens in the interval between death and now. Do not talk to me of those imaginary prolongations which wield over us the childish spell of number; do not talk to me—to me who am to die outright—of societies and peoples! There is no reality, there is no true duration, save that between the cradle and the grave. The rest is mere bombast, show, delusion! They call me a master because of some magic in my speech and thoughts; but I am a frightened child in the presence of death!”[1] ----- Footnote 1: Marie Lenéru, _Les Affranchis_, Act III., Sc. iv. ----- 2