"You can return one day," _the Vizier tells him_. "The Pagoda will remain. I also, once, in years long dead, Lord of the Sea and Moon, worshipped at a Pagoda." MENG BENG _seeks_ MAH PHRU _to explain that he goes 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 _The same night_.