TIME Run quick and fetch them!... We have only six hundred and twelve seconds left.... The galley of the Dawn is already flapping her sails to show that she is waiting.... You will come too late and you won't be born!... Come, quick, on board with you!... (_Laying hold of a_ CHILD _who tries to pass between his legs to reach the quay_.) Oh, no, not you!... This is the third time you've tried to be born before your turn.... Don't let me catch you at it again, or you can wait forever with my sister Eternity; and you know that it's not amusing there!... But come, are we ready?... Is every one at his post?... (_Surveying the_ CHILDREN _standing on the quay or already seated In the galley_.) There is still one missing.... It is no use his hiding, I see him in the crowd.... You can't deceive me!... Come on, you, the little fellow whom they call the Lover, say good-bye to your sweetheart.... (_The two_ CHILDREN _who are called the Lovers, fondly entwined, their faces livid with despair, go up to_ TIME _and kneel at his feet_.) THE FIRST CHILD Mr. Time, let me stay behind with her!... THE SECOND CHILD Mr. Time, let me go with him!... TIME Impossible!... We have only three hundred and ninety-four seconds left.... THE FIRST CHILD I would rather not be born!... TIME You cannot choose.... THE SECOND CHILD (_beseechingly_) Mr. Time, I shall come too late!... THE FIRST CHILD I shall be gone before she comes down!... THE SECOND CHILD I shall never see him again!... THE FIRST CHILD We shall be alone in the world!... TIME All this does not concern me.... Address your entreaties to Life.... I unite and part as I am told....(_Seizing one of the_ CHILDREN.) Come!... THE FIRST CHILD (_struggling_) No, no, no!... She, too!... THE SECOND CHILD (_clinging to the clothes of the_ FIRST) Leave him with me!... Leave him!... TIME Come, come, he is not going to die, but to live!... (_Dragging away the_ FIRST CHILD.) Come along!... THE SECOND CHILD (_stretching her arms out frantically to the_ CHILD _that is being carried off_) A sign!... A sign!... Tell me how to find you!... THE FIRST CHILD I shall always love you!... THE SECOND CHILD I shall be the saddest thing on earth!... You will know me by that!... (_She falls and remains stretched on the ground_.) TIME You would do much better to hope.... And now, that is all.... (_Consulting his hour-glass_.) We have only sixty-three seconds left.... (_Last and violent movements among the_ CHILDREN _departing and remaining. They exchange hurried farewells_.)