She! Only she!——
FOUNT
But, as she loved you once——
EMPEROR
And to-day must she not hate me? How much blood has been spilt by traitors despite my command! How has my decree of pardon been intercepted or changed to a death warrant!——The hate, the implacable hate of our two peoples ever triumphs.
FOUNT
But how many lives you have saved!——And she must too know that.
EMPEROR [as he goes out]
Oh, that hour whose memory still enchants my heart! That hour there, in the garden of her palace, in the midst of that crowd where we were so alone, when she gazed upon me, when our souls were united in one supreme rapture——But now at the thought of seeing her again, I tremble like a guilty man.
[Exit the EMPEROR, with his councillor, through a side door. Two eunuchs and two women attendants conduct the EMPRESS to the foot of the throne, and after having prostrated themselves retire, leaving her alone. She is in white robes of mourning, her hands are tied by a silken cord.]