I
understand . . . I exult! Oh, Hal, I shall never be the same again!
HENRY. Nor I; I look back at myself as I was a week ago, and I can't
believe it
OCEANA. With me it is like a great fountain inside. It surges up, and
I cannot be still! I want to laugh . . . to sing! I have to dance it
out of me! Do you know Anitra's Dance, Hal?
HENRY. Yes, of course.
OCEANA. [Begins to sing the music to herself and playfully to dance.
The enthusiasm of it takes hold of her, and she dances more quickly.]
Play it, Hal! Play!
[HENRY sits at piano and plays Anitra's Dance; she dances
tumultuously, ending in a whirlwind of excitement.] Oh!
[As Henry rises, she flies to him and he clasps her passionately.]
HENRY. Sweetheart!
OCEANA. [Panting.] Oh, Hal, I'm so happy! So happy! [She sobs upon his
shoulder, then looks at him through her tears.] Oh, if I only dared
let myself go!
HENRY. Why not, dearest?
OCEANA. It sweeps me off my feet! And I have to hold myself in.
HENRY. Why? Don't I love you?
OCEANA. Yes, I know. But I'm terrified at myself; I'm losing my self-
control. And I promised father.
HENRY. What?
OCEANA. That I would never do it. "Never feel an emotion," he would
say, "that you could not stop feeling if you wished to."
HENRY. But, sweetheart . . . why so much distrust? Why should we wait,
when everything in us cries out against it?
OCEANA. Don't say that to me now, Hal!
HENRY. But why not?
OCEANA.
Pages:
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74