MANON's beloved childhood friend, CLARISSE, has betrayed MANON and the network of French Resistance fighters. The GESTAPO will now arrest and torture MANON, her comrades, even the airmen. MANON is devastated by the betrayal. CLARISSE must be killed. JEAN offers to do the deed but MANON insists it must be she who does it. Though in great anguish, MANON must kill CLARISSE.
MANON sings "ON MY OWN" I must do this on my own I won't let someone take my place If this is what I'm called to do today
I know I'll have to close my heart Forget the past and look away And say today I did this on my own
There's a time for tenderness A time for trust and innocence A time when love is all that Someone sees
But there are greater things that call And hearts must steel to face them all And say today I did this on my own
And no one else will ever see The tears I'll shed What used to be The fairy tales We children played No thought of fear No place for hate
There will come a day I know When poisoned words no longer rule When hearts can soar and dreamers Show the way
And if that day I do not see I'll face the fate life brings to me And say today I did this on my own