Lancéor monologue (Act 3) — Joyzelle

Who am I? In a few hours I have aged thirty years.... The poison is doing its work and sorrow too.... I see myself with terror in this mirror which shows me the wreck of myself.... Yet, it does not lie. (_Going to another mirror._) For here is another that says the same thing ... unless they all lie, even as everything seems to lie and to mock at me in this extraordinary island. (_He feels his face._) Alas, they are right!... These wrinkles which my hand follows are not formed by their malevolent crystal.... They are in my flesh!... And these hideous blemishes which will not come away, I feel them under my fingers.... These bent shoulders refuse to straighten themselves; my hair is colourless, like pale ashes after the flame has died away; my eyes, even my eyes, hardly recognize themselves.... They used to open, to laugh, to welcome life.... Now they blink and their glances avoid me like the glances of a knave.... Not a thing remains to me of what I was; my mother would pass by me and not see me.... It is finished.... (_Drawing the curtain of a tall window._) Let us hide ourselves; let complete dusk cover up all this!... (_He lies down in a dark corner of the room._) I give up, I consent.... I have done what love can never forgive.... I am losing my life at last, as I have lost Joyzelle.... She will not see me again, I shall not see her again....