Horace Holley.
New York City.
HER HAPPINESS
Darkness. A door opens swiftly. Light from outside shows a woman entering. She is covered by a large cape, but the gleam of hair and brow indicates beauty. She closes the door behind her. Darkness.
THE WOMAN
Paul! Paul! Are you here, Paul?
A VOICE
Yes, Elizabeth, I am here.
THE WOMAN
Oh thank God! You are here! I felt so strange—I thought ... Oh, I cannot tell you what I have been thinking! Turn on the light, Paul.
THE VOICE
You are troubled, dear. Let the darkness stay a moment. It will calm you. Sit down, Elizabeth.
THE WOMAN
Yes.... I am so faint! I had to come, Paul! I had to see you, to know that you were.... I know I promised not to, but I was going mad! Just to touch you, to hold you ... but it’s all right now.
THE VOICE
It is all right now, Elizabeth.
THE WOMAN
I thought I could stand it, dear, I thought I could stand it. It wasn’t myself—I swear to you it wasn’t—nor him. I, I can stand all that, now. It was something else, something that came over me all at once. I saw—Oh Paul! the thing I saw! But it’s all right now....
THE VOICE
It is all right, Elizabeth, because ours is love, love that is made of light, and not merely blind desire.
THE WOMAN
Ours is love. We are love!
THE VOICE
So that even if we are separated—even if you cannot come to me yet, we shall not lose conviction nor joy.
THE WOMAN
Yes, Paul. I will not make it harder for you. I know it is hard, and that it was for my sake you could bring yourself to bind me not to see you again.
THE VOICE
Love is, world without end. That is all we need to know.
THE WOMAN
World without end, amen.
THE VOICE
And because I knew the power and truth of love in you I put this separation upon us.
THE WOMAN
For my sake. I know it now, Paul! And trust me! You can trust me, Paul! Not time, nor distance, nor trouble nor change shall move me from the heights of love where I dwell.