SCENE.--_High Divan, as in Act II._ ALTOUM _discovered on his throne_; PANT. _and_ TART. _beside it_; _the eight Doctors seated; Guard under arms_. _Behind a curtain, in the background, is an altar, with a Chinese idol: a Chinese priest on each side of it._ KALAF _enters, agitated, and looking suspiciously around him; bows to_ ALTOUM. KAL. (_aside_.) Do I still live? Each step, I thought to feel The thrust of an assassin's deadly steel. Adelma's warning was some dream, or now I dream. ALT. My son, care sits upon thy brow. Glad news I have in store for thee. Alone Joys come not. Turandot shall be thine own. Three times to-night she sent to me to pray I would defer th' encounter of to-day. 'Tis evident her pride is sorely vext, She'd hide her failure by some vain pretext. Rejoice, all blessings for thy weal combine, To-day full happiness on thee shall shine. PANT. (_to_ KALAF, _confidentially_)-- Believe me, if so please your Majesty-- (I mean your Majesty that is to be.) Your future wife's ill-temper there's no bearing; Her tantrums and hysterics are quite wearing. A hundred times I was called up last night To try and set this knotty question right. I'd scarcely time my slippers to resume, Much less to dress in proper court costume. I just popped on my crimson satin breeches,-- I fear I caught a cold; (_sneezes_) must put on leeches, A blister p'raps--take horrid water-gruel. (_Blows, his nose portentously._) No breakfast yet I've swallowed 'Tis too cruel! Who'd be Prime Minister? to starve and toil, And fret and fume in an eternal coil. But yet, I would not, for a hundred dollar Have missed the sight of her rampagious choler; I was rejoiced my turn had come to grin, Just as folks do at me when Harlequin Before my nose runs off with Columbine, In every stupid Christmas pantomime. TART. I-I was c-called up-p _inaspettatamente_, S-she b-begged m-my a-ai-aid qu-quite _disperatamente_. ALT. Prepare the altar. (_A curtain is raised, disclosing an altar with a Chinese deity. Two priests attending._) Hither call our daughter; Obedience to the law shall now be taught her. Set open all the doors! Lo, where she comes. (_A slow march is heard._ TRUFFALDIN _and slaves enter, in mourning garments, with weepers of crape attached to their pigtails._ _Female slaves in black veils: then_ TURANDOT, ADELMA, _and_ SKIRINA, _all demonstrating extreme dejection_. TURANDOT _ascends her throne with the same ceremonies at in Act II._) PANT. Is this a wedding march, with muffled drums? It sounds more like a dead march, dull and dreary-- The one in "Saul," or Verdi's _Miserere_. Her sulky Highness looks as black as thunder At having thus in public to knock under. TUR. (_to_ KALAF).