CYRANO DE BERGERAC
283
I mind me the way you touch your cheek
With your finger, softly, as you speak!
Ah me! I know that gesture well!
My heart cries out!—I cry "Farewell!"'
Roxane.
But how you read that letter! One would think…
Cyrano
[continuing to read].
'My life, my love, my jewel, my sweet,
My heart has been yours in every beat!'
[The shades of evening fall imperceptibly.]
Roxane.
You read in such a voice—so strange—and yet—
It is not the first time I hear that voice!
[She comes nearer very softly, without his perceiving it, passes behind his chair, and, noiselessly leaning over him looks at the letter. The darkness deepens.]
Cyrano.
'Here, dying, and there, in the land on high,
I am he who loved, who loves you,—I…'
Roxane
[putting her hand on his shoulder].
How can you read? It is too dark to see!
[He starts, turns, sees her close to him. Suddenly alarmed, he holds his head down. Then in the dusk, which has now completely enfolded
