_me_:
Cast not your gold away. I had indeed
Hoped to appease, convince you in the end,
Hoped you would give the Prince your hand--the Prince
Who loves you, and well is worthy of your love.
Now I will be obedient. My old mother,
Skirina, came to visit me just now.
Rejoicing at the fortune of the Prince,
And knowing nothing of the imminent
Encounter which to-morrow shall decide,
She told me she had spoken to the stranger
The night before, and said that my step-father,
Old Hassan, knows him. There and then I asked
What might his name be, but she did not know,
Or swore she did not. Hassan, so she said,
Would not betray his name for any price.
This notwithstanding, she has promised me
To do her best to worm the secret out.
Now, Princess, doubt my zeal, if still you can.

(_Exit in excitement._)

TURANDOT.

Come, to my arms! Why does she run away?

ADELMA.

Let the fool go. Now we have got the scent,
And let us with swift cunning track the game.
But come with me straightway and let me tell you
The plan I have. Put all your trust in me.

TURANDOT.

Adelma, I put all my trust in you.
But save me from this stranger whom I loathe.

(_Exeunt both._)

SCENE II

Before the Palace.

CALAF, BARAK.

CALAF.

But seeing that in all Pekin no man
Knows me, save you, and since my country lies
A hundred days of journeying from here,
And when you think we have been wanderers
O'er the earth's face eight years as unknown men,
And when you think we are reported dead:
I say, Barak, the wretched have no name.

BARAK.

And yet my mind misgives me: Here you win
At one throw of the dice the loveliest
Of maidens and a mighty empire too:
You stake your head to win, and, having won,
You throw the prize away.

CALAF.

You must not measure
My actions by the ell: I am in love....
But you have been discreet, Barak, I know?
Even to your wife?

BARAK.

Even to my wife, be sure.
And yet my heart forebodes much evil hap.

SCENE III

PANTALONE, TARTAGLIA, BRIGELLA, SOLDIERS.
_The foregoing._

PANTALONE.

Here he is, by the Lord Harry, here he is!

TARTAGLIA.

Who is this man, your Royal Highness?

PANTALONE.

Where the dickens have you been to, my dearest
Prince? What sort of people are you honouring
with your intercourse, my dearest Prince?

BARAK (_aside_).

Great heavens, what threatens now?

CALAF.

This is some stranger,
Whom here I met and questioned of the wa