SOBEIDE (more agitated). I, the master? WIFE. Why yes, dost thou not seek him? SOBEIDE. Him?--Yes, yes, Then--I'll--go--there. [Her glance roves anxiously, suddenly is fixed upon an invisible object at the left rear.] The tower, is it locked? WIFE. The tower? SOBEIDE. Yes, the steps to mount it. WIFE. No, The tower's never locked, by day or night. Dost thou not know? SOBEIDE. Oh yes. WIFE. Wilt thou go up it? SOBEIDE (smiling painfully). No, no, not now. Perhaps another time. (Smiling with a friendly gesture.) Go, then. Go, go. (Alone.) The tower, the tower! And quick. He comes from there. Soon 'tis too late. [She looks searchingly about her, walks slowly at first to the left, then runs through the shrubbery. The old slave, who has watched her attentively, slowly follows her.] GARDENER (through with his work). Come here and help me, wife. WIFE. Yes, right away. [They take up the barrow and carry it along toward the right.] MERCHANT (enters from the right.) I loved her so! Ah, how this life of ours Resembles dreams illusory. Today I might have had her, here and always, I! Possession is the whole: slow-growing power That sifts down through the soul's unseen and hidden Interstices, feeds thus the wondrous lamp Within the spirit, and soon from such eyes There bursts a mightier, sweeter gleam than moonlight. Oh, I have loved her so! I fain would see her, See her once more. My eye sees naught but death: The flowers wilt before my eyes like candles, When they begin to run: all, all is dying, And all dies to no purpose, for she is Not here-- [The old camel-driver comes running from the left across the stage to the gardener and shows him something that seems to be happening rather high in the air to the left; the gardener calls his wife's attention to it, and all look.] MERCHANT (becomes aware of this, follows the direction of their glances, grows deathly pale). God, God! Give answer! There, there, there! The woman on the tower, bending forward, Why does she so bend forward? Look, look there! [WIFE shrieks and covers her face.]