Note 20 — SCENE VI.

Note.—In this tirade, and in the following one, you, thou and she are intentionally interwoven. When Cyrano is carried by his emotion, he passes from you to thou, which latter is, in French, familiar and endearing much more than in English. Then, reclaimed by reason and fearing that he has overstepped the bounds, he returns to the (in French) more formal you, or resorts to a discreet she, only to forget himself again and to resume the caressing thou.