Go, Betty! Tell her, I shall be with her in a moment, BETTY. No, she wishes to come to you herself. MELLEFONT. Well, tell her, then, that I am awaiting her---- (_Exit_ Betty.) Scene V. Mellefont, Norton. NORTON. O God, the poor young lady! MELLEFONT. Whose feelings is this exclamation of yours meant to rouse? See, the first tear which I have shed since my childhood is running down my cheek. A bad preparation for receiving one who seeks comfort. But why does she seek it from me? Yet where else shall she seek it? I must collect myself (_drying his eyes_). Where is the old firmness with which I could see a beautiful eye in tears? Where is the gift of dissimulation gone by which I could be and could say whatsoever I wished? She will come now and weep tears that brook no resistance. Confused and ashamed I shall stand before her; like a convicted criminal I shall stand before her. Counsel me, what shall I do? What shall I say? NORTON. You shall do what she asks of you! MELLEFONT. I shall then perpetrate a fresh act of cruelty against her. She is wrong to blame me for delaying a ceremony which cannot be performed in this country without the greatest injury to us. NORTON. Well, leave it, then. Why do we delay? Why do you let one day after the other pass, and one week after the other? Just give me the order, and you will be safe on board to-morrow! Perhaps her grief will not follow her over the ocean; she may leave part of it behind, and in another land may---- MELLEFONT. I hope that myself. Silence! She is coming! How my heart throbs! Scene VI. Sara, Mellefont, Norton. MELLEFONT (_advancing towards her_). You have had a restless night, dearest Sara. SARA. Alas, Mellefont, if it were nothing but a restless night. MELLEFONT (_to his servant_). Leave us! NORTON (_aside, in going_). I would not stay if I was paid in gold for every moment. Scene VII. Sara, Mellefont. MELLEFONT. You are faint, dearest Sara! You must sit down! SARA (_sits down_). I trouble you very early! Will you forgive me that with the morning I again begin my complaints? MELLEFONT. Dearest Sara, you mean to say that you cannot forgive me, because another morning has dawned, and I have not yet put an end to your complaints? SARA.