THIRD BLIND MAN.
He ought to have warned us.
SECOND BLIND MAN.
Oh! how old he was! . . . It is the first time I ever touched his face . . .
THIRD BLIND MAN (feeling the corpse).
He is taller than we are!
SECOND BLIND MAN.
His eyes are wide open; he died with clasped hands . . .
FIRST BLIND MAN.
He died, so, for no reason . . .
SECOND BLIND MAN.
He is not standing, he is sitting on a stone . . .
THE OLDEST BLIND WOMAN.
O God! O God! I did not know all . . . all! . . . He had been ill so long . . . He must have suffered to-day! Oh! oh! oh! – He never complained! . . . He only complained in pressing our hands . . . One does not always understand . . . One never understands! . . . Let us pray around him. Kneel down . . .
[The women kneel, moaning.]
FIRST BLIND MAN.
I dare not kneel down . . .
SECOND BLIND MAN.
One does not know what one is kneeling on here . . .
THIRD BLIND MAN.
Was he ill? . . . He never told us . . .
SECOND BLIND MAN.
I heard him whisper something as he went . . . I think he was speaking to our young sister; what did he say?
FIRST BLIND MAN.
She will not answer.
SECOND BLIND MAN.
You will not answer us any more? – But where are you then? – Speak!
THE OLDEST BLIND WOMAN. 26
You made him suffer too much; you have killed him . . . You would go no further; you wanted to sit down on the stones by the roadside to eat; you grumbled all day . . . I heard him sigh . . . He lost courage . . .
FIRST BLIND MAN.
Was he ill? did you know it?
THE OLDEST BLIND MAN.
We knew nothing . . . We had never seen him . . . When have we ever known of anything that passed before our poor dead eyes? . . . He never complained . . . Now it is too late . . . I have seen three die . . . but never so . . . Now it is our turn . . .
FIRST BLIND MAN.
It is not I that made him suffer. – I never said anything . . .
SECOND BLIND MAN.
Nor I; we followed him without a word . . .
THIRD BLIND MAN.
He died going to fetch water for the mad woman . . .
FIRST BLIND MAN.
What are we to do now? Where shall we go?
THIRD BLIND MAN.
Where is the dog?
FIRST BLIND MAN.
Here; he will not leave the dead.
THIRD BLIND MAN.
Drag him away! Drive him off! drive him off!
FIRST BLIND MAN.
He will not leave the dead!
SECOND BLIND MAN.
We cannot wait beside a dead man! . . . We cannot die thus in the dark!
THIRD BLIND MAN.
Let us keep together; let us not move away from one another; let us hold hands; let us all sit down on this stone . . . Where are the others? Come here! come! come!
THE OLDEST BLIND MAN.
Where are you?
THIRD BLIND MAN.
Here; I am here. Are we all together? – Come nearer to me. Where are your hands? – It is very cold. 27
THE YOUNG BLIND WOMAN.
Oh! how cold your hands are!
THIRD BLIND MAN.
What are you doing?
THE YOUNG BLIND WOMAN.
I was putting my hands to my eyes. I thought I was going to see all at once . . .
FIRST BLIND MAN.
Who is that crying?
THE OLDEST BLIND WOMAN.
It is the mad woman sobbing.
FIRST BLIND MAN.
Yet she does not know the truth?
THE OLDEST BLIND MAN.
I think we shall die here . . .
THE OLDEST BLIND WOMAN.
Some one will come perhaps . . .
THE OLDEST BLIND MAN.
Who else would be likely to come? . . .
THE OLDEST BLIND WOMAN.
I don’t know.
FIRST BLIND MAN.
I think the nuns will come out of the asylum . . .
THE OLDEST BLIND WOMAN.
There never go out of an evening.
THE YOUNG BLIND WOMAN.
They never go out at all.
SECOND BLIND MAN.
I think that the men from the big lighthouse will see us . . .
THE OLDEST BLIND MAN.
They never come down from their tower.
THIRD BLIND MAN.
They might see us . . . 28
THE OLDEST BLIND WOMAN.
They are always looking toward the sea.
THIRD BLIND MAN.
It is cold!
THE OLDEST BLIND MAN.
Listen to the dead leaves; I think it is freezing.
THE YOUNG BLIND WOMAN.
Oh! how hard the earth is!
THIRD BLIND MAN.
I hear to my left a noise that I cannot make out . . .
THE OLDEST BLIND MAN.
It is the sea moaning against the rocks.
THIRD BLIND MAN.
I thought it was the women.
THE OLDEST BLIND WOMAN.
I hear the ice breaking under the waves . . .
FIRST BLIND MAN.
Who is it that is shivering so? he is making us all shake on the stone!
SECOND BLIND MAN.
I can no longer open my hands.
THE OLDEST BLIND MAN.
I hear another noise that I cannot make out . . .
FIRST BLIND MAN.
Which of us is it that is shivering so? He is shaking the stone!
THE OLDEST BLIND MAN.
I think it is a woman.
THE OLDEST BLIND WOMAN.
I think the mad woman is shivering most.
THIRD BLIND MAN.
I cannot hear her child.
THE OLDEST BLIND WOMAN.
I think he is still sucking.
THE OLDEST BLIND MAN.
He is the only one that can see where we are! 29
FIRST BLIND MAN.
I hear the north wind.
SIXTH BLIND MAN.
I think there are no more stars; it is going to snow.
SECOND BLIND MAN.
Then we are lost!
THIRD BLIND MAN.
If one of us falls asleep he must be waked.
THE OLDEST BLIND MAN.
I am sleepy though.
[A squall makes the dead leaves whirl.]
THE YOUNG BLIND WOMAN.
Do you hear the dead leaves? I think some one is coming towards us!
SECOND BLIND MAN.
It is the wind; listen!
THIRD BLIND MAN.
No one will come now!
THE OLDEST BLIND MAN.
The great cold is coming . . .
THE YOUNG BLIND WOMAN.
I hear some one walking in the distance!
FIRST BLIND MAN.
I only hear the dead leaves!
THE YOUNG BLIND WOMAN.
I hear some one walking very far from us!
SECOND BLIND MAN.
I only hear the north wind.
THE YOUNG BLIND WOMAN.
I tell you that some one is coming towards us!
THE OLDEST BLIND WOMAN.
I hear a sound of very slow footsteps . . .
THE OLDEST BLIND MAN.
I think the women are right. 30
[It begins to snow in great flakes.]
FIRST BLIND MAN.
Oh! oh! what is falling so cold on my hands?
SIXTH BLIND MAN.
It is snowing!
FIRST BLIND MAN.
Let us draw up close to one another!
THE YOUNG BLIND WOMAN.
But listen to the sound of the footsteps!
THE OLDEST BLIND WOMAN.
For God’s sake! be still an instant!
THE YOUNG BLIND WOMAN.
They are drawing nearer! they are drawing nearer! listen then!
[Here the mad woman’s child begins to wail suddenly in the dark.]
THE OLDEST BLIND MAN.
The child is crying!
THE YOUNG BLIND WOMAN.
It sees! it sees! It must see something as it is crying! [She seizes the child in her arms and moves forward in the direction whence the sound of footsteps seems to come; the other women follow her anxiously and surround her.] I am going to meet it!
THE OLDEST BLIND MAN.
Take care!
THE YOUNG BLIND WOMAN.
Oh! how he is crying! – What is it? – Don’t cry. – Don’t be afraid; there is nothing to be afraid of; we are here all about you. – What do you see? – Fear nothing! – Don’t cry so! – What is it that you see? – Tell us, what is it that you see?
THE OLDEST BLIND WOMAN.
The sound of footsteps is drawing nearer; listen! listen!
THE OLDEST BLIND MAN.
I hear the rustling of a dress among the dead leaves.
SIXTH BLIND MAN.
Is it a woman?
THE OLDEST BLIND MAN. 31
Is it the sound of footsteps?
FIRST BLIND MAN.
It is perhaps the sea on the dead leaves?
THE YOUNG BLIND WOMAN.
No, no! they are footsteps! they are footsteps! they are footsteps!
THE OLDEST BLIND WOMAN.
We shall soon know; listen to the dead leaves.
THE YOUNG BLIND WOMAN.
I hear them, I hear them, almost beside us! listen! listen! – What is it that you see? What is it that you see?
THE OLDEST BLIND WOMAN.
Which way is he looking?
THE YOUNG BLIND WOMAN.
He always follows the sound of the footsteps! – Look! Look! When I turn him away he turns back to look . . . He sees! he sees! he sees! – He must see something strange! . . .
THE OLDEST BLIND WOMAN. [coming forward].
Lift him above us, that he may see.
THE YOUNG BLIND WOMAN.
Step aside! step aside! [She lifts the child above the group of sightless.] The footsteps have stopped right among us! . . .
THE OLDEST BLIND MAN.
They are here! They are here in our midst!
THE YOUNG BLIND WOMAN.
Who are you?
[Silence.]
THE OLDEST BLIND WOMAN.
Have pity on us!
[Silence. The child cries more desperately.]
THE END.