SCENE I
THE EMPRESS, the FAITHFUL PRINCE, ARROW-BEARER, the LADIES-IN-WAITING, CHINESE SOLDIERS.
[Wounded men are lying in their own blood here and there among the ruins. The EMPRESS is in the middle of the stage, accoutred like a warrior, helmeted, holding a weapon in her bleeding hand. The FAITHFUL PRINCE is on the top of the rampart with the SOLDIERS. ARROW-BEARER, mortally wounded, lies in the foreground to the left.]
FAITHFUL PRINCE [From the height of the ramparts giving orders to cease fire] Enough, my brave friends!——Stop shooting down the fugitives——Let us keep our powder for the final attack.
[The soldiers cease firing.]
They have fled, once again we are saved!——
EMPRESS
Ah! Saved, yes!——Saved for a few minutes at least. We have time to meditate before death. [She sits on a stone. To the LADIES-IN-WAITING who flock about her.] Look now to those who are suffering. I need nothing, only my hand is bleeding, that does not matter——See what they need, go to their aid; you have the poison in the tiny flasks, have you not?
LADIES-IN-WAITING