_The same_, WINGED PRINCE _returns hurriedly._
WINGED PRINCE [_To_ FAITHFUL PRINCE.]
A courier has just arrived and brings strange news.
EMPRESS
What is it now?
WINGED PRINCE
The Viceroy of the South sends to explain to your Majesty
that the reason that he was unable to reach the palace for
the ceremony to which he was invited was because he was
taken prisoner at the moment when he was about to enter
Nanking.
EMPRESS
But the Viceroy came here!
WINGED PRINCE
That was not the real Viceroy.
EMPRESS
Not the real Viceroy?
WINGED PRINCE
He was imprisoned on a ship, but no harm came to him, and
he was treated with every consideration-----His letter
explains how he escaped.
FAITHFUL PRINCE
Treated with every consideration! What does that imply? The
spies of the Tsings are less generous.
WINGED PRINCE
The Viceroy sent this courier in all haste; he awaits
orders to come and prostrate himself at the foot of the
throne and sue for pardon.
EMPRESS
Then that man who was here?----Oh, in what frightful web
are we now caught?----And I was about to entrust my son to
that unknown man!-----I ordered him to remain here. Run,
perhaps he has not yet gone.
ARROW-BEARER [_Returning_]
The pavilion is empty. This silk scroll was placed so as to
attract immediate attention.
EMPRESS [_excitedly_]
Give it to me!----[ARROW-BEARER _gives the scroll to_
FAITHFUL PRINCE, _who gives it to the_ EMPRESS. _Aside._]
In my dream----The serpent that coiled about me----Ah!
It was he! [_She steps aside to read._] Verses!----In my
trouble, I shall scarce be able to read them. And then the
meaning seems so mysterious. [_To_ THE OFFICERS _standing
nearest to her._] Let twenty horsemen be sent out at once
in all directions, pursue him. Let the neighbouring towns
be searched as well. A hundred thousand taels to him who
brings that man back to me. Go!----[_To_ FAITHFUL PRINCE
_handing him the silken scroll._] Read it to me Faithful
Prince.
FAITHFUL PRINCE [_reading_]
Beneath my mask I kept a secret watch on you.
You saw my face, but not my features true;
You heard my words, but not my secret heart.
The day will come when I shall throw away the mask,
Play your good angel's part,
And all shall bow beneath the conquering dragon's task.
The traitor is a fine scholar, but he does not unmask his
identity.
WINGED PRINCE [_To_ THE CHILD]
Your Majesty must no longer keep about your neck like a
relic a present given you by an impostor.
THE CHILD [_Excitedly_]
But I will keep it. I thought of my dead father when I saw
that man, and when he told me that he would like to have me
for a son, he was keeping back his tears.
EMPRESS
The instinct of children does not mislead them-----nor
can I believe, either, that the unknown visitor meant us
harm----Let us wait awhile before we begin to hate him.
[_She stretches out her hand and takes the poem
which she places next to her heart._]