ideboard on the left. On the right, two windows. At the
back, two doors; that on the left is open and gives a view of the
drawing-room, belonging to the lady of the house, which is furnished in
light green and mahogany, and has a standard lamp of brass with a large,
lemon-coloured lampshade, which is lit. The door on the right is closed.
On the left behind the sideboard the entrance from the hall.]

[From the left the STRANGER enters, dressed as a bridegroom; and the
LADY, dressed as a bride; both radiant with youth and beauty.]

STRANGER. Welcome to my house, beloved; to your home and mine, my bride;
to your dwelling-place, my wife!

LADY. I'm grateful, dear friend! It's like a fairy tale!

STRANGER. Yes, it is. A whole book of fairy tales, my dear, written by
me.

(They sit down on either side of the table.)

LADY. Is this real? It seems too lovely to me.

STRANGER. I've never seen you look so young, so beautiful.

LADY. It's your own eyes....

STRANGER. Yes, my own eyes that have learnt to see. And your goodness
taught them....

LADY. Which itself was taught by sorrow.

STRANGER. Ingeborg!

LADY. It's the first time you've called me by that name.

STRANGER. The first? I've never met Ingeborg; I've never known you,
as you are, sitting here in our home! Home! An enchanting word. An
enchanting thing I've never yet possessed. A home and a wife! You are
my first, my only one; for what once happened exists no longer--no more
than the hour that's past!

LADY. Orpheus! Your song has made these dead stones live. Make life sing
in me!

STRANGER. Eurydice, whom I rescued from the underworld! I'll love you to
life again; revivify you with my imagination. Now happiness will come to
us, for we know the dangers to avoid.

LADY. The dangers, yes! It's lovely in this house. It seems as if these
rooms were full of invisible guests, who've come to welcome us. Kind
spirits, who'll bless us and our home.

STRANGER. The candle flames are still, as if in prayer. The flowers are
pensive.... And yet!

LADY. Hush! The summer night's outside, warm and dark. And stars hang
in the sky; large and tearful in the fir trees, like Christmas candles.
This is happiness. Hold it fast!

STRANGER (still thinking). And yet!

LADY. Hush!

STRANGER (getting up). A poem's coming: I can hear it. It's for you.

LADY. Don't tell it me. I can see it--in your eyes.

STRANGER. For I read it in yours! Well, I couldn't repeat it, because