ROXANE, CHRISTIAN. In the distance cadets are coming and going. CARBON and DE GUICHE give orders.

[She goes up to the CADETS, who respectfully crowd around her.]

ROXANE:

[running up to CHRISTIAN] Ah, Christian! At last!

CHRISTIAN:

[taking her hands] Now, Roxane, tell me why you traveled such perilous roads and dealt with such vulgar soldiers in order to come here.

ROXANE:

Your letters brought me here, my love!

CHRISTIAN:

What do you mean?

ROXANE:

It's your fault that I ran such risks! Your letters intoxicated me so much I lost my reason! So many letters! And each one better than the one before!

CHRISTIAN:

Do you mean to say you came all this way just because of a few simple love letters?

ROXANE:

Yes! You have no idea of the power those letters hold! Ever since that night under my window, when, in a voice all new to me, you bared your soul—ever since then I've adored you! And now, with all the letters of the past month, I hear your tender and true voice so close to me! So it is your fault, I say! It was your voice that drew me here. Penelope never would have stayed home and contented herself with her embroidering if her Ulysses could have written such letters! Instead, she would have cast everything aside and fled to join him, as mad for love as was Helen!

CHRISTIAN:

But—

ROXANE:

I read them over and over. I grew weak with love. I was entirely yours. Each separate page was like a flower petal, plucked from your soul, and sent wafting into mine. Imprinted in each burning word was a love so sincere, so powerful—

CHRISTIAN:

A love sincere! And you really could feel that, Roxane?

ROXANE:

Yes, I felt it!

CHRISTIAN:

And so you have come…

ROXANE:

Oh, Christian, my true love! Yes, I have come to you! If I were to throw myself down on my knees, I know you would lift me up. Therefore, I lay my soul down at your feet, and it cannot be raised. I've come to beg your forgiveness. And it seems a good time to ask for forgiveness, now that death is so near. I ask you to forgive me for the insult I did to you when I first loved you only for your handsome face!

CHRISTIAN:

[horror-stricken] Roxane!

ROXANE:

And later, when I grew less frivolous, I began to love you not just for your beauty, but for also for your soul. I loved you for both of these things at once!

CHRISTIAN:

And now?

ROXANE:

Ah! And now, your true self has triumphed over your appearance! I now love you only for your soul!

CHRISTIAN:

[stepping backward] Oh, Roxane!

ROXANE:

But be happy. It must be torture for any noble soul to be loved only for beauty. For beauty is a poor disguise that is soon worn threadbare by time. Your dear thoughts have outshined the handsome face that won me in the beginning. And now I see clearer. Now I no longer see your beauty at all!

CHRISTIAN:

Oh!

ROXANE:

Do you still doubt your victory?

CHRISTIAN:

[pained] Oh, Roxane!

ROXANE:

I know. You cannot believe in such a love yet.

CHRISTIAN:

I don't ask for such a love as that! All I want is for you to love me more simply!

ROXANE:

Like so many other women have loved you? For shame! Let me show you a better kind of love!

CHRISTIAN:

No! The first one was better!

ROXANE:

Oh, how wrong you are! The way I love you now is the best kind of love! I love you for your true self. If you were less handsome—

CHRISTIAN:

Hush!

ROXANE:

I would love you still! Yes, even if you became ugly—

CHRISTIAN:

No! Don't say it!

ROXANE:

Yes, I will say it!

CHRISTIAN:

Even if I were ugly?

ROXANE:

Yes, even so, I swear I'd love you still!

CHRISTIAN:

My God!

ROXANE:

Are you content at last?

CHRISTIAN:

[in a choked voice] Yes.

ROXANE:

What's wrong?

CHRISTIAN:

[gently pushing her away] Nothing. I just need to have a word with someone. Just one moment.

ROXANE:

But…

CHRISTIAN:

[pointing to the CADETS] Those poor fellows are being deprived of you while you're here with me. Go on and speak to them and smile at them before they die.

ROXANE:

[deeply moved] Dear Christian!