SCENE IX.
The EMPEROR [_To the_ EMPRESS, _who is leaning against the balustrade of the throne_] Alas! I can read obstinate resolution in your eyes! You have determined to die, I know it! I shall speak without hope. Will you grant me one last favour?
EMPRESS
No doubt I shall. But what may it be?
EMPEROR [_Pointing to the throne_]
Let our last interview take place there! Once in your life, though it be on a day which shall know no to-morrow, I wish to see you seated upon the throne of the Tartar conquerors.
EMPRESS [_Very calmly and indifferently_]
Is it only that? If that will give you pleasure, I consent. [_She begins to ascend the steps._] I mount but slowly: I am crushed and fainting. The poison which you promised lulls one to sleep, does it not? It does not sharpen and distort the features, I hope. The Phoenix, even in the agony of death would wish to retain some charm.
EMPEROR [_In the same mood_]
It is even better than you hope. It comes from the Western Barbarians. Lustrous pearls under a thin leaf of gold. One passes into space in a sudden sleep, an exquisite intoxication----
EMPRESS [_Still far away_] Ah!----in a sleep--[_They have reached the top of the steps. She half reclines across the throne, which is almost as large as a divan. The_ EMPEROR _remains standing._] Well, now----delay no longer, speak----
EMPEROR
It was not the prompting of a mere whim which urged me to see you seated there. What we have to say is so solemn. The interview of an Emperor and an Empress, power speaking to power!----
At this height, raised above our earthly personalities, we shall feel more conscious of our superhuman mission.
EMPRESS
Power speaking to power? I am no longer anything but a captive, who counts for naught.
EMPEROR
You are sovereign and doubly sovereign now, mistress of the destiny of China, arbiter of all. [_The_ EMPRESS _looks at him as though deeply hurt._] Mistress of the destiny of China, yes! Be not offended. I do not intend to speak of your power over the Emperor----But, defeated and captive, what does it matter? Are you not always the Daughter of the Mings? Hundreds of millions of hearts bear secret allegiance to you. The rebellion quelled to-day by my soldiers will break out afresh to-morrow, will always be renewed. You are the only being in the world who has the power to still it for ever----and that takes away the right to die----
EMPRESS [_Interrupting_]
The dead await me----I belong to them now----I hear their voices calling to me to come----
EMPEROR
I want to tell you in the fewest words. But I feel as though you were already gone, already cold. I press on and I am all at a loss. It seems as if I were speaking to a tombstone. Powers, you and I, I said, ah, yes, great powers! Two rival lives of fabled emperors, of deified heroes, growing feebler and feebler by centuries of slavery to rites and forms, prisoners in an excess of luxury; two dynasties that seemed doomed to an immortality of mummyhood, have by some miracle produced you and me, who are alive and young. As a result of our union, a new China might arise, living like us, to dominate the world. Together we might accomplish that holy mission for the well-being and happiness of our races, and the eternal glory of our two united names. But without you, no, I can do nothing. I shall sink again into my gilded solitude, my sickly idleness, my opium-drugged sleep. If you but knew my youth, how isolated and lonely, spent in an apartment decorated in black ebony! In the gloom of this palace, an imaginative child, I outlined this glorious plan of union with you. It haunted my brain. Then your son would have been my son. It was like a child still that I set out on that adventure to see you in your palace at Nanking. And as I beheld, my man's will, which still floated in the midst of dreams, was suddenly concentrated upon one definite desire. Ah, what obstacles I overcame! First, I had to escape from your palace; then to return here unhindered within the terrible walls of the Yellow City; and then to wrest the power from those grim evil-doers who had so long tortured my youthful will and my reason. The war was already at its height, hatred was enchained, the smell of blood was in the air, and Chinese and Tartars were howling like wild beasts. All this, you know full well, I was unable to stop.
EMPRESS
I know.
EMPEROR
That I did all in my power to save your son--you believe that, do you not?
EMPRESS
Now I believe it.
EMPEROR
My only reason for speaking of these things is that at least you may not hate me.
EMPRESS [_Still calm and impersonal_]
I have no hate for you.
EMPEROR
The heads of your faithful soldiers which have just fallen were sacrificed against my will. I had issued an order of unconditional pardon. As to the Prince who left you a few minutes ago. [_Smiling_]--for I see all, I the Phantom Emperor, as you called me--yes, he who was speaking to you in this very place and went so heroically to meet his death, will be saved. You shall see him again!
EMPRESS
I thought you before now a great and generous enemy.
EMPEROR
Of my love I have not even dared to speak to you.
EMPRESS
I am grateful to you that you have kept our interview above that level.
EMPEROR
Every word you utter falls upon me like the icy drops of slow winter rain, and yet withal I must have the force to proceed to the end. Listen to what I now shall say; it is the last word I shall speak, after that you will be free. Despite that dreadful war to the death between us, despite that funeral procession which now slowly carries your son to the forests of the Last Repose, I still indulged in the beautiful dream of putting an end to ancient hates by means of our marriage, of making one our two rival dynasties, of giving to the great empire peace everlasting----
EMPRESS [_Interrupting_]
Ever since you asked me to be seated upon your throne, I understood.
EMPEROR [_After a pause_]
And your reply?
EMPRESS
My reply is that, neither living nor dead, will I permit the Emperor of the Tartars even to touch my hand. It is too late; too many rivers of blood flow between us.
EMPEROR
Still one word, one last word. We are not alone at this solemn historical hour, in this place which seems so empty and silent. The shades of warriors and the illustrious spirits of departed emperors are all about us, listening anxiously for your decision. Your beloved dead are all here, at peace with mine in the lofty harmony of heaven. You are mistaken, they are not calling to you to join them; they are commanding you to live for years to come, to aid me in this great work of peace, of which I dream and which, without you seated at my side on this throne, I shall be powerless to carry out. You have not the right to decline this duty! In the name of the thousands of invisible spirits who surround us, I beg of you, Daughter of Heaven, to live! [_A silence._] I have said all that I find possible to say. I await your decision. I have finished.
EMPRESS [_Growing colder and more distant in her attitude, pointing to the golden jewel-case attached to the Emperor's girdle_] Then give it to me now!
EMPEROR [_In absolute despair_]
No, no! Give it to you with my own hands I cannot. Have pity----I cannot! I cannot!
EMPRESS [_Severely_]
But your promise, sire, your imperial word of honour. Give it to me!
[_The_ EMPEROR, _after another silence, kneels before her, takes the golden box from his girdle and hands it to her slowly, his face turned downward to the ground._]
EMPRESS [_After opening the box, speaking gently, like a child in a dream._] Yes, they are tiny, shining pearls----And they will bring death, peace, nothingness. [_She puts the pearls in her mouth, then throws the box to the ground, and rises in exaltation. Triumphant and dominating the room, she addresses the invisible spirits of her forefathers._] Oh, my ancestors, behold me! Am I not glorious? You see me in that place whence you of old dominated the world, and it is upon your throne, usurped by the Tartar, that I am about to die! Your daughter has remained worthy of her race. Despite temptation more than human, she has kept her word. Open wide before the portals of death,--to receive her among you. [_Smiling and quite gentle, she turns to the EMPEROR who is still kneeling._] And now that my mission is accomplished, approach me, sire. [_She takes his hand gently, to indicate that he may rise and be seated._] For the second time in her life, the Empress invites you to be seated in her presence, as once before, over there, you remember, one morning in my palace which is now no more----[_She seats herself on the throne again._]
EMPEROR [_Dreamily_]
As once before, there in your garden on that never-to-be-forgotten morning. All about us, the wonderful flowers of distant lands were unfolding their petals, still moist with the early dews----and the beautiful Imperial Phoenix was brilliant in all her glory. [_He seats himself on the throne near her, his head resting against the back._]
EMPRESS
To-day, the flames have swept away those flowers, and the Phoenix is in agony, her wings burned in the fire of war. But, on the threshold of the Great Beyond, she will confide to you her deepest secret. Now it is your turn to listen. [_The_ EMPEROR _raises his head and looks at her._] While you were uttering those noble and magnificent words of sacrifice----Oh! beneath my impassive mask, what a struggle was mine on to be deaf to their appeal! And I should have yielded, if the duty which you presented to me had been only a painful duty. But it would have been too easy and too sweet. For I loved you! [_The_ EMPEROR _arises_.] And, living, I have no more the right to happiness, because it was I who lighted that great funeral pyre of men's lives in my palace.
EMPEROR [_Interrupting, exultantly_]
O my sovereign! O my beautiful, fading flower! To hear that from your lips at the moment when they are about to grow cold for ever! Oh! To be beloved by you, I could not believe it possible. And now no aid can come from men or gods.
EMPRESS
No aid? Do you think I would accept it? I have spoken only because I know I am going to die. Aid! But did I not tell you it was I who lighted the pyre, this hand which set to it the flaming torch. And as they threw themselves into the glowing furnace, dying for my son and for me, I cried out my solemn vow: Soon I come to the Land of the Shades, I come, I follow you. After that, if I were to live, to spend a happy life with you----I should loathe myself. [_She remains seated, the_ EMPEROR _kneels at her feet, resting his head on the cushions of the throne._] In entering your palace, I was afraid of myself, it was only myself that I feared----for at no time did I hate that strange impostor who appeared in my palace one day, never did I hate him even when I knew not, when I did not understand. And in the closed litter in which I was brought to Peking, at every stage of that mournful journey my fears and my anguish increased, according as the impression became stronger and stronger, until at last I was convinced that you were the Emperor! [_Suddenly terrified, she starts up._] You have not deceived me? Tell me, it is indeed death which you have given me? Oh, no, you could not have done that. You are too noble to have led me into a trap----
EMPEROR
No, my sovereign, no, I have not deceived you. Death is close to you, it is in your heart, inevitable death.
EMPRESS
Will it take long? How many minutes are still left to me?
EMPEROR
Minutes? Oh, scarcely seconds. You are on the point of slipping away from me into nothingness. The frail covering of gold leaf still protects you. As soon as that dissolves----
EMPRESS
I shall suffer?
EMPEROR
No!
EMPRESS
Tell me how I shall pass away.
EMPEROR
You will hear a ringing in your brain as if the great bell of honour were being sounded for you--and then a dizziness--and suddenly will come eternal peace! [_He rises and rends his garments._] O Gods, if you are capable of compassion, look down upon me----have pity!
EMPRESS [_At first very slowly, pacing the platform of the throne like one in a dream._] Whither am I going? Who can tell me whither I am going, where I shall soon be? To the dead? to the Shades, what can it matter how I use this last flicker of my life, so soon to be extinguished? Now that I have kept my word, at least this last moment belongs to me, which to us is worth Eternity. [_To the_ EMPEROR.] Let it be mine that I may give it to you! [_She seats herself on the throne again._] Come close to me, my beloved, my master, my God-----[_The_ EMPEROR _sits near her, at first as with religious awe._] Come, I desire to rest my head on your shoulder while I die----[The EMPEROR takes her in his arms.] Do you not see that we are like two stars, separated by a boundless abyss, but withal making desperate efforts to flash their light to each other?----But now the abyss is crossed and my mortal enemy is weeping tears for love in my embrace. Let me rest against your breast, come closer, with all your being, that I may pass away as though in you.
EMPEROR [_Embracing her more passionately_]
In me and with me, for I shall follow you, my beautiful Phoenix, that would fly away beyond my reach----
EMPRESS
No! Remain on earth, live on to keep the love which I have given you. Who else would remember me and pay the honours to my spirit? In the valley of eternal silence, amid the marble avenues, under the shade of the dark cedars, who else would come to dream of my vanished beauty, that was but for a day? Promise me you will stay. But come still closer to me. If you do not fear the last breath of one who is dying, press your lips against mine, my beloved, that I may at least have known the rapture of your kiss----
EMPEROR [_Pressing his lips to hers desperately_] Oh! Even your ashes would be lovely to me, even your body in decay. Fear! you ask if I fear? Respect alone will unlock my embrace--when I feel that the breath of life is no more.
EMPRESS [_Wandering, half drawing herself away_]
Ah! Yes--I hear the great bell sounding. It is the signal, then? I am sinking----Hold me up, my beloved. Keep me from sinking thus----into the abyss.
[_During an instant of silence, they remain embraced. Then the_ EMPEROR _rouses himself, cries aloud in his grief, and the dead body falls back on the throne._]