SCENE VI
The EMPRESS, then FAITHFUL PRINCE
EMPRESS [Soliloquising]
Such consideration has been shown me that I am terrified, more terrified than at torture and death. Why am I in his palace, instead of in a prison?——What can he, what dares he hope? What does he desire of me?
FAITHFUL PRINCE
[In the dress of the TARTAR GENERAL, running into the room and prostrating himself at the feet of the EMPRESS] Oh! Heaven is merciful to grant me the opportunity once again before my death to prostrate myself at the feet of my adored Empress.
EMPRESS [Calm but bewildered]
You? You here?——Dear Prince——Have we then departed this life? Is this our reunion beyond the grave? If not, whence have you come, how, by what witchcraft have you passed these dreadful walls?
FAITHFUL PRINCE [Still prostrated] Boldness does not count the cost, when there is no longer anything to lose——And, beyond all doubt, the gods were with me—— Yes, I entered as if by witchcraft as you say, I passed the walls and the guarded gates——One of his soldiers acted as my guide——I gave him all the gold I had left. Forgive me, I am weeping, I know not whether for joy or grief. For joy it must be—since my only wish was for this one privilege—to see Your Majesty for the last time, to tell her on my knees of my passionate adoration——which at the gates of death cannot be an offence——and above all to offer her the wondrous gift, which will deliver her from the conqueror's worst outrages. My mission as faithful subject is now concluded by this last service, by the glorious present which I have brought to my Empress.