FAITHFUL PRINCE [Bowing]
How kind of you to trouble about so trifling a matter! My health is good, thank you. I dare to hope that yours, infinitely more precious, is also excellent to the joy of us all.
WINGED PRINCE [Bowing again]
You see me overwhelmed by a solicitude of which I am unworthy. Thank you, I am very well. Without excessive pain I am reaching the allotted span—a poor thing, it is true—of my days.
FAITHFUL PRINCE
Did you succeed in seeing the representative of our enemies, the Viceroy of Nanking?
WINGED PRINCE
I saw him and I dictated a report, which he agreed to send to Peking, but I have had to pay dearly for his discretion.
FAITHFUL PRINCE
If only we gain thereby a few days' respite, we shall not need to regret the bait thrown into the mouth of the Tiger. The treasures of the Mings, happily, are far from exhausted and the secret vaults, all unknown to the Tartars, still contain more than is necessary to defray the expenses of war.