and is rendered
gaily cynical by them; he is both too indolent and too indifferent
to do anything about it. Yet in several lines of the play his actual
unhappiness is seen, --for instance, "Moon's just a word to swear
by," in which he expresses his conviction that all beauty and
romance are fled from the world. At the end of the play the line,
"Yes, and yet I dare say he is just as dead," must not be said
flippantly or cynically, but slowly and with much philosophic
concentration on the thought. From the moment when Columbine cries,
"What's that there under the table?" until Pierrot calls,
"Cothurnus, come drag these bodies out of here!" they both stand
staring at the two bodies, without moving in any way, or even
lifting their eyes. (This same _holding_ of the play is used several
times also by the shepherds,--for instance, always during the
off-stage interpolations, they stand either staring at each other across
the wall, or maintaining whatever other position they may have had
when the off-stage voice begins speaking, until the interruption is
over, when they resume their drama quite as if nobody had spoken.)
Columbine's "How curious to strangle him like that" is spoken
extremely slowly, in a voice of awe, curiosity, and horror. For a
moment the two characters seem almost to feel and be subdued by the
tragedy that has taken place. They remain standing very quietly
while Cothurnus speaks his final lines off stage, and for a moment
after he has said, "The audience will forget"; then very slowly
raise their eyes and exchange glances, Pierrot nods his head curtly
and says, "That's so"; they set their bowls gaily back on the table,
and the play begins again.

Pierrot in such lines as "Ah, Columbine, as if it mattered!" speaks
with mock saccharine tenderness; but in such lines as "If you were a
fly you would be dead by now!" although he speaks very gaily his
malice must be apparent almost even to her; Columbine bores him to
death. When he says, "I'll go and strum the moon!" he is for the
instant genuinely excited and interested; he is for this moment like
a child, and is happy.

COLUMBINE: Pretty and charming, but stupid; she never knows what
Pierrot is talking about, and is so accustomed to him that she no
longer pretends to understand him; but she is very proud of him, and
when he speaks she listens with trustful admiration. Her
expression, "I cannot live without" this or that, is a phrase she
uses in order to make