stair, and surprises them. Mélisande is entrapped by her hair, which is
caught in the branches of a tree. "What are you doing here?" asks
Golaud. They are confused, and stammer inarticulately. "Mélisande, do
not lean so far out of the window," cautions her husband. "Do you not
know how late it is? It is almost midnight. Do not play so in the
darkness. You are a pair of children!" He laughs nervously. "What
children!"

He and Pelléas go out, and the scene shifts to the vaults in the depths
under the castle,--dank, unwholesome depths, that exhale an odor of
death, where the darkness is "like poisoned slime." Golaud leads his
brother through the vaults, which Pelléas had seen only once, long ago.
"Here is the stagnant water of which I spoke; do you smell the
death-odor?--That is what I wanted you to perceive," insinuates Golaud.
"Let us go to the edge of this overhanging rock, and do you lean over a
little. You will feel it in your face.... Lean over; have no fear; ... I
will hold you ... give me ... no, no, not your hand, it might slip....
Your arm, your arm! Do you see down into the abyss, Pelléas?" "Yes, I
think I can see to the bottom of the abyss," rejoins Pelléas. "Is it the
light that trembles so?" He straightens up, turns, and looks at Golaud.
"Yes, it is the lantern," answers Mélisande's husband, his voice
shaking. "See--I moved it to throw light on the walls." "I stifle
here.... Let us go!" exclaims Pelléas. They leave in silence.

The succeeding scene shows them on a terrace at the exit of the vaults.
Golaud warns Pelléas. "About Mélisande: I overheard what passed and what
was said last night. I realize that it was but child's play; but it must
not be repeated.... She is very delicate, and it is necessary to be more
than usually careful, as she is perhaps with child, and the least
emotion might cause serious results. It is not the first time I have