f course I'm joking. You know I have a funny disposition.

--How rich! How magnificent!

--How gay!

_[They titter._

--Let's remind him of it!

--How rich! How magnificent!

--Do you remember how the music played at your ball?

--He's going to die soon.

--The dancers circled about, circled about, and the music played so
gently, so beautifully. They played this way.

_[They make a semicircle about Man and hum the tune played by the
musicians at the ball._

--Let's get up a ball. It's so long since I've danced.

--Imagine that this is a palace, a magnificent, an exquisitely
beautiful palace.

--Call the musicians. Why, you can't have a ball without music.

--Musicians!

--You remember?

_[They sing. At that instant the three musicians who played at
the ball come down the stairs. The one with the violin adjusts his
handkerchief on his shoulder with great precision, and all three begin
to play, making an exaggerated effort. But the notes are soft and
gentle as in a dream._

--There you have the ball.

--How rich! How magnificent!

--How brilliant!

--You remember, don't you?

_[Singing softly to the music, they begin to circle about Man,
imitating in a wild, monstrous fashion the movements of the girls in
the white dresses who danced at the ball. At the first musical phrase
they circle, at the second they join and part gracefully and quietly,
whispering_:

--Do you remember?

--You're going to die soon--do you remember?

--Do you remember?

--Do you remember?

--You're going to die soon--do you remember?

--Do you remember?

_[The dance grows brisker, the movements sharper. Strange, whining
notes mingle into the singing of the Old Women. An equally strange
laugh passes around the circle of dancers, suppressed and quiet at
first. As each one glides past Man, she flings an abrupt whisper into
his ear_:

--Do you remember?

--Do you remember?

--How gentle! How exquisite!

--What balm to the soul! Do you remember?

--You're going to die soon, you're going to die soon.

--You're going to die soon--

--Do you remember?

_[They circle more quickly, their movements growing still more abrupt.
Suddenly there is silence and they halt. The musicians grow rigid with
the instruments in their hands. The dancers remain fixed in the
game position in which they were when the silence fell. Man rises,
straightens himself, throws back his gray, beautiful, terribly
majestic head, and calls