Third Guard. Well, we can't keep this from our wives,no matter how you work it out. You get an extra month'spay, and what happens? Everybody in the battalion knowsit, and your wife knows it too. They might even line upthe battalion and give it to you in front of everybody, sohow could you keep your wife from finding out?

Don't mistake me: I said "shout": I did not say groanwhimper, complain. That, you cannot do. But vou cashout aloud; you can get all those things said that yonever th~u&ht you'd be able to say-or never even knewyou had 1t m you to say. And you don't say these thinbecause it will do any good to say them: you know bettthan that. You say them for their own sake; you say thebecause you learn a lot from them

First Guard. Dirty hands, eh? The least you can do istrv to be polite, Miss. Look at me: I'm polite.'Antigone. Tell them to let me go. I shan't run away.Mv father was King Oedipus. I am Antigone.First Guard. King Oedipus' little girl! Well, well, well!Listen, Miss, the night watch never picks up a lady butthey say, you better be careful: I'm sleeping with thepolice commissioner.

horus. The spring is wound up tight. It will uncoil ofitself. That is what is so convenient in tragedy. The lea~tlittle turn of the wrist will do the job. Anything will set 1taoing

Antigone [shuts him off].You swore you wouldn't askany questions. You swore, Haemon. [Turns her face awayand goes on in a hard voice.] As a matter of fact, I'll tellyou why. I wanted to be your wife last night because Ilove you that way very-very strongly. And also be-cause-- Oh, my darling, my darling, forgive me; I'mgoing to cause you quite a lot of pain.

Antigone. But you love me as a woman-as a woma!1wants to be loved, don't you? Your arms ar_oundme aren tlying are. they? Your hands, so warm a~amst my ?ack-they'~e not lying? This warmth that's m me; this con-fidence, this sense that I am safe, sec~re, that flowsthrough me as I stand here with my cheek m the hollow ofyour shoulder: they are not_lies, are they?

Haemon [soothingly]. Yes, yes, my darlmg.Antigone. And you believe me when I say that youwould have had a real wife?

Nurse [very tenderly]. Where is your pain?Antigone. Nowhere, Nanny dear. But you must keep.me warm and safe, the way you used to do when I was 'li~tle. Nanny! Stronger than all fever, stronger than anymghtmare, stronger than the shadow of the cupboard thatused to snarl at me and turn into a dragon on the bed- •room wall. Stronger than the thousand insects gnawingand nibbling in the silence of the night. Stronger than the •night itself, with the weird hooting of the night birds thatfrightened me even when I couldn't hear them. Nannv,stron~er than death. Give me your hand

our heart out?Antigone. Oh, it's just that I'm a little young still forwhat I ha

Antigone [breathless]. That's good. [They stand for amoment, silent and motionless.] Haemon! I wanted to tell •you. You know-the little boy we were going to havewhen we were married?

Antigone. Please, Haemon. It's very serious. You musthsten to me and do as I ask. First, about last night, when .I came to your house. You asked me a moment ago why .I wore Ismene's dress and rouge. It was because I wasstupid. I wasn't very sun, that you loved me as a woman·and I did it-because I wanted you to want me. I was try:ing to be more like other girls.

First Guard. Do I put the cuffs back on her, sir?Creon. No. [The three GUARDSsalute, do an about-turn, and exeunt through arch, right. PAGEfollows themout. A pause.] Had you told anybody what you meant todo?

Antigone. Yes, it was. With a toy shovel we used totake to the seashore when we were children. It was Polv-nices' own shovel; he had cut his name in the handl~.That was whv I left it with him. But these men took itaway; so the ii.ext time, I had to do it with my hands.

manv may fall by the wayside, there are always those fewleft that go on bringing their young into the world, travelingthe same road with the same obstinate will, unchangedfrom those who went before