Mélisande, weeping. "He hates me--and I am so wretched! so wretched!"

"If I were God," ruminates the aged king, "how infinitely I should pity
the hearts of men!"

The scene changes once more to the fountain in the park. Yniold is
discovered seeking to move a great rock behind which his golden ball has
rolled. Night is coming on. The distant bleating of sheep is heard.
Yniold looks over the edge of the terrace and sees the flock crowding
along the road. Suddenly they cease their crying. Yniold calls to the
shepherd. "Why do they not speak any more?" "Because," answers the
shepherd, who is concealed from sight, "it is no longer the road to the
fold." "Where are they going to sleep to-night?" cries the child. There
is no answer, and he departs, exclaiming that he must find somebody to
speak to.[5] Pelléas enters, to keep his tryst with Mélisande. "It is
the last time," he meditates. "It must all be ended. I have been playing
like a child with what I did not understand. I have played, dreaming
about the snares of fate. By what have I been suddenly awakened? Who has
aroused me all at once? I shall depart, crying out for joy and woe like
a blind man fleeing from his burning house. I shall tell her I am going.
My father is out of danger; and I can no longer lie to myself.--It is
late; she is not coming.

[5] Although this scene was set to music by Debussy, and appears in both
the orchestral and piano scores, it is omitted from the performances at
the Opéra-Comique.

--It would be better to go away without seeing her again.--But I must
look well at her this time.--There are some things that I no longer
recall.--It seems at times as though I had not seen her for a hundred