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Context
Captain Alfred Dreyus, a Jewish French military captain, has been falsely accused of treason. He has been given the punishment of a life sentence, which is to be served on Devil’s Island, a remote, isolated island. In this scene, Dreyfus and his wife, Lucy, are given one last time to see each other before his official sentencing. They are reunited in his prison cell and given only a few moments to say their goodbyes. To create a two-person scene, we have omitted a line from a soldier, who tells
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LUCY: What shall I say, beloved?
DREYFUS: No words can express the anguish of our parting.
LUCY: Ah, Alfred, who could have foreseen this bitter end?
DREYFUS: If there is justice anywhere, this will not be the end. A year hence, or ten years - or sometime after my death the truth will be proclaimed.
LUCY: At any rate, our happiness is behind us. They will take you far away, to that desolate place, and we shall be as dead to one another.
DREYFUS: (Speaks with great effort) One thing, Lucy, troubles me more than all else - more than disgrace and torture, more than the prospect of Devil’s Island. Lucy, do you believe in me?
LUCY: Alfred, Alfred, need you ask me? My heart, my mind, my soul are yours. I shall live only for your vindication; wait only for your return.
DREYFUS: Then we are not dead to one another. I shall be there to love you and my children. You here will carry on the struggle for my release and vindication. With this hope shall survive until the day of our reunion.
LUCY: (Unctuously) My Alfred, you are so strong and so brave. I have not your courage. I dread even Paris, which will be a Devil’s Island for me without you. (Seeing a soldier enter) They have come for you. (Moans) So soon!
DREYFUS: (Embraces her, sobs) Farewell, beloved.
LUCY: Farewell? Not au revoir? Then you, too, feel that we shall not meet again?
DREYFUS: I only hope and trust. Now, dear, promise you will not stay to witness my degradation. I could not bear that.
LUCY: It means seeing your dear face a little longer. How can you ask me to go away now? I should be deserting you.
(He pleads with a gesture)
LUCY: Very well, I shall go. Au revoir, au revoir!
Citation: Jacob Gordin, Captain Dreyfus, Public Domain, 1898 pp. 10-12.
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