GERVASE.  No, you couldn’t, could you?

MELISANDE (gravely).  No. (Then their eyes meet.  There is a twinkle in his; hers respond; and suddenly they are laughing together.) What nonsense you talk!

GERVASE.  Well, it’s such an absurdly fine morning, isn’t it?  There’s a sort of sparkle in the air.  I’m really trying to be quite sensible.

MELISANDE (making room for him at her feet).  Go on talking nonsense.  (He sits down on the ground and leans against the log at her side.) Tell me about yourself.  You have told me nothing yet, but that (she smiles at him) your father is a woodcutter.

GERVASE.  Yes.  He—­er—­cuts wood.

MELISANDE.  And you resolved to go out into the world and seek your fortune?

GERVASE.  Yes.  You see if you are a third son of a humble woodcutter, nobody thinks very much of you at home, and they never take you out with them; and when you are cutting wood, they always put you where the sawdust gets into your mouth.  Because, you see, they have never read history, and so they don’t know that the third and youngest son is always the nicest of the family.

MELISANDE.  And the tallest and the bravest and the most handsome.

GERVASE. And all the other things you mention.

MELISANDE.  So you ran away?

GERVASE.  So I ran away—­to seek my fortune.

MELISANDE.  But your uncle the wizard, or your godmother or somebody, gave you a magic ring to take with you on your travels? (Nodding) They always do, you know.

GERVASE (showing the ring on his finger).  Yes, my fairy godmother gave me a magic ring.  Here it is.

MELISANDE (looking at it).  What does it do?

GERVASE.  You turn it round once and think very hard of anybody you want, and suddenly the person you are thinking of appears before you.

MELISANDE.  How wonderful!  Have you tried it yet?

GERVASE.  Once. . . .  That’s why you are here.

MELISANDE.  Oh! (Softly) Have you been thinking of me?

GERVASE.  All night.

MELISANDE.  I dreamed of you all night.

GERVASE (happily).  Did you, Melisande?  How dear of you to dream of me! 
(Anxiously) Was I—­was I all right?

MELISANDE.  Oh, yes!

GERVASE (pleased).  Ah! (He spreads himself a little and removes a speck of dust from his sleeve)

MELISANDE (thinking of it still).  You were so brave.

GERVASE.  Yes, I expect I’m pretty brave in other people’s dreams—­I’m so cowardly in my own.  Did I kill anybody?

MELISANDE.  You were engaged in a terrible fight with a dragon when I woke up.

GERVASE.  Leaving me and the dragon still asleep—­I mean, still fighting?  Oh, Melisande, how could you leave us until you knew who had won?

MELISANDE.  I tried so hard to get back to you.

GERVASE.  I expect I was winning, you know.  I wish you could have got back for the finish. . . .  Melisande, let me come into your dreams again to-night.