Scene—A drawing-room in Don Julian's house. At the back of stage a large door, and beyond a passage separating it from the dining-room door, which remains closed throughout the act. On the left a balcony, and beyond it a door. On the right two doors. On the stage a table, an arm-chair, handsome and luxurious mounting. Hour, towards sunset.
SCENE I
Teodora and Don Julian. Teodora near the balcony; Don Julian seated on the sofa, lost in thought.
Teodora. What a lovely sunset! what clouds and light, and what a sky! Suppose it were true, as the poets say, and our fathers believed, that our fate is stamped upon the azure heaven! Were the mysterious secret of human destiny traced by the stars upon the sapphire sphere, and this splendid evening should hold the cipher of ours, what happiness it must disclose! what a smiling future! What a life in our life, and what radiance in our heaven! Is it not so, Julian? [She approaches Don Julian.] Ah, plunged in thought, I see! Come and look out. What, no word for me?
D. Julian. [Absently.] What is it?
Teodora. [Coming near.] You have not been listening to me!
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