A communication? From the usurper to your Sovereign, a communication? Is not the very idea an insult? Let these bold men go away unharmed, but tell them to go at once.
[CINNAMON gradually retires with her cup of poison.]
FAITHFUL PRINCE [Descending again from the ramparts and approaching the EMPRESS with an air of mystery.] The one whose bearing is so dignified, I seem to have seen before.
EMPRESS
To have seen him. Where?
FAITHFUL PRINCE
[Coming nearer and lowering his voice] My sovereign, I think——that unknown, who came the day of the investiture——I am sure of it—It is he!
EMPRESS
[Arising bewildered] Why do you whisper?——Prince, you almost insult me with that tone of confidence, when it concerns that man. You mean him who presented himself fraudulently as our Viceroy of the South?
FAITHFUL PRINCE