s on urgent affairs_,
_that he will come back to her and to his sons_, _perhaps before the
waning of the new moon_. _Their parting is sad with the pensive sadness
of look and gesture peculiar to Eastern people_.

MENG BENG _goes_ (C.) _with_ U. RAI GYAN THOO. MAH PHRU _mounts to the
verandah to watch them go from behind the curtains_. _Then_, _slowly
sinking across the heaped-up cushions_, _she faints_.

_The sun has set_. _The music ceases_. _The melancholy cry of the
peacocks fills the silence_.

ACT DROP

ACT III

SCENE I

_Seven years have elapsed_.

_The same scene_.

_Curtain discovers_ MAH PHRU _seated on a high verandah_. _A clearance
has been made in the surrounding trees to give a full view of the road
beyond_. _She is watching_, _always watching_. _With her are two
beautiful little boys_.

"To-day, perhaps," _she murmurs_. "Perhaps to-morrow; but without
fail--one day."

"Look!" _she cries_. "At last my lord returns!"

_Coming up the jungle road_, _in view of the audience_, _are a bevy of
horsemen_.

MAH PHRU, _wondering_, _descends to greet them_. _Enter_ U. RAI GYAN
THOO. _He is dressed all in white_, _which is Burmese mourning_. MAH
PHRU _sinks back_--_she fears the worst_. _The old man reassures her_.
_He tells her that_ MENG BENG _has sent for his sons_--_that the Queen is
dead_, _and there is no heir_.

"Queen? What Queen?" _demands_ MAH PHRU.

"The Queen of Burmah."

_So_ MAH PHRU _learns for the first time that her lover is the ruler of
the country_, _supreme master of and dictator to everyone_.

_Weeping_, _but not daring to disobey_, _she summons the children to
her_; _then_, _sinking on her knees_, _entreats in moving and pathetic
words to be permitted to go with them_, _in the lowest most menial
capacity_. U. RAI GYAN THOO _refuses_. _There is no place for her in
the greatness of the world yonder_. "Even Kings forget," _he says_. "It
is the command of the supreme Lord of the Earth and of the Sky that she
remain where she is."

_Then he orders his followers to make the necessary arrangements for the
safe journey of their future king and his brother_.

_The children stand passive in their gay dress_, _but are bewildered and
afraid_.

MAH PHRU _has risen to her feet_. _She appears as if turned to
bronze_--_a model of restraint and dignity_, _blent with colour and
beauty and infinite grace_.

THE CURTAIN DESCENDS SLOWLY

SCENE II

_T