Empress monologue (Act 1) — The Daughter of Heaven

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----