Pierre. No, mamma will be asking for me. I have to be there for tea. Julia (_pettishly_). I have a headache. I want some black coffee! Pierre. Then make it yourself. The gardener is cleaning the orchid rooms in the hot-house, and he has no time for you now. Julia. He never has time for me!--And the meals that his wife cooks are simply abominable!--And the wine is always warm!--Do, for mercy's sake, steal the key to the icehouse! Pierre. But you know that I can't!--I always bring you all the ice that I can manage to take from the table. If I insist upon having the key, the housekeeper will tell mamma. Julia. But I won't drink warm wine--so there! That's what gives me these headaches. Pierre. Your headaches, I want to tell you, come from the roses. Ugh!--this nasty smell from the withered ones--sour--like stale tobacco smoke--why, it burns the brains out of one's head! Julia. See here, dearie, you let the roses alone! That was our agreement, you know--basketsful, every morning! I wish the gardener would bring even more! That's what he's bribed for.--More! More! Always more! Pierre. See here, if you were only reasonable---- Julia. But I'm not reasonable! O you--you-- (_She holds out her arms to him. He comes to her. They kiss._) More!--More!--No end!--Ah, to die!---- Pierre (_freeing himself_). Oh! Julia. To die! Pierre (_with hidden scorn_). Yes--to die. (_Yawning nervously._) Pardon me!--It's as hot as an oven in here. Julia. And the shutters are always closed! For eight long days I've seen nothing of the sun except these streaks of light. Do open the shutters--just once! Pierre. For Heaven's sake! Julia. Just for a second! Pierre. But don't you realize that the pavilion is locked and that not a soul ever crosses the threshold? Julia. Oh, yes, I know--because your lovely, reckless great-grandmother lost her life here a hundred years ago! That's one of those old-wives' tales that everyone knows.--Who can tell? Perhaps my fate will be the same as hers.--But do open the shutters! Pierre. Do be reasonable! You know that in order to come in here by the side door without being seen I have to crawl through the woods for a hundred yards. The same performance twice a day--for a week! Now, if I should open the shutters and one of the gardener's men should see it, why, he'd come, and then---- Julia.