HENRY IV. (_very quickly to the doctor_). Yes, doctor, a long time! I think it must have been about twelve years. (_Then suddenly turning to speak to Belcredi_): Thus I saw nothing, my dear fellow, of all that, after that day of carnival, happened for you but not for me: how things changed, how my friends deceived me, how my place was taken by another, and all the rest of it! And suppose my place had been taken in the heart of the woman I loved?... And how should I know who was dead or who had disappeared?... All this, you know, wasn't exactly a jest for me, as it seems to you.... BELCREDI. No, no! I don't mean that if you please. I mean after.... HENRY IV. Ah, yes? After? One day (_stops and addresses the doctor_)--A most interesting case, doctor! Study me well! Study me carefully (_trembles while speaking_)! All by itself, who knows how, one day the trouble here (_touches his forehead_) mended. Little by little, I open my eyes, and at first I don't know whether I am asleep or awake. Then I know I am awake. I touch this thing and that; I see clearly again.... Ah!--then, as _he_ says (_alludes to Belcredi_) away, away with this masquerade, this incubus! Let's open the windows, breathe life once again! Away! Away! Let's run out! (_Suddenly pulling himself up_). But where? And to do what? To show myself to all, secretly, as Henry IV., not like this, but arm in arm with you, among my dear friends? BELCREDI. What are you saying? DONNA MATILDA. Who could think it? It's not to be imagined. It was an accident. HENRY IV. They all said I was mad before. (_To Belcredi_): And you know it! You were more ferocious than any one against those who tried to defend me. BELCREDI. Oh, that was only a joke! HENRY IV. Look at my hair! (_Shows him the hair on the nape of his neck_). BELCREDI. But mine is grey too! HENRY IV. Yes, with this difference: that mine went grey here, as Henry IV., do you understand? And I never knew it! I perceived it all of a sudden, one day, when I opened my eyes; and I was terrified because I understood at once that not only had my hair gone grey, but that I was all grey, inside; that everything had fallen to pieces, that everything was finished; and I was going to arrive, hungry as a wolf, at a banquet which had already been cleared away.... BELCREDI. Yes, but, what about the others?... HENRY IV. (_quickly_). Ah, yes, I know! They couldn't wait until I was cured, not even those, who, behind my back, pricked my saddled horse till it bled.... DI NOLLI (_agitated_). What, what? HENRY IV. Yes, treacherously, to make it rear and cause me to fall. DONNA MATILDA (_quickly, in horror_). This is the first time I knew that.