Sometimes when one believes all lost, fortune changes.
PEARL
Beloved sovereign, hasten not the irretrievable.
EMPRESS
The irretrievable would be to wait too long!
[She makes an imperious sign to CINNAMON, who pours the poison into the cup. But an uproar is heard from the summit of the rampart to which the FAITHFUL PRINCE has just mounted again above the barricaded gate. Night continues to fall]
What is it now?
FAITHFUL PRINCE
A small body of Tartars has boldly come unarmed to the very foot of the walls. One of them, whose manner is calm and noble, says that he has been sent by the Emperor with a last communication to your Majesty. He showed us, under the light of a torch which we lit, the Imperial seal of the Tsings, of a scroll of yellow silk.
EMPRESS