class="c17">PEARL

And her name is Golden Lotus.

GOLDEN LOTUS [to ARROW-BEARER]

My lord, I heard that you ordered the flowers to be removed——Was I misinformed?

ARROW-BEARER

I dared to raise my voice to give that order——Can I have displeased you?

GOLDEN LOTUS

Oh! no——But I desire to ask your indulgence for the lovely dead flowers. Permit them to remain there as a carpet at the foot of our pavilion. Though broken from their stems, they are still beautiful and keep their perfume.

ARROW-BEARER

What glory for me to obey you! I envy those flowers which will be trod by your little feet.

[He makes a sign for the gardeners to withdraw.]

TRANQUIL BEAUTY [Pulling at the sleeve of GOLDEN LOTUS]

Enough, Golden Lotus. It is not proper for us to listen to such remarks.

ARROW-BEARER

Have you nothing more to say to me?

TRANQUIL BEAUTY

Let us go. Come, we must return to the Pavilion.

GOLDEN LOTUS [to TRANQUIL BEAUTY]

No, stay a moment.

[to ARROW-BEARER]

My lord, you know news travels slowly to the quarters Of the Ladies-in-Waiting, and my curiosity is eager on this most solemn day, when our Empress is to restore the throne of the bright dynasty of the Mings and to take on her the regency of the Empire. At what precise hour will the festival begin? DO you know the order of the ceremonies?

ARROW-BEARER

What great pleasure for me to be able to inform you. The Criers Of the Minister of Rites proclaimed last night the order of the ceremonies. I have taken note of what I heard. [He takes from his sleeve a small scroll] I hope to write several poems about this later. It is a date quite unique in the annals of China.

GOLDEN LOTUS

Oh! read it to us, my lord.

[The young girls eagerly gather about ARROW-BEARER.]

ARROW-BEARER [reading] On this holy day on which our Empress, laying aside her mourning for her illustrious Husband, is about to take up the power in the name Of Her son, in defiance of that usurper who for three hundred years has held all China under his yoke: An order to all high Dignitaries of the Palace, to the Masters of the Ceremonies, to the Grand Secretaries of State, to the Ministers, Warriors, and Princes, to the Guardians Of the Imperial Seal! Let them hold themselves in readiness before the last watch of night and gather together all the precious objects which they have in their keeping so as to place them, according to the due rites, on the six golden tables in the Palace of Great Purity. Let the Master-in-Chief of the Music place orchestras and singers in the galleries and in the Throne-room. As soon as the last watch shall have sounded, let the Astrologer go to inform Her Majesty the Empress that the chosen hour has come when she must repair to the Temple of her Ancestors to offer the prescribed sacrifices to the August Shades. Her Majesty will be attended only by the Princesses and Her Ladies-in-Waiting.

TRANQUIL BEAUTY

By us!——Then let us return to the Pavilion, we must prepare at once.

GOLDEN LOTUS

We shall be told when it is time.

ARROW-BEARER [continuing to read]

From the Temple of Ancestors to the Palace of Great Purity, let all Dignitaries, Officers, Guards, Secretaries form up in a line on either side of the road along which the Empress will pass in a palanquin, ornamented with dragons and phoenixes, to the foot of the staircase leading to the throne-room, where the grand ceremony of investiture will take place.

GOLDEN LOTUS

Will women be present at that?

ARROW-BEARER

Yes, the Princesses and the Ladies-in-Waiting will form the retinue of the Empress and group themselves about her.

GOLDEN LOTUS

Ah! I was not sure——It was that particularly which I wished to know.

ARROW-BEARER

The young Emperor will be close to the brave mother who is to reign in his name. Reign, you know how! Reign in mystery, in anguish, faced by insurmountable difficulties——

GOLDEN LOTUS

How many hearts beat for Her, how many strong arms are ready to defend Her!

TRANQUIL BEAUTY

Have all the invited guests arrived at the Palace?

ARROW-BEARER

I believe so. The most powerful of all, the Viceroy of the South, has been lodged not far from here, in the Pavilion of Limpid Fountains. If the bushes were not so leafy you would be able to see the roof of his residence from your Pavilion.

CINNAMON [In a whisper]

I should love to get a look at the Prince.

GOLDEN LOTUS

One question more, my Lord. Does not some new danger threaten us? Dark rumours have reached us——Are our reconquered Provinces well garrisoned?

ARROW-BEARER

Alas! even during the hours of joy, anxiety assails us. Alas that, when the delicious perfume of a flower caresses us, we must watch with dread the storm which is always threatening on the horizon. The gazelle had a little respite because the tiger was wounded. If he recovers, he will immediately begin again the pursuit of his prey.

GOLDEN LOTUS

What is the meaning of that allusion?

ARROW-BEARER

That the Tartar Emperor, who reigns at Peking and considers us, the dispossessed Chinese, as rebels, has just been vanquished in the war which the dangerous Western Barbarians made against him. With great difficulty he has obtained peace, and he has not yet recovered from the effects of his defeat.

GOLDEN LOTUS

Ah! yes, the rumor of that war came to us. But what was the cause of it?

TRANQUIL BEAUTY

How politics interest her!

PEARL

Yes! when that young man is her teacher.

ARROW-BEARER

The cause of it was peculiar. A Prince, kinsman to the Tartar usurper, conceived the foolish idea of mustering an army of bandits to hurl upon the hated Christians in the north of China. But the horde, once let loose, got out of hand. It rushed against the barbarian strangers, whose presence has for a long time been tolerated in the neighbourhood of the Palace. Then the armies of the Western nations came to sack Peking, whence the Tartar Emperor fled with his entire Court.

GOLDEN LOTUS

Doubtless it is unhappy for us that the usurper has made peace——

ARROW-BEARER

Who knows? Perhaps China might have fallen under a more evil dominion still.

TRANQUIL BEAUTY

Is the lesson not finished yet?

GOLDEN LOTUS [withdrawing]

It is time, my lord, for us to prepare for the festival.

ARROW-BEARER

It is you who will beautify the setting.

GOLDEN LOTUS

Ah, do not make sport of me——until we meet again, my lord.

ARROW-BEARER

[Seeing someone come from the right.]

Go into the house quickly! Your illustrious neighbour, the Viceroy of the South, is walking in the garden and comes this way.

TRANQUIL BEAUTY

[Lowering a bamboo blind]

If we could only see him through the blind!

ARROW-BEARER

Farewell! I must give place to a nobler visitor.

[The young girls go in, and