EMPRESS
But if I command them!——Am I no longer their Empress?
FAITHFUL PRINCE
Submissive to your every command, they refuse to obey that one order.
EMPRESS [To her SOLDIERS]
Can it be true——My friends, this instant I command it, do you hear me?——Oh, spare me this excess of anguish, my dear rebels!——You cannot wish that I should be transported into the other world along the stream of your blood——
[The SOLDIERS drop their heads and stand motionless, holding their weapons.]
CAPTAIN OF SOLDIERS. [After a silence] Majesty, the Prince has already answered for all of us! We emphatically refuse to ask for a truce.
EMPRESS [Turning towards the EMPEROR in a sudden exultation of triumph.] Ah, you see I am like your TARTAR EMPEROR; I am not obeyed. Go tell him, report to your master——and at the same time you may tell him that we know how to die nobly in the palace of the Mings. Go, my lord, you may take your leave.
EMPEROR [Imploring more insistently]