l be complete. (Listening.) There!

LADY. I hear nothing.

STRANGER. Am I... am I....

LADY. Shall we go home?

STRANGER. The last place. The worst of all! To arrive like an
adventurer, a beggar. Impossible!

LADY. Yes, I know, but.... No, it would be too much. To bring shame,
disgrace and sorrow to the old people, and to see you humiliated, and
you me! We could never respect one another again.

STRANGER. It would be worse than death. Yet I feel it's inevitable, and
I begin to long for it, to get it over quickly, if it must be.

LADY (taking out her work). But I don't want to be reviled in your
presence. We must find another way. If only we were married--and divorce
would be easy, because my former marriage isn't recognised by the laws
of the country in which it was contracted.... All we need do is to go
away and be married by the same priest... but that would be wounding for
you!

STRANGER. It would match the rest! For this honeymoon's becoming a
pilgrimage!

LADY. You're right! The landlord will be here in five minutes to turn us
out. There's only one way to end such humiliations. Of our own free will
we must accept the worst.... I can hear footsteps!

STRANGER. I've foreseen this and am ready. Ready for everything. If I
can't overcome the unseen, I can show you how much I can endure.... You
must pawn your jewellery. I can buy it back when my publisher gets home,
if he's not drowned bathing or killed in a railway accident. A man as
ambitious as I must be ready to sacrifice his honour first of all.

LADY. As we're agreed, wouldn't it be better to give up this room? Oh,
God! He's coming now.

STRANGER. Let's go. We'll run the gauntlet of waiters, maids and
servants. Red with shame and pale with indignation. Animals have their
lairs to hide in, but we are forced to flaunt our shame. (Pause.) Let
down your veil.

LADY. So this is freedom!

STRANGER. And I... am the liberator. (Exeunt.)

SCENE IV

BY THE SEA

[A hut on a cliff by the sea. Outside it a table with chairs. The
STRANGER and the LADY are dressed in less sombre clothing and look
younger than in the previous scene. The LADY is doing crochet work.]

STRANGER. Three peaceful happy days at my wife's side, and anxiety
returns!

LADY. What do you fear?

STRANGER. That this will not last long.

LADY. Why do you think so?

STRANGER. I don't know. I believe it must end suddenly, terribly.
There's something deceptive even the sunshine and