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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Vera, by Oscar Wilde
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Vera
+       or, The Nihilists
+
+Author: Oscar Wilde
+
+Release Date: August 30, 2008 [EBook #26494]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VERA ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Meredith Bach, Stephen Blundell and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+VERA; OR, THE NIHILISTS.
+
+
+
+
+ _Of this work, 200 copies only have been printed, for
+         private circulation. This is No...._
+
+
+
+
+             VERA;
+      OR, THE NIHILISTS.
+
+            A DRAMA
+ IN A PROLOGUE, AND FOUR ACTS.
+
+              BY
+         OSCAR WILDE.
+
+     NOW FIRST PUBLISHED.
+
+
+           [Device]
+
+
+     _PRIVATELY PRINTED_,
+             1902.
+
+
+
+
+This Play was written in 1881, and is now published from the author's
+own copy, showing his corrections of and additions to the original
+text.
+
+
+
+
+PERSONS IN THE PROLOGUE.
+
+
+ PETER SABOUROFF (an Innkeeper).
+ VERA SABOUROFF (his Daughter).
+ MICHAEL (a Peasant).
+ COLONEL KOTEMKIN.
+
+
+ Scene, Russia. Time, 1795.
+
+
+
+
+PERSONS IN THE PLAY.
+
+
+ IVAN THE CZAR.
+ PRINCE PAUL MARALOFFSKI (Prime Minister of Russia).
+ PRINCE PETROVITCH.
+ COUNT ROUVALOFF.
+ MARQUIS DE POIVRARD.
+ BARON RAFF.
+ GENERAL KOTEMKIN.
+ A PAGE.
+
+
+ _Nihilists._
+
+ PETER TCHERNAVITCH, President of the Nihilists.
+ MICHAEL.
+ ALEXIS IVANACIEVITCH, known as a Student of Medicine.
+ PROFESSOR MARFA.
+ VERA SABOUROFF.
+
+
+ _Soldiers, Conspirators, &c._
+
+
+ Scene, Moscow. Time, 1800.
+
+
+
+
+PROLOGUE.
+
+SCENE.--_A Russian Inn._
+
+_Large door opening on snowy landscape at back of stage._
+
+_PETER SABOUROFF and MICHAEL._
+
+
+PETER (_warming his hands at a stove_). Has Vera not come back yet,
+Michael?
+
+MICH. No, Father Peter, not yet; 'tis a good three miles to the post
+office, and she has to milk the cows besides, and that dun one is a rare
+plaguey creature for a wench to handle.
+
+PETER. Why didn't you go with her, you young fool? she'll never love you
+unless you are always at her heels; women like to be bothered.
+
+MICH. She says I bother her too much already, Father Peter, and I fear
+she'll never love me after all.
+
+PETER. Tut, tut, boy, why shouldn't she? you're young and wouldn't be
+ill-favoured either, had God or thy mother given thee another face.
+Aren't you one of Prince Maraloffski's gamekeepers; and haven't you got
+a good grass farm, and the best cow in the village? What more does a
+girl want?
+
+MICH. But Vera, Father Peter--
+
+PETER. Vera, my lad, has got too many ideas; I don't think much of ideas
+myself; I've got on well enough in life without 'em; why shouldn't my
+children? There's Dmitri! could have stayed here and kept the inn; many
+a young lad would have jumped at the offer in these hard times; but he,
+scatter-brained featherhead of a boy, must needs go off to Moscow to
+study the law! What does he want knowing about the law! let a man do his
+duty, say I, and no one will trouble him.
+
+MICH. Ay! but Father Peter, they say a good lawyer can break the law as
+often as he likes, and no one can say him nay.
+
+PETER. That is about all they are good for; and there he stays, and has
+not written a line to us for four months now--a good son that, eh?
+
+MICH. Come, come, Father Peter, Dmitri's letters must have gone
+astray--perhaps the new postman can't read; he looks stupid enough, and
+Dmitri, why, he was the best fellow in the village. Do you remember how
+he shot the bear at the barn in the great winter?
+
+PETER. Ay, it was a good shot; I never did a better myself.
+
+MICH. And as for dancing, he tired out three fiddlers Christmas come two
+years.
+
+PETER. Ay, ay, he was a merry lad. It is the girl that has the
+seriousness--she goes about as solemn as a priest for days at a time.
+
+MICH. Vera is always thinking of others.
+
+PETER. There is her mistake, boy. Let God and our Little Father look to
+the world. It is none of my work to mend my neighbour's thatch. Why,
+last winter old Michael was frozen to death in his sleigh in the
+snowstorm, and his wife and children starved afterwards when the hard
+times came; but what business was it of mine? I didn't make the world.
+Let God and the Czar look to it. And then the blight came, and the black
+plague with it, and the priests couldn't bury the people fast enough,
+and they lay dead on the roads--men and women both. But what business
+was it of mine? I didn't make the world. Let God and the Czar look to
+it. Or two autumns ago, when the river overflowed on a sudden, and the
+children's school was carried away and drowned every girl and boy in it.
+I didn't make the world--let God and the Czar look to it.
+
+MICH. But, Father Peter--
+
+PETER. No, no, boy; no man could live if he took his neighbour's pack
+on his shoulders. (_Enter VERA in peasant's dress._) Well, my girl,
+you've been long enough away--where is the letter?
+
+VERA. There is none to-day, Father.
+
+PETER. I knew it.
+
+VERA. But there will be one to-morrow, Father.
+
+PETER. Curse him, for an ungrateful son.
+
+VERA. Oh, Father, don't say that; he must be sick.
+
+PETER. Ay! sick of profligacy, perhaps.
+
+VERA. How dare you say that of him, Father? You know that is not true.
+
+PETER. Where does the money go, then? Michael, listen. I gave Dmitri
+half his mother's fortune to bring with him to pay the lawyer folk of
+Moscow. He has only written three times, and every time for more money.
+He got it, not at my wish, but at hers (_pointing to VERA_), and now for
+five months, close on six almost, we have heard nothing from him.
+
+VERA. Father, he will come back.
+
+PETER. Ay! the prodigals always return; but let him never darken my
+doors again.
+
+VERA (_sitting down pensive_). Some evil has come on him; he must be
+dead! Oh! Michael, I am so wretched about Dmitri.
+
+MICH. Will you never love any one but him, Vera?
+
+VERA (_smiling_). I don't know; there is so much else to do in the world
+but love.
+
+MICH. Nothing else worth doing, Vera.
+
+PETER. What noise is that, Vera? (_A metallic clink is heard._)
+
+VERA (_rising and going to the door_). I don't know, Father; it is not
+like the cattle bells, or I would think Nicholas had come from the fair.
+Oh! Father! it is soldiers!--coming down the hill--there is one of them
+on horseback. How pretty they look! But there are some men with them
+with chains on! They must be robbers. Oh! don't let them in, Father; I
+couldn't look at them.
+
+PETER. Men in chains! Why, we are in luck, my child! I heard this was to
+be the new road to Siberia, to bring the prisoners to the mines; but I
+didn't believe it. My fortune is made! Bustle, Vera, bustle! I'll die a
+rich man after all. There will be no lack of good customers now. An
+honest man should have the chance of making his living out of rascals
+now and then.
+
+VERA. Are these men rascals, Father? What have they done?
+
+PETER. I reckon they're some of those Nihilists the priest warns us
+against. Don't stand there idle, my girl.
+
+VERA. I suppose, then, they are all wicked men.
+
+(_Sound of soldiers outside; cry of "Halt!" enter Russian officer with a
+body of soldiers and eight men in chains, raggedly dressed; one of them
+on entering hurriedly puts his coat above his ears and hides his face;
+some soldiers guard the door, others sit down; the prisoners stand._)
+
+COLONEL. Innkeeper!
+
+PETER. Yes, Colonel.
+
+COLONEL (_pointing to Nihilists_). Give these men some bread and water.
+
+PETER (_to himself_). I shan't make much out of that order.
+
+COLONEL. As for myself, what have you got fit to eat?
+
+PETER. Some good dried venison, your Excellency--and some rye whisky.
+
+COLONEL. Nothing else?
+
+PETER. Why, more whisky, your Excellency.
+
+COLONEL. What clods these peasants are! You have a better room than
+this?
+
+PETER. Yes, sir.
+
+COLONEL. Bring me there. Sergeant, post your picket outside, and see
+that these scoundrels do not communicate with any one. No letter
+writing, you dogs, or you'll be flogged for it. Now for the venison.
+(_To PETER bowing before him._) Get out of the way, you fool! Who is
+that girl? (_sees VERA_).
+
+PETER. My daughter, your Highness.
+
+COLONEL. Can she read and write?
+
+PETER. Ay, that she can, sir.
+
+COLONEL. Then she is a dangerous woman. No peasant should be allowed to
+do anything of the kind. Till your fields, store your harvests, pay your
+taxes, and obey your masters--that is your duty.
+
+VERA. Who are our masters?
+
+COLONEL. Young woman, these men are going to the mines for life for
+asking the same foolish question.
+
+VERA. Then they have been unjustly condemned.
+
+PETER. Vera, keep your tongue quiet. She is a foolish girl, sir, who
+talks too much.
+
+COLONEL. Every woman does talk too much. Come, where is this venison?
+Count, I am waiting for you. How can you see anything in a girl with
+coarse hands? (_He passes with PETER and his aide-de-camp into an inner
+room._)
+
+VERA (_to one of the Nihilists_). Won't you sit down? you must be tired.
+
+SERGEANT. Come now, young woman, no talking to my prisoners.
+
+VERA. I shall speak to them. How much do you want?
+
+SERGEANT. How much have you?
+
+VERA. Will you let these men sit down if I give you this? (_Takes off
+her peasant's necklace._) It is all I have; it was my mother's.
+
+SERGEANT. Well, it looks pretty enough, and is heavy too. What do you
+want with these men?
+
+VERA. They are hungry and tired. Let me go to them?
+
+ONE OF THE SOLDIERS. Let the wench be, if she pays us.
+
+SERGEANT. Well, have your way. If the Colonel sees you, you may have to
+come with us, my pretty one.
+
+VERA (_advances to the Nihilists_). Sit down; you must be tired.
+(_Serves them food._) What are you?
+
+A PRISONER. Nihilists.
+
+VERA. Who put you in chains?
+
+PRISONER. Our Father the Czar.
+
+VERA. Why?
+
+PRISONER. For loving liberty too well.
+
+VERA (_to prisoner who hides his face_). What did you want to do?
+
+DMITRI. To give liberty to thirty millions of people enslaved to one
+man.
+
+VERA (_startled at the voice_). What is your name?
+
+DMITRI. I have no name.
+
+VERA. Where are your friends?
+
+DMITRI. I have no friends.
+
+VERA. Let me see your face!
+
+DMITRI. You will see nothing but suffering in it. They have tortured me.
+
+VERA (_tears the cloak from his face_). Oh, God! Dmitri! my brother!
+
+DMITRI. Hush! Vera; be calm. You must not let my father know; it would
+kill him. I thought I could free Russia. I heard men talk of Liberty one
+night in a café. I had never heard the word before. It seemed to be a
+new god they spoke of. I joined them. It was there all the money went.
+Five months ago they seized us. They found me printing the paper. I am
+going to the mines for life. I could not write. I thought it would be
+better to let you think I was dead; for they are bringing me to a living
+tomb.
+
+VERA (_looking round_). You must escape, Dmitri. I will take your place.
+
+DMITRI. Impossible! You can only revenge us.
+
+VERA. I shall revenge you.
+
+DMITRI. Listen! there is a house in Moscow--
+
+SERGEANT. Prisoners, attention!--the Colonel is coming--young woman,
+your time is up.
+
+(_Enter COLONEL, AIDE-DE-CAMP and PETER._)
+
+PETER. I hope your Highness is pleased with the venison. I shot it
+myself.
+
+COLONEL. It had been better had you talked less about it. Sergeant, get
+ready. (_Gives purse to PETER._) Here, you cheating rascal!
+
+PETER. My fortune is made! long live your Highness. I hope your Highness
+will come often this way.
+
+COLONEL. By Saint Nicholas, I hope not. It is too cold here for me. (_To
+VERA._) Young girl, don't ask questions again about what does not
+concern you. I will not forget your face.
+
+VERA. Nor I yours, or what you are doing.
+
+COLONEL. You peasants are getting too saucy since you ceased to be
+serfs, and the knout is the best school for you to learn politics in.
+Sergeant, proceed.
+
+(_The COLONEL turns and goes to top of stage. The prisoners pass out
+double file; as DMITRI passes VERA he lets a piece of paper fall on the
+ground; she puts her foot on it and remains immobile._)
+
+PETER (_who has been counting the money the COLONEL gave him_). Long
+life to your Highness. I will hope to see another batch soon. (_Suddenly
+catches sight of DMITRI as he is going out of the door, and screams and
+rushes up._) Dmitri! Dmitri! my God! what brings you here? he is
+innocent, I tell you. I'll pay for him. Take your money (_flings money
+on the ground_), take all I have, give me my son. Villains! Villains!
+where are you bringing him?
+
+COLONEL. To Siberia, old man.
+
+PETER. No, no; take me instead.
+
+COLONEL. He is a Nihilist.
+
+PETER. You lie! you lie! He is innocent. (_The soldiers force him back
+with their guns and shut the door against him. He beats with his fists
+against it._) Dmitri! Dmitri! a Nihilist! (_Falls down on floor._)
+
+VERA (_who has remained motionless, picks up paper now from under her
+feet and reads_). "99 Rue Tchernavaya, Moscow. To strangle whatever
+nature is in me; neither to love nor to be loved; neither to pity nor to
+be pitied; neither to marry nor to be given in marriage, till the end is
+come." My brother, I shall keep the oath. (_Kisses the paper._) You
+shall be revenged!
+
+(_VERA stands immobile, holding paper in her lifted hand. PETER is lying
+on the floor. MICHAEL, who has just come in, is bending over him._)
+
+
+END OF PROLOGUE.
+
+
+
+
+ACT I.[1]
+
+SCENE.--_99 Rue Tchernavaya, Moscow. A large garret lit by oil lamps
+hung from ceiling. Some masked men standing silent and apart from one
+another. A man in a scarlet mask is writing at a table. Door at back.
+Man in yellow with drawn sword at it. Knocks heard. Figures in cloaks
+and masks enter._
+
+
+_Password._ Per crucem ad lucem.
+
+_Answer._ Per sanguinem ad libertatem.
+
+(_Clock strikes. CONSPIRATORS form a semicircle in the middle of the
+stage._)
+
+[2]PRESIDENT. What is the word?
+
+FIRST CONSP. Nabat.
+
+PRES. The answer?
+
+SECOND CONSP. Kalit.
+
+PRES. What hour is it?
+
+THIRD CONSP. The hour to suffer.
+
+PRES. What day?
+
+FOURTH CONSP. The day of oppression.
+
+PRES. What year?
+
+FIFTH CONSP. Since the Revolution of France, the ninth year.[2]
+
+PRES. How many are we in number?
+
+SIXTH CONSP. Ten, nine, and three.
+
+PRES. The Galilæan had less to conquer the world; but what is our
+mission?
+
+SEVENTH CONSP. To give freedom.
+
+PRES. Our creed?
+
+EIGHTH CONSP. To annihilate.
+
+PRES. Our duty?
+
+NINTH CONSP. To obey.
+
+PRES. Brothers, the questions have been answered well. There are none
+but Nihilists present. Let us see each other's faces. (_The CONSPIRATORS
+unmask._) Michael, recite the oath.
+
+MICHAEL. To strangle whatever nature is in us; neither to love nor to be
+loved, neither to pity nor to be pitied, neither to marry nor to be
+given in marriage, till the end is come; to stab secretly by night; to
+drop poison in the glass; to set father against son, and husband against
+wife; without fear, without hope, without future, to suffer, to
+annihilate, to revenge.
+
+PRES. Are we all agreed?
+
+CONSPIRATORS. We are all agreed. (_They disperse in various directions
+about the stage._)
+
+PRES. 'Tis after the hour, Michael, and she is not yet here.
+
+MICH. Would that she were! We can do little without her.
+
+ALEXIS. She cannot have been seized, President? but the police are on
+her track, I know.
+
+MICH. You always seem to know a good deal about the movements of the
+police in Moscow--too much for an honest conspirator.
+
+PRES. If those dogs have caught her, [3]the red flag of the people will
+float on a barricade in[3] every street till we find her! It was foolish
+of her to go to the Grand Duke's ball. I told her so, but she said she
+wanted to see the Czar and all his cursed brood face to face once.
+
+ALEXIS. Gone to the State ball?
+
+MICH. I have no fear. She is as hard to capture as a she-wolf is, and
+twice as dangerous; besides, she is well disguised. But is there any
+news from the Palace to-night, President? What is that bloody[4] despot
+doing now besides torturing his only son? Have any of you seen him? One
+hears strange stories about him. They say he loves the people; but a
+king's son never does that. You cannot breed them like that.
+
+PRES. Since he came back from abroad a year ago his father has kept him
+in close prison in his palace.
+
+MICH. An excellent training to make him a tyrant in his turn; but is
+there any news, I say?
+
+PRES. A council is to be held to-morrow, at four o'clock, on some secret
+business the spies cannot find out.
+
+MICH. A council in a king's palace is sure to be about some bloody work
+or other. But in what room is this council to be held?
+
+PRES. (_reading from letter_). In the yellow tapestry room called after
+the Empress Catherine.
+
+MICH. I care not for such long-sounding names. I would know where it is.
+
+PRES. I cannot tell, Michael. I know more about the insides of prisons
+than of palaces.
+
+MICH. (_speaking suddenly to ALEXIS_). Where is this room, Alexis?
+
+ALEXIS. It is on the first floor, looking out on to the inner courtyard.
+But why do you ask, Michael?
+
+MICH. Nothing, nothing, boy! I merely take a great interest in the
+Czar's life and movements, and I knew you could tell me all about the
+palace. Every poor student of medicine in Moscow knows all about king's
+houses. It is their duty, is it not?
+
+ALEXIS (_aside_). Can Michael suspect me? There is something strange in
+his manner to-night. Why doesn't she come? The whole fire of revolution
+seems fallen into dull ashes when she is not here.
+
+[5]MICH. Have you cured many patients lately, at your hospital, boy?
+
+ALEX. There is one who lies sick to death I would fain cure, but cannot.
+
+MICH. Ay, and who is that?
+
+ALEX. Russia, our mother.
+
+MICH. The curing of Russia is surgeon's business, and must be done by
+the knife. I like not your method of medicine.[5]
+
+PRES. Professor, we have read the proofs of your last article; it is
+very good indeed.
+
+MICH. What is it about, Professor?
+
+PROFESSOR. The subject, my good brother, is assassination considered as
+a method of political reform.
+
+MICH. I think little of pen and ink in revolutions. One dagger will do
+more than a hundred epigrams. Still, let us read this scholar's last
+production. Give it to me. I will read it myself.
+
+PROF. Brother, you never mind your stops; let Alexis read it.
+
+MICH. Ay! he is as tripping of speech as if he were some young
+aristocrat; but for my own part I care not for the stops so that the
+sense be plain.
+
+ALEX. (_reading_). "The past has belonged to the tyrant, and he has
+defiled it; ours is the future, and we shall make it holy." Ay! let us
+make the future holy; let there be one revolution at least which is not
+bred in crime, nurtured in murder!
+
+MICH. They have spoken to us by the sword, and by the sword we shall
+answer! You are too delicate for us, Alexis. There should be none here
+but men whose hands are rough with labour or red with blood.
+
+PRES. Peace, Michael, peace! He is the bravest heart among us.
+
+MICH. (_aside_). He will need to be brave to-night.
+
+(_The sound of sleigh bells is heard outside._)
+
+VOICE (_outside_). Per crucem ad lucem.
+
+_Answer of man on guard._ Per sanguinem ad libertatem.
+
+MICH. Who is that?
+
+VERA. God save the people!
+
+PRES. Welcome, Vera, welcome! [6]We have been sick at heart till we saw
+you; but now methinks the star of freedom has come to wake us from the
+night.[6]
+
+VERA. [7]It is night, indeed, brother! Night without moon or star![7]
+Russia is smitten to the heart! The man Ivan whom men call the Czar
+strikes now at our mother with a dagger deadlier than ever forged by
+tyranny against a people's life!
+
+MICH. What has the tyrant[8] done now?
+
+VERA. To-morrow martial law is to be proclaimed in Russia.
+
+OMNES. Martial law! We are lost! We are lost!
+
+ALEX. Martial law! Impossible!
+
+MICH. Fool, nothing is impossible in Russia but reform.
+
+VERA. Ay, martial law. The last right to which the people clung has been
+taken from them. Without trial, without appeal, without accuser even,
+our brothers will be taken from their houses, shot in the streets like
+dogs, sent away to die in the snow, to starve in the dungeon, to rot in
+the mine. Do you know what martial law means? It means the strangling of
+a whole nation. [9]The streets will be filled with soldiers night and
+day; there will be sentinels at every door.[9] No man dare walk abroad
+now but the spy or the traitor. Cooped up in the dens we hide in,
+meeting by stealth, speaking with bated breath; what good can we do now
+for Russia?
+
+PRES. We can suffer at least.
+
+VERA. We have done that too much already. The hour is now come to
+annihilate and to revenge.
+
+PRES. Up to this the people have borne everything.
+
+VERA. Because they have understood nothing. But now we, the Nihilists,
+have given them the tree of knowledge to eat of and the day of silent
+suffering is over for Russia.
+
+MICH. Martial law, Vera! This is fearful tidings you bring.
+
+PRES. It is the death warrant of liberty in Russia.
+
+VERA. Or the tocsin of[10] revolution.
+
+MICH. Are you sure it is true?
+
+VERA. Here is the proclamation. I stole it myself at the ball to-night
+from a young fool, one of Prince Paul's secretaries, who had been given
+it to copy. It was that which made me so late.
+
+(_VERA hands proclamation to MICHAEL, who reads it._)
+
+MICH. "To ensure the public safety--martial law. By order of the Czar,
+father of his people." The father of his people!
+
+VERA. Ay! a father whose name shall not be hallowed, whose kingdom shall
+change to a republic, whose trespasses shall not be forgiven him,
+because he has robbed us of our daily bread; with whom is neither might,
+nor right, nor glory, now or for ever.
+
+PRES. It must be about this that the council meet to-morrow. It has not
+yet been signed.
+
+ALEX. It shall not be while I have a tongue to plead with.
+
+MICH. Or while I have hands to smite with.
+
+VERA. Martial law! O God, how easy it is for a king to kill his people
+by thousands, but we cannot rid ourselves of one crowned man in Europe!
+What is there of awful majesty in these men which makes the hand
+unsteady, the dagger treacherous, the pistol-shot harmless? Are they not
+men of like passions with ourselves, vulnerable to the same diseases, of
+flesh and blood not different from our own? What made Olgiati tremble at
+the supreme crisis of that Roman life, [11]and Guido's nerve fail him
+when he should have been of iron and of steel? A plague, I say, on these
+fools of Naples, Berlin, and Spain![11] Methinks that if I stood face to
+face with one of the crowned men my eye would see more clearly, my aim
+be more sure, my whole body gain a strength and power that was not my
+own! Oh, to think what stands between us and freedom in Europe! a few
+old men, wrinkled, feeble, tottering dotards whom a boy could strangle
+for a ducat, or a woman stab in a night-time. And these are the things
+that keep us from democracy, that keep us from liberty. But now
+methinks the brood of men is dead and the dull earth grown sick of
+child-bearing, else would no crowned dog pollute God's air by living.
+
+OMNES. Try us! Try us! Try us!
+
+MICH. We shall try thee, too, some day, Vera.
+
+VERA. I pray God thou mayest! Have I not strangled whatever nature is in
+me, and shall I not keep my oath?
+
+MICH. (_to PRESIDENT_). Martial law, President! Come, there is no time
+to be lost. We have twelve hours yet before us till the council meet.
+[12]Twelve hours! One can overthrow a dynasty in less time than
+that.[12]
+
+PRES. [13]Ay! or lose one's own head.[13]
+
+(_MICHAEL and the PRESIDENT retire to one corner of the stage and sit
+whispering. VERA takes up the proclamation, and reads it to herself;
+ALEXIS watches and suddenly rushes up to her._)
+
+ALEX. Vera!
+
+VERA. Alexis, you here! Foolish boy, have I not prayed you to stay away?
+All of us here are doomed to die before our time, fated to expiate by
+suffering whatever good we do; but you, with your [14]bright boyish
+face,[14] you are too young to die yet.
+
+ALEX. One is never too young to die for one's country!
+
+VERA. Why do you come here night after night?
+
+ALEX. Because I love the people.
+
+VERA. But your fellow-students must miss you. Are there no traitors
+among them? You know what spies there are in the University here. O
+Alexis, you must go! You see how desperate suffering has made us. There
+is no room here for a nature like yours. You must not come again.
+
+ALEX. Why do you think so poorly of me? Why should I live while my
+brothers suffer?
+
+VERA. You spake to me of your mother once. You said you loved her. Oh,
+think of her!
+
+ALEX. I have no mother now but Russia, my life is hers to take or give
+away; but to-night I am here to see you. They tell me you are leaving
+for Novgorod to-morrow.
+
+VERA. I must. They are getting faint-hearted there, and I would fan the
+flame of this revolution into such a blaze that the eyes of all kings in
+Europe shall be blinded. If martial law is passed they will need me all
+the more there. There is no limit, it seems, to the tyranny of one man;
+but there shall be a limit to the suffering of a whole people.
+
+ALEX. God knows it, I am with you. But you must not go. [15]The police
+are watching every train for you.[15] When you are seized they have
+orders to place you without trial in the lowest dungeon of the
+palace.[16] I know it--no matter how. [17]Oh, think how without you the
+sun goes from our life, how the people will lose their leader and
+liberty her priestess.[17] Vera, you must not go!
+
+VERA. If you wish it, I will stay. I would live a little longer for
+freedom, a little longer for Russia.
+
+ALEX. When you die then Russia is smitten indeed; when you die then I
+shall lose all hope--all.... Vera, this is fearful news you
+bring--martial law--it is too terrible. I knew it not, by my soul, I
+knew it not!
+
+VERA. How could you have known it? It is too well laid a plot for that.
+This great White Czar, whose hands are red with the blood of the people
+he has murdered, whose soul is black with his iniquity, is the cleverest
+conspirator of us all. Oh, how could Russia bear two hearts like yours
+and his!
+
+ALEX. Vera, the Emperor was not always like this. There was a time when
+he loved the people. It is that devil, whom God curse, Prince Paul
+Maraloffski who has brought him to this. To-morrow, I swear it, I shall
+plead for the people to the Emperor.
+
+VERA. Plead to the Czar! Foolish boy, it is only those who are
+sentenced to death that ever see our Czar. Besides, what should he care
+for a voice that pleads for mercy? The cry of a strong nation in its
+agony has not moved that heart of stone.
+
+ALEX. (_aside_). Yet shall I plead to him. They can but kill me.
+
+PROF. Here are the proclamations, Vera. Do you think they will do?
+
+VERA. I shall read them. [18]How fair he looks?[18] Methinks he never
+seemed so noble as to-night. Liberty is blessed in having such a lover.
+
+ALEX. Well, President, what are you deep in?
+
+MICH. We are thinking of the best way of killing bears. (_Whispers to
+PRESIDENT and leads him aside._)
+
+PROF. (_to VERA_). And the letters [19]from our brothers at Paris and
+Berlin. What answer shall we send to them?[19]
+
+VERA (_takes them mechanically_). Had I not strangled nature, sworn
+neither to love nor be loved, methinks[20] I might have loved him. Oh, I
+am a fool, a traitor myself, a traitor myself! But why did he come
+amongst us with his bright[21] young face, his heart aflame for liberty,
+his pure white soul? Why does he make me feel at times as if I would
+have him as my king, Republican though I be? Oh, fool, fool, fool! False
+to your oath! weak as water! Have done! Remember what you are--a
+Nihilist, a Nihilist!
+
+PRES. (_to MICHAEL_). But you will be seized, Michael.
+
+MICH. I think not. I will wear the uniform of the Imperial Guard, and
+the Colonel on duty is one of us. It is on the first floor, you
+remember; so I can take a long shot.
+
+PRES. Shall I tell the brethren?
+
+[22]MICH. Not a word, not a word! There is a traitor amongst us.
+
+VERA. Come, are these the proclamations? Yes, they will do; yes, they
+will do. Send five hundred to Kiev and Odessa and Novgorod, five
+hundred to Warsaw, and have twice the number distributed among the
+Southern Provinces, though these dull Russian peasants care little for
+our proclamations, and less for our martyrdoms. When the blow is struck,
+it must be from the town, not from the country.
+
+MICH. Ay, and by the sword not by the goose-quill.
+
+VERA. Where are the letters from Poland?
+
+PROF. Here.
+
+VERA. Unhappy Poland! The eagles of Russia have fed on her heart. We
+must not forget our brothers there.[22]
+
+PRES. Is this true, Michael?
+
+MICH. Ay, I stake my life on it.
+
+PRES. [23]Let the doors be locked, then.[23] Alexis Ivanacievitch
+entered on our roll of the brothers as a Student of the School of
+Medicine at Moscow. Why did you not tell us of this bloody scheme[24] of
+martial law?
+
+ALEX. I, President?
+
+MICH. Ay, you! You knew it, none better. Such weapons as these are not
+forged in a day. Why did you not tell us of it? A week ago there had
+been time [25]to lay the mine, to raise the barricade, to strike one
+blow at least for liberty.[25] But now the hour is past. It is too late,
+[26]it is too late![26] Why did you keep it a secret from us, I say?
+
+ALEX. Now by the hand of freedom, Michael, my brother, you wrong me. I
+knew nothing of this hideous law. By my soul, my brothers, I knew not of
+it! How should I know?
+
+MICH. Because you are a traitor! Where did you go when you left us the
+night of our last meeting here?
+
+[27]ALEX. To mine own house, Michael.[27]
+
+MICH. Liar! I was on your track. You left here an hour after midnight.
+Wrapped in a large cloak, you crossed the river in a boat a mile below
+the second bridge, and gave the ferryman a gold piece, you, the poor
+student of medicine! You doubled back twice, and hid in an archway so
+long that I had almost made up my mind to stab you at once, only that I
+am fond of hunting. So! you thought that you had baffled all pursuit,
+did you? Fool! I am a bloodhound that never loses the scent. I followed
+you from street to street. At last I saw you pass swiftly across the
+Place St. Isaac, whisper to the guards the secret password, enter the
+palace by a private door with your own key.
+
+CONSPIRATORS. The palace!
+
+VERA. Alexis!
+
+MICH. I waited. All through the dreary watches of our long Russian night
+I waited, that I might kill you with your Judas hire still hot in your
+hand. But you never came out; you never left that palace at all. I saw
+the blood-red sun rise through the yellow fog over the murky town; I saw
+a new day of oppression dawn on Russia; but you never came out. So you
+pass nights in the palace, do you? You know the password for the guards!
+you have a key to a secret door. Oh, you are a spy--you are a spy! I
+never trusted you, [28]with your soft white hands, your curled hair,
+your pretty graces.[28] You have no mark of suffering about you; you
+cannot be of the people. You are a spy--[29]a spy--traitor.[29]
+
+OMNES. Kill him! Kill him! (_draw their knives_.)
+
+VERA (_rushing in front of ALEXIS_). Stand back, I say, Michael! Stand
+back all! [30]Do not dare[30] lay a hand upon him! He is the noblest
+heart amongst us.
+
+OMNES. Kill him! Kill him! He is a spy!
+
+VERA. Dare to lay a finger on him, and I leave you all to yourselves.
+
+PRES. Vera, did you not hear what Michael said of him? He stayed all
+night in the Czar's palace. He has a password and a private key. What
+else should he be but a spy?
+
+VERA. Bah! I do not believe Michael. It is a lie! It is[31] a lie!
+Alexis, say it is a lie!
+
+ALEX. It is true. Michael has told what he saw. I did pass that night in
+the Czar's palace. Michael has spoken the truth.
+
+VERA. Stand back, I say; stand back! Alexis, I do not care. I trust you;
+you would not betray us; you would not sell the people for money. You
+are honest, true! Oh, say you are no spy!
+
+ALEX. Spy? You know I am not. I am with you, my brothers, to the death.
+
+MICH. Ay, to your own death.
+
+ALEX. Vera, you[32] know I am true.
+
+VERA. I know it well.
+
+PRES. Why are you here, traitor?
+
+ALEX. Because I love the people.
+
+MICH. Then you can be a martyr for them?
+
+VERA. You must kill me first, Michael, before you lay a finger on him.
+
+PRES. Michael, we dare not lose Vera. It is her whim to let this boy
+live. We can keep him here to-night. Up to this he has not betrayed us.
+
+(_Tramp of soldiers outside, knocking at door._)[33]
+
+VOICE. Open in the name of the Emperor!
+
+MICH. He _has_ betrayed us. This is your doing, spy!
+
+PRES. Come, Michael, come. We have no time to cut one another's throats
+while we have our own heads to save.
+
+VOICE. Open in the name of the Emperor!
+
+PRES. Brothers, be masked all of you. [34]Michael, open the door. It is
+our only chance.[34]
+
+(_Enter GENERAL KOTEMKIN and soldiers._)
+
+GEN. All honest citizens should be in their own houses at an hour before
+midnight, and not more than five people have a right to meet privately.
+Have you not noticed the proclamation, fellows?
+
+MICH. Ay, you have spoiled every honest[35] wall in Moscow with it.
+
+VERA. Peace, Michael, peace. Nay, Sir, we knew it not. We are a company
+of strolling players travelling from Samara to Moscow to amuse His
+Imperial Majesty the Czar.
+
+GEN. But I heard loud voices before I entered. What was that?
+
+VERA. We were rehearsing a new tragedy.
+
+GEN. Your answers are too _honest_ to be true. Come, let me see who you
+are. Take off those players' masks. By St. Nicholas, my beauty, if your
+face matches your figure, you must be a choice morsel! Come, I say,
+pretty one; I would sooner see your face than those of all the others.
+
+PRES. O God! if he sees it is Vera, we are all lost!
+
+GEN. No coquetting, my girl. Come, unmask, I say, or I shall tell my
+guards to do it for you.
+
+ALEX. Stand back, I say, General Kotemkin!
+
+GEN. Who are you, fellow, that talk with such a tripping tongue to your
+betters? (_ALEXIS takes his mask off_.) His Imperial Highness the
+Czarevitch!
+
+OMNES. The Czarevitch! [36]It is all over![36]
+
+[37]PRES. He will give us up to the soldiers.[37]
+
+MICH. (_to VERA_). Why did you not let me kill him? Come, we must fight
+to the death for it.
+
+VERA. Peace! he will not betray us.
+
+ALEX. A whim of mine, General! You know how my father keeps me from the
+world and imprisons me in the palace. I should really be bored to death
+if I could not get out at night in disguise sometimes, and have some
+romantic adventure in town. I fell in with these honest folks a few
+hours ago.
+
+GEN. But, your Highness--
+
+ALEX. Oh, they are excellent actors, I assure you. If you had come in
+ten minutes ago, you would have witnessed a most interesting scene.
+
+GEN. Actors, are they, Prince?
+
+ALEX. Ay, and very ambitious actors, too. They only care to play before
+kings.
+
+GEN. I' faith, your Highness, I was in hopes I had made a good haul of
+Nihilists.[38]
+
+ALEX. Nihilists in Moscow, General! with you as head of the police?
+Impossible!
+
+GEN. So I always tell your Imperial father. But I heard at the council
+to-day that that woman Vera Sabouroff, the head of them, had been seen
+in this very city. The Emperor's face turned as white as the snow
+outside. I think I never saw such terror in any man before.
+
+ALEX. She is a dangerous woman, then, this Vera Sabouroff?
+
+GEN. The most dangerous in all Europe.
+
+ALEX. Did you ever see her, General?
+
+GEN. Why, five years ago, when I was a plain Colonel, I remember her,
+your Highness, a common waiting girl in an inn. If I had known then what
+she was going to turn out, I would have flogged her to death on the
+roadside. She is not a woman at all; she is a sort of devil! For the
+last eighteen months I have been hunting her, and caught sight of her
+once last September outside Odessa.
+
+ALEX. How did you let her go, General?
+
+GEN. I was by myself, and she shot one of my horses just as I was
+gaining on her. If I see her again I shan't miss my chance. The Emperor
+has put twenty thousand roubles on her head.
+
+ALEX. I hope you will get it, General; but meanwhile you are frightening
+these honest people out of their wits, and disturbing the tragedy. Good
+night, General.
+
+GEN. Yes; but I should like to see their faces, your Highness.
+
+ALEX. No, General; you must not ask that; you know how these gipsies
+hate to be stared at.
+
+GEN. Yes. But, your Highness--
+
+ALEX. (_haughtily_). General, they are my friends, that is enough. And,
+General, not a word of this little adventure here, you understand. I
+shall rely on you.
+
+GEN. I shall not forget, Prince. But shall we not see you back to the
+palace? The State ball is almost over and you are expected.
+
+ALEX. I shall be there; but I shall return alone. Remember, not a word
+about my strolling players.
+
+GEN. Or your pretty gipsy, eh, Prince? your pretty gipsy! I' faith, I
+should like to see her before I go; she has such fine eyes through her
+mask. Well, good night, your Highness; good night.
+
+ALEX. Good night, General.
+
+(_Exit GENERAL and the soldiers._)
+
+VERA (_throwing off her mask_). Saved! and by you!
+
+ALEX. (_clasping her hand_). Brothers, you trust me now?
+
+
+TABLEAU.
+
+
+END OF ACT I.
+
+
+
+
+ACT II.
+
+SCENE.--_Council Chamber in the Emperor's Palace, hung with yellow
+tapestry. Table, with chair of State, set for the Czar; window behind,
+opening on to a balcony. As the scene progresses the light outside gets
+darker._
+
+_Present._--PRINCE PAUL MARALOFFSKI, PRINCE PETROVITCH, COUNT ROUVALOFF,
+BARON RAFF, COUNT PETOUCHOF.
+
+
+PRINCE PETRO. So our young scatter-brained Czarevitch has been forgiven
+at last, and is to take his seat here again.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. Yes; if that is not meant as an extra punishment. For my
+own part, at least, I find these Cabinet Councils extremely exhausting.
+
+PRINCE PETRO. Naturally; you are always speaking.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. No; I think it must be that I have to listen sometimes.
+
+COUNT R. Still, anything is better than being kept in a sort of prison,
+like he was--never allowed to go out into the world.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. My dear Count, for romantic young people like he is, the
+world always looks best at a distance; and a prison where one's allowed
+to order one's own dinner is not at all a bad place. (_Enter the
+CZAREVITCH. The courtiers rise._) Ah! good afternoon, Prince. Your
+Highness is looking a little pale to-day.
+
+CZARE. (_slowly, after a pause_). I want change of air.
+
+PRINCE PAUL (_smiling_). A most revolutionary sentiment! Your Imperial
+father would highly disapprove of any reforms with the thermometer in
+Russia.
+
+CZARE. (_bitterly_). My Imperial father had kept me for six months in
+this dungeon of a palace. This morning he has me suddenly woke up to see
+some wretched Nihilists hung; it sickened me, the bloody butchery,
+though it was a noble thing to see how well these men can die.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. When you are as old as I am, Prince, you will understand
+that there are few things easier than to live badly and to die well.
+
+CZARE. Easy to die well! A lesson experience cannot have taught you,
+whatever you may know of a bad life.
+
+PRINCE PAUL (_shrugging his shoulders_). Experience, the name men give
+to their mistakes. I never commit any.
+
+CZARE. (_bitterly_). No; crimes are more in your line.
+
+PRINCE PETRO. (_to the CZAREVITCH_). The Emperor was a good deal
+agitated about your late appearance at the ball last night, Prince.
+
+[1]COUNT R. (_laughing_). I believe he thought the Nihilists had broken
+into the palace and carried you off.
+
+BARON RAFF. If they had you would have missed a charming dance.[1]
+
+PRINCE PAUL. And[2] an excellent supper. Gringoire really excelled
+himself in his salad. Ah! you may laugh, Baron; but to make a good salad
+is a much more difficult thing than cooking accounts. To make a good
+salad is to be a brilliant diplomatist--the problem is so entirely the
+same in both cases. To know exactly how much oil one must put with one's
+vinegar.
+
+BARON RAFF. A cook and a diplomatist! an excellent parallel. If I had a
+son who was a fool I'd make him one or the other.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. I see your father did not hold the same opinion, Baron.
+But, believe me, you are wrong to run down cookery. For myself, the only
+immortality I desire is to invent a new sauce. I have never had time
+enough to think seriously about it, but I feel it is in me, I feel it is
+in me.
+
+CZARE. You have certainly missed your _metier_,[3] Prince Paul; the
+_cordon bleu_ would have suited you much better than the Grand Cross of
+Honour. But you know you could never have worn your white apron well;
+you would have soiled it too soon, your hands are not clean enough.
+
+PRINCE PAUL (_bowing_). Que voulez vous? I manage your father's
+business.
+
+CZARE. (_bitterly_). You mismanage my father's business, you mean! Evil
+genius of his life that you are! before you came there was some love
+left in him. It is you who have embittered his nature, poured into his
+ear the poison of treacherous counsel, made him hated by the whole
+people, made him what he is--a tyrant!
+
+(_The courtiers look significantly at each other._)
+
+PRINCE PAUL (_calmly_). I see your Highness does want change of air. But
+I have been an eldest son myself. (_Lights a cigarette._) I know what it
+is when a father won't die to please one.
+
+(_The CZAREVITCH goes to the top of the stage, and leans against the
+window, looking out._)
+
+PRINCE PETRO. (_to BARON RAFF_). Foolish boy! [4]He will be sent into
+exile, or worse, if he is not careful.[4]
+
+BARON RAFF. Yes.[5] What a mistake it is to be sincere!
+
+PRINCE PETRO. The only folly you have never committed, Baron.
+
+BARON RAFF. One has only one head, you know, Prince.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. My dear Baron, your head is the last thing any one would
+wish to take from you. (_Pulls out snuffbox and offers it to PRINCE
+PETROVITCH._)
+
+PRINCE PETRO. Thanks, Prince! Thanks!
+
+PRINCE PAUL. Very delicate, isn't it? I get it direct from Paris. But
+under this vulgar Republic everything has degenerated over there.
+"Cotelettes à l'impériale" vanished, of course, with the Bourbon, and
+omelettes went out with the Orleanists. La belle France is entirely
+ruined, Prince, through bad morals and worse cookery. (_Enter the
+MARQUIS DE POIVRARD._) Ah! Marquis. I trust Madame la Marquise is well.
+
+MARQUIS DE P. You ought to know better than I do, Prince Paul; you see
+more _of_ her.
+
+PRINCE PAUL (_bowing_). Perhaps I see more _in_ her, Marquis. Your wife
+is really a charming woman, so full of _esprit_, and so satirical too;
+she talks continually of you when we are together.
+
+PRINCE PETRO. (_looking at the clock_). His Majesty is a little late
+to-day, is he not?
+
+PRINCE PAUL. What has happened to you, my dear Petrovitch? you seem
+quite out of sorts. You haven't quarrelled with your cook, I hope? What
+a tragedy that would be for you; you would lose all your friends.
+
+PRINCE PETRO. I fear I wouldn't be so fortunate as that. You forget I
+would still have my purse.[6] But you are wrong for once; my chef and I
+are on excellent[7] terms.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. Then your creditors or Mademoiselle Vera Sabouroff have
+been writing to you? I find both of them such excellent correspondents.
+But really you needn't be alarmed. I find the most violent proclamations
+from the Executive Committee, as they call it, left all over my house. I
+never read them; they are so badly spelt as a rule.
+
+PRINCE PETRO. Wrong again, Prince; the Nihilists leave me alone for some
+reason or other.
+
+PRINCE PAUL (_aside_). Ah! true. I forgot. Indifference is the revenge
+the world takes on mediocrities.
+
+PRINCE PETRO. I am bored with life,[8] Prince. Since the opera season
+ended I have been a perpetual martyr to ennui.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. The maladie du siècle! You want a new excitement, Prince.
+Let me see--you have been married twice already; suppose you
+try--falling in love, for once.
+
+BARON R. Prince, I have been thinking a good deal lately--
+
+PRINCE PAUL (_interrupting_). You surprise me very much, Baron.
+
+BARON R. I cannot understand your nature.
+
+PRINCE PAUL (_smiling_). If my nature had been made to suit your
+comprehension rather than my own requirements, I am afraid I would have
+made a very poor figure in the world.
+
+COUNT R. There seems to be nothing in life about which you would not
+jest.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. Ah! my dear Count, life is much too important a thing ever
+to talk seriously about it.
+
+CZARE. (_coming back from the window_). I don't think Prince Paul's
+nature is such a mystery. He would stab his best friend for the sake of
+writing an epigram on his tombstone, or experiencing a new sensation.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. Parbleu! I would sooner lose my best friend than my worst
+enemy. To have friends, you know, one need only be good-natured; but
+when a man has no enemy left there must be something mean about him.
+
+CZARE. (_bitterly_). If to have enemies is a measure of greatness, then
+you must be a Colossus, indeed, Prince.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. Yes, I know I'm the most hated man in Russia, except your
+father, [9]except your father, of course,[9] Prince. He doesn't seem to
+like it much, by the way, but I do, I assure you. (_Bitterly._) I love
+to drive through the streets and see how the canaille scowl at me from
+every corner. It makes me feel I am a power in Russia; one man against a
+hundred millions! Besides, I have no ambition to be a popular hero, to
+be crowned with laurels one year and pelted with stones the next; I
+prefer dying peaceably in my own bed.
+
+CZARE. And after death?
+
+PRINCE PAUL (_shrugging his shoulders_). Heaven is a despotism. I shall
+be at home there.
+
+CZARE. Do you never think of the people and their rights?
+
+PRINCE PAUL. The people and their rights bore me. I am sick of both. In
+these modern days to be vulgar, illiterate, common and vicious, seems to
+give a man a marvellous infinity of rights that his honest fathers never
+dreamed of. Believe me, Prince, in good democracy every man should be an
+aristocrat; but these people in Russia who seek to thrust us out are no
+better than the animals in one's preserves, and made to be shot at, most
+of them.
+
+CZARE. (_excitedly_). If they are[10] common, illiterate, vulgar, no
+better than the beasts of the field, who made them so?
+
+(_Enter AIDE-DE-CAMP._)
+
+AIDE-DE-CAMP. His Imperial Majesty, the Emperor! (_PRINCE PAUL looks at
+the CZAREVITCH, and smiles._)
+
+(_Enter the CZAR, surrounded by his guard._)
+
+CZARE. (_rushing forward to meet him_). Sire!
+
+CZAR (_nervous and frightened_). Don't come too near me, boy! Don't come
+too near me, I say! There is always something about an heir to a crown
+unwholesome to his father. Who is that man over there? I don't know him.
+What is he doing? Is he a conspirator? Have you searched him? Give him
+till to-morrow to confess, then hang him!--hang him!
+
+PRINCE PAUL. Sire, you are anticipating history. This is Count
+Petouchof, your new ambassador to Berlin. He is come to kiss hands on
+his appointment.
+
+CZAR. To kiss my hand? There is some plot in it. He wants to poison me.
+There, kiss my son's hand; it will do quite as well.
+
+(_PRINCE PAUL signs to COUNT PETOUCHOF to leave the room. Exit PETOUCHOF
+and the guards. CZAR sinks down into his chair. The courtiers remain
+silent._)
+
+PRINCE PAUL (_approaching_). Sire! will your Majesty--
+
+CZAR. What do you startle me like that for? No, I won't. (_Watches the
+courtiers nervously._) Why are you clattering your sword, sir? (_To
+COUNT ROUVALOFF._) Take it off, I shall have no man wear a sword in my
+presence (_looking at CZAREVITCH_), least of all my son. (_To PRINCE
+PAUL._) You are not angry with me, Prince? You won't desert me, will
+you? Say you won't desert me. What do you want? You can have
+anything--anything.
+
+PRINCE PAUL (_bowing very low_). Sire, 'tis enough for me to have your
+confidence. (_Aside._) I was afraid he was going to revenge himself and
+give me another decoration.
+
+CZAR (_returning to his chair_). Well, gentlemen.
+
+MARQ. DE POIV. Sire, I have the honour to present to you a loyal address
+from your subjects in the Province of Archangel, expressing their horror
+at the last attempt on your Majesty's life.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. The last attempt but two, you ought to have said, Marquis.
+Don't you see it is dated three weeks back?
+
+CZAR. They are good people in the Province of Archangel--honest, loyal
+people. They love me very much--simple, loyal people; give them a new
+saint, it costs nothing. Well, Alexis (_turning to the CZAREVITCH_)--how
+many traitors were hung this morning?
+
+CZARE. There were three men strangled, Sire.
+
+CZAR. There should have been three[11] thousand. I would to God that
+this people had but one neck that I might strangle them with one noose!
+Did they tell anything? whom did they implicate? what did they confess?
+
+CZARE. Nothing, Sire.
+
+CZAR. They should have been tortured then; why weren't they tortured?
+Must I always be fighting in the dark? Am I never to know from what root
+these traitors spring?
+
+CZARE. What root should there be of discontent among the people but
+tyranny and injustice amongst their rulers?
+
+CZAR. What did you say, boy? tyranny! tyranny! Am I a tyrant? I'm not. I
+love the people. I'm their father. I'm called so in every official
+proclamation. Have a care, boy; have a care. You don't seem to be cured
+yet of your foolish tongue. (_Goes over to PRINCE PAUL, and puts his
+hand on his shoulder._) Prince Paul, tell me were there many people
+there this morning to see the Nihilists hung?
+
+PRINCE PAUL. Hanging is of course a good deal less of a novelty in
+Russia now, Sire, than it was three or four years ago; and you know how
+easily the people get tired even of their best amusements. But the
+square and the tops of the houses were really quite crowded, were they
+not, Prince? (_To the CZAREVITCH who takes no notice._)
+
+CZAR. That's right; all loyal citizens should be there. It shows them
+what to look forward to. Did you arrest any one in the crowd?
+
+PRINCE PAUL. Yes, Sire, a woman for cursing your name. (_The CZAREVITCH
+starts anxiously._) She was the mother of the two criminals.
+
+CZAR (_looking at CZAREVITCH_). She should have blessed me for having
+rid her of her children. Send her to prison.
+
+CZARE. The prisons of Russia are too full already, Sire. There is no
+room in them for any more victims.
+
+[12]CZAR. They don't die fast enough, then. You should put more of them
+into one cell at once. You don't keep them long enough in the mines. If
+you do they're sure to die; but you're all too merciful. I'm too
+merciful myself. Send her to Siberia.[12] She is sure to die on the way.
+(_Enter an AIDE-DE-CAMP._) Who's that? Who's that?
+
+AIDE-DE-CAMP. A letter for his Imperial Majesty.
+
+CZAR (_to PRINCE PAUL_). I won't open it. There may be something in it.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. It would be a very disappointing letter, Sire, if there
+wasn't. (_Takes letter himself, and reads it._)
+
+PRINCE PETRO. (_to COUNT ROUVALOFF_). It must be some sad news. I know
+that smile too well.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. From the Chief of the Police at Archangel, Sire. "The
+Governor of the province was shot this morning by a woman as he was
+entering the courtyard of his own house. The assassin has been seized."
+
+CZAR. I never trusted the people of Archangel. It's a nest of Nihilists
+and conspirators. Take away their saints; they don't deserve them.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. Your Highness would punish them more severely by giving
+them an extra one. Three governors shot in two months. (_Smiles to
+himself._) Sire, permit me to recommend your loyal subject, the Marquis
+de Poivrard, as the new governor of your Province of Archangel.
+
+MARQ. DE POIV. (_hurriedly_). Sire, I am unfit for this post.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. Marquis, you are too modest. Believe me, there is no man
+in Russia I would sooner see Governor of Archangel than yourself.
+(_Whispers to CZAR._)
+
+CZAR. Quite right, Prince Paul; you are always right. See that the
+Marquis's letters are made out at once.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. He can start to-night, Sire. I shall really miss you very
+much, Marquis. I always liked your taste in wines and wives extremely.
+
+MARQ. DE POIV. (_to the CZAR_). Start to-night, Sire? (_PRINCE PAUL
+whispers to the CZAR._)
+
+CZAR. Yes, Marquis, to-night; it is better to go at once.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. I shall see that Madame la Marquise is not too lonely while
+you are away; so you need not be alarmed for her.
+
+COUNT R. (_to PRINCE PETROVITCH_). I should be more alarmed for myself.
+
+CZAR. The Governor of Archangel shot in his own courtyard by a woman!
+I'm not safe here. I'm not safe anywhere, with that she devil of the
+revolution, Vera Sabouroff, here in Moscow. Prince Paul, is that woman
+still here?
+
+PRINCE PAUL. They tell me she was at the Grand Duke's ball last night. I
+can hardly believe that; but she certainly had intended to leave for
+Novgorod to-day, Sire. The police were watching every train for her;
+but, for some reason or other, she did not go. Some traitor must have
+warned her. But I shall catch her yet. A chase after a beautiful woman
+is always exciting.
+
+CZAR. You must hunt her down with bloodhounds, and when she is taken I
+shall hew her limb from limb. I shall stretch her on the rack till her
+pale white body is twisted and curled like paper in the fire.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. Oh, we shall have another hunt immediately for her, Sire!
+Prince Alexis will assist us, I am sure.
+
+CZARE. You never require any assistance to ruin a woman, Prince Paul.
+
+CZAR. Vera, the Nihilist, in Moscow! O God,[13] were it not better to
+die at once the dog's death they plot for me than to live as I live now!
+Never to sleep, or, if I do, to dream such horrid dreams that Hell
+itself were peace when matched with them. To trust none but those I have
+bought, to buy none worth trusting! To see a traitor in every smile,
+poison in every dish, a dagger in every hand! To lie awake at night,
+listening from hour to hour for the stealthy creeping of the murderer,
+for the laying of the damned mine! You are all spies! you are all spies!
+You worst of all--you, my own son! Which of you is it who hides these
+bloody proclamations under my own pillow, or at the table where I sit?
+Which of ye all is the Judas who betrays me? O God! O God! methinks
+there was a time once, in our war with England, when nothing could make
+me afraid. (_This with more calm and pathos._) I have ridden into the
+crimson heart of war, and borne back an eagle which those wild islanders
+had taken from us. Men said I was brave then. My father gave me the Iron
+Cross of valour. Oh, could he see me now with this coward's livery ever
+in my cheek! (_Sinks into his chair._) I never knew any love when I was
+a boy. I was ruled by terror myself, how else should I rule now?
+(_Starts up._) But I will have revenge; I will have revenge. For every
+hour I have lain awake at night, waiting for the noose or the dagger,
+they shall pass years in Siberia, centuries in the mines! Ay! I shall
+have revenge.
+
+CZARE. Father! have mercy on the people. Give them what they ask.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. And begin, Sire, with your own head; they have a particular
+liking for that.
+
+CZAR. The people! the people! A tiger which I have let loose upon
+myself; but I will fight with it to the death. [14]I am done with half
+measures.[14] I shall crush these Nihilists at a blow. There shall not
+be a man of them, ay, or a woman either, left alive in Russia. [15]Am I
+Emperor for[15] nothing, that a woman should hold me at bay? Vera
+Sabouroff shall be in my power, I swear it, before a week is ended,
+[16]though I burn my whole city to find her.[16] She shall be flogged by
+the knout, stifled in the fortress, strangled in the square!
+
+CZARE. O God!
+
+CZAR. For two years her hands have been clutching at my throat; for two
+years she has made my life a hell; but I shall have revenge. Martial
+law, Prince, martial law over the whole Empire; that will give me
+revenge. A good measure, Prince, eh? a good measure.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. And an economical one too, Sire. It would carry off your
+surplus population in six months, and save you many expenses in courts
+of justice; they will not be needed now.
+
+CZAR. Quite right. There are too many people in Russia, too much money
+spent on them, too much money in courts of justice. I'll shut them up.
+
+CZARE. Sire, reflect before--
+
+CZAR. When can you have the proclamations ready, Prince Paul?
+
+PRINCE PAUL. They have been printed for the last six months, Sire. I
+knew you would need them.
+
+CZAR. That's good! That's very good! Let us begin at once. Ah, Prince,
+if every king in Europe had a minister like you--
+
+CZARE. There would be less kings in Europe than there are.
+
+CZAR (_in frightened whisper, to PRINCE PAUL_). What does he mean? Do
+you trust him? His prison hasn't cured him yet. Shall I banish him?
+Shall I (_whispers_)...? The Emperor Paul did it. The Empress Catherine
+there[17] (_points to picture on the wall_) did it. Why shouldn't I?
+
+PRINCE PAUL. Your Majesty, there is no need for alarm. The Prince is a
+very ingenuous young man. He pretends to be devoted to the people, and
+lives in a palace; preaches socialism, and draws a salary that would
+support a province. He'll find out one day that the best cure for
+Republicanism is the Imperial crown, and will cut up the "bonnet rogue"
+of Democracy to make decorations for his Prime Minister.
+
+CZAR. You are right. If he really loved the people, he could not be my
+son.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. If he lived with the people for a fortnight, their bad
+dinners would soon cure him of his democracy. Shall we begin, Sire?
+
+CZAR. At once. Read the proclamation. Gentlemen, be seated. Alexis,
+Alexis, I say, come and hear it! It will be good practice for you; you
+will be doing it yourself some day.
+
+CZARE. I have heard too much of it already. (_Takes his seat at the
+table. COUNT ROUVALOFF whispers to him._)
+
+CZAR. What are you whispering about there, Count Rouvaloff?
+
+COUNT R. I was giving his Royal Highness some good advice, your Majesty.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. Count Rouvaloff is the typical spendthrift, Sire; he is
+always giving away what he needs most. (_Lays papers before the CZAR._)
+I think, Sire, you will approve of this:--"Love of the people," "Father
+of his people," "Martial law," and the usual allusions to Providence in
+the last line. All it requires now is your Imperial Majesty's signature.
+
+CZARE. Sire!
+
+PRINCE PAUL (_hurriedly_). I promise your Majesty to crush every
+Nihilist in Russia in six months if you sign this proclamation; every
+Nihilist in Russia.
+
+CZAR. Say that again! To crush every Nihilist in Russia; to crush this
+woman, their leader, who makes war upon me in my own city. Prince Paul
+Maraloffski, I create you Marechale of the whole Russian Empire to help
+you to carry out martial law.
+
+CZAR. Give me the proclamation. I will sign it at once.
+
+PRINCE PAUL (_points on paper_). Here, Sire.
+
+CZARE. (_starts up and puts his hands on the paper_). Stay! I tell you,
+stay! The priests have taken heaven from the people, and you would take
+the earth away too.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. We have no time, Prince, now. This boy will ruin
+everything. The pen, Sire.
+
+CZARE. What! is it so small a thing to strangle a nation, to murder a
+kingdom, to wreck an empire? Who are we who dare lay this ban of terror
+on a people? Have we less vices than they have, that we bring them to
+the bar of judgment before us?
+
+PRINCE PAUL. What a Communist the Prince is! He would have an equal
+distribution of sin as well as of property.
+
+CZARE. Warmed by the same sun, nurtured by the same air, fashioned of
+flesh and blood like to our own, wherein are they different to us, save
+that they starve while we surfeit, that they toil while we idle, that
+they sicken while we poison, that they die while we strangle?
+
+CZAR. How dare--?
+
+CZARE. I dare all for the people; but you would rob them of common
+rights of common men.
+
+CZAR. The people have no rights.
+
+CZARE. Then they have great wrongs. Father, they have won your battles
+for you; from the pine forests of the Baltic to the palms of India they
+have ridden on victory's mighty wings in search of your glory! Boy as I
+am in years, I have seen wave after wave of living men sweep up the
+heights of battle to their death; ay, and snatch perilous conquest from
+the scales of war when the bloody crescent seemed to shake above our
+eagles.
+
+CZAR (_somewhat moved_). Those men are dead. What have I to do with
+them?
+
+CZARE. Nothing! The dead are safe; you[18] cannot harm them now. They
+sleep their last long sleep. Some in Turkish waters, others by the
+windswept heights of Norway and the Dane! But these, the living, our
+brothers, what have you done for them? They asked you for bread, you
+gave them a stone. They sought for freedom, you scourged them with
+scorpions. You have sown the seeds of this revolution yourself!--
+
+PRINCE PAUL. And are we not cutting down the harvest?
+
+CZARE. Oh, my brothers! better far that ye had died in the iron hail and
+screaming shell of battle than to come back to such a doom as[19] this!
+The beasts of the forests have their lairs, and the wild beasts their
+caverns, but the people of Russia, conquerors of the world, have not
+where to lay their heads.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. They have the headsman's block.
+
+CZARE. The headsman's block! Ay! you have killed their souls at your
+pleasure, you would kill their bodies now.
+
+CZAR. Insolent boy! Have you forgotten who is Emperor of Russia?
+
+CZARE. No! The people reign now, by the grace of God.[20] You should
+have been their shepherd; you have fled away like the hireling, and let
+the wolves in upon them.
+
+CZAR. Take him away! Take him away, Prince Paul!
+
+CZARE. God hath given this people tongues to speak with; you would cut
+them out that they may be dumb in their agony, silent in their torture!
+But God hath given them hands to smite with, and they shall smite! Ay!
+from the sick and labouring womb of this unhappy land some revolution,
+like a bloody child, shall[21] rise up and slay you.
+
+CZAR (_leaping up_). Devil! Assassin! Why do you beard me thus to my
+face?
+
+CZARE. Because I[22] am a Nihilist! (_The ministers start to their feet;
+there is dead silence for a few minutes._)
+
+CZAR. A Nihilist! a Nihilist! Scorpion whom I have nurtured, traitor
+whom I have fondled, is this your bloody secret? Prince Paul
+Maraloffski, Marechale of the Russian Empire, arrest the Czarevitch!
+
+MINISTERS. Arrest the Czarevitch!
+
+CZAR. A Nihilist! If you have sown with them, you shall reap with them!
+If you have talked with them, you shall rot with them! If you have lived
+with them, with them you shall die!
+
+PRINCE PETRO. Die!
+
+CZAR. A plague on all sons, I say! There should be no more marriages in
+Russia when one can breed such vipers as you are! Arrest the Czarevitch,
+I say!
+
+PRINCE PAUL. Czarevitch! by order of the Emperor, I demand your sword.
+(_CZAREVITCH gives up sword; PRINCE PAUL places it on the table._)
+Foolish boy! you are not made for a conspirator; you have not learned to
+hold your tongue. Heroics are out of place in a palace.
+
+CZAR (_sinks into his chair with his eyes fixed on the CZAREVITCH_). O
+God!
+
+CZARE. If I am to die for the people, I am ready; one Nihilist more or
+less in Russia, what does that matter?
+
+PRINCE PAUL (_aside_). A good deal I should say to the one Nihilist.
+
+[23]CZARE. The mighty brotherhood to which I belong has a thousand such
+as I am, ten thousand better still! (_The CZAR starts in his seat._) The
+star of freedom is risen already, and far off I hear the mighty wave
+democracy break on these cursed shores.[23]
+
+PRINCE PAUL (_to PRINCE PETROVITCH_). In that case you and I had better
+learn how to swim.
+
+CZARE. Father, Emperor, Imperial Master, I plead not for my own life,
+but for the lives of my brothers, the people.
+
+PRINCE PAUL (_bitterly_). Your brothers, the people, Prince, are not
+content with their own lives, they always want to take their neighbour's
+too.
+
+CZAR (_standing up_). I am sick of being afraid. I have done with terror
+now. From this day I proclaim war against the people--war to their
+annihilation. As they have dealt with me, so shall I deal with them. I
+shall grind them to powder, and strew their dust upon the air. There
+shall be a spy in every man's house, a traitor on every hearth, a
+hangman in every village, a gibbet in every square. Plague, leprosy, or
+fever shall be less deadly than my wrath; I will make every frontier a
+grave-yard, every province a lazar-house, and cure the sick by the
+sword. I shall have peace in Russia, though it be the peace of the dead.
+Who said I was a coward? Who said I was afraid? See, thus shall I crush
+this people beneath my feet! (_Takes up sword of CZAREVITCH off table
+and tramples on it._)
+
+CZARE. Father, beware, the sword you tread on may turn and wound you.
+The people suffer long, but vengeance comes at last, vengeance with red
+hands and bloody purpose.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. Bah! the people are bad shots; they always miss one.
+
+CZARE. There are times when the people are instruments of God.
+
+CZAR. Ay! and when kings are God's scourges for the people. Oh, my own
+son, in my own house! My own flesh and blood against me! Take him away!
+Take him away! Bring in my guards. (_Enter the Imperial Guard. CZAR
+points to CZAREVITCH, who stands alone at the side of the stage._) To
+the blackest prison in Moscow! Let me never see his face again.
+(_CZAREVITCH is being led out._) No, no, leave him! I don't trust
+guards. They are all Nihilists! They would let him escape and he would
+kill me, kill me! No, I'll bring him to prison myself, you and I (_to
+PRINCE PAUL_). I trust you, you have no mercy. I shall have no mercy.
+Oh, my own son against me! How hot it is! The air stifles me! I feel as
+if I were going to faint, as if something were at my throat. Open the
+windows, I say! Out of my sight! Out of my sight! I can't bear his eyes.
+Wait, wait for me. (_Throws window open and goes out on balcony._)
+
+PRINCE PAUL (_looking at his watch_). The dinner is sure to be spoiled.
+How annoying politics are and eldest sons!
+
+VOICE (_outside, in the street_). God save the people! (_CZAR is shot,
+and staggers back into the room._)
+
+CZARE. (_breaking from the guards, and rushing over_). Father!
+
+CZAR. Murderer! Murderer! You did it! Murderer! (_Dies._)
+
+
+TABLEAU.
+
+
+END OF ACT II.
+
+
+
+
+ACT III.
+
+_Same scene and business as Act I. Man in yellow dress, with drawn
+sword, at the door._
+
+
+_Password outside._ Væ tyrannis.
+
+_Answer._ Væ victis (_repeated three times_).
+
+(_Enter CONSPIRATORS, who form a semicircle, masked and cloaked._)
+
+PRESIDENT. What hour is it?
+
+FIRST CONSP. The hour to strike.
+
+PRES. What day?
+
+SECOND CONSP. The day of Marat.[1]
+
+PRES. In what month?
+
+SECOND CONSP. The month of liberty.
+
+PRES. What is our duty?
+
+FOURTH CONSP. To obey.
+
+PRES. Our creed?
+
+FIFTH CONSP. Parbleu, Mons. le President, I never knew you had one.
+
+CONSPS. A spy! A spy! Unmask! Unmask! A spy!
+
+PRES. [2]Let the doors be shut. There are others but Nihilists
+present.[2]
+
+CONSPS. Unmask! Unmask! [3]Kill him! kill him![3] (_Masked CONSPIRATOR
+unmasks._) Prince Paul!
+
+VERA. Devil! Who lured you into the lion's den?
+
+CONSPS. Kill him! kill him![4]
+
+PRINCE PAUL. En vérité, Messieurs, you are not over-hospitable in your
+welcome.
+
+VERA. Welcome! What welcome should we give you but the dagger or the
+noose?
+
+PRINCE PAUL. I had no idea, really, that the Nihilists were so
+exclusive. Let me assure you that if I had not always had an _entree_
+to the very best society, and the very worst conspiracies, I could never
+have been Prime Minister in Russia.
+
+VERA. The tiger cannot change its nature, nor the snake lose its venom;
+but are you turned a lover of the people?
+
+PRINCE PAUL. Mon Dieu, non, Mademoiselle! I would much sooner talk
+scandal in a drawing-room than treason in a cellar. Besides, I hate the
+common mob, who smell of garlic, smoke bad tobacco, get up early, and
+dine off one dish.
+
+PRES. What have you to gain, then, by a revolution?
+
+PRINCE PAUL. Mon ami, I have nothing left to lose. That scatter-brained
+boy, this new Czar, has banished me.
+
+VERA. To Siberia?
+
+PRINCE PAUL. No, to Paris. He has confiscated my estates, robbed me of
+my office and my cook. I have nothing left but my decorations. I am here
+for revenge.[5]
+
+PRES. Then you have a right to be one of us. [5]We also meet daily for
+revenge.[5]
+
+PRINCE PAUL. You want money, of course. No one ever joins a conspiracy
+who has any. Here. (_Throws money on table._) You have so many spies
+that I should think you want information. Well, you will find me the
+best informed man in Russia on the abuses of our Government. I made them
+nearly all myself.
+
+VERA. President, I don't trust this man. He has done us too much harm in
+Russia to let him go in safety.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. Believe me, Mademoiselle, you are wrong; I will be a most
+valuable addition to your circle; as for you, gentlemen, if I had not
+thought that you would be useful to me I shouldn't have risked my neck
+among you, or dined an hour earlier than usual so as to be in time.
+
+PRES. Ay, if he had wanted to spy on us, Vera, he wouldn't have come
+himself.
+
+PRINCE PAUL (_aside_). No; I should have sent my best friend.
+
+PRES. Besides, Vera, he is just the man to give us the information we
+want about some business we have in hand to-night.
+
+VERA. Be it so if you wish it.
+
+PRES. Brothers, is it your will that Prince Paul Maraloffski be
+admitted, and take the oath of the Nihilist?
+
+CONSPS. It is! it is!
+
+PRES. (_holding out dagger and a paper_). Prince Paul, the dagger or the
+oath?
+
+PRINCE PAUL (_smiles sardonically_). I would sooner annihilate than be
+annihilated. (_Takes paper._)
+
+PRES. Remember: [6]Betray us, and as long as the earth holds poison or
+steel, as long as men can strike or woman betray, you shall not escape
+vengeance.[6] The Nihilists never forget their friends, or forgive their
+enemies.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. Really? I did not think you were so civilized.
+
+VERA (_pacing up and down_). Why is he not here? He will not keep the
+crown. I know him well.
+
+PRES. Sign. (_PRINCE PAUL signs_.) You said you thought we had no creed.
+You were wrong. Read it!
+
+VERA. This is a dangerous thing, President. What can we do with this
+man?
+
+PRES. We can use him.
+
+VERA. And afterwards?
+
+PRES. (_shrugging his shoulders_). Strangle him.
+
+PRINCE PAUL (_reading_). "The rights of humanity!" In the old times men
+carried out their rights for themselves as they lived, but nowadays
+every baby seems born with a social manifesto in its mouth much bigger
+than itself.[7] "Nature is not a temple, but a workshop: we demand the
+right to labour." Ah, I shall surrender my own rights in that respect.
+
+VERA (_pacing up and down behind_). Oh, will he never come? will he
+never come?
+
+PRINCE PAUL. "The family as subversive of true socialistic and communal
+unity is to be annihilated." Yes, President, I agree completely with
+Article 5. A family is a terrible incumbrance, especially when one is
+not married. (_Three knocks at the door._)
+
+VERA. Alexis at last!
+
+_Password._ Væ tyrannis!
+
+_Answer._ Væ victis!
+
+(_Enter MICHAEL STROGANOFF._)
+
+PRES.[8] Michael, the regicide! Brothers, let us do honour to a man who
+has killed a king.
+
+[9]VERA (_aside_). Oh, he will come yet.[9]
+
+PRES. Michael, you have saved Russia.
+
+MICH. Ay, Russia was free for a moment [10]when the tyrant fell, but the
+sun of liberty has set again like that false dawn which cheats our eyes
+in autumn.
+
+PRES. The dread night of tyranny is not yet past for Russia.
+
+MICH. (_clutching his knife_).[10] One more blow, and the end is come
+indeed.
+
+VERA (_aside_). One more blow! What does he mean? Oh, impossible! but
+why is he not with us? Alexis! Alexis! why are you not here?
+
+PRES. But how did you escape, Michael? They said you had been seized.
+
+MICH. I was dressed in the uniform of the Imperial Guard. The Colonel on
+duty was a brother, and gave me the password. I drove through the troops
+in safety with it, and, thanks to my good horse, reached the walls
+before the gates were closed.
+
+PRES. What a chance his coming out on the balcony was!
+
+MICH. A chance? There is no such thing as chance. It was God's finger
+led him there.
+
+PRES. And where have you been these three days?
+
+MICH. Hiding in the house of the priest Nicholas at the cross-roads.
+
+PRES. Nicholas is an honest man.
+
+MICH. Ay, honest enough for a priest. I am here now for vengeance on a
+traitor!
+
+VERA (_aside_). O God, will he never come? Alexis! why are you not here?
+You cannot have turned traitor!
+
+MICH. (_seeing PRINCE PAUL_). Prince Paul Maraloffski here! By St.
+George, a lucky capture! This must have been Vera's doing. She is the
+only one who could have lured that serpent into the trap.
+
+PRES. Prince Paul has just taken the oath.
+
+VERA. Alexis, the Czar, has banished him from Russia.
+
+MICH. Bah! A blind to cheat us. We will keep Prince Paul here, [11]and
+find some office for him in our reign of terror.[11] He is well
+accustomed by this time to bloody work.
+
+PRINCE PAUL (_approaching MICHAEL_). That was a long shot of yours, mon
+camarade.
+
+MICH. I have had a good deal of practice shooting, since I have been a
+boy, off your Highness's wild boars.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. Are my gamekeepers like moles, then, always asleep?
+
+MICH. No, Prince. I am one of them; but, like you, I am fond of robbing
+what I am put to watch.
+
+PRES. This must be a new atmosphere for you, Prince Paul. We speak the
+truth to one another here.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. How misleading you must find it. You have an odd medley
+here, President--a little rococo, I am afraid.
+
+PRES. You recognise a good many friends, I dare say?
+
+PRINCE PAUL. Yes, there is always more brass than brains in an
+aristocracy.
+
+PRES. But you are here yourself?
+
+PRINCE PAUL. I? As I cannot be Prime Minister, I must be a Nihilist.
+There is no alternative.
+
+VERA. O God, will he never come? The hand is on the stroke of the hour.
+Will he never come?
+
+MICH. (_aside_). President, you know what we have to do? 'Tis but a
+sorry hunter who leaves the wolf cub alive to avenge his father. How are
+we to get at this boy? It must be to-night. To-morrow he will be
+throwing some sop of reform to the people, and it will be too late for a
+Republic.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. You are quite right. Good kings are the enemies of
+Democracy, and when he has begun by banishing me you may be sure he
+intends to be a patriot.
+
+MICH. I am sick of patriot kings; [12]what Russia needs is a
+Republic.[12]
+
+PRINCE PAUL. Messieurs, I have brought you two documents which I think
+will interest you--the proclamation this young Czar intends publishing
+to-morrow, and a plan of the Winter Palace, where he sleeps to-night.
+(_Hands paper._)
+
+VERA. [13]I dare not ask them what they are plotting about.[13] Oh, why
+is Alexis not here?
+
+PRES. Prince, this is most valuable information. Michael, you were
+right. If it is not to-night it will be too late. Read that.
+
+MICH. Ah! A loaf of bread flung to a starving nation. [14]A lie to cheat
+the people.[14] (_Tears it up._) It must be to-night. I do not believe
+in him. Would he have kept his crown had he loved the people? But how
+are we to get at him?
+
+PRINCE PAUL. The key of the private door in the street. (_Hands key._)
+
+PRES. Prince, we are in your debt.
+
+PRINCE PAUL (_smiling_). The normal condition of the Nihilists.
+
+MICH. Ay, but we are paying our debts off with interest now. Two
+Emperors in one week. That will make the balance straight. We would have
+thrown in a Prime Minister if you had not come.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. Ah, I am sorry you told me. It robs my visit of all its
+picturesqueness and adventure. I thought I was perilling my head by
+coming here, and you tell me I have saved it. One is sure to be
+disappointed if one tries to get romance out of modern life.
+
+MICH. It is not so romantic a thing to lose one's head, Prince Paul.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. No, but it must often be very dull to keep it. Don't you
+find that sometimes? (_Clock strikes six._)
+
+VERA (_sinking into a seat_). Oh, it is past the hour! It is past the
+hour!
+
+MICH. (_to PRESIDENT_). Remember to-morrow will be too late.
+
+PRES. Brothers, it is full time. Which of us is absent?
+
+CONSPS. Alexis! Alexis!
+
+PRES. Michael, read Rule 7.
+
+MICH. "When any brother shall have disobeyed a summons to be present,
+the President shall enquire if there is anything alleged against him."
+
+PRES. Is there anything against our brother Alexis?
+
+CONSPS. He wears a crown! He wears a crown!
+
+PRES. Michael, read Article 7 of the Code of Revolution.
+
+MICH. "Between the Nihilists and all men who wear crowns above their
+fellows, there is war to the death."
+
+PRES. Brothers, what say you? Is Alexis, the Czar, guilty or not?
+
+OMNES. He is guilty!
+
+PRES. What shall the penalty be?
+
+OMNES. Death!
+
+PRES. Let the lots be prepared; it shall be to-night.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. Ah, this is really interesting! I was getting afraid
+conspiracies were as dull as courts are.
+
+PROF. MARFA. My forte is more in writing pamphlets than in taking shots.
+Still a regicide has always a place in history.
+
+MICH. If your pistol is as harmless as your pen, this young tyrant will
+have a long life.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. You ought to remember, too, Professor, that if you were
+seized, as you probably would be, and hung, as you certainly would be,
+there would be nobody left to read your own articles.
+
+PRES. Brothers, are you ready?
+
+VERA (_starting up_). Not yet! Not yet! I have a word to say.
+
+MICH. (_aside_). [15]Plague take her! I knew it would come to this.[15]
+
+VERA. This boy has been our brother. Night after night he has perilled
+his own life to come here. [16]Night after night, when every street was
+filled with spies, every house with traitors.[16] Delicately nurtured
+like a king's son, he has dwelt among us.
+
+PRES. Ay! under a false name. [17]He lied to us at the beginning. He
+lies to us now at the end.[17]
+
+VERA. I swear he is true. There is not a man here who does not owe him
+his life a thousand times. When the bloodhounds were on us that night,
+who saved us [18]from arrest, torture, flogging, death,[18] but he ye
+seek to kill?--
+
+MICH. To kill all tyrants is our mission!
+
+VERA. He is no tyrant. I know him well! He loves the people.
+
+PRES. We know him too; he is a traitor.
+
+VERA. A traitor! Three days ago he could have betrayed every man of you
+here, [19]and the gibbet would have been your doom.[19] He gave you all
+your lives once. Give him a little time--a week, a month, a few days;
+but not now!--O God,[20] not now!
+
+CONSPS. (_brandishing daggers_). To-night! to-night! to-night!
+
+VERA. Peace, you gorged adders; peace!
+
+MICH. What, are we not here to annihilate? shall we not keep our oath?
+
+VERA. Your oath! your oath! [21]Greedy that you are of gain, every man's
+hand lusting for his neighbour's pelf, every heart set on pillage and
+rapine;[21] who, of ye all, if the crown were set on his head, would
+give an empire up for the mob to scramble for? The people are not yet
+fit for a Republic in Russia.
+
+PRES. Every nation is fit for a Republic.
+
+MICH. The man is a tyrant.
+
+VERA. A tyrant! Hath he not dismissed his evil counsellors. That
+ill-omened raven of his father's life hath had his wings clipped and his
+claws pared, and comes to us croaking for revenge. Oh, have mercy on
+him![22] Give him a week to live!
+
+PRES. Vera pleading for a king!
+
+VERA (_proudly_). I plead not for a king, but for a brother.
+
+MICH. For a traitor to his oath, for a coward who should have flung the
+purple back to the fools that gave it to him. No, Vera, no. The brood of
+men is not dead yet, nor the dull earth grown sick of child-bearing. No
+crowned man in Russia shall pollute God's air by living.
+
+PRES. You bade us try you once; we have tried you, and you are found
+wanting.
+
+MICH. Vera, I am not blind; I know your secret. You love this boy, this
+young prince with his pretty face, his curled hair, his soft white
+hands. Fool that you are, dupe of a lying tongue, do you know what he
+would have done to you, this boy you think loved you? He would have made
+you his mistress, used your body at his pleasure, thrown you away when
+he was wearied of you; you, the priestess of liberty, the flame of
+Revolution, the torch of democracy.
+
+VERA. What he would have done to me matters little. To the people, at
+least, he will be true. He loves the people--at least, he loves liberty.
+
+PRES. So he would play the citizen-king, would he, while we starve?
+[23]Would flatter us with sweet speeches, would cheat us with promises
+like his father, would lie to us as his whole race have lied.[23]
+
+MICH. And you whose very name made every despot tremble for his life,
+you, Vera Sabouroff, you would betray liberty for a lover and the people
+for a paramour!
+
+CONSPS. [24]Traitress! Draw the lots; draw the lots![24]
+
+VERA. In thy throat thou liest, Michael! I love him not. He loves me
+not.
+
+MICH. You love him not? Shall he not die then?
+
+VERA (_with an effort, clenching her hands_). Ay, it is right that he
+should die. He hath broken his oath. [25]There should be no crowned man
+in Europe. Have I not sworn it? To be strong our new Republic should be
+drunk with the blood of kings. He hath broken his oath. As the father
+died so let the son die too.[25] Yet not to-night, not to-night. Russia,
+that hath borne her centuries of wrong, can wait a week for liberty.
+Give him a week.
+
+PRES. We will have none of you! Begone from us to this boy you love.
+
+MICH. Though I find him in your arms I shall kill him.
+
+CONSPS. To-night! To-night! To-night!
+
+MICH. (_holding up his hand_). A moment! I have something to say.
+(_Approaches VERA; speaks very slowly._) Vera Sabouroff, have you
+forgotten your brother? (_Pauses to see effect; VERA starts._) Have you
+forgotten that young face, pale with famine; those young limbs twisted
+with torture; the iron chains they made him walk in? What week of
+liberty did they give him? What pity did they show him for a day? (_VERA
+falls in a chair._) Oh! you could talk glibly enough then of vengeance,
+glibly enough of liberty. When you said you would come to Moscow, your
+old father caught you by the knees and begged you not to leave him
+childless and alone.[26] I seem to hear his cries still ringing in my
+ears, but you were as deaf to him as the rocks on the roadside; as chill
+and cold as the snow on the hill. You left your father that night, and
+three weeks after he died of a broken heart. You wrote to me to follow
+you here. I did so; first because I loved you; but you soon cured me of
+that; whatever gentle feeling, whatever pity, whatever humanity, was in
+my heart you withered up and destroyed, as the canker worm eats the
+corn, and the plague kills the child. You bade me cast out love from my
+breast as a vile thing, you turned my hand to iron, and my heart to
+stone; you told me to live for freedom and for revenge. I have done so;
+but you, what have you done?
+
+VERA. Let the lots be drawn! (_CONSPIRATORS applaud._)
+
+PRINCE PAUL (_aside_). Ah, the Grand Duke will come to the throne sooner
+than he expected. He is sure to make a good king under my guidance. He
+is so cruel to animals, and never keeps his word.
+
+MICH. Now you are yourself at last, Vera.
+
+VERA (_standing motionless in the middle_). The lots, I say, the lots!
+I am no woman now. My blood seems turned to gall; my heart is as cold as
+steel is; my hand shall be more deadly. From the desert and the tomb the
+voice of my prisoned brother cries aloud, and bids me strike one blow
+for liberty. The lots, I say, the lots!
+
+PRES. Are you ready. Michael, you have the right to draw first; you are
+a Regicide.
+
+VERA. O God, into my hands! Into my hands! (_They draw the lots from a
+bowl surmounted by a skull._)
+
+PRES. Open your lots.
+
+VERA (_opening her lot_). The lot is mine! see the bloody sign upon it!
+Dmitri, my brother, you shall have your revenge now.
+
+PRES. Vera Sabouroff, you are chosen to be a regicide. God has been good
+to you. The dagger or the poison? (_Offers her dagger and vial._)
+
+VERA. I can trust my hand better with the dagger; it never fails. (_Take
+dagger._) I shall stab him to the heart, as he has stabbed me. Traitor,
+to leave us for a ribbon, a gaud, a bauble, to lie to me every day he
+came here, to forget us in an hour. [27]Michael was right, he loved me
+not, nor the people either.[27] Methinks that if I was a mother and bore
+a man-child I would poison my breast to him, lest he might grow to a
+traitor or to a king. (_PRINCE PAUL whispers to the PRESIDENT._)
+
+PRES. Ay, Prince Paul, that is the best way. Vera, the Czar[28] sleeps
+to-night in his own room in the north wing of the palace. Here is the
+key of the private door in the street. The passwords of the guards will
+be given to you. His own servants will be drugged. You will find him
+alone.
+
+VERA. It is well. I shall not fail.
+
+PRES. We will wait outside in the Place St. Isaac, under the window. As
+the clock strikes twelve from the tower of St. Nicholas you will give us
+the sign that the dog is dead.
+
+VERA. And what shall the sign be?
+
+PRES. You are to throw us out the bloody dagger.
+
+MICH. Dripping with the traitor's life.
+
+PRES. Else we shall know that you have been seized, and we will burst
+our way in, drag you from his guards.
+
+MICH. And kill him in the midst of them.
+
+PRES. Michael, you will head us?
+
+MICH. Ay, I shall head you. See that your hand fails not, Vera
+Sabouroff.
+
+[29]VERA. Fool, is it so hard a thing to kill one's enemy.[29]
+
+PRINCE PAUL (_aside_). This is the ninth conspiracy I have been in in
+Russia. They always end in a "voyage en Siberie" for my friends and a
+new decoration for myself.
+
+MICH. It is your last conspiracy, Prince.
+
+PRES. At twelve o'clock, the bloody dagger.
+
+VERA. Ay, red with the blood of that false heart. I shall not forget it.
+(_Standing in the middle of the stage._) [30]To strangle whatever nature
+is in me, neither to love nor to be loved, neither to pity nor to be
+pitied. Ay! it is an oath, an oath. Methinks the spirit of Charlotte
+Corday has entered my soul now. I shall carve my name on the world, and
+be ranked among the great heroines. Ay! the spirit of Charlotte Corday
+beats in each petty vein, and nerves my woman's hand to strike, as I
+have nerved my woman's heart to hate. Though he laughs in his dreams, I
+shall not falter. Though he sleep peacefully I shall not miss my
+blow.[30] Be glad, my brother, in your stifled cell; be glad and laugh
+to-night. To-night this new-fledged Czar shall post with bloody feet to
+Hell, and greet his father there! [31]This Czar! O traitor, liar, false
+to his oath, false to me! To play the patriot amongst us, and now to
+wear a crown; to sell us, like Judas, for thirty silver pieces, to
+betray us with a kiss![31] (_With more passion._) O Liberty, O mighty
+mother of eternal time, thy robe is purple with the blood of those who
+have died for thee! Thy throne is the Calvary of the people, thy crown
+the crown of thorns. O crucified mother, the despot has driven a nail
+through thy right hand, and the tyrant through thy left! Thy feet are
+pierced with their iron. When thou wert athirst thou calledst on the
+priests for water, and they gave thee bitter drink. They thrust a sword
+into thy side. They mocked thee in thine agony of age on age. [32]Here,
+on thy altar, O Liberty, do I dedicate myself to thy service; do with me
+as thou wilt![32] (_Brandishing dagger._) The end has come now, and by
+thy sacred wounds, O crucified mother, O Liberty, I swear that Russia
+shall be saved!
+
+
+CURTAIN.
+
+
+END OF ACT III.
+
+
+
+
+ACT IV.
+
+SCENE.--_Antechamber of the CZAR'S private room. Large window at the
+back, with drawn curtains over it._
+
+_Present._--PRINCE PETROVITCH, BARON RAFF, MARQUIS DE POIVRARD, COUNT
+ROUVALOFF.
+
+
+PRINCE PETRO. He is beginning well, this young Czar.
+
+BARON RAFF (_shrugs his shoulders_). All young Czars do begin well.
+
+COUNT R. And end badly.
+
+[1]MARQ. DE POIV. Well, I have no right to complain. He has done me one
+good service, at any rate.
+
+PRINCE PETRO. Cancelled your appointment to Archangel, I suppose?
+
+MARQ. DE POIV. Yes; my head wouldn't have been safe there for an
+hour.[1]
+
+(_Enter GENERAL KOTEMKIN._)
+
+BARON RAFF. Ah! General, any more news of our romantic Emperor?
+
+GEN. KOTEMK. You are quite right to call him romantic, Baron; a week ago
+I found him amusing himself in a garret with a company of strolling
+players; to-day his whim is all the convicts in Siberia are to be
+recalled, and political prisoners, as he calls them, amnestied.
+
+PRINCE PETRO. Political prisoners! Why, half of them are no better than
+common murderers!
+
+COUNT R. And the other half much worse?
+
+BARON RAFF. Oh, you wrong them, surely, Count. Wholesale trade has
+always been more respectable than retail.
+
+COUNT R. But he is really too romantic. He objected yesterday to my
+having the monopoly of the salt tax. He said the people had a right to
+have cheap salt.
+
+MARQ. DE POIV. Oh, that's nothing; but he actually disapproved of a
+State banquet every night because there is a famine in the Southern
+provinces. (_The young CZAR enters unobserved, and overhears the rest._)
+
+PRINCE PETRO. Quelle bétise! The more starvation there is among the
+people, the better. It teaches them self-denial, an excellent virtue,
+Baron, an excellent virtue.
+
+BARON RAFF. I have often heard so; I have often heard so.
+
+GEN. KOTEMK. He talked of a Parliament, too, in Russia, and said the
+people should have deputies to represent them.
+
+BARON RAFF. As if there was not enough brawling in the streets already,
+but we must give the people a room to do it in. But, Messieurs, the
+worst is yet to come. He threatens a complete reform in the public
+service on the ground that the people are too heavily taxed.
+
+MARQ. DE POIV. He can't be serious there. What is the use of the people
+except[2] to get money out of? But talking of taxes, my dear Baron, you
+must really let me have forty thousand roubles to-morrow? my wife says
+she must have a new diamond bracelet.
+
+COUNT R. (_aside to BARON RAFF_). Ah, to match the one Prince Paul gave
+her last week, I suppose.
+
+PRINCE PETRO. I must have sixty thousand roubles at once, Baron. My son
+is overwhelmed with debts of honour which he can't pay.
+
+BARON RAFF. What an excellent son to imitate his father so carefully!
+
+GEN. KOTEMK. You are always getting money. I never get a single kopeck I
+have not got a right to. It's unbearable; it's ridiculous! My nephew is
+going to be married. I must get his dowry for him.
+
+PRINCE PETRO. My dear General, your nephew must be a perfect Turk. He
+seems to get married three times a week regularly.
+
+GEN. KOT. Well, he wants a dowry to console him.
+
+COUNT R. I am sick of town. I want a house in the country.
+
+MARQ. DE POIV. I am sick of the country. I want a house in town.
+
+BARON RAFF. Mes amis, I am extremely sorry for you. It is out of the
+question.
+
+PRINCE PETRO. But my son, Baron?
+
+GEN. KOTEMK. But my nephew?
+
+MARQ. DE POIV. But my house in town?
+
+COUNT R. But my house in the country?
+
+MARQ. DE POIV. But my wife's diamond bracelet?
+
+BARON RAFF. Gentlemen, impossible! The old _regime_ in Russia is dead;
+the funeral begins to-day.
+
+COUNT R. Then I shall wait for the resurrection.
+
+PRINCE PETRO. Yes, but, _en attendant_, what are we to do?
+
+BARON RAFF. What have we always done in Russia when a Czar suggests
+reforms?--nothing. You forget we are diplomatists. Men of thought should
+have nothing to do with action. Reforms in Russia are very tragic, but
+they always end in a farce.
+
+COUNT R. I wish Prince Paul were here. [3]By the bye, I think this boy
+is rather ungrateful to him. If that clever old Prince had not
+proclaimed him Emperor at once without giving him time to think about
+it, he would have given up his crown, I believe, to the first cobbler he
+met in the street.
+
+PRINCE PETRO. But do you think, Baron, that Prince Paul is really
+going?[3]
+
+BARON RAFF. He is exiled.
+
+PRINCE PETRO. Yes; but is he going?
+
+BARON RAFF. I am sure of it; at least he told me he had sent two
+telegrams already to Paris about his dinner.
+
+COUNT R. Ah! that settles the matter.
+
+CZAR (_coming forward_). Prince Paul better send a third telegram and
+order (_counting them_) six extra places.
+
+BARON RAFF. The devil!
+
+CZAR. No, Baron, the Czar. Traitors! There would be no bad kings in the
+world if there were no bad ministers like you. It is men such as you who
+wreck mighty empires on the rock of their own greatness. Our mother,
+Russia, hath no need of such unnatural sons. You can make no atonement
+now; it is too late for that. The grave cannot give back your dead, nor
+the gibbet your martyrs, but I shall be more merciful to you. I give you
+your lives! That is the curse I would lay on you. But if there is a man
+of you found in Moscow by to-morrow night your heads will be off your
+shoulders.
+
+BARON RAFF. You remind us wonderfully, Sire, of your Imperial father.
+
+CZAR. I banish you all from Russia. Your estates are confiscated to the
+people. You may carry your titles with you. Reforms in Russia, Baron,
+always end in a farce. You will have a good opportunity, Prince
+Petrovitch, of practising self-denial, that excellent virtue! that
+excellent virtue! So, Baron, you think a Parliament in Russia would be
+merely a place for brawling. Well, I will see that the reports of each
+session are sent to you regularly.
+
+BARON RAFF. Sire, you are adding another horror to exile.
+
+CZAR. But you will have such time for literature now. You forget you are
+diplomatists. Men of thought should have nothing to do with action.
+
+PRINCE PETRO. Sire, we did but jest.
+
+CZAR. Then I banish you for your bad jokes. Bon voyage, Messieurs.[4] If
+you value your lives you will catch the first train for Paris. (_Exeunt
+MINISTERS._) Russia is well rid of such men as these. They are the
+jackals that follow in the lion's track. [5]They have no courage
+themselves, except to pillage and rob.[5] But for these men and for
+Prince Paul my father would have been a good king, would not have died
+so horribly as he did die. How strange it is, the most real parts of
+one's life always seem to be a dream! The council, the fearful law which
+was to kill the people, the arrest, the cry in the courtyard, the
+pistol-shot, my father's bloody hands, and then the crown! One can live
+for years sometimes, without living at all, and then all life comes
+crowding into a single hour. I had no time to think. Before my father's
+hideous shriek of death had died in my ears I found this crown on my
+head, the purple robe around me, and heard myself called a king. I would
+have given it up all then; it seemed nothing to me then; but now, can I
+give it up now? Well, Colonel, well? (_Enter COLONEL OF THE GUARD._)
+
+COLONEL. What password does your Imperial Majesty desire should be given
+to-night?
+
+CZAR. Password?
+
+COLONEL. [6]For the cordon of[6] guards, Sire, on night duty around the
+palace.
+
+CZAR. You can dismiss them. I have no need of them. (_Exit COLONEL._)
+(_Goes to the crown lying on the table._) What subtle potency lies
+hidden in this gaudy bauble, the crown,[7] that makes one feel like a
+god when one wears it? To hold in one's hand this little fiery coloured
+world, to reach out one's arm to earth's uttermost limit, to girdle the
+seas with one's hosts; this is to wear a crown! to wear a crown! The
+meanest serf in Russia who is loved is better crowned than I. How love
+outweighs the balance! How poor appears the widest empire of this
+golden world when matched with love! Pent up in this palace, with spies
+dogging every step, I have heard nothing of her; I have not seen her
+once since that fearful hour three days ago, when I found myself
+suddenly the Czar of this wide waste, Russia. Oh, could I see her for a
+moment; tell her now the secret of my life I have never dared utter
+before; tell her why I wear this crown, when I have sworn eternal war
+against all crowned men! There was a meeting to-night. I received my
+summons by an unknown hand; but how could I go? I who have broken my
+oath! who have broken my oath!
+
+(_Enter PAGE._)
+
+PAGE. It is after eleven, Sire. Shall I take the first watch in your
+room to-night?
+
+CZAR. Why should you watch me, boy? The stars are my best sentinels.
+
+PAGE. It was your Imperial father's wish, Sire, never to be left alone
+while he slept.
+
+CZAR. My father was troubled with bad dreams. Go, get to your bed, boy;
+it is nigh on midnight, and these late hours will spoil those red
+cheeks. (_PAGE tries to kiss his hand._) Nay, nay; we have played
+together too often as children for that. Oh, to breathe the same air as
+her, and not to see her! the light seems to have gone from my life, the
+sun vanished from my day.
+
+PAGE. Sire,--Alexis,--let me stay with[8] you to-night! There is some
+danger over you; I feel there is.
+
+CZAR. What should I fear? I have banished all my enemies from Russia.
+Set the brazier here, by me; it is very cold, and I would sit by it for
+a time. Go, boy, go; I have much to think about to-night. (_Goes to back
+of stage, draws aside curtain. View of Moscow by moonlight._) The snow
+has fallen heavily since sunset. How white and cold my city looks under
+this pale moon! And yet, what hot and fiery hearts beat in this icy
+Russia, for all its frost and snow! Oh, to see her for a moment; to tell
+her all; to tell her why I am a king! But she does not doubt me; she
+said she would trust in me. Though I have broken my oath, she will have
+trust. It is very cold. Where is my cloak? I shall sleep for an hour.
+Then I have ordered my sledge, and, though I die for it, I shall see
+Vera to-night. Did I not bid thee go, boy? What! must I play the tyrant
+so soon? Go, go! I cannot live without seeing her. My horses will be
+here in an hour; one hour between me and love! How heavy this charcoal
+fire smells. (_Exit the PAGE. Lies down on a couch beside brazier._)
+
+(_Enter VERA in a black cloak._)
+
+VERA. Asleep! God, thou art good! Who shall deliver him from my hands
+now? [9]This is he! The democrat who would make himself a king, the
+republican who hath worn a crown, the traitor who hath lied to us.
+Michael was right. He loved not the people. He loved me not.[9] (_Bends
+over him._) Oh, why should such deadly poison lie in such sweet lips?
+Was there not gold enough in his hair before, that he should tarnish it
+with this crown? But my day has come now; the day of the people, of
+liberty, has come! Your day, my brother, has come! Though I have
+strangled whatever nature is in me, I did not think it had been so easy
+to kill. One blow and it is over, and I can wash my hands in water
+afterwards, I can wash my hands afterwards. Come, I shall save Russia. I
+have sworn it. (_Raises dagger to strike._)
+
+CZAR (_staring up, seizes her by both hands_). Vera, you here! My dream
+was no dream at all. Why have you left me three days alone, when I most
+needed you? O God, you think I am a traitor, a liar, a king? I am, for
+love of you. Vera, it was for you I broke my oath and wear my father's
+crown. I would lay at your feet this mighty Russia, which you and I
+have loved so well; would give you this earth as a footstool! set this
+crown on your head. The people will love us. We will rule them by love,
+as a father rules his children. There shall be liberty in Russia for
+every man to think as his heart bids him; liberty for men to speak as
+they think. I have banished the wolves that preyed on us; I have brought
+back your brother from Siberia; I have opened the blackened jaws of the
+mine. The courier is already on his way; within a week Dmitri and all
+those with him will be back in their own land. The people shall be
+free--are free now--and you and I, Emperor and Empress of this mighty
+realm, will walk among them openly, in love. When they gave me this
+crown first, I would have flung it back to them, had it not been for
+you, Vera. O God! It is men's custom in Russia to bring gifts to those
+they love. I said, I will bring to the woman I love a people, an empire,
+a world! Vera, it is for you, for you alone, I kept this crown; for you
+alone I am a king. Oh, I have loved you better than my oath! Why will
+you not speak to me? You love me not! You love me not! You have come to
+warn me of some plot against my life. What is life worth to me without
+you? (_CONSPIRATORS murmur outside._)
+
+VERA. Oh, lost! lost! lost!
+
+CZAR. Nay, you are safe here. It wants five hours still of dawn.
+To-morrow, I will lead you forth to the whole people--
+
+VERA. To-morrow--!
+
+CZAR. Will crown you with my own hands as Empress in that great
+cathedral which my fathers built.
+
+VERA (_loosens her hands violently from him, and starts up_). I am a
+Nihilist! I cannot wear a crown!
+
+CZAR (_falls at her feet_). I am no king now. I am only a boy who has
+loved you better than his honour, better than his oath. For love of the
+people I would have been a patriot. For love of you I have been a
+traitor. Let us go forth together, we will live amongst the common
+people. I am no king. I will toil for you like the peasant or the serf.
+Oh, love me a little too! (_CONSPIRATORS murmur outside._)
+
+VERA (_clutching dagger_). To strangle whatever nature is in me, neither
+to love nor to be loved, neither to pity nor---- Oh, I am a woman! God
+help me, I am a woman! O Alexis! I too have broken my oath; I am a
+traitor. I love. Oh, do not speak, do not speak--(_kisses his
+lips_)--the first, the last time. (_He clasps her in his arms; they sit
+on the couch together._)
+
+CZAR. I could die now.
+
+VERA. What does death do in thy lips? Thy life, thy love are enemies of
+death. Speak not of death. Not yet, not yet.
+
+CZAR. I know not why death came into my heart. Perchance the cup of life
+is filled too full of pleasure to endure. This is our wedding night.
+
+VERA. Our wedding night!
+
+CZAR. And if death came himself, methinks that I could kiss his pallid
+mouth, and suck sweet poison from it.
+
+VERA. Our wedding night! Nay, nay. Death should not sit at the feast.
+There is no such thing as death.
+
+CZAR. There shall not be for us. (_CONSPIRATORS murmur outside._)
+
+VERA. What is that? Did you not hear something?
+
+CZAR. Only your voice, that fowler's note which lures my heart away like
+a poor bird upon the limed twig.
+
+VERA. Methought that some one laughed.
+
+CZAR. It was but the wind and rain; the night is full of storm.
+(_CONSPIRATORS murmur outside._)
+
+VERA. It should be so indeed. Oh, where are your guards? where are your
+guards?
+
+CZAR. Where should they be but at home? I shall not live pent round by
+sword and steel. The love of a people is a king's best body-guard.
+
+VERA. The love of a people!
+
+CZAR. Sweet, you are safe here. Nothing can harm you here. O love, I
+knew you trusted me! You said you would have trust.
+
+VERA. I have had trust. O love, the past seems but some dull grey dream
+from which our souls have wakened. This is life at last.
+
+CZAR. Ay, life at last.
+
+VERA. Our wedding night! Oh, let me drink my fill of love to-night! Nay,
+sweet, not yet, not yet. How still it is, and yet methinks the air is
+full of music. It is some nightingale who, wearying of the south, has
+come to sing in this bleak north to lovers such as we. It is the
+nightingale. Dost thou not hear it?
+
+CZAR. Oh, sweet, mine ears are clogged to all sweet sounds save thine
+own voice, and mine eyes blinded to all sights but thee, else had I
+heard that nightingale, and seen the golden-vestured morning sun itself
+steal from its sombre east before its time for jealousy that thou art
+twice as fair.
+
+VERA. Yet would that thou hadst heard the nightingale. Methinks that
+bird will never sing again.
+
+CZAR. It is no nightingale. 'Tis love himself singing for very ecstasy
+of joy that thou art changed into his votaress. (_Clock begins striking
+twelve._) Oh, listen, sweet, it is the lover's hour. Come, let us stand
+without, and hear the midnight answered from tower to tower over the
+wide white town. Our wedding night! What is that? What is that?
+
+(_Loud murmurs of CONSPIRATORS in the street._)
+
+VERA (_breaks from him and rushes across the stage_). The wedding guests
+are here already! Ay, you shall have your sign! (_Stabs herself._) You
+shall have your sign! (_Rushes to the window._)
+
+CZAR (_intercepts her by rushing between her and window, and snatches
+dagger out of her hand_). Vera!
+
+VERA (_clinging to him_). Give me back the dagger! Give me back the
+dagger! There are men in the street who seek your life! Your guards have
+betrayed you! This bloody dagger is the signal that you are dead.
+(_CONSPIRATORS begin to shout below in the street._) Oh, there is not a
+moment to be lost! Throw it out! Throw it out! Nothing can save me now;
+this dagger is poisoned! I feel death already in my heart.
+
+CZAR (_holding dagger out of her reach_). Death is in my heart too; we
+shall die together.
+
+VERA. Oh, love! love! love! be merciful to me! The wolves are hot upon
+you! you must live for liberty, for Russia, for me! Oh, you do not love
+me! You offered me an empire once! Give me this dagger now! Oh, you are
+cruel! My life for yours! What does it matter? (_Loud shouts in the
+street, "VERA! VERA! To the rescue! To the rescue!_")
+
+CZAR. The bitterness of death is past for me.
+
+VERA. Oh, they are breaking in below! See! The bloody man behind you!
+(_CZAREVITCH turns round for an instant._) Ah! (_VERA snatches dagger
+and flings it out of window._)
+
+CONSPS. (_below_). Long live the people!
+
+CZAR. What have you done?
+
+VERA. I have saved Russia (_Dies._)
+
+
+TABLEAU.
+
+
+
+
+CORRECTIONS AND ADDITIONS.
+
+MADE BY THE AUTHOR IN HIS ORIGINAL COPY.
+
+_The numbers of the "Notes" correspond with the superior figures in the
+body of the text._
+
+
+ACT I.
+
+ Note  [1]: Changed to 2 in violet pencil.
+       [2]: Lines from 2 to 2 scored out.
+       [3]: These lines scored out, and "we will have" added.
+       [4]: This word underlined.
+       [5]: These lines scored out.
+       [6]: These lines scored out, "what news to-night?" inserted.
+       [7]: Lines scored out.
+       [8]: Altered to "He."
+       [9]: Lines scored out.
+      [10]: Altered to "signal for."
+      [11]: Lines scored out.
+      [12]: Lines scored out.
+      [13]: Altered to "Be calm, Michael!"
+      [14]: These words underlined.
+      [15]: Words underlined.
+      [16]: Word underlined.
+      [17]: Lines scored out.
+      [18]: Words scored out.
+      [19]: Lines scored out, "from Berlin" inserted.
+      [20]: Word scored through.
+      [21]: Altered to "strong."
+      [22]: These lines scored through.
+      [23]: Scored through.
+      [24]: Altered to "martial law scheme."
+      [25]: Altered to "To raise the barricades."
+      [26]: Crossed out.
+      [27]: The word "pause" as a stage direction inserted.
+      [28]: Lines crossed out.
+      [29]: Scored through.
+      [30]: Scored through.
+      [31]: Word underlined.
+      [32]: Word underlined.
+      [33]: Words "Who is there?" inserted.
+      [34]: Scored through.
+      [35]: Scored through.
+      [36]: Scored through.
+      [37]: Altered to "He has sold us."
+      [38]: Word underlined.
+
+
+ACT II.
+
+ Note  [1]: Lines scored through.
+       [2]: Altered to "you missed."
+       [3]: Altered to "profession."
+       [4]: Scored through.
+       [5]: Word scored through.
+       [6]: Insert "for them to go to."
+       [7]: Insert "dining."
+       [8]: Altered to "bored to death."
+       [9]: Scored through.
+      [10]: Word underlined.
+      [11]: Altered to "a."
+      [12]: Lines scored through.
+      [13]: "O God!" scored through.
+      [14]: Scored through.
+      [15]: Lines scored through.
+      [16]: Words scored through.
+      [17]: Word underlined.
+      [18]: Word underlined.
+      [19]: Words underlined.
+      [20]: Stage direction, "a pause" indicated.
+      [21]: Altered to "may."
+      [22]: Word "I" underlined.
+      [23]: This speech cut out.
+
+
+ACT III.
+
+ Note  [1]: "Marat" underlined.
+       [2]: Altered to "VERA. Unmask! a spy!"
+       [3]: Scored through.
+       [4]: Scored through.
+       [5]: Scored through.
+       [6]: Lines scored through.
+       [7]: Insert "and quite as unintelligible."
+       [8]: Alter "PRES." to "VERA."
+       [9]: Scored through.
+      [10]: These lines struck out.
+      [11]: This passage scored through.
+      [12]: This is struck out.
+      [13]: Scored through.
+      [14]: Scored through.
+      [15]: This speech cut out.
+      [16]: Lines scored through.
+      [17]: Lines scored through.
+      [18]: Cut out this passage and insert "Alexis" after "but."
+      [19]: Lines scored through.
+      [20]: Altered to "No! No!"
+      [21]: This passage is cut out.
+      [22]: Insert "Alexis" in place of "him."
+      [23]: Lines scored through.
+      [24]: This speech cut out.
+      [25]: This passage is scored through.
+      [26]: The words "no laugh" are inserted here--possibly as a stage
+            direction.
+      [27]: Passage scored through.
+      [28]: In place of "the Czar" read "Alexis."
+      [29]: Delete this speech.
+      [30]: This passage is scored out.
+      [31]: This passage is scored out.
+      [32]: This passage is scored out.
+
+
+ACT IV.
+
+ Note  [1]: These three speeches are scored through.
+       [2]: Insert "for the politician."
+       [3]: All these lines are cut out.
+       [4]: Alter to "Gentlemen."
+       [5]: Cut out this sentence.
+       [6]: Words scored through.
+       [7]: Delete "the crown."
+       [8]: Substitute "stop near" for "stay with."
+       [9]: This passage is cut out.
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Note:
+
+    Inconsistent hyphenation has been standardised. Minor typographical
+    errors have been corrected without note, whilst significant
+    amendments have been listed below:
+
+      p. 25, 'Place S. Isaac' amended to _Place St. Isaac_;
+      p. 36, 'Prince Petouchof' amended to _Count Petouchof_.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Vera, by Oscar Wilde
+
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+    <title>
+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of Vera; or, the Nihilists, by Oscar Wilde
+    </title>
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Vera, by Oscar Wilde
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Vera
+       or, The Nihilists
+
+Author: Oscar Wilde
+
+Release Date: August 30, 2008 [EBook #26494]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VERA ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Meredith Bach, Stephen Blundell and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<h1>VERA; OR, THE NIHILISTS.</h1>
+
+<hr />
+<div class="ctr"><i>Of this work, 200 copies only have been printed, for<br />
+private circulation. This is No....</i></div>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h1><big>VERA;</big><br />
+OR, THE NIHILISTS.</h1>
+
+<div class="bk1"><big><b>A DRAMA</b></big><br />
+IN A PROLOGUE, AND FOUR ACTS.</div>
+
+<h2><small>BY</small><br />
+OSCAR WILDE.</h2>
+
+<div class="bk1"><small><b>NOW FIRST PUBLISHED.</b></small></div>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/001.png" width="100" height="27" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<div class="ctr"><i>PRIVATELY PRINTED</i>,<br />
+1902.</div>
+
+<hr />
+<div class="bk2"><p><span class="smcap">This</span> Play was written in 1881, and is now
+published from the author's own copy, showing
+his corrections of and additions to the
+original text.</p></div>
+
+<div class="trn"><p><b>Transcriber's Note:</b>
+Inconsistent hyphenation has been standardised.
+Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note, whilst
+significant amendments have been listed at the end of the text.</p>
+
+<p>Although not present in the original publication, the following list
+of contents has been provided for convenience:</p>
+
+<ul>
+<li><a href="#Page_7">PROLOGUE.</a></li>
+<li><a href="#Page_15">ACT I.</a></li>
+<li><a href="#Page_30">ACT II.</a></li>
+<li><a href="#Page_48">ACT III.</a></li>
+<li><a href="#Page_62">ACT IV.</a></li>
+<li><a href="#Page_73">CORRECTIONS AND ADDITIONS.</a></li>
+</ul></div>
+
+<hr />
+<h2>PERSONS IN THE PROLOGUE.</h2>
+
+<div class="bk2"><p class="td1"><span class="smcap">Peter Sabouroff</span> (an Innkeeper).<br />
+<span class="smcap">Vera Sabouroff</span> (his Daughter).<br />
+<span class="smcap">Michael</span> (a Peasant).<br />
+<span class="smcap">Colonel Kotemkin.</span></p>
+
+<p class="ctr">Scene, Russia. Time, 1795.</p></div>
+
+<h2>PERSONS IN THE PLAY.</h2>
+
+<div class="bk2"><p class="td1"><span class="smcap">Ivan the Czar.</span><br />
+<span class="smcap">Prince Paul Maraloffski</span> (Prime Minister of Russia).<br />
+<span class="smcap">Prince Petrovitch.</span><br />
+<span class="smcap">Count Rouvaloff.</span><br />
+<span class="smcap">Marquis de Poivrard.</span><br />
+<span class="smcap">Baron Raff.</span><br />
+<span class="smcap">General Kotemkin.</span><br />
+<span class="smcap">A Page.</span></p>
+
+<p class="ctr"><i>Nihilists.</i></p>
+<p class="td1"><span class="smcap">Peter Tchernavitch</span>, President of the Nihilists.<br />
+<span class="smcap">Michael.</span><br />
+<span class="smcap">Alexis Ivanacievitch</span>, known as a Student of Medicine.<br />
+<span class="smcap">Professor Marfa.</span><br />
+<span class="smcap">Vera Sabouroff.</span></p>
+
+<p class="ctr"><i>Soldiers, Conspirators, &amp;c.</i></p>
+
+<p class="ctr">Scene, Moscow. Time, 1800.</p></div>
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span></p>
+<h2>PROLOGUE.</h2>
+
+<div class="stg2"><p class="ctr"><span class="smcap">Scene.</span>&mdash;<i>A Russian Inn.</i></p>
+
+<p class="ctr"><i>Large door opening on snowy landscape at back of stage.</i></p>
+
+<p class="ctr"><i><span class="smcap">Peter Sabouroff</span> and <span class="smcap">Michael</span>.</i></p></div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Peter</span> (<i>warming his hands at a stove</i>). Has Vera
+not come back yet, Michael?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> No, Father Peter, not yet; 'tis a good
+three miles to the post office, and she has to milk
+the cows besides, and that dun one is a rare plaguey
+creature for a wench to handle.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Peter.</span> Why didn't you go with her, you young
+fool? she'll never love you unless you are always at
+her heels; women like to be bothered.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> She says I bother her too much already,
+Father Peter, and I fear she'll never love me after all.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Peter.</span> Tut, tut, boy, why shouldn't she? you're
+young and wouldn't be ill-favoured either, had God
+or thy mother given thee another face. Aren't you
+one of Prince Maraloffski's gamekeepers; and haven't
+you got a good grass farm, and the best cow in the
+village? What more does a girl want?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> But Vera, Father Peter&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Peter.</span> Vera, my lad, has got too many ideas; I
+don't think much of ideas myself; I've got on well
+enough in life without 'em; why shouldn't my
+children? There's Dmitri! could have stayed here
+and kept the inn; many a young lad would have
+jumped at the offer in these hard times; but he,
+scatter-brained featherhead of a boy, must needs go
+off to Moscow to study the law! What does he want
+knowing about the law! let a man do his duty, say
+I, and no one will trouble him.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> Ay! but Father Peter, they say a good
+lawyer can break the law as often as he likes, and no
+one can say him nay.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Peter.</span> That is about all they are good for; and
+there he stays, and has not written a line to us for
+four months now&mdash;a good son that, eh?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> Come, come, Father Peter, Dmitri's letters
+must have gone astray&mdash;perhaps the new postman
+can't read; he looks stupid enough, and Dmitri, why,
+he was the best fellow in the village. Do you remember
+how he shot the bear at the barn in the
+great winter?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Peter.</span> Ay, it was a good shot; I never did a
+better myself.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> And as for dancing, he tired out three
+fiddlers Christmas come two years.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Peter.</span> Ay, ay, he was a merry lad. It is the
+girl that has the seriousness&mdash;she goes about as
+solemn as a priest for days at a time.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> Vera is always thinking of others.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Peter.</span> There is her mistake, boy. Let God and
+our Little Father look to the world. It is none of
+my work to mend my neighbour's thatch. Why,
+last winter old Michael was frozen to death in his
+sleigh in the snowstorm, and his wife and children
+starved afterwards when the hard times came; but
+what business was it of mine? I didn't make the
+world. Let God and the Czar look to it. And then
+the blight came, and the black plague with it, and
+the priests couldn't bury the people fast enough, and
+they lay dead on the roads&mdash;men and women both.
+But what business was it of mine? I didn't make the
+world. Let God and the Czar look to it. Or two
+autumns ago, when the river overflowed on a sudden,
+and the children's school was carried away and
+drowned every girl and boy in it. I didn't make
+the world&mdash;let God and the Czar look to it.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> But, Father Peter&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Peter.</span> No, no, boy; no man could live if he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span>
+took his neighbour's pack on his shoulders. (<i>Enter
+<span class="smcap">Vera</span> in peasant's dress.</i>) Well, my girl, you've been
+long enough away&mdash;where is the letter?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> There is none to-day, Father.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Peter.</span> I knew it.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> But there will be one to-morrow, Father.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Peter.</span> Curse him, for an ungrateful son.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> Oh, Father, don't say that; he must be
+sick.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Peter.</span> Ay! sick of profligacy, perhaps.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> How dare you say that of him, Father?
+You know that is not true.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Peter.</span> Where does the money go, then?
+Michael, listen. I gave Dmitri half his mother's
+fortune to bring with him to pay the lawyer folk of
+Moscow. He has only written three times, and every
+time for more money. He got it, not at my wish,
+but at hers (<i>pointing to <span class="smcap">Vera</span></i>), and now for five
+months, close on six almost, we have heard nothing
+from him.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> Father, he will come back.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Peter.</span> Ay! the prodigals always return; but let
+him never darken my doors again.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera</span> (<i>sitting down pensive</i>). Some evil has come
+on him; he must be dead! Oh! Michael, I am so
+wretched about Dmitri.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> Will you never love any one but him,
+Vera?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera</span> (<i>smiling</i>). I don't know; there is so much
+else to do in the world but love.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> Nothing else worth doing, Vera.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Peter.</span> What noise is that, Vera? (<i>A metallic
+clink is heard.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera</span> (<i>rising and going to the door</i>). I don't
+know, Father; it is not like the cattle bells, or I
+would think Nicholas had come from the fair. Oh!
+Father! it is soldiers!&mdash;coming down the hill&mdash;there
+is one of them on horseback. How pretty
+they look! But there are some men with them with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span>
+chains on! They must be robbers. Oh! don't let
+them in, Father; I couldn't look at them.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Peter.</span> Men in chains! Why, we are in luck,
+my child! I heard this was to be the new road to
+Siberia, to bring the prisoners to the mines; but I
+didn't believe it. My fortune is made! Bustle, Vera,
+bustle! I'll die a rich man after all. There will be
+no lack of good customers now. An honest man
+should have the chance of making his living out of
+rascals now and then.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> Are these men rascals, Father? What
+have they done?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Peter.</span> I reckon they're some of those Nihilists
+the priest warns us against. Don't stand there idle,
+my girl.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> I suppose, then, they are all wicked men.</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Sound of soldiers outside; cry of "Halt!" enter
+Russian officer with a body of soldiers and eight men
+in chains, raggedly dressed; one of them on entering
+hurriedly puts his coat above his ears and hides his
+face; some soldiers guard the door, others sit down;
+the prisoners stand.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Colonel.</span> Innkeeper!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Peter.</span> Yes, Colonel.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Colonel</span> (<i>pointing to Nihilists</i>). Give these men
+some bread and water.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Peter</span> (<i>to himself</i>). I shan't make much out of
+that order.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Colonel.</span> As for myself, what have you got fit
+to eat?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Peter.</span> Some good dried venison, your Excellency&mdash;and
+some rye whisky.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Colonel.</span> Nothing else?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Peter.</span> Why, more whisky, your Excellency.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Colonel.</span> What clods these peasants are! You
+have a better room than this?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Peter.</span> Yes, sir.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Colonel.</span> Bring me there. Sergeant, post your
+picket outside, and see that these scoundrels do not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span>
+communicate with any one. No letter writing, you
+dogs, or you'll be flogged for it. Now for the venison.
+(<i>To <span class="smcap">Peter</span> bowing before him.</i>) Get out of
+the way, you fool! Who is that girl? (<i>sees <span class="smcap">Vera</span></i>).</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Peter.</span> My daughter, your Highness.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Colonel.</span> Can she read and write?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Peter.</span> Ay, that she can, sir.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Colonel.</span> Then she is a dangerous woman. No
+peasant should be allowed to do anything of the
+kind. Till your fields, store your harvests, pay your
+taxes, and obey your masters&mdash;that is your duty.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> Who are our masters?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Colonel.</span> Young woman, these men are going
+to the mines for life for asking the same foolish
+question.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> Then they have been unjustly condemned.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Peter.</span> Vera, keep your tongue quiet. She is a
+foolish girl, sir, who talks too much.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Colonel.</span> Every woman does talk too much.
+Come, where is this venison? Count, I am waiting
+for you. How can you see anything in a girl with
+coarse hands? (<i>He passes with <span class="smcap">Peter</span> and his aide-de-camp
+into an inner room.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera</span> (<i>to one of the Nihilists</i>). Won't you sit
+down? you must be tired.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Sergeant.</span> Come now, young woman, no talking
+to my prisoners.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> I shall speak to them. How much do
+you want?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Sergeant.</span> How much have you?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> Will you let these men sit down if I give
+you this? (<i>Takes off her peasant's necklace.</i>) It is
+all I have; it was my mother's.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Sergeant.</span> Well, it looks pretty enough, and is
+heavy too. What do you want with these men?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> They are hungry and tired. Let me go
+to them?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">One of the Soldiers.</span> Let the wench be, if she
+pays us.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Sergeant.</span> Well, have your way. If the Colonel
+sees you, you may have to come with us, my pretty one.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera</span> (<i>advances to the Nihilists</i>). Sit down; you
+must be tired. (<i>Serves them food.</i>) What are you?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">A Prisoner.</span> Nihilists.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> Who put you in chains?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prisoner.</span> Our Father the Czar.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> Why?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prisoner.</span> For loving liberty too well.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera</span> (<i>to prisoner who hides his face</i>). What did
+you want to do?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Dmitri.</span> To give liberty to thirty millions of
+people enslaved to one man.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera</span> (<i>startled at the voice</i>). What is your name?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Dmitri.</span> I have no name.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> Where are your friends?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Dmitri.</span> I have no friends.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> Let me see your face!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Dmitri.</span> You will see nothing but suffering in it.
+They have tortured me.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera</span> (<i>tears the cloak from his face</i>). Oh, God!
+Dmitri! my brother!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Dmitri.</span> Hush! Vera; be calm. You must not
+let my father know; it would kill him. I thought I
+could free Russia. I heard men talk of Liberty one
+night in a caf&eacute;. I had never heard the word before.
+It seemed to be a new god they spoke of. I joined
+them. It was there all the money went. Five months
+ago they seized us. They found me printing the
+paper. I am going to the mines for life. I could not
+write. I thought it would be better to let you think I
+was dead; for they are bringing me to a living tomb.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera</span> (<i>looking round</i>). You must escape, Dmitri.
+I will take your place.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Dmitri.</span> Impossible! You can only revenge us.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> I shall revenge you.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Dmitri.</span> Listen! there is a house in Moscow&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Sergeant.</span> Prisoners, attention!&mdash;the Colonel is
+coming&mdash;young woman, your time is up.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="stg1">(<i>Enter <span class="smcap">Colonel</span>, <span class="smcap">Aide-de-Camp</span> and <span class="smcap">Peter</span>.</i>)</div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Peter.</span> I hope your Highness is pleased with the
+venison. I shot it myself.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Colonel.</span> It had been better had you talked less
+about it. Sergeant, get ready. (<i>Gives purse to
+<span class="smcap">Peter</span>.</i>) Here, you cheating rascal!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Peter.</span> My fortune is made! long live your
+Highness. I hope your Highness will come often
+this way.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Colonel.</span> By Saint Nicholas, I hope not. It is
+too cold here for me. (<i>To <span class="smcap">Vera</span>.</i>) Young girl,
+don't ask questions again about what does not
+concern you. I will not forget your face.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> Nor I yours, or what you are doing.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Colonel.</span> You peasants are getting too saucy
+since you ceased to be serfs, and the knout is the
+best school for you to learn politics in. Sergeant,
+proceed.</p>
+
+<p>(<i>The <span class="smcap">Colonel</span> turns and goes to top of stage. The
+prisoners pass out double file; as <span class="smcap">Dmitri</span> passes <span class="smcap">Vera</span>
+he lets a piece of paper fall on the ground; she puts her
+foot on it and remains immobile.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Peter</span> (<i>who has been counting the money the <span class="smcap">Colonel</span>
+gave him</i>). Long life to your Highness. I will hope
+to see another batch soon. (<i>Suddenly catches sight of
+<span class="smcap">Dmitri</span> as he is going out of the door, and screams
+and rushes up.</i>) Dmitri! Dmitri! my God! what
+brings you here? he is innocent, I tell you. I'll pay
+for him. Take your money (<i>flings money on the
+ground</i>), take all I have, give me my son. Villains!
+Villains! where are you bringing him?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Colonel.</span> To Siberia, old man.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Peter.</span> No, no; take me instead.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Colonel.</span> He is a Nihilist.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Peter.</span> You lie! you lie! He is innocent. (<i>The
+soldiers force him back with their guns and shut the
+door against him. He beats with his fists against
+it.</i>) Dmitri! Dmitri! a Nihilist! (<i>Falls down on
+floor.</i>)<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera</span> (<i>who has remained motionless, picks up paper
+now from under her feet and reads</i>). "99 Rue Tchernavaya,
+Moscow. To strangle whatever nature is in
+me; neither to love nor to be loved; neither to pity
+nor to be pitied; neither to marry nor to be given
+in marriage, till the end is come." My brother, I
+shall keep the oath. (<i>Kisses the paper.</i>) You shall
+be revenged!</p>
+
+<p>(<i><span class="smcap">Vera</span> stands immobile, holding paper in her lifted
+hand. <span class="smcap">Peter</span> is lying on the floor. <span class="smcap">Michael</span>, who
+has just come in, is bending over him.</i>)</p>
+
+<div class="bk3"><span class="smcap">End of Prologue.</span></div>
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span></p>
+<h2>ACT I.<a name="ai_1" id="ai_1"></a><a href="#ni_1" class="anc">1</a></h2>
+
+<div class="stg2"><p class="p2"><span class="smcap">Scene.</span>&mdash;<i>99 Rue Tchernavaya, Moscow. A large
+garret lit by oil lamps hung from ceiling. Some
+masked men standing silent and apart from one
+another. A man in a scarlet mask is writing
+at a table. Door at back. Man in yellow with
+drawn sword at it. Knocks heard. Figures in
+cloaks and masks enter.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="stg1"><i>Password.</i> Per crucem ad lucem.</div>
+
+<div class="stg1"><i>Answer.</i> Per sanguinem ad libertatem.</div>
+
+<div class="stg1">(<i>Clock strikes. <span class="smcap">Conspirators</span> form a semicircle in
+the middle of the stage.</i>)</div>
+
+<p><a name="ai_2" id="ai_2"></a><a href="#ni_2" class="anc">2</a><span class="smcap">President.</span> What is the word?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">First Consp.</span> Nabat.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> The answer?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Second Consp.</span> Kalit.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> What hour is it?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Third Consp.</span> The hour to suffer.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> What day?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Fourth Consp.</span> The day of oppression.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> What year?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Fifth Consp.</span> Since the Revolution of France,
+the ninth year.<a href="#ni_2" class="anc">2</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> How many are we in number?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Sixth Consp.</span> Ten, nine, and three.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> The Galil&aelig;an had less to conquer the
+world; but what is our mission?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Seventh Consp.</span> To give freedom.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> Our creed?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Eighth Consp.</span> To annihilate.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> Our duty?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Ninth Consp.</span> To obey.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> Brothers, the questions have been answered
+well. There are none but Nihilists present. Let us
+see each other's faces. (<i>The <span class="smcap">Conspirators</span> unmask.</i>)
+Michael, recite the oath.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Michael.</span> To strangle whatever nature is in us;
+neither to love nor to be loved, neither to pity nor to
+be pitied, neither to marry nor to be given in
+marriage, till the end is come; to stab secretly by
+night; to drop poison in the glass; to set father
+against son, and husband against wife; without fear,
+without hope, without future, to suffer, to annihilate,
+to revenge.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> Are we all agreed?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Conspirators.</span> We are all agreed. (<i>They disperse
+in various directions about the stage.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> 'Tis after the hour, Michael, and she is not
+yet here.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> Would that she were! We can do little
+without her.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Alexis.</span> She cannot have been seized, President?
+but the police are on her track, I know.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> You always seem to know a good deal
+about the movements of the police in Moscow&mdash;too
+much for an honest conspirator.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> If those dogs have caught her, <a name="ai_3" id="ai_3"></a><a href="#ni_3" class="anc">3</a>the red
+flag of the people will float on a barricade in<a href="#ni_3" class="anc">3</a> every
+street till we find her! It was foolish of her to go
+to the Grand Duke's ball. I told her so, but she
+said she wanted to see the Czar and all his cursed
+brood face to face once.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Alexis.</span> Gone to the State ball?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> I have no fear. She is as hard to capture
+as a she-wolf is, and twice as dangerous; besides,
+she is well disguised. But is there any news from
+the Palace to-night, President? What is that
+bloody<a name="ai_4" id="ai_4"></a><a href="#ni_4" class="anc">4</a> despot doing now besides torturing his
+only son? Have any of you seen him? One hears
+strange stories about him. They say he loves the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span>
+people; but a king's son never does that. You
+cannot breed them like that.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> Since he came back from abroad a year
+ago his father has kept him in close prison in his
+palace.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> An excellent training to make him a
+tyrant in his turn; but is there any news, I say?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> A council is to be held to-morrow, at four
+o'clock, on some secret business the spies cannot
+find out.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> A council in a king's palace is sure to
+be about some bloody work or other. But in what
+room is this council to be held?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> (<i>reading from letter</i>). In the yellow tapestry
+room called after the Empress Catherine.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> I care not for such long-sounding names.
+I would know where it is.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> I cannot tell, Michael. I know more about
+the insides of prisons than of palaces.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> (<i>speaking suddenly to <span class="smcap">Alexis</span></i>). Where is
+this room, Alexis?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Alexis.</span> It is on the first floor, looking out on
+to the inner courtyard. But why do you ask,
+Michael?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> Nothing, nothing, boy! I merely take a
+great interest in the Czar's life and movements, and
+I knew you could tell me all about the palace.
+Every poor student of medicine in Moscow knows
+all about king's houses. It is their duty, is it not?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Alexis</span> (<i>aside</i>). Can Michael suspect me? There
+is something strange in his manner to-night. Why
+doesn't she come? The whole fire of revolution
+seems fallen into dull ashes when she is not here.</p>
+
+<p><a name="ai_5" id="ai_5"></a><a href="#ni_5" class="anc">5</a><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> Have you cured many patients lately, at
+your hospital, boy?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Alex.</span> There is one who lies sick to death I
+would fain cure, but cannot.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> Ay, and who is that?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Alex.</span> Russia, our mother.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> The curing of Russia is surgeon's business,
+and must be done by the knife. I like not your
+method of medicine.<a href="#ni_5" class="anc">5</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> Professor, we have read the proofs of your
+last article; it is very good indeed.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> What is it about, Professor?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Professor.</span> The subject, my good brother, is
+assassination considered as a method of political
+reform.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> I think little of pen and ink in revolutions.
+One dagger will do more than a hundred epigrams.
+Still, let us read this scholar's last production. Give
+it to me. I will read it myself.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prof.</span> Brother, you never mind your stops; let
+Alexis read it.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> Ay! he is as tripping of speech as if he
+were some young aristocrat; but for my own part I
+care not for the stops so that the sense be plain.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Alex.</span> (<i>reading</i>). "The past has belonged to the
+tyrant, and he has defiled it; ours is the future, and
+we shall make it holy." Ay! let us make the future
+holy; let there be one revolution at least which is not
+bred in crime, nurtured in murder!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> They have spoken to us by the sword, and
+by the sword we shall answer! You are too delicate
+for us, Alexis. There should be none here but men
+whose hands are rough with labour or red with blood.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> Peace, Michael, peace! He is the bravest
+heart among us.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> (<i>aside</i>). He will need to be brave to-night.</p>
+
+<div class="stg1">(<i>The sound of sleigh bells is heard outside.</i>)</div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Voice</span> (<i>outside</i>). Per crucem ad lucem.</p>
+
+<p><i>Answer of man on guard.</i> Per sanguinem ad libertatem.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> Who is that?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> God save the people!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> Welcome, Vera, welcome! <a name="ai_6" id="ai_6"></a><a href="#ni_6" class="anc">6</a>We have been
+sick at heart till we saw you; but now methinks the
+star of freedom has come to wake us from the night.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span><a href="#ni_6" class="anc">6</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> <a name="ai_7" id="ai_7"></a><a href="#ni_7" class="anc">7</a>It is night, indeed, brother! Night without
+moon or star!<a href="#ni_7" class="anc">7</a> Russia is smitten to the heart!
+The man Ivan whom men call the Czar strikes now at
+our mother with a dagger deadlier than ever forged by
+tyranny against a people's life!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> What has the tyrant<a name="ai_8" id="ai_8"></a><a href="#ni_8" class="anc">8</a> done now?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> To-morrow martial law is to be proclaimed
+in Russia.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Omnes.</span> Martial law! We are lost! We are lost!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Alex.</span> Martial law! Impossible!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> Fool, nothing is impossible in Russia but
+reform.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> Ay, martial law. The last right to which
+the people clung has been taken from them. Without
+trial, without appeal, without accuser even, our
+brothers will be taken from their houses, shot in
+the streets like dogs, sent away to die in the snow,
+to starve in the dungeon, to rot in the mine. Do
+you know what martial law means? It means the
+strangling of a whole nation. <a name="ai_9" id="ai_9"></a><a href="#ni_9" class="anc">9</a>The streets will be
+filled with soldiers night and day; there will be
+sentinels at every door.<a href="#ni_9" class="anc">9</a> No man dare walk abroad
+now but the spy or the traitor. Cooped up in the
+dens we hide in, meeting by stealth, speaking with
+bated breath; what good can we do now for Russia?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> We can suffer at least.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> We have done that too much already.
+The hour is now come to annihilate and to revenge.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> Up to this the people have borne everything.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> Because they have understood nothing.
+But now we, the Nihilists, have given them the tree
+of knowledge to eat of and the day of silent suffering
+is over for Russia.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> Martial law, Vera! This is fearful tidings
+you bring.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> It is the death warrant of liberty in Russia.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> Or the tocsin of<a name="ai_10" id="ai_10"></a><a href="#ni_10" class="anc">10</a> revolution.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> Are you sure it is true?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> Here is the proclamation. I stole it
+myself at the ball to-night from a young fool, one
+of Prince Paul's secretaries, who had been given it
+to copy. It was that which made me so late.</p>
+
+<div class="stg1">(<i><span class="smcap">Vera</span> hands proclamation to <span class="smcap">Michael</span>, who reads
+it.</i>)</div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> "To ensure the public safety&mdash;martial law.
+By order of the Czar, father of his people." The
+father of his people!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> Ay! a father whose name shall not be
+hallowed, whose kingdom shall change to a republic,
+whose trespasses shall not be forgiven him, because
+he has robbed us of our daily bread; with whom is
+neither might, nor right, nor glory, now or for ever.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> It must be about this that the council
+meet to-morrow. It has not yet been signed.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Alex.</span> It shall not be while I have a tongue to
+plead with.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> Or while I have hands to smite with.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> Martial law! O God, how easy it is for
+a king to kill his people by thousands, but we cannot
+rid ourselves of one crowned man in Europe! What
+is there of awful majesty in these men which makes
+the hand unsteady, the dagger treacherous, the pistol-shot
+harmless? Are they not men of like passions with
+ourselves, vulnerable to the same diseases, of flesh
+and blood not different from our own? What made
+Olgiati tremble at the supreme crisis of that Roman
+life, <a name="ai_11" id="ai_11"></a><a href="#ni_11" class="anc">11</a>and Guido's nerve fail him when he should
+have been of iron and of steel? A plague, I say, on
+these fools of Naples, Berlin, and Spain!<a href="#ni_11" class="anc">11</a> Methinks
+that if I stood face to face with one of the crowned
+men my eye would see more clearly, my aim be more
+sure, my whole body gain a strength and power that
+was not my own! Oh, to think what stands between
+us and freedom in Europe! a few old men, wrinkled,
+feeble, tottering dotards whom a boy could strangle
+for a ducat, or a woman stab in a night-time. And
+these are the things that keep us from democracy,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span>
+that keep us from liberty. But now methinks the
+brood of men is dead and the dull earth grown sick
+of child-bearing, else would no crowned dog pollute
+God's air by living.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Omnes.</span> Try us! Try us! Try us!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> We shall try thee, too, some day, Vera.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> I pray God thou mayest! Have I not
+strangled whatever nature is in me, and shall I not
+keep my oath?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> (<i>to <span class="smcap">President</span></i>). Martial law, President!
+Come, there is no time to be lost. We have twelve
+hours yet before us till the council meet. <a name="ai_12" id="ai_12"></a><a href="#ni_12" class="anc">12</a>Twelve
+hours! One can overthrow a dynasty in less time
+than that.<a href="#ni_12" class="anc">12</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> <a name="ai_13" id="ai_13"></a><a href="#ni_13" class="anc">13</a>Ay! or lose one's own head.<a href="#ni_13" class="anc">13</a></p>
+
+<p>(<i><span class="smcap">Michael</span> and the <span class="smcap">President</span> retire to one corner
+of the stage and sit whispering. <span class="smcap">Vera</span> takes up the
+proclamation, and reads it to herself; <span class="smcap">Alexis</span> watches
+and suddenly rushes up to her.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Alex.</span> Vera!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> Alexis, you here! Foolish boy, have I
+not prayed you to stay away? All of us here are
+doomed to die before our time, fated to expiate by
+suffering whatever good we do; but you, with your
+<a name="ai_14" id="ai_14"></a><a href="#ni_14" class="anc">14</a>bright boyish face,<a href="#ni_14" class="anc">14</a> you are too young to die yet.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Alex.</span> One is never too young to die for one's
+country!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> Why do you come here night after night?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Alex.</span> Because I love the people.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> But your fellow-students must miss you.
+Are there no traitors among them? You know what
+spies there are in the University here. O Alexis,
+you must go! You see how desperate suffering has
+made us. There is no room here for a nature like
+yours. You must not come again.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Alex.</span> Why do you think so poorly of me?
+Why should I live while my brothers suffer?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> You spake to me of your mother once.
+You said you loved her. Oh, think of her!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Alex.</span> I have no mother now but Russia, my
+life is hers to take or give away; but to-night I am
+here to see you. They tell me you are leaving for
+Novgorod to-morrow.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> I must. They are getting faint-hearted
+there, and I would fan the flame of this revolution
+into such a blaze that the eyes of all kings in Europe
+shall be blinded. If martial law is passed they will
+need me all the more there. There is no limit, it
+seems, to the tyranny of one man; but there shall
+be a limit to the suffering of a whole people.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Alex.</span> God knows it, I am with you. But you
+must not go. <a name="ai_15" id="ai_15"></a><a href="#ni_15" class="anc">15</a>The police are watching every train
+for you.<a href="#ni_15" class="anc">15</a> When you are seized they have orders to
+place you without trial in the lowest dungeon of the
+palace.<a name="ai_16" id="ai_16"></a><a href="#ni_16" class="anc">16</a> I know it&mdash;no matter how. <a name="ai_17" id="ai_17"></a><a href="#ni_17" class="anc">17</a>Oh, think
+how without you the sun goes from our life, how the
+people will lose their leader and liberty her priestess.<a href="#ni_17" class="anc">17</a>
+Vera, you must not go!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> If you wish it, I will stay. I would live
+a little longer for freedom, a little longer for Russia.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Alex.</span> When you die then Russia is smitten indeed;
+when you die then I shall lose all hope&mdash;all....
+Vera, this is fearful news you bring&mdash;martial
+law&mdash;it is too terrible. I knew it not, by my soul,
+I knew it not!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> How could you have known it? It is
+too well laid a plot for that. This great White Czar,
+whose hands are red with the blood of the people
+he has murdered, whose soul is black with his
+iniquity, is the cleverest conspirator of us all. Oh,
+how could Russia bear two hearts like yours and his!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Alex.</span> Vera, the Emperor was not always like
+this. There was a time when he loved the people.
+It is that devil, whom God curse, Prince Paul
+Maraloffski who has brought him to this. To-morrow,
+I swear it, I shall plead for the people to
+the Emperor.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> Plead to the Czar! Foolish boy, it is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span>
+only those who are sentenced to death that ever see
+our Czar. Besides, what should he care for a voice
+that pleads for mercy? The cry of a strong nation
+in its agony has not moved that heart of stone.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Alex.</span> (<i>aside</i>). Yet shall I plead to him. They
+can but kill me.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prof.</span> Here are the proclamations, Vera. Do
+you think they will do?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> I shall read them. <a name="ai_18" id="ai_18"></a><a href="#ni_18" class="anc">18</a>How fair he looks?<a href="#ni_18" class="anc">18</a>
+Methinks he never seemed so noble as to-night.
+Liberty is blessed in having such a lover.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Alex.</span> Well, President, what are you deep in?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> We are thinking of the best way of killing
+bears. (<i>Whispers to <span class="smcap">President</span> and leads him aside.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prof.</span> (<i>to <span class="smcap">Vera</span></i>). And the letters <a name="ai_19" id="ai_19"></a><a href="#ni_19" class="anc">19</a>from our
+brothers at Paris and Berlin. What answer shall we
+send to them?<a href="#ni_19" class="anc">19</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera</span> (<i>takes them mechanically</i>). Had I not
+strangled nature, sworn neither to love nor be loved,
+methinks<a name="ai_20" id="ai_20"></a><a href="#ni_20" class="anc">20</a> I might have loved him. Oh, I am a
+fool, a traitor myself, a traitor myself! But why did
+he come amongst us with his bright<a name="ai_21" id="ai_21"></a><a href="#ni_21" class="anc">21</a> young face, his
+heart aflame for liberty, his pure white soul? Why
+does he make me feel at times as if I would have him
+as my king, Republican though I be? Oh, fool, fool,
+fool! False to your oath! weak as water! Have
+done! Remember what you are&mdash;a Nihilist, a Nihilist!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> (<i>to <span class="smcap">Michael</span></i>). But you will be seized,
+Michael.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> I think not. I will wear the uniform of
+the Imperial Guard, and the Colonel on duty is one
+of us. It is on the first floor, you remember; so I
+can take a long shot.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> Shall I tell the brethren?</p>
+
+<p><a name="ai_22" id="ai_22"></a><a href="#ni_22" class="anc">22</a><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> Not a word, not a word! There is a
+traitor amongst us.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> Come, are these the proclamations? Yes,
+they will do; yes, they will do. Send five hundred to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span>
+Kiev and Odessa and Novgorod, five hundred to
+Warsaw, and have twice the number distributed
+among the Southern Provinces, though these dull
+Russian peasants care little for our proclamations, and
+less for our martyrdoms. When the blow is struck,
+it must be from the town, not from the country.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> Ay, and by the sword not by the goose-quill.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> Where are the letters from Poland?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prof.</span> Here.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> Unhappy Poland! The eagles of Russia
+have fed on her heart. We must not forget our
+brothers there.<a href="#ni_22" class="anc">22</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> Is this true, Michael?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> Ay, I stake my life on it.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> <a name="ai_23" id="ai_23"></a><a href="#ni_23" class="anc">23</a>Let the doors be locked, then.<a href="#ni_23" class="anc">23</a> Alexis
+Ivanacievitch entered on our roll of the brothers as a
+Student of the School of Medicine at Moscow. Why
+did you not tell us of this bloody scheme<a name="ai_24" id="ai_24"></a><a href="#ni_24" class="anc">24</a> of martial
+law?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Alex.</span> I, President?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> Ay, you! You knew it, none better.
+Such weapons as these are not forged in a day.
+Why did you not tell us of it? A week ago there
+had been time <a name="ai_25" id="ai_25"></a><a href="#ni_25" class="anc">25</a>to lay the mine, to raise the barricade,
+to strike one blow at least for liberty.<a href="#ni_25" class="anc">25</a> But
+now the hour is past. It is too late, <a name="ai_26" id="ai_26"></a><a href="#ni_26" class="anc">26</a>it is too late!<a href="#ni_26" class="anc">26</a>
+Why did you keep it a secret from us, I say?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Alex.</span> Now by the hand of freedom, Michael,
+my brother, you wrong me. I knew nothing of this
+hideous law. By my soul, my brothers, I knew
+not of it! How should I know?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> Because you are a traitor! Where did
+you go when you left us the night of our last meeting
+here?</p>
+
+<p><a name="ai_27" id="ai_27"></a><a href="#ni_27" class="anc">27</a><span class="smcap">Alex.</span> To mine own house, Michael.<a href="#ni_27" class="anc">27</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> Liar! I was on your track. You left
+here an hour after midnight. Wrapped in a large
+cloak, you crossed the river in a boat a mile below<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span>
+the second bridge, and gave the ferryman a gold
+piece, you, the poor student of medicine! You
+doubled back twice, and hid in an archway so long
+that I had almost made up my mind to stab you
+at once, only that I am fond of hunting. So! you
+thought that you had baffled all pursuit, did you?
+Fool! I am a bloodhound that never loses the scent.
+I followed you from street to street. At last I saw
+you pass swiftly across the Place St. Isaac, whisper
+to the guards the secret password, enter the palace
+by a private door with your own key.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Conspirators.</span> The palace!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> Alexis!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> I waited. All through the dreary watches
+of our long Russian night I waited, that I might kill
+you with your Judas hire still hot in your hand.
+But you never came out; you never left that palace
+at all. I saw the blood-red sun rise through the
+yellow fog over the murky town; I saw a new day
+of oppression dawn on Russia; but you never came
+out. So you pass nights in the palace, do you?
+You know the password for the guards! you have a
+key to a secret door. Oh, you are a spy&mdash;you are
+a spy! I never trusted you, <a name="ai_28" id="ai_28"></a><a href="#ni_28" class="anc">28</a>with your soft white
+hands, your curled hair, your pretty graces.<a href="#ni_28" class="anc">28</a> You
+have no mark of suffering about you; you cannot be
+of the people. You are a spy&mdash;<a name="ai_29" id="ai_29"></a><a href="#ni_29" class="anc">29</a>a spy&mdash;traitor.<a href="#ni_29" class="anc">29</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Omnes.</span> Kill him! Kill him! (<i>draw their knives</i>.)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera</span> (<i>rushing in front of <span class="smcap">Alexis</span></i>). Stand back,
+I say, Michael! Stand back all! <a name="ai_30" id="ai_30"></a><a href="#ni_30" class="anc">30</a>Do not dare<a href="#ni_30" class="anc">30</a>
+lay a hand upon him! He is the noblest heart
+amongst us.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Omnes.</span> Kill him! Kill him! He is a spy!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> Dare to lay a finger on him, and I leave
+you all to yourselves.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> Vera, did you not hear what Michael said
+of him? He stayed all night in the Czar's palace.
+He has a password and a private key. What else
+should he be but a spy?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> Bah! I do not believe Michael. It is a
+lie! It is<a name="ai_31" id="ai_31"></a><a href="#ni_31" class="anc">31</a> a lie! Alexis, say it is a lie!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Alex.</span> It is true. Michael has told what he saw.
+I did pass that night in the Czar's palace. Michael
+has spoken the truth.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> Stand back, I say; stand back! Alexis,
+I do not care. I trust you; you would not betray
+us; you would not sell the people for money. You
+are honest, true! Oh, say you are no spy!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Alex.</span> Spy? You know I am not. I am with
+you, my brothers, to the death.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> Ay, to your own death.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Alex.</span> Vera, you<a name="ai_32" id="ai_32"></a><a href="#ni_32" class="anc">32</a> know I am true.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> I know it well.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> Why are you here, traitor?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Alex.</span> Because I love the people.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> Then you can be a martyr for them?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> You must kill me first, Michael, before
+you lay a finger on him.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> Michael, we dare not lose Vera. It is her
+whim to let this boy live. We can keep him here
+to-night. Up to this he has not betrayed us.</p>
+
+<div class="stg1">(<i>Tramp of soldiers outside, knocking at door.</i>)<a name="ai_33" id="ai_33"></a><a href="#ni_33" class="anc">33</a></div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Voice.</span> Open in the name of the Emperor!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> He <i>has</i> betrayed us. This is your doing,
+spy!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> Come, Michael, come. We have no time
+to cut one another's throats while we have our own
+heads to save.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Voice.</span> Open in the name of the Emperor!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> Brothers, be masked all of you. <a name="ai_34" id="ai_34"></a><a href="#ni_34" class="anc">34</a>Michael,
+open the door. It is our only chance.<a href="#ni_34" class="anc">34</a></p>
+
+<div class="stg1">(<i>Enter <span class="smcap">General Kotemkin</span> and soldiers.</i>)</div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Gen.</span> All honest citizens should be in their own
+houses at an hour before midnight, and not more
+than five people have a right to meet privately.
+Have you not noticed the proclamation, fellows?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> Ay, you have spoiled every honest<a name="ai_35" id="ai_35"></a><a href="#ni_35" class="anc">35</a> wall
+in Moscow with it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> Peace, Michael, peace. Nay, Sir, we knew
+it not. We are a company of strolling players travelling
+from Samara to Moscow to amuse His Imperial
+Majesty the Czar.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Gen.</span> But I heard loud voices before I entered.
+What was that?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> We were rehearsing a new tragedy.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Gen.</span> Your answers are too <i>honest</i> to be true.
+Come, let me see who you are. Take off those
+players' masks. By St. Nicholas, my beauty, if your
+face matches your figure, you must be a choice
+morsel! Come, I say, pretty one; I would sooner
+see your face than those of all the others.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> O God! if he sees it is Vera, we are all
+lost!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Gen.</span> No coquetting, my girl. Come, unmask, I
+say, or I shall tell my guards to do it for you.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Alex.</span> Stand back, I say, General Kotemkin!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Gen.</span> Who are you, fellow, that talk with such
+a tripping tongue to your betters? (<i><span class="smcap">Alexis</span> takes
+his mask off</i>.) His Imperial Highness the Czarevitch!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Omnes.</span> The Czarevitch! <a name="ai_36" id="ai_36"></a><a href="#ni_36" class="anc">36</a>It is all over!<a href="#ni_36" class="anc">36</a></p>
+
+<p><a name="ai_37" id="ai_37"></a><a href="#ni_37" class="anc">37</a><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> He will give us up to the soldiers.<a href="#ni_37" class="anc">37</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> (<i>to <span class="smcap">Vera</span></i>). Why did you not let me kill
+him? Come, we must fight to the death for it.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> Peace! he will not betray us.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Alex.</span> A whim of mine, General! You know
+how my father keeps me from the world and imprisons
+me in the palace. I should really be bored
+to death if I could not get out at night in disguise
+sometimes, and have some romantic adventure in
+town. I fell in with these honest folks a few hours
+ago.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Gen.</span> But, your Highness&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Alex.</span> Oh, they are excellent actors, I assure you.
+If you had come in ten minutes ago, you would have
+witnessed a most interesting scene.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Gen.</span> Actors, are they, Prince?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Alex.</span> Ay, and very ambitious actors, too. They
+only care to play before kings.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Gen.</span> I' faith, your Highness, I was in hopes I
+had made a good haul of Nihilists.<a name="ai_38" id="ai_38"></a><a href="#ni_38" class="anc">38</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Alex.</span> Nihilists in Moscow, General! with you as
+head of the police? Impossible!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Gen.</span> So I always tell your Imperial father. But
+I heard at the council to-day that that woman Vera
+Sabouroff, the head of them, had been seen in this
+very city. The Emperor's face turned as white as
+the snow outside. I think I never saw such terror
+in any man before.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Alex.</span> She is a dangerous woman, then, this Vera
+Sabouroff?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Gen.</span> The most dangerous in all Europe.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Alex.</span> Did you ever see her, General?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Gen.</span> Why, five years ago, when I was a plain
+Colonel, I remember her, your Highness, a common
+waiting girl in an inn. If I had known then what
+she was going to turn out, I would have flogged her
+to death on the roadside. She is not a woman at
+all; she is a sort of devil! For the last eighteen
+months I have been hunting her, and caught sight of
+her once last September outside Odessa.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Alex.</span> How did you let her go, General?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Gen.</span> I was by myself, and she shot one of my
+horses just as I was gaining on her. If I see her
+again I shan't miss my chance. The Emperor has
+put twenty thousand roubles on her head.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Alex.</span> I hope you will get it, General; but meanwhile
+you are frightening these honest people out of
+their wits, and disturbing the tragedy. Good night,
+General.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Gen.</span> Yes; but I should like to see their faces,
+your Highness.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Alex.</span> No, General; you must not ask that; you
+know how these gipsies hate to be stared at.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Gen.</span> Yes. But, your Highness&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Alex.</span> (<i>haughtily</i>). General, they are my friends,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>
+that is enough. And, General, not a word of this
+little adventure here, you understand. I shall rely
+on you.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Gen.</span> I shall not forget, Prince. But shall we not
+see you back to the palace? The State ball is almost
+over and you are expected.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Alex.</span> I shall be there; but I shall return alone.
+Remember, not a word about my strolling players.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Gen.</span> Or your pretty gipsy, eh, Prince? your
+pretty gipsy! I' faith, I should like to see her
+before I go; she has such fine eyes through her
+mask. Well, good night, your Highness; good
+night.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Alex.</span> Good night, General.</p>
+
+<div class="stg1">(<i>Exit <span class="smcap">General</span> and the soldiers.</i>)</div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera</span> (<i>throwing off her mask</i>). Saved! and by
+you!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Alex.</span> (<i>clasping her hand</i>). Brothers, you trust
+me now?</p>
+
+<div class="bk3">TABLEAU.</div>
+
+<div class="bk3"><span class="smcap">End of Act I.</span></div>
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span></p>
+<h2>ACT II.</h2>
+
+<div class="stg2"><p class="p2"><span class="smcap">Scene.</span>&mdash;<i>Council Chamber in the Emperor's Palace,
+hung with yellow tapestry. Table, with chair of
+State, set for the Czar; window behind, opening
+on to a balcony. As the scene progresses the light
+outside gets darker.</i></p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Present.</i>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Prince Paul Maraloffski, Prince
+Petrovitch, Count Rouvaloff, Baron Raff,
+Count Petouchof.</span></p></div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Petro.</span> So our young scatter-brained
+Czarevitch has been forgiven at last, and is to take
+his seat here again.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> Yes; if that is not meant as an
+extra punishment. For my own part, at least, I find
+these Cabinet Councils extremely exhausting.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Petro.</span> Naturally; you are always
+speaking.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> No; I think it must be that I
+have to listen sometimes.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Count R.</span> Still, anything is better than being
+kept in a sort of prison, like he was&mdash;never allowed
+to go out into the world.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> My dear Count, for romantic
+young people like he is, the world always looks best
+at a distance; and a prison where one's allowed to
+order one's own dinner is not at all a bad place.
+(<i>Enter the <span class="smcap">Czarevitch</span>. The courtiers rise.</i>) Ah!
+good afternoon, Prince. Your Highness is looking
+a little pale to-day.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czare.</span> (<i>slowly, after a pause</i>). I want change of
+air.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul</span> (<i>smiling</i>). A most revolutionary<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span>
+sentiment! Your Imperial father would highly disapprove
+of any reforms with the thermometer in
+Russia.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czare.</span> (<i>bitterly</i>). My Imperial father had kept me
+for six months in this dungeon of a palace. This
+morning he has me suddenly woke up to see some
+wretched Nihilists hung; it sickened me, the bloody
+butchery, though it was a noble thing to see how
+well these men can die.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> When you are as old as I am,
+Prince, you will understand that there are few things
+easier than to live badly and to die well.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czare.</span> Easy to die well! A lesson experience
+cannot have taught you, whatever you may know of
+a bad life.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul</span> (<i>shrugging his shoulders</i>). Experience,
+the name men give to their mistakes. I never
+commit any.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czare.</span> (<i>bitterly</i>). No; crimes are more in your
+line.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Petro.</span> (<i>to the <span class="smcap">Czarevitch</span></i>). The Emperor
+was a good deal agitated about your late appearance
+at the ball last night, Prince.</p>
+
+<p><a name="aii_1" id="aii_1"></a><a href="#nii_1" class="anc">1</a><span class="smcap">Count R.</span> (<i>laughing</i>). I believe he thought the
+Nihilists had broken into the palace and carried you
+off.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Baron Raff.</span> If they had you would have missed
+a charming dance.<a href="#nii_1" class="anc">1</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> And<a name="aii_2" id="aii_2"></a><a href="#nii_2" class="anc">2</a> an excellent supper. Gringoire
+really excelled himself in his salad. Ah! you
+may laugh, Baron; but to make a good salad is a
+much more difficult thing than cooking accounts.
+To make a good salad is to be a brilliant diplomatist&mdash;the
+problem is so entirely the same in both cases.
+To know exactly how much oil one must put with
+one's vinegar.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Baron Raff.</span> A cook and a diplomatist! an
+excellent parallel. If I had a son who was a fool
+I'd make him one or the other.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> I see your father did not hold the
+same opinion, Baron. But, believe me, you are
+wrong to run down cookery. For myself, the only
+immortality I desire is to invent a new sauce. I
+have never had time enough to think seriously about
+it, but I feel it is in me, I feel it is in me.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czare.</span> You have certainly missed your <i>metier</i>,<a name="aii_3" id="aii_3"></a><a href="#nii_3" class="anc">3</a>
+Prince Paul; the <i>cordon bleu</i> would have suited you
+much better than the Grand Cross of Honour. But
+you know you could never have worn your white
+apron well; you would have soiled it too soon, your
+hands are not clean enough.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul</span> (<i>bowing</i>). Que voulez vous? I
+manage your father's business.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czare.</span> (<i>bitterly</i>). You mismanage my father's
+business, you mean! Evil genius of his life that you
+are! before you came there was some love left in
+him. It is you who have embittered his nature,
+poured into his ear the poison of treacherous counsel,
+made him hated by the whole people, made him
+what he is&mdash;a tyrant!</p>
+
+<div class="stg1">(<i>The courtiers look significantly at each other.</i>)</div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul</span> (<i>calmly</i>). I see your Highness does
+want change of air. But I have been an eldest son
+myself. (<i>Lights a cigarette.</i>) I know what it is when
+a father won't die to please one.</p>
+
+<div class="stg1">(<i>The <span class="smcap">Czarevitch</span> goes to the top of the stage, and
+leans against the window, looking out.</i>)</div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Petro.</span> (<i>to <span class="smcap">Baron Raff</span></i>). Foolish boy!
+<a name="aii_4" id="aii_4"></a><a href="#nii_4" class="anc">4</a>He will be sent into exile, or worse, if he is not
+careful.<a href="#nii_4" class="anc">4</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Baron Raff.</span> Yes.<a name="aii_5" id="aii_5"></a><a href="#nii_5" class="anc">5</a> What a mistake it is to be
+sincere!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Petro.</span> The only folly you have never
+committed, Baron.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Baron Raff.</span> One has only one head, you know,
+Prince.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> My dear Baron, your head is the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span>
+last thing any one would wish to take from you.
+(<i>Pulls out snuffbox and offers it to <span class="smcap">Prince Petrovitch</span>.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Petro.</span> Thanks, Prince! Thanks!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> Very delicate, isn't it? I get it
+direct from Paris. But under this vulgar Republic
+everything has degenerated over there. "Cotelettes &agrave;
+l'imp&eacute;riale" vanished, of course, with the Bourbon,
+and omelettes went out with the Orleanists. La
+belle France is entirely ruined, Prince, through bad
+morals and worse cookery. (<i>Enter the <span class="smcap">Marquis de
+Poivrard</span>.</i>) Ah! Marquis. I trust Madame la
+Marquise is well.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Marquis de P.</span> You ought to know better than
+I do, Prince Paul; you see more <i>of</i> her.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul</span> (<i>bowing</i>). Perhaps I see more <i>in</i>
+her, Marquis. Your wife is really a charming woman,
+so full of <i>esprit</i>, and so satirical too; she talks continually
+of you when we are together.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Petro.</span> (<i>looking at the clock</i>). His Majesty
+is a little late to-day, is he not?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> What has happened to you, my
+dear Petrovitch? you seem quite out of sorts. You
+haven't quarrelled with your cook, I hope? What a
+tragedy that would be for you; you would lose all
+your friends.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Petro.</span> I fear I wouldn't be so fortunate
+as that. You forget I would still have my purse.<a name="aii_6" id="aii_6"></a><a href="#nii_6" class="anc">6</a>
+But you are wrong for once; my chef and I are on
+excellent<a name="aii_7" id="aii_7"></a><a href="#nii_7" class="anc">7</a> terms.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> Then your creditors or Mademoiselle
+Vera Sabouroff have been writing to you?
+I find both of them such excellent correspondents.
+But really you needn't be alarmed. I find the most
+violent proclamations from the Executive Committee,
+as they call it, left all over my house. I never read
+them; they are so badly spelt as a rule.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Petro.</span> Wrong again, Prince; the Nihilists
+leave me alone for some reason or other.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul</span> (<i>aside</i>). Ah! true. I forgot. Indifference
+is the revenge the world takes on mediocrities.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Petro.</span> I am bored with life,<a name="aii_8" id="aii_8"></a><a href="#nii_8" class="anc">8</a> Prince.
+Since the opera season ended I have been a perpetual
+martyr to ennui.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> The maladie du si&egrave;cle! You
+want a new excitement, Prince. Let me see&mdash;you
+have been married twice already; suppose you try&mdash;falling
+in love, for once.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Baron R.</span> Prince, I have been thinking a good
+deal lately&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul</span> (<i>interrupting</i>). You surprise me
+very much, Baron.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Baron R.</span> I cannot understand your nature.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul</span> (<i>smiling</i>). If my nature had been
+made to suit your comprehension rather than my own
+requirements, I am afraid I would have made a very
+poor figure in the world.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Count R.</span> There seems to be nothing in life
+about which you would not jest.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> Ah! my dear Count, life is much
+too important a thing ever to talk seriously about it.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czare.</span> (<i>coming back from the window</i>). I don't
+think Prince Paul's nature is such a mystery. He
+would stab his best friend for the sake of writing an
+epigram on his tombstone, or experiencing a new
+sensation.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> Parbleu! I would sooner lose my
+best friend than my worst enemy. To have friends,
+you know, one need only be good-natured; but when
+a man has no enemy left there must be something
+mean about him.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czare.</span> (<i>bitterly</i>). If to have enemies is a measure
+of greatness, then you must be a Colossus, indeed,
+Prince.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> Yes, I know I'm the most hated
+man in Russia, except your father, <a name="aii_9" id="aii_9"></a><a href="#nii_9" class="anc">9</a>except your
+father, of course,<a href="#nii_9" class="anc">9</a> Prince. He doesn't seem to like it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span>
+much, by the way, but I do, I assure you. (<i>Bitterly.</i>)
+I love to drive through the streets and see how the
+canaille scowl at me from every corner. It makes me
+feel I am a power in Russia; one man against a hundred
+millions! Besides, I have no ambition to be a
+popular hero, to be crowned with laurels one year and
+pelted with stones the next; I prefer dying peaceably
+in my own bed.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czare.</span> And after death?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul</span> (<i>shrugging his shoulders</i>). Heaven is
+a despotism. I shall be at home there.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czare.</span> Do you never think of the people and
+their rights?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> The people and their rights bore
+me. I am sick of both. In these modern days to
+be vulgar, illiterate, common and vicious, seems to
+give a man a marvellous infinity of rights that his
+honest fathers never dreamed of. Believe me,
+Prince, in good democracy every man should be an
+aristocrat; but these people in Russia who seek to
+thrust us out are no better than the animals in one's
+preserves, and made to be shot at, most of them.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czare.</span> (<i>excitedly</i>). If they are<a name="aii_10" id="aii_10"></a><a href="#nii_10" class="anc">10</a> common, illiterate,
+vulgar, no better than the beasts of the field,
+who made them so?</p>
+
+<div class="stg1">(<i>Enter <span class="smcap">Aide-de-Camp</span>.</i>)</div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Aide-de-Camp.</span> His Imperial Majesty, the Emperor!
+(<i><span class="smcap">Prince Paul</span> looks at the <span class="smcap">Czarevitch</span>,
+and smiles.</i>)</p>
+
+<div class="stg1">(<i>Enter the <span class="smcap">Czar</span>, surrounded by his guard.</i>)</div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czare.</span> (<i>rushing forward to meet him</i>). Sire!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar</span> (<i>nervous and frightened</i>). Don't come too
+near me, boy! Don't come too near me, I say!
+There is always something about an heir to a crown
+unwholesome to his father. Who is that man over
+there? I don't know him. What is he doing? Is
+he a conspirator? Have you searched him? Give
+him till to-morrow to confess, then hang him!&mdash;hang
+him!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> Sire, you are anticipating history.
+This is Count Petouchof, your new ambassador to
+Berlin. He is come to kiss hands on his appointment.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> To kiss my hand? There is some plot in
+it. He wants to poison me. There, kiss my son's
+hand; it will do quite as well.</p>
+
+<p>(<i><span class="smcap">Prince Paul</span> signs to <span class="smcap">Count Petouchof</span> to
+leave the room. Exit <span class="smcap">Petouchof</span> and the guards.
+<span class="smcap">Czar</span> sinks down into his chair. The courtiers remain
+silent.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul</span> (<i>approaching</i>). Sire! will your
+Majesty&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> What do you startle me like that for?
+No, I won't. (<i>Watches the courtiers nervously.</i>)
+Why are you clattering your sword, sir? (<i>To <span class="smcap">Count
+Rouvaloff</span>.</i>) Take it off, I shall have no man
+wear a sword in my presence (<i>looking at <span class="smcap">Czarevitch</span></i>),
+least of all my son. (<i>To <span class="smcap">Prince Paul</span>.</i>)
+You are not angry with me, Prince? You won't
+desert me, will you? Say you won't desert me.
+What do you want? You can have anything&mdash;anything.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul</span> (<i>bowing very low</i>). Sire, 'tis enough
+for me to have your confidence. (<i>Aside.</i>) I was
+afraid he was going to revenge himself and give
+me another decoration.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar</span> (<i>returning to his chair</i>). Well, gentlemen.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Marq. de Poiv.</span> Sire, I have the honour to
+present to you a loyal address from your subjects
+in the Province of Archangel, expressing their
+horror at the last attempt on your Majesty's life.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> The last attempt but two, you
+ought to have said, Marquis. Don't you see it is
+dated three weeks back?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> They are good people in the Province of
+Archangel&mdash;honest, loyal people. They love me very
+much&mdash;simple, loyal people; give them a new<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span>
+saint, it costs nothing. Well, Alexis (<i>turning to the
+<span class="smcap">Czarevitch</span></i>)&mdash;how many traitors were hung this
+morning?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czare.</span> There were three men strangled, Sire.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> There should have been three<a name="aii_11" id="aii_11"></a><a href="#nii_11" class="anc">11</a> thousand.
+I would to God that this people had but one neck
+that I might strangle them with one noose! Did
+they tell anything? whom did they implicate? what
+did they confess?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czare.</span> Nothing, Sire.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> They should have been tortured then;
+why weren't they tortured? Must I always be fighting
+in the dark? Am I never to know from what
+root these traitors spring?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czare.</span> What root should there be of discontent
+among the people but tyranny and injustice amongst
+their rulers?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> What did you say, boy? tyranny! tyranny!
+Am I a tyrant? I'm not. I love the people. I'm
+their father. I'm called so in every official proclamation.
+Have a care, boy; have a care. You don't
+seem to be cured yet of your foolish tongue. (<i>Goes
+over to <span class="smcap">Prince Paul</span>, and puts his hand on his
+shoulder.</i>) Prince Paul, tell me were there many
+people there this morning to see the Nihilists
+hung?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> Hanging is of course a good deal
+less of a novelty in Russia now, Sire, than it was
+three or four years ago; and you know how easily
+the people get tired even of their best amusements.
+But the square and the tops of the houses were
+really quite crowded, were they not, Prince? (<i>To
+the <span class="smcap">Czarevitch</span> who takes no notice.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> That's right; all loyal citizens should be
+there. It shows them what to look forward to. Did
+you arrest any one in the crowd?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> Yes, Sire, a woman for cursing
+your name. (<i>The <span class="smcap">Czarevitch</span> starts anxiously.</i>)
+She was the mother of the two criminals.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar</span> (<i>looking at <span class="smcap">Czarevitch</span></i>). She should have
+blessed me for having rid her of her children. Send
+her to prison.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czare.</span> The prisons of Russia are too full already,
+Sire. There is no room in them for any
+more victims.</p>
+
+<p><a name="aii_12" id="aii_12"></a><a href="#nii_12" class="anc">12</a><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> They don't die fast enough, then. You
+should put more of them into one cell at once.
+You don't keep them long enough in the mines. If
+you do they're sure to die; but you're all too merciful.
+I'm too merciful myself. Send her to Siberia.<a href="#nii_12" class="anc">12</a>
+She is sure to die on the way. (<i>Enter an <span class="smcap">Aide-de-Camp</span>.</i>)
+Who's that? Who's that?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Aide-de-Camp.</span> A letter for his Imperial
+Majesty.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar</span> (<i>to <span class="smcap">Prince Paul</span></i>). I won't open it. There
+may be something in it.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> It would be a very disappointing
+letter, Sire, if there wasn't. (<i>Takes letter himself,
+and reads it.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Petro.</span> (<i>to <span class="smcap">Count Rouvaloff</span></i>). It must
+be some sad news. I know that smile too well.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> From the Chief of the Police at
+Archangel, Sire. "The Governor of the province
+was shot this morning by a woman as he was entering
+the courtyard of his own house. The assassin
+has been seized."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> I never trusted the people of Archangel.
+It's a nest of Nihilists and conspirators. Take away
+their saints; they don't deserve them.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> Your Highness would punish them
+more severely by giving them an extra one. Three
+governors shot in two months. (<i>Smiles to himself.</i>)
+Sire, permit me to recommend your loyal subject,
+the Marquis de Poivrard, as the new governor of
+your Province of Archangel.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Marq. de Poiv.</span> (<i>hurriedly</i>). Sire, I am unfit for
+this post.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> Marquis, you are too modest.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span>
+Believe me, there is no man in Russia I would
+sooner see Governor of Archangel than yourself.
+(<i>Whispers to <span class="smcap">Czar</span>.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> Quite right, Prince Paul; you are always
+right. See that the Marquis's letters are made out
+at once.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> He can start to-night, Sire. I
+shall really miss you very much, Marquis. I always
+liked your taste in wines and wives extremely.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Marq. de Poiv.</span> (<i>to the <span class="smcap">Czar</span></i>). Start to-night,
+Sire? (<i><span class="smcap">Prince Paul</span> whispers to the <span class="smcap">Czar</span>.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> Yes, Marquis, to-night; it is better to go
+at once.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> I shall see that Madame la Marquise
+is not too lonely while you are away; so you
+need not be alarmed for her.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Count R.</span> (<i>to <span class="smcap">Prince Petrovitch</span></i>). I should be
+more alarmed for myself.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> The Governor of Archangel shot in his
+own courtyard by a woman! I'm not safe here.
+I'm not safe anywhere, with that she devil of the
+revolution, Vera Sabouroff, here in Moscow. Prince
+Paul, is that woman still here?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> They tell me she was at the
+Grand Duke's ball last night. I can hardly believe
+that; but she certainly had intended to leave for
+Novgorod to-day, Sire. The police were watching
+every train for her; but, for some reason or other,
+she did not go. Some traitor must have warned her.
+But I shall catch her yet. A chase after a beautiful
+woman is always exciting.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> You must hunt her down with bloodhounds,
+and when she is taken I shall hew her limb
+from limb. I shall stretch her on the rack till her
+pale white body is twisted and curled like paper in
+the fire.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> Oh, we shall have another hunt
+immediately for her, Sire! Prince Alexis will assist
+us, I am sure.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czare.</span> You never require any assistance to ruin
+a woman, Prince Paul.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> Vera, the Nihilist, in Moscow! O God,<a name="aii_13" id="aii_13"></a><a href="#nii_13" class="anc">13</a>
+were it not better to die at once the dog's death they
+plot for me than to live as I live now! Never to
+sleep, or, if I do, to dream such horrid dreams that
+Hell itself were peace when matched with them. To
+trust none but those I have bought, to buy none
+worth trusting! To see a traitor in every smile,
+poison in every dish, a dagger in every hand! To
+lie awake at night, listening from hour to hour for the
+stealthy creeping of the murderer, for the laying of
+the damned mine! You are all spies! you are all
+spies! You worst of all&mdash;you, my own son! Which of
+you is it who hides these bloody proclamations under
+my own pillow, or at the table where I sit? Which of
+ye all is the Judas who betrays me? O God! O
+God! methinks there was a time once, in our war
+with England, when nothing could make me afraid.
+(<i>This with more calm and pathos.</i>) I have ridden
+into the crimson heart of war, and borne back an
+eagle which those wild islanders had taken from us.
+Men said I was brave then. My father gave me the
+Iron Cross of valour. Oh, could he see me now with
+this coward's livery ever in my cheek! (<i>Sinks into
+his chair.</i>) I never knew any love when I was a boy.
+I was ruled by terror myself, how else should I rule
+now? (<i>Starts up.</i>) But I will have revenge; I will
+have revenge. For every hour I have lain awake at
+night, waiting for the noose or the dagger, they shall
+pass years in Siberia, centuries in the mines! Ay!
+I shall have revenge.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czare.</span> Father! have mercy on the people. Give
+them what they ask.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> And begin, Sire, with your own
+head; they have a particular liking for that.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> The people! the people! A tiger which I
+have let loose upon myself; but I will fight with it to
+the death. <a name="aii_14" id="aii_14"></a><a href="#nii_14" class="anc">14</a>I am done with half measures.<a href="#nii_14" class="anc">14</a> I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span>
+shall crush these Nihilists at a blow. There shall not
+be a man of them, ay, or a woman either, left alive in
+Russia. <a name="aii_15" id="aii_15"></a><a href="#nii_15" class="anc">15</a>Am I Emperor for<a href="#nii_15" class="anc">15</a> nothing, that a
+woman should hold me at bay? Vera Sabouroff shall
+be in my power, I swear it, before a week is ended,
+<a name="aii_16" id="aii_16"></a><a href="#nii_16" class="anc">16</a>though I burn my whole city to find her.<a href="#nii_16" class="anc">16</a> She
+shall be flogged by the knout, stifled in the fortress,
+strangled in the square!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czare.</span> O God!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> For two years her hands have been clutching
+at my throat; for two years she has made my life
+a hell; but I shall have revenge. Martial law, Prince,
+martial law over the whole Empire; that will give me
+revenge. A good measure, Prince, eh? a good
+measure.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> And an economical one too, Sire.
+It would carry off your surplus population in six
+months, and save you many expenses in courts of
+justice; they will not be needed now.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> Quite right. There are too many people in
+Russia, too much money spent on them, too much
+money in courts of justice. I'll shut them up.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czare.</span> Sire, reflect before&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> When can you have the proclamations
+ready, Prince Paul?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> They have been printed for the
+last six months, Sire. I knew you would need them.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> That's good! That's very good! Let us
+begin at once. Ah, Prince, if every king in Europe
+had a minister like you&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czare.</span> There would be less kings in Europe than
+there are.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar</span> (<i>in frightened whisper, to <span class="smcap">Prince Paul</span></i>).
+What does he mean? Do you trust him? His prison
+hasn't cured him yet. Shall I banish him? Shall I
+(<i>whispers</i>)...? The Emperor Paul did it. The
+Empress Catherine there<a name="aii_17" id="aii_17"></a><a href="#nii_17" class="anc">17</a> (<i>points to picture on the
+wall</i>) did it. Why shouldn't I?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> Your Majesty, there is no need<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span>
+for alarm. The Prince is a very ingenuous young man.
+He pretends to be devoted to the people, and lives in
+a palace; preaches socialism, and draws a salary that
+would support a province. He'll find out one day
+that the best cure for Republicanism is the Imperial
+crown, and will cut up the "bonnet rogue" of Democracy
+to make decorations for his Prime Minister.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> You are right. If he really loved the
+people, he could not be my son.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> If he lived with the people for a
+fortnight, their bad dinners would soon cure him of
+his democracy. Shall we begin, Sire?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> At once. Read the proclamation. Gentlemen,
+be seated. Alexis, Alexis, I say, come and
+hear it! It will be good practice for you; you will
+be doing it yourself some day.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czare.</span> I have heard too much of it already.
+(<i>Takes his seat at the table. <span class="smcap">Count Rouvaloff</span>
+whispers to him.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> What are you whispering about there,
+Count Rouvaloff?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Count R.</span> I was giving his Royal Highness
+some good advice, your Majesty.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> Count Rouvaloff is the typical
+spendthrift, Sire; he is always giving away what he
+needs most. (<i>Lays papers before the <span class="smcap">Czar</span>.</i>) I
+think, Sire, you will approve of this:&mdash;"Love of
+the people," "Father of his people," "Martial law,"
+and the usual allusions to Providence in the last
+line. All it requires now is your Imperial Majesty's
+signature.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czare.</span> Sire!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul</span> (<i>hurriedly</i>). I promise your Majesty
+to crush every Nihilist in Russia in six months
+if you sign this proclamation; every Nihilist in
+Russia.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> Say that again! To crush every Nihilist
+in Russia; to crush this woman, their leader, who
+makes war upon me in my own city. Prince Paul<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span>
+Maraloffski, I create you Marechale of the whole
+Russian Empire to help you to carry out martial
+law.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> Give me the proclamation. I will sign it
+at once.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul</span> (<i>points on paper</i>). Here, Sire.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czare.</span> (<i>starts up and puts his hands on the paper</i>).
+Stay! I tell you, stay! The priests have taken
+heaven from the people, and you would take the
+earth away too.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> We have no time, Prince, now.
+This boy will ruin everything. The pen, Sire.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czare.</span> What! is it so small a thing to strangle
+a nation, to murder a kingdom, to wreck an empire?
+Who are we who dare lay this ban of terror on a
+people? Have we less vices than they have, that
+we bring them to the bar of judgment before us?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> What a Communist the Prince is!
+He would have an equal distribution of sin as well
+as of property.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czare.</span> Warmed by the same sun, nurtured by
+the same air, fashioned of flesh and blood like to
+our own, wherein are they different to us, save that
+they starve while we surfeit, that they toil while we
+idle, that they sicken while we poison, that they die
+while we strangle?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> How dare&mdash;?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czare.</span> I dare all for the people; but you would
+rob them of common rights of common men.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> The people have no rights.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czare.</span> Then they have great wrongs. Father,
+they have won your battles for you; from the pine
+forests of the Baltic to the palms of India they have
+ridden on victory's mighty wings in search of your
+glory! Boy as I am in years, I have seen wave after
+wave of living men sweep up the heights of battle
+to their death; ay, and snatch perilous conquest
+from the scales of war when the bloody crescent
+seemed to shake above our eagles.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar</span> (<i>somewhat moved</i>). Those men are dead.
+What have I to do with them?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czare.</span> Nothing! The dead are safe; you<a name="aii_18" id="aii_18"></a><a href="#nii_18" class="anc">18</a>
+cannot harm them now. They sleep their last long
+sleep. Some in Turkish waters, others by the windswept
+heights of Norway and the Dane! But these,
+the living, our brothers, what have you done for
+them? They asked you for bread, you gave them
+a stone. They sought for freedom, you scourged
+them with scorpions. You have sown the seeds of
+this revolution yourself!&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> And are we not cutting down the
+harvest?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czare.</span> Oh, my brothers! better far that ye had
+died in the iron hail and screaming shell of battle
+than to come back to such a doom as<a name="aii_19" id="aii_19"></a><a href="#nii_19" class="anc">19</a> this! The
+beasts of the forests have their lairs, and the wild
+beasts their caverns, but the people of Russia, conquerors
+of the world, have not where to lay their
+heads.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> They have the headsman's block.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czare.</span> The headsman's block! Ay! you have
+killed their souls at your pleasure, you would kill
+their bodies now.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> Insolent boy! Have you forgotten who
+is Emperor of Russia?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czare.</span> No! The people reign now, by the grace
+of God.<a name="aii_20" id="aii_20"></a><a href="#nii_20" class="anc">20</a> You should have been their shepherd; you
+have fled away like the hireling, and let the wolves in
+upon them.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> Take him away! Take him away, Prince
+Paul!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czare.</span> God hath given this people tongues to
+speak with; you would cut them out that they may be
+dumb in their agony, silent in their torture! But
+God hath given them hands to smite with, and they
+shall smite! Ay! from the sick and labouring womb
+of this unhappy land some revolution, like a bloody
+child, shall<a name="aii_21" id="aii_21"></a><a href="#nii_21" class="anc">21</a> rise up and slay you.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar</span> (<i>leaping up</i>). Devil! Assassin! Why do
+you beard me thus to my face?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czare.</span> Because I<a name="aii_22" id="aii_22"></a><a href="#nii_22" class="anc">22</a> am a Nihilist! (<i>The ministers
+start to their feet; there is dead silence for a few
+minutes.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> A Nihilist! a Nihilist! Scorpion whom I
+have nurtured, traitor whom I have fondled, is this
+your bloody secret? Prince Paul Maraloffski, Marechale
+of the Russian Empire, arrest the Czarevitch!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Ministers.</span> Arrest the Czarevitch!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> A Nihilist! If you have sown with them,
+you shall reap with them! If you have talked with
+them, you shall rot with them! If you have lived
+with them, with them you shall die!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Petro.</span> Die!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> A plague on all sons, I say! There should
+be no more marriages in Russia when one can breed
+such vipers as you are! Arrest the Czarevitch, I say!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> Czarevitch! by order of the Emperor,
+I demand your sword. (<i><span class="smcap">Czarevitch</span> gives up
+sword; <span class="smcap">Prince Paul</span> places it on the table.</i>) Foolish
+boy! you are not made for a conspirator; you have
+not learned to hold your tongue. Heroics are out of
+place in a palace.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar</span> (<i>sinks into his chair with his eyes fixed on the
+<span class="smcap">Czarevitch</span></i>). O God!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czare.</span> If I am to die for the people, I am ready;
+one Nihilist more or less in Russia, what does that
+matter?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul</span> (<i>aside</i>). A good deal I should say
+to the one Nihilist.</p>
+
+<p><a name="aii_23" id="aii_23"></a><a href="#nii_23" class="anc">23</a><span class="smcap">Czare.</span> The mighty brotherhood to which I
+belong has a thousand such as I am, ten thousand
+better still! (<i>The <span class="smcap">Czar</span> starts in his seat.</i>) The star
+of freedom is risen already, and far off I hear the
+mighty wave democracy break on these cursed
+shores.<a href="#nii_23" class="anc">23</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul</span> (<i>to <span class="smcap">Prince Petrovitch</span></i>). In that
+case you and I had better learn how to swim.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czare.</span> Father, Emperor, Imperial Master, I
+plead not for my own life, but for the lives of my
+brothers, the people.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul</span> (<i>bitterly</i>). Your brothers, the people,
+Prince, are not content with their own lives, they
+always want to take their neighbour's too.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar</span> (<i>standing up</i>). I am sick of being afraid. I
+have done with terror now. From this day I proclaim
+war against the people&mdash;war to their annihilation.
+As they have dealt with me, so shall I deal with
+them. I shall grind them to powder, and strew their
+dust upon the air. There shall be a spy in every
+man's house, a traitor on every hearth, a hangman in
+every village, a gibbet in every square. Plague,
+leprosy, or fever shall be less deadly than my wrath;
+I will make every frontier a grave-yard, every province
+a lazar-house, and cure the sick by the sword. I shall
+have peace in Russia, though it be the peace of the
+dead. Who said I was a coward? Who said I was
+afraid? See, thus shall I crush this people beneath
+my feet! (<i>Takes up sword of <span class="smcap">Czarevitch</span> off table
+and tramples on it.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czare.</span> Father, beware, the sword you tread on
+may turn and wound you. The people suffer long,
+but vengeance comes at last, vengeance with red
+hands and bloody purpose.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> Bah! the people are bad shots;
+they always miss one.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czare.</span> There are times when the people are
+instruments of God.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> Ay! and when kings are God's scourges
+for the people. Oh, my own son, in my own house!
+My own flesh and blood against me! Take him away!
+Take him away! Bring in my guards. (<i>Enter the
+Imperial Guard. <span class="smcap">Czar</span> points to <span class="smcap">Czarevitch</span>, who
+stands alone at the side of the stage.</i>) To the blackest
+prison in Moscow! Let me never see his face again.
+(<i><span class="smcap">Czarevitch</span> is being led out.</i>) No, no, leave him!
+I don't trust guards. They are all Nihilists! They<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span>
+would let him escape and he would kill me, kill
+me! No, I'll bring him to prison myself, you and I
+(<i>to <span class="smcap">Prince Paul</span></i>). I trust you, you have no mercy.
+I shall have no mercy. Oh, my own son against me!
+How hot it is! The air stifles me! I feel as if I
+were going to faint, as if something were at my throat.
+Open the windows, I say! Out of my sight! Out
+of my sight! I can't bear his eyes. Wait, wait for
+me. (<i>Throws window open and goes out on balcony.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul</span> (<i>looking at his watch</i>). The dinner
+is sure to be spoiled. How annoying politics are
+and eldest sons!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Voice</span> (<i>outside, in the street</i>). God save the people!
+(<i><span class="smcap">Czar</span> is shot, and staggers back into the room.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czare.</span> (<i>breaking from the guards, and rushing
+over</i>). Father!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> Murderer! Murderer! You did it!
+Murderer! (<i>Dies.</i>)</p>
+
+<div class="bk3">TABLEAU.</div>
+
+<div class="bk3"><span class="smcap">End of Act II.</span></div>
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span></p>
+<h2>ACT III.</h2>
+
+<div class="stg2"><p class="ctr"><i>Same scene and business as Act I. Man in yellow
+dress, with drawn sword, at the door.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="stg1"><i>Password outside.</i> V&aelig; tyrannis.</div>
+
+<div class="stg1"><i>Answer.</i> V&aelig; victis (<i>repeated three times</i>).</div>
+
+<div class="stg1">(<i>Enter <span class="smcap">Conspirators</span>, who form a semicircle, masked
+and cloaked.</i>)</div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">President.</span> What hour is it?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">First Consp.</span> The hour to strike.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> What day?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Second Consp.</span> The day of Marat.<a name="aiii_1" id="aiii_1"></a><a href="#niii_1" class="anc">1</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> In what month?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Second Consp.</span> The month of liberty.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> What is our duty?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Fourth Consp.</span> To obey.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> Our creed?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Fifth Consp.</span> Parbleu, Mons. le President, I
+never knew you had one.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Consps.</span> A spy! A spy! Unmask! Unmask! A
+spy!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> <a name="aiii_2" id="aiii_2"></a><a href="#niii_2" class="anc">2</a>Let the doors be shut. There are others
+but Nihilists present.<a href="#niii_2" class="anc">2</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Consps.</span> Unmask! Unmask! <a name="aiii_3" id="aiii_3"></a><a href="#niii_3" class="anc">3</a>Kill him! kill
+him!<a href="#niii_3" class="anc">3</a> (<i>Masked <span class="smcap">Conspirator</span> unmasks.</i>) Prince Paul!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> Devil! Who lured you into the lion's den?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Consps.</span> Kill him! kill him!<a name="aiii_4" id="aiii_4"></a><a href="#niii_4" class="anc">4</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> En v&eacute;rit&eacute;, Messieurs, you are not
+over-hospitable in your welcome.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> Welcome! What welcome should we give
+you but the dagger or the noose?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> I had no idea, really, that the
+Nihilists were so exclusive. Let me assure you that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span>
+if I had not always had an <i>entree</i> to the very best
+society, and the very worst conspiracies, I could never
+have been Prime Minister in Russia.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> The tiger cannot change its nature, nor the
+snake lose its venom; but are you turned a lover of
+the people?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> Mon Dieu, non, Mademoiselle! I
+would much sooner talk scandal in a drawing-room
+than treason in a cellar. Besides, I hate the common
+mob, who smell of garlic, smoke bad tobacco, get up
+early, and dine off one dish.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> What have you to gain, then, by a revolution?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> Mon ami, I have nothing left to
+lose. That scatter-brained boy, this new Czar, has
+banished me.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> To Siberia?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> No, to Paris. He has confiscated
+my estates, robbed me of my office and my cook. I
+have nothing left but my decorations. I am here
+for revenge.<a name="aiii_5" id="aiii_5"></a><a href="#niii_5" class="anc">5</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> Then you have a right to be one of us.
+<a href="#niii_5" class="anc">5</a>We also meet daily for revenge.<a href="#niii_5" class="anc">5</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> You want money, of course. No
+one ever joins a conspiracy who has any. Here.
+(<i>Throws money on table.</i>) You have so many spies
+that I should think you want information. Well, you
+will find me the best informed man in Russia on the
+abuses of our Government. I made them nearly all
+myself.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> President, I don't trust this man. He has
+done us too much harm in Russia to let him go in
+safety.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> Believe me, Mademoiselle, you
+are wrong; I will be a most valuable addition to your
+circle; as for you, gentlemen, if I had not thought that
+you would be useful to me I shouldn't have risked my
+neck among you, or dined an hour earlier than usual
+so as to be in time.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> Ay, if he had wanted to spy on us, Vera, he
+wouldn't have come himself.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul</span> (<i>aside</i>). No; I should have sent
+my best friend.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> Besides, Vera, he is just the man to give
+us the information we want about some business we
+have in hand to-night.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> Be it so if you wish it.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> Brothers, is it your will that Prince Paul
+Maraloffski be admitted, and take the oath of the
+Nihilist?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Consps.</span> It is! it is!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> (<i>holding out dagger and a paper</i>). Prince
+Paul, the dagger or the oath?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul</span> (<i>smiles sardonically</i>). I would
+sooner annihilate than be annihilated. (<i>Takes
+paper.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> Remember: <a name="aiii_6" id="aiii_6"></a><a href="#niii_6" class="anc">6</a>Betray us, and as long as
+the earth holds poison or steel, as long as men can
+strike or woman betray, you shall not escape vengeance.<a href="#niii_6" class="anc">6</a>
+The Nihilists never forget their friends,
+or forgive their enemies.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> Really? I did not think you
+were so civilized.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera</span> (<i>pacing up and down</i>). Why is he not
+here? He will not keep the crown. I know him
+well.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> Sign. (<i><span class="smcap">Prince Paul</span> signs</i>.) You said
+you thought we had no creed. You were wrong.
+Read it!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> This is a dangerous thing, President.
+What can we do with this man?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> We can use him.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> And afterwards?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> (<i>shrugging his shoulders</i>). Strangle him.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul</span> (<i>reading</i>). "The rights of humanity!"
+In the old times men carried out their
+rights for themselves as they lived, but nowadays
+every baby seems born with a social manifesto in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span>
+its mouth much bigger than itself.<a name="aiii_7" id="aiii_7"></a><a href="#niii_7" class="anc">7</a> "Nature is not
+a temple, but a workshop: we demand the right to
+labour." Ah, I shall surrender my own rights in
+that respect.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera</span> (<i>pacing up and down behind</i>). Oh, will he
+never come? will he never come?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> "The family as subversive of
+true socialistic and communal unity is to be annihilated."
+Yes, President, I agree completely with
+Article 5. A family is a terrible incumbrance,
+especially when one is not married. (<i>Three knocks
+at the door.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> Alexis at last!</p>
+
+<p><i>Password.</i> V&aelig; tyrannis!</p>
+
+<p><i>Answer.</i> V&aelig; victis!</p>
+
+<div class="stg1">(<i>Enter <span class="smcap">Michael Stroganoff</span>.</i>)</div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span><a name="aiii_8" id="aiii_8"></a><a href="#niii_8" class="anc">8</a> Michael, the regicide! Brothers, let us
+do honour to a man who has killed a king.</p>
+
+<p><a name="aiii_9" id="aiii_9"></a><a href="#niii_9" class="anc">9</a><span class="smcap">Vera</span> (<i>aside</i>). Oh, he will come yet.<a href="#niii_9" class="anc">9</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> Michael, you have saved Russia.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> Ay, Russia was free for a moment
+<a name="aiii_10" id="aiii_10"></a><a href="#niii_10" class="anc">10</a>when the tyrant fell, but the sun of liberty has set
+again like that false dawn which cheats our eyes in
+autumn.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> The dread night of tyranny is not yet
+past for Russia.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> (<i>clutching his knife</i>).<a href="#niii_10" class="anc">10</a> One more blow,
+and the end is come indeed.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera</span> (<i>aside</i>). One more blow! What does he
+mean? Oh, impossible! but why is he not with
+us? Alexis! Alexis! why are you not here?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> But how did you escape, Michael? They
+said you had been seized.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> I was dressed in the uniform of the Imperial
+Guard. The Colonel on duty was a brother,
+and gave me the password. I drove through the
+troops in safety with it, and, thanks to my good
+horse, reached the walls before the gates were
+closed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> What a chance his coming out on the
+balcony was!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> A chance? There is no such thing as
+chance. It was God's finger led him there.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> And where have you been these three
+days?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> Hiding in the house of the priest Nicholas
+at the cross-roads.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> Nicholas is an honest man.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> Ay, honest enough for a priest. I am
+here now for vengeance on a traitor!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera</span> (<i>aside</i>). O God, will he never come?
+Alexis! why are you not here? You cannot have
+turned traitor!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> (<i>seeing <span class="smcap">Prince Paul</span></i>). Prince Paul Maraloffski
+here! By St. George, a lucky capture!
+This must have been Vera's doing. She is the
+only one who could have lured that serpent into
+the trap.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> Prince Paul has just taken the oath.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> Alexis, the Czar, has banished him from
+Russia.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> Bah! A blind to cheat us. We will
+keep Prince Paul here, <a name="aiii_11" id="aiii_11"></a><a href="#niii_11" class="anc">11</a>and find some office for
+him in our reign of terror.<a href="#niii_11" class="anc">11</a> He is well accustomed
+by this time to bloody work.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul</span> (<i>approaching <span class="smcap">Michael</span></i>). That was
+a long shot of yours, mon camarade.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> I have had a good deal of practice
+shooting, since I have been a boy, off your Highness's
+wild boars.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> Are my gamekeepers like moles,
+then, always asleep?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> No, Prince. I am one of them; but,
+like you, I am fond of robbing what I am put to
+watch.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> This must be a new atmosphere for you,
+Prince Paul. We speak the truth to one another
+here.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> How misleading you must find it.
+You have an odd medley here, President&mdash;a little
+rococo, I am afraid.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> You recognise a good many friends, I
+dare say?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> Yes, there is always more brass
+than brains in an aristocracy.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> But you are here yourself?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> I? As I cannot be Prime Minister,
+I must be a Nihilist. There is no alternative.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> O God, will he never come? The hand
+is on the stroke of the hour. Will he never come?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> (<i>aside</i>). President, you know what we have
+to do? 'Tis but a sorry hunter who leaves the wolf
+cub alive to avenge his father. How are we to get
+at this boy? It must be to-night. To-morrow he
+will be throwing some sop of reform to the people,
+and it will be too late for a Republic.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> You are quite right. Good kings
+are the enemies of Democracy, and when he has
+begun by banishing me you may be sure he intends
+to be a patriot.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> I am sick of patriot kings; <a name="aiii_12" id="aiii_12"></a><a href="#niii_12" class="anc">12</a>what Russia
+needs is a Republic.<a href="#niii_12" class="anc">12</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> Messieurs, I have brought you
+two documents which I think will interest you&mdash;the
+proclamation this young Czar intends publishing to-morrow,
+and a plan of the Winter Palace, where
+he sleeps to-night. (<i>Hands paper.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> <a name="aiii_13" id="aiii_13"></a><a href="#niii_13" class="anc">13</a>I dare not ask them what they are
+plotting about.<a href="#niii_13" class="anc">13</a> Oh, why is Alexis not here?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> Prince, this is most valuable information.
+Michael, you were right. If it is not to-night it
+will be too late. Read that.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> Ah! A loaf of bread flung to a starving
+nation. <a name="aiii_14" id="aiii_14"></a><a href="#niii_14" class="anc">14</a>A lie to cheat the people.<a href="#niii_14" class="anc">14</a> (<i>Tears it
+up.</i>) It must be to-night. I do not believe in
+him. Would he have kept his crown had he loved
+the people? But how are we to get at him?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> The key of the private door in
+the street. (<i>Hands key.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> Prince, we are in your debt.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul</span> (<i>smiling</i>). The normal condition of
+the Nihilists.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> Ay, but we are paying our debts off with
+interest now. Two Emperors in one week. That
+will make the balance straight. We would have
+thrown in a Prime Minister if you had not come.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> Ah, I am sorry you told me. It
+robs my visit of all its picturesqueness and adventure.
+I thought I was perilling my head by coming
+here, and you tell me I have saved it. One is sure
+to be disappointed if one tries to get romance out
+of modern life.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> It is not so romantic a thing to lose
+one's head, Prince Paul.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> No, but it must often be very
+dull to keep it. Don't you find that sometimes?
+(<i>Clock strikes six.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera</span> (<i>sinking into a seat</i>). Oh, it is past the
+hour! It is past the hour!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> (<i>to <span class="smcap">President</span></i>). Remember to-morrow
+will be too late.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> Brothers, it is full time. Which of us is
+absent?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Consps.</span> Alexis! Alexis!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> Michael, read Rule 7.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> "When any brother shall have disobeyed
+a summons to be present, the President shall enquire
+if there is anything alleged against him."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> Is there anything against our brother
+Alexis?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Consps.</span> He wears a crown! He wears a crown!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> Michael, read Article 7 of the Code of
+Revolution.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> "Between the Nihilists and all men who
+wear crowns above their fellows, there is war to
+the death."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> Brothers, what say you? Is Alexis, the
+Czar, guilty or not?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Omnes.</span> He is guilty!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> What shall the penalty be?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Omnes.</span> Death!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> Let the lots be prepared; it shall be to-night.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> Ah, this is really interesting! I
+was getting afraid conspiracies were as dull as courts
+are.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prof. Marfa.</span> My forte is more in writing
+pamphlets than in taking shots. Still a regicide
+has always a place in history.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> If your pistol is as harmless as your
+pen, this young tyrant will have a long life.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul.</span> You ought to remember, too, Professor,
+that if you were seized, as you probably would
+be, and hung, as you certainly would be, there would
+be nobody left to read your own articles.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> Brothers, are you ready?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera</span> (<i>starting up</i>). Not yet! Not yet! I have
+a word to say.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> (<i>aside</i>). <a name="aiii_15" id="aiii_15"></a><a href="#niii_15" class="anc">15</a>Plague take her! I knew it
+would come to this.<a href="#niii_15" class="anc">15</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> This boy has been our brother. Night
+after night he has perilled his own life to come
+here. <a name="aiii_16" id="aiii_16"></a><a href="#niii_16" class="anc">16</a>Night after night, when every street was
+filled with spies, every house with traitors.<a href="#niii_16" class="anc">16</a> Delicately
+nurtured like a king's son, he has dwelt
+among us.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> Ay! under a false name. <a name="aiii_17" id="aiii_17"></a><a href="#niii_17" class="anc">17</a>He lied to
+us at the beginning. He lies to us now at the
+end.<a href="#niii_17" class="anc">17</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> I swear he is true. There is not a man
+here who does not owe him his life a thousand times.
+When the bloodhounds were on us that night, who
+saved us <a name="aiii_18" id="aiii_18"></a><a href="#niii_18" class="anc">18</a>from arrest, torture, flogging, death,<a href="#niii_18" class="anc">18</a>
+but he ye seek to kill?&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> To kill all tyrants is our mission!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> He is no tyrant. I know him well! He
+loves the people.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> We know him too; he is a traitor.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> A traitor! Three days ago he could have
+betrayed every man of you here, <a name="aiii_19" id="aiii_19"></a><a href="#niii_19" class="anc">19</a>and the gibbet
+would have been your doom.<a href="#niii_19" class="anc">19</a> He gave you all
+your lives once. Give him a little time&mdash;a week, a
+month, a few days; but not now!&mdash;O God,<a name="aiii_20" id="aiii_20"></a><a href="#niii_20" class="anc">20</a> not
+now!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Consps.</span> (<i>brandishing daggers</i>). To-night! to-night!
+to-night!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> Peace, you gorged adders; peace!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> What, are we not here to annihilate?
+shall we not keep our oath?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> Your oath! your oath! <a name="aiii_21" id="aiii_21"></a><a href="#niii_21" class="anc">21</a>Greedy that
+you are of gain, every man's hand lusting for his
+neighbour's pelf, every heart set on pillage and
+rapine;<a href="#niii_21" class="anc">21</a> who, of ye all, if the crown were set on
+his head, would give an empire up for the mob to
+scramble for? The people are not yet fit for a
+Republic in Russia.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> Every nation is fit for a Republic.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> The man is a tyrant.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> A tyrant! Hath he not dismissed his evil
+counsellors. That ill-omened raven of his father's
+life hath had his wings clipped and his claws pared,
+and comes to us croaking for revenge. Oh, have
+mercy on him!<a name="aiii_22" id="aiii_22"></a><a href="#niii_22" class="anc">22</a> Give him a week to live!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> Vera pleading for a king!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera</span> (<i>proudly</i>). I plead not for a king, but for
+a brother.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> For a traitor to his oath, for a coward who
+should have flung the purple back to the fools that
+gave it to him. No, Vera, no. The brood of men
+is not dead yet, nor the dull earth grown sick of
+child-bearing. No crowned man in Russia shall
+pollute God's air by living.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> You bade us try you once; we have tried
+you, and you are found wanting.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> Vera, I am not blind; I know your
+secret. You love this boy, this young prince with
+his pretty face, his curled hair, his soft white hands.
+Fool that you are, dupe of a lying tongue, do you
+know what he would have done to you, this boy
+you think loved you? He would have made you
+his mistress, used your body at his pleasure, thrown
+you away when he was wearied of you; you, the
+priestess of liberty, the flame of Revolution, the
+torch of democracy.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> What he would have done to me matters
+little. To the people, at least, he will be true. He
+loves the people&mdash;at least, he loves liberty.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> So he would play the citizen-king, would
+he, while we starve? <a name="aiii_23" id="aiii_23"></a><a href="#niii_23" class="anc">23</a>Would flatter us with sweet
+speeches, would cheat us with promises like his
+father, would lie to us as his whole race have lied.<a href="#niii_23" class="anc">23</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> And you whose very name made every
+despot tremble for his life, you, Vera Sabouroff, you
+would betray liberty for a lover and the people for
+a paramour!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Consps.</span> <a name="aiii_24" id="aiii_24"></a><a href="#niii_24" class="anc">24</a>Traitress! Draw the lots; draw the
+lots!<a href="#niii_24" class="anc">24</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> In thy throat thou liest, Michael! I love
+him not. He loves me not.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> You love him not? Shall he not die
+then?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera</span> (<i>with an effort, clenching her hands</i>). Ay,
+it is right that he should die. He hath broken his
+oath. <a name="aiii_25" id="aiii_25"></a><a href="#niii_25" class="anc">25</a>There should be no crowned man in
+Europe. Have I not sworn it? To be strong our
+new Republic should be drunk with the blood of
+kings. He hath broken his oath. As the father
+died so let the son die too.<a href="#niii_25" class="anc">25</a> Yet not to-night,
+not to-night. Russia, that hath borne her centuries
+of wrong, can wait a week for liberty. Give him a
+week.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> We will have none of you! Begone from
+us to this boy you love.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> Though I find him in your arms I shall
+kill him.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Consps.</span> To-night! To-night! To-night!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> (<i>holding up his hand</i>). A moment! I
+have something to say. (<i>Approaches <span class="smcap">Vera</span>; speaks
+very slowly.</i>) Vera Sabouroff, have you forgotten
+your brother? (<i>Pauses to see effect; <span class="smcap">Vera</span> starts.</i>)
+Have you forgotten that young face, pale with
+famine; those young limbs twisted with torture;
+the iron chains they made him walk in? What
+week of liberty did they give him? What pity did
+they show him for a day? (<i><span class="smcap">Vera</span> falls in a chair.</i>)
+Oh! you could talk glibly enough then of vengeance,
+glibly enough of liberty. When you said you would
+come to Moscow, your old father caught you by the
+knees and begged you not to leave him childless and
+alone.<a name="aiii_26" id="aiii_26"></a><a href="#niii_26" class="anc">26</a> I seem to hear his cries still ringing in my
+ears, but you were as deaf to him as the rocks on
+the roadside; as chill and cold as the snow on
+the hill. You left your father that night, and three
+weeks after he died of a broken heart. You wrote
+to me to follow you here. I did so; first because
+I loved you; but you soon cured me of that;
+whatever gentle feeling, whatever pity, whatever
+humanity, was in my heart you withered up and
+destroyed, as the canker worm eats the corn, and
+the plague kills the child. You bade me cast out
+love from my breast as a vile thing, you turned
+my hand to iron, and my heart to stone; you told
+me to live for freedom and for revenge. I have done
+so; but you, what have you done?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> Let the lots be drawn! (<i><span class="smcap">Conspirators</span>
+applaud.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul</span> (<i>aside</i>). Ah, the Grand Duke will
+come to the throne sooner than he expected. He
+is sure to make a good king under my guidance.
+He is so cruel to animals, and never keeps his word.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> Now you are yourself at last, Vera.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera</span> (<i>standing motionless in the middle</i>). The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span>
+lots, I say, the lots! I am no woman now. My
+blood seems turned to gall; my heart is as cold as
+steel is; my hand shall be more deadly. From
+the desert and the tomb the voice of my prisoned
+brother cries aloud, and bids me strike one blow
+for liberty. The lots, I say, the lots!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> Are you ready. Michael, you have the
+right to draw first; you are a Regicide.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> O God, into my hands! Into my hands!
+(<i>They draw the lots from a bowl surmounted by a
+skull.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> Open your lots.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera</span> (<i>opening her lot</i>). The lot is mine! see
+the bloody sign upon it! Dmitri, my brother, you
+shall have your revenge now.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> Vera Sabouroff, you are chosen to be a
+regicide. God has been good to you. The dagger
+or the poison? (<i>Offers her dagger and vial.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> I can trust my hand better with the
+dagger; it never fails. (<i>Take dagger.</i>) I shall stab
+him to the heart, as he has stabbed me. Traitor, to
+leave us for a ribbon, a gaud, a bauble, to lie to
+me every day he came here, to forget us in an
+hour. <a name="aiii_27" id="aiii_27"></a><a href="#niii_27" class="anc">27</a>Michael was right, he loved me not, nor
+the people either.<a href="#niii_27" class="anc">27</a> Methinks that if I was a mother
+and bore a man-child I would poison my breast to
+him, lest he might grow to a traitor or to a king.
+(<i><span class="smcap">Prince Paul</span> whispers to the <span class="smcap">President.</span></i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> Ay, Prince Paul, that is the best way.
+Vera, the Czar<a name="aiii_28" id="aiii_28"></a><a href="#niii_28" class="anc">28</a> sleeps to-night in his own room in
+the north wing of the palace. Here is the key of
+the private door in the street. The passwords of
+the guards will be given to you. His own servants
+will be drugged. You will find him alone.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> It is well. I shall not fail.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> We will wait outside in the Place St.
+Isaac, under the window. As the clock strikes
+twelve from the tower of St. Nicholas you will give
+us the sign that the dog is dead.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> And what shall the sign be?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> You are to throw us out the bloody
+dagger.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> Dripping with the traitor's life.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> Else we shall know that you have been
+seized, and we will burst our way in, drag you
+from his guards.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> And kill him in the midst of them.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> Michael, you will head us?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> Ay, I shall head you. See that your
+hand fails not, Vera Sabouroff.</p>
+
+<p><a name="aiii_29" id="aiii_29"></a><a href="#niii_29" class="anc">29</a><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> Fool, is it so hard a thing to kill one's
+enemy.<a href="#niii_29" class="anc">29</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Paul</span> (<i>aside</i>). This is the ninth conspiracy
+I have been in in Russia. They always
+end in a "voyage en Siberie" for my friends and
+a new decoration for myself.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mich.</span> It is your last conspiracy, Prince.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pres.</span> At twelve o'clock, the bloody dagger.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> Ay, red with the blood of that false heart.
+I shall not forget it. (<i>Standing in the middle of the
+stage.</i>) <a name="aiii_30" id="aiii_30"></a><a href="#niii_30" class="anc">30</a>To strangle whatever nature is in me, neither
+to love nor to be loved, neither to pity nor to be
+pitied. Ay! it is an oath, an oath. Methinks the
+spirit of Charlotte Corday has entered my soul now.
+I shall carve my name on the world, and be ranked
+among the great heroines. Ay! the spirit of
+Charlotte Corday beats in each petty vein, and
+nerves my woman's hand to strike, as I have
+nerved my woman's heart to hate. Though he
+laughs in his dreams, I shall not falter. Though
+he sleep peacefully I shall not miss my blow.<a href="#niii_30" class="anc">30</a>
+Be glad, my brother, in your stifled cell; be glad
+and laugh to-night. To-night this new-fledged Czar
+shall post with bloody feet to Hell, and greet his
+father there! <a name="aiii_31" id="aiii_31"></a><a href="#niii_31" class="anc">31</a>This Czar! O traitor, liar, false to
+his oath, false to me! To play the patriot amongst
+us, and now to wear a crown; to sell us, like
+Judas, for thirty silver pieces, to betray us with a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span>
+kiss!<a href="#niii_31" class="anc">31</a> (<i>With more passion.</i>) O Liberty, O mighty
+mother of eternal time, thy robe is purple with the
+blood of those who have died for thee! Thy throne
+is the Calvary of the people, thy crown the crown
+of thorns. O crucified mother, the despot has driven
+a nail through thy right hand, and the tyrant through
+thy left! Thy feet are pierced with their iron. When
+thou wert athirst thou calledst on the priests for
+water, and they gave thee bitter drink. They thrust
+a sword into thy side. They mocked thee in thine
+agony of age on age. <a name="aiii_32" id="aiii_32"></a><a href="#niii_32" class="anc">32</a>Here, on thy altar, O
+Liberty, do I dedicate myself to thy service; do
+with me as thou wilt!<a href="#niii_32" class="anc">32</a> (<i>Brandishing dagger.</i>)
+The end has come now, and by thy sacred wounds,
+O crucified mother, O Liberty, I swear that Russia
+shall be saved!</p>
+
+<div class="bk3">CURTAIN.</div>
+
+<div class="bk3"><span class="smcap">End Of Act III.</span></div>
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span></p>
+<h2>ACT IV.</h2>
+
+<div class="stg2"><p class="ctr"><span class="smcap">Scene.</span>&mdash;<i>Antechamber of the <span class="smcap">Czar's</span> private room.
+Large window at the back, with drawn curtains
+over it.</i></p>
+
+<p class="ctr"><i>Present.</i>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Prince Petrovitch, Baron Raff,
+Marquis de Poivrard, Count Rouvaloff.</span></p></div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Petro.</span> He is beginning well, this young
+Czar.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Baron Raff</span> (<i>shrugs his shoulders</i>). All young
+Czars do begin well.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Count R.</span> And end badly.</p>
+
+<p><a name="aiv_1" id="aiv_1"></a><a href="#niv_1" class="anc">1</a><span class="smcap">Marq. de Poiv.</span> Well, I have no right to complain.
+He has done me one good service, at any
+rate.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Petro.</span> Cancelled your appointment to
+Archangel, I suppose?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Marq. de Poiv.</span> Yes; my head wouldn't have
+been safe there for an hour.<a href="#niv_1" class="anc">1</a></p>
+
+<div class="stg1">(<i>Enter <span class="smcap">General Kotemkin</span>.</i>)</div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Baron Raff.</span> Ah! General, any more news of
+our romantic Emperor?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Gen. Kotemk.</span> You are quite right to call him
+romantic, Baron; a week ago I found him amusing
+himself in a garret with a company of strolling
+players; to-day his whim is all the convicts in
+Siberia are to be recalled, and political prisoners,
+as he calls them, amnestied.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Petro.</span> Political prisoners! Why, half
+of them are no better than common murderers!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Count R.</span> And the other half much worse?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Baron Raff.</span> Oh, you wrong them, surely,
+Count. Wholesale trade has always been more
+respectable than retail.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Count R.</span> But he is really too romantic. He
+objected yesterday to my having the monopoly of
+the salt tax. He said the people had a right to
+have cheap salt.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Marq. de Poiv.</span> Oh, that's nothing; but he
+actually disapproved of a State banquet every night
+because there is a famine in the Southern provinces.
+(<i>The young <span class="smcap">Czar</span> enters unobserved, and overhears
+the rest.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Petro.</span> Quelle b&eacute;tise! The more starvation
+there is among the people, the better. It
+teaches them self-denial, an excellent virtue, Baron,
+an excellent virtue.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Baron Raff.</span> I have often heard so; I have
+often heard so.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Gen. Kotemk.</span> He talked of a Parliament, too,
+in Russia, and said the people should have deputies
+to represent them.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Baron Raff.</span> As if there was not enough brawling
+in the streets already, but we must give the
+people a room to do it in. But, Messieurs, the
+worst is yet to come. He threatens a complete
+reform in the public service on the ground that
+the people are too heavily taxed.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Marq. de Poiv.</span> He can't be serious there. What
+is the use of the people except<a name="aiv_2" id="aiv_2"></a><a href="#niv_2" class="anc">2</a> to get money out of?
+But talking of taxes, my dear Baron, you must really
+let me have forty thousand roubles to-morrow? my
+wife says she must have a new diamond bracelet.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Count R.</span> (<i>aside to <span class="smcap">Baron Raff</span></i>). Ah, to match
+the one Prince Paul gave her last week, I suppose.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Petro.</span> I must have sixty thousand
+roubles at once, Baron. My son is overwhelmed
+with debts of honour which he can't pay.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Baron Raff.</span> What an excellent son to imitate
+his father so carefully!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Gen. Kotemk.</span> You are always getting money. I
+never get a single kopeck I have not got a right
+to. It's unbearable; it's ridiculous! My nephew<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span>
+is going to be married. I must get his dowry for
+him.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Petro.</span> My dear General, your nephew
+must be a perfect Turk. He seems to get married
+three times a week regularly.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Gen. Kot.</span> Well, he wants a dowry to console
+him.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Count R.</span> I am sick of town. I want a house
+in the country.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Marq. de Poiv.</span> I am sick of the country. I
+want a house in town.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Baron Raff.</span> Mes amis, I am extremely sorry
+for you. It is out of the question.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Petro.</span> But my son, Baron?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Gen. Kotemk.</span> But my nephew?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Marq. de Poiv.</span> But my house in town?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Count R.</span> But my house in the country?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Marq. de Poiv.</span> But my wife's diamond bracelet?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Baron Raff.</span> Gentlemen, impossible! The old
+<i>regime</i> in Russia is dead; the funeral begins to-day.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Count R.</span> Then I shall wait for the resurrection.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Petro.</span> Yes, but, <i>en attendant</i>, what are
+we to do?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Baron Raff.</span> What have we always done in
+Russia when a Czar suggests reforms?&mdash;nothing.
+You forget we are diplomatists. Men of thought
+should have nothing to do with action. Reforms
+in Russia are very tragic, but they always end in
+a farce.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Count R.</span> I wish Prince Paul were here. <a name="aiv_3" id="aiv_3"></a><a href="#niv_3" class="anc">3</a>By
+the bye, I think this boy is rather ungrateful to him.
+If that clever old Prince had not proclaimed him
+Emperor at once without giving him time to think
+about it, he would have given up his crown, I
+believe, to the first cobbler he met in the street.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Petro.</span> But do you think, Baron, that
+Prince Paul is really going?<a href="#niv_3" class="anc">3</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Baron Raff.</span> He is exiled.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Petro.</span> Yes; but is he going?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Baron Raff.</span> I am sure of it; at least he told
+me he had sent two telegrams already to Paris about
+his dinner.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Count R.</span> Ah! that settles the matter.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar</span> (<i>coming forward</i>). Prince Paul better send a
+third telegram and order (<i>counting them</i>) six extra places.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Baron Raff.</span> The devil!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> No, Baron, the Czar. Traitors! There
+would be no bad kings in the world if there were
+no bad ministers like you. It is men such as you
+who wreck mighty empires on the rock of their
+own greatness. Our mother, Russia, hath no need
+of such unnatural sons. You can make no atonement
+now; it is too late for that. The grave
+cannot give back your dead, nor the gibbet your
+martyrs, but I shall be more merciful to you. I
+give you your lives! That is the curse I would
+lay on you. But if there is a man of you found
+in Moscow by to-morrow night your heads will be
+off your shoulders.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Baron Raff.</span> You remind us wonderfully, Sire,
+of your Imperial father.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> I banish you all from Russia. Your
+estates are confiscated to the people. You may
+carry your titles with you. Reforms in Russia,
+Baron, always end in a farce. You will have a
+good opportunity, Prince Petrovitch, of practising
+self-denial, that excellent virtue! that excellent
+virtue! So, Baron, you think a Parliament in
+Russia would be merely a place for brawling.
+Well, I will see that the reports of each session
+are sent to you regularly.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Baron Raff.</span> Sire, you are adding another
+horror to exile.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> But you will have such time for literature
+now. You forget you are diplomatists. Men
+of thought should have nothing to do with action.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince Petro.</span> Sire, we did but jest.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> Then I banish you for your bad jokes.
+Bon voyage, Messieurs.<a name="aiv_4" id="aiv_4"></a><a href="#niv_4" class="anc">4</a> If you value your lives
+you will catch the first train for Paris. (<i>Exeunt
+<span class="smcap">Ministers</span>.</i>) Russia is well rid of such men as
+these. They are the jackals that follow in the
+lion's track. <a name="aiv_5" id="aiv_5"></a><a href="#niv_5" class="anc">5</a>They have no courage themselves,
+except to pillage and rob.<a href="#niv_5" class="anc">5</a> But for these men and
+for Prince Paul my father would have been a good
+king, would not have died so horribly as he did
+die. How strange it is, the most real parts of one's
+life always seem to be a dream! The council, the
+fearful law which was to kill the people, the arrest,
+the cry in the courtyard, the pistol-shot, my father's
+bloody hands, and then the crown! One can live
+for years sometimes, without living at all, and then
+all life comes crowding into a single hour. I had
+no time to think. Before my father's hideous shriek
+of death had died in my ears I found this crown
+on my head, the purple robe around me, and heard
+myself called a king. I would have given it up all
+then; it seemed nothing to me then; but now, can
+I give it up now? Well, Colonel, well? (<i>Enter
+<span class="smcap">Colonel of the Guard</span>.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Colonel.</span> What password does your Imperial
+Majesty desire should be given to-night?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> Password?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Colonel.</span> <a name="aiv_6" id="aiv_6"></a><a href="#niv_6" class="anc">6</a>For the cordon of<a href="#niv_6" class="anc">6</a> guards, Sire, on
+night duty around the palace.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> You can dismiss them. I have no need
+of them. (<i>Exit <span class="smcap">Colonel</span>.</i>) (<i>Goes to the crown
+lying on the table.</i>) What subtle potency lies hidden
+in this gaudy bauble, the crown,<a name="aiv_7" id="aiv_7"></a><a href="#niv_7" class="anc">7</a> that makes one
+feel like a god when one wears it? To hold in
+one's hand this little fiery coloured world, to reach
+out one's arm to earth's uttermost limit, to girdle
+the seas with one's hosts; this is to wear a crown!
+to wear a crown! The meanest serf in Russia who
+is loved is better crowned than I. How love outweighs<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span>
+the balance! How poor appears the widest
+empire of this golden world when matched with
+love! Pent up in this palace, with spies dogging
+every step, I have heard nothing of her; I have
+not seen her once since that fearful hour three
+days ago, when I found myself suddenly the Czar
+of this wide waste, Russia. Oh, could I see her
+for a moment; tell her now the secret of my life
+I have never dared utter before; tell her why I
+wear this crown, when I have sworn eternal war
+against all crowned men! There was a meeting
+to-night. I received my summons by an unknown
+hand; but how could I go? I who have broken
+my oath! who have broken my oath!</p>
+
+<div class="stg1">(<i>Enter <span class="smcap">Page</span>.</i>)</div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Page.</span> It is after eleven, Sire. Shall I take the
+first watch in your room to-night?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> Why should you watch me, boy? The
+stars are my best sentinels.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Page.</span> It was your Imperial father's wish, Sire,
+never to be left alone while he slept.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> My father was troubled with bad dreams.
+Go, get to your bed, boy; it is nigh on midnight,
+and these late hours will spoil those red cheeks.
+(<i><span class="smcap">Page</span> tries to kiss his hand.</i>) Nay, nay; we have
+played together too often as children for that.
+Oh, to breathe the same air as her, and not to see
+her! the light seems to have gone from my life,
+the sun vanished from my day.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Page.</span> Sire,&mdash;Alexis,&mdash;let me stay with<a name="aiv_8" id="aiv_8"></a><a href="#niv_8" class="anc">8</a> you
+to-night! There is some danger over you; I feel
+there is.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> What should I fear? I have banished all
+my enemies from Russia. Set the brazier here, by
+me; it is very cold, and I would sit by it for a time.
+Go, boy, go; I have much to think about to-night.
+(<i>Goes to back of stage, draws aside curtain. View of
+Moscow by moonlight.</i>) The snow has fallen heavily
+since sunset. How white and cold my city looks<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span>
+under this pale moon! And yet, what hot and fiery
+hearts beat in this icy Russia, for all its frost and
+snow! Oh, to see her for a moment; to tell her
+all; to tell her why I am a king! But she does
+not doubt me; she said she would trust in me.
+Though I have broken my oath, she will have
+trust. It is very cold. Where is my cloak? I
+shall sleep for an hour. Then I have ordered my
+sledge, and, though I die for it, I shall see Vera
+to-night. Did I not bid thee go, boy? What!
+must I play the tyrant so soon? Go, go! I
+cannot live without seeing her. My horses will be
+here in an hour; one hour between me and love!
+How heavy this charcoal fire smells. (<i>Exit the
+<span class="smcap">Page.</span> Lies down on a couch beside brazier.</i>)</p>
+
+<div class="stg1">(<i>Enter <span class="smcap">Vera</span> in a black cloak.</i>)</div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> Asleep! God, thou art good! Who shall
+deliver him from my hands now? <a name="aiv_9" id="aiv_9"></a><a href="#niv_9" class="anc">9</a>This is he!
+The democrat who would make himself a king, the
+republican who hath worn a crown, the traitor who
+hath lied to us. Michael was right. He loved not
+the people. He loved me not.<a href="#niv_9" class="anc">9</a> (<i>Bends over him.</i>)
+Oh, why should such deadly poison lie in such
+sweet lips? Was there not gold enough in his hair
+before, that he should tarnish it with this crown?
+But my day has come now; the day of the people,
+of liberty, has come! Your day, my brother, has
+come! Though I have strangled whatever nature
+is in me, I did not think it had been so easy to
+kill. One blow and it is over, and I can wash my
+hands in water afterwards, I can wash my hands
+afterwards. Come, I shall save Russia. I have
+sworn it. (<i>Raises dagger to strike.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar</span> (<i>staring up, seizes her by both hands</i>). Vera,
+you here! My dream was no dream at all. Why
+have you left me three days alone, when I most
+needed you? O God, you think I am a traitor, a
+liar, a king? I am, for love of you. Vera, it was
+for you I broke my oath and wear my father's crown.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span>
+I would lay at your feet this mighty Russia, which
+you and I have loved so well; would give you
+this earth as a footstool! set this crown on your
+head. The people will love us. We will rule them
+by love, as a father rules his children. There shall
+be liberty in Russia for every man to think as his
+heart bids him; liberty for men to speak as they
+think. I have banished the wolves that preyed on
+us; I have brought back your brother from Siberia;
+I have opened the blackened jaws of the mine.
+The courier is already on his way; within a week
+Dmitri and all those with him will be back in
+their own land. The people shall be free&mdash;are free
+now&mdash;and you and I, Emperor and Empress of
+this mighty realm, will walk among them openly,
+in love. When they gave me this crown first, I
+would have flung it back to them, had it not been
+for you, Vera. O God! It is men's custom in
+Russia to bring gifts to those they love. I said,
+I will bring to the woman I love a people, an
+empire, a world! Vera, it is for you, for you
+alone, I kept this crown; for you alone I am a
+king. Oh, I have loved you better than my oath!
+Why will you not speak to me? You love me
+not! You love me not! You have come to warn
+me of some plot against my life. What is life
+worth to me without you? (<i><span class="smcap">Conspirators</span> murmur
+outside.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> Oh, lost! lost! lost!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> Nay, you are safe here. It wants five
+hours still of dawn. To-morrow, I will lead you
+forth to the whole people&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> To-morrow&mdash;!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> Will crown you with my own hands as
+Empress in that great cathedral which my fathers
+built.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera</span> (<i>loosens her hands violently from him, and
+starts up</i>). I am a Nihilist! I cannot wear a
+crown!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar</span> (<i>falls at her feet</i>). I am no king now. I
+am only a boy who has loved you better than his
+honour, better than his oath. For love of the
+people I would have been a patriot. For love of
+you I have been a traitor. Let us go forth together,
+we will live amongst the common people. I am no
+king. I will toil for you like the peasant or the
+serf. Oh, love me a little too! (<i><span class="smcap">Conspirators</span>
+murmur outside.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera</span> (<i>clutching dagger</i>). To strangle whatever
+nature is in me, neither to love nor to be loved,
+neither to pity nor&mdash;&mdash; Oh, I am a woman! God
+help me, I am a woman! O Alexis! I too have
+broken my oath; I am a traitor. I love. Oh, do
+not speak, do not speak&mdash;(<i>kisses his lips</i>)&mdash;the first,
+the last time. (<i>He clasps her in his arms; they sit
+on the couch together.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> I could die now.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> What does death do in thy lips? Thy
+life, thy love are enemies of death. Speak not of
+death. Not yet, not yet.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> I know not why death came into my
+heart. Perchance the cup of life is filled too full
+of pleasure to endure. This is our wedding night.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> Our wedding night!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> And if death came himself, methinks that
+I could kiss his pallid mouth, and suck sweet poison
+from it.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> Our wedding night! Nay, nay. Death
+should not sit at the feast. There is no such thing
+as death.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> There shall not be for us. (<i><span class="smcap">Conspirators</span>
+murmur outside.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> What is that? Did you not hear something?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> Only your voice, that fowler's note which
+lures my heart away like a poor bird upon the limed
+twig.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> Methought that some one laughed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> It was but the wind and rain; the night
+is full of storm. (<i><span class="smcap">Conspirators</span> murmur outside.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> It should be so indeed. Oh, where are
+your guards? where are your guards?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> Where should they be but at home? I
+shall not live pent round by sword and steel. The
+love of a people is a king's best body-guard.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> The love of a people!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> Sweet, you are safe here. Nothing can
+harm you here. O love, I knew you trusted me!
+You said you would have trust.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> I have had trust. O love, the past seems
+but some dull grey dream from which our souls have
+wakened. This is life at last.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> Ay, life at last.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> Our wedding night! Oh, let me drink
+my fill of love to-night! Nay, sweet, not yet, not
+yet. How still it is, and yet methinks the air is
+full of music. It is some nightingale who, wearying
+of the south, has come to sing in this bleak north
+to lovers such as we. It is the nightingale. Dost
+thou not hear it?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> Oh, sweet, mine ears are clogged to all
+sweet sounds save thine own voice, and mine eyes
+blinded to all sights but thee, else had I heard
+that nightingale, and seen the golden-vestured
+morning sun itself steal from its sombre east before
+its time for jealousy that thou art twice as fair.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> Yet would that thou hadst heard the
+nightingale. Methinks that bird will never sing
+again.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> It is no nightingale. 'Tis love himself
+singing for very ecstasy of joy that thou art changed
+into his votaress. (<i>Clock begins striking twelve.</i>) Oh,
+listen, sweet, it is the lover's hour. Come, let us
+stand without, and hear the midnight answered
+from tower to tower over the wide white town. Our
+wedding night! What is that? What is that?</p>
+
+<div class="stg1">(<i>Loud murmurs of <span class="smcap">Conspirators</span> in the street.</i>)<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span></div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera</span> (<i>breaks from him and rushes across the stage</i>).
+The wedding guests are here already! Ay, you shall
+have your sign! (<i>Stabs herself.</i>) You shall have
+your sign! (<i>Rushes to the window.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar</span> (<i>intercepts her by rushing between her and
+window, and snatches dagger out of her hand</i>). Vera!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera</span> (<i>clinging to him</i>). Give me back the
+dagger! Give me back the dagger! There are men
+in the street who seek your life! Your guards have
+betrayed you! This bloody dagger is the signal that
+you are dead. (<i><span class="smcap">Conspirators</span> begin to shout below in
+the street.</i>) Oh, there is not a moment to be lost!
+Throw it out! Throw it out! Nothing can save me
+now; this dagger is poisoned! I feel death already
+in my heart.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar</span> (<i>holding dagger out of her reach</i>). Death is
+in my heart too; we shall die together.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> Oh, love! love! love! be merciful to me!
+The wolves are hot upon you! you must live for
+liberty, for Russia, for me! Oh, you do not love
+me! You offered me an empire once! Give me
+this dagger now! Oh, you are cruel! My life for
+yours! What does it matter? (<i>Loud shouts in the
+street, "<span class="smcap">Vera! Vera!</span> To the rescue! To the
+rescue!</i>")</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> The bitterness of death is past for me.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> Oh, they are breaking in below! See!
+The bloody man behind you! (<i><span class="smcap">Czarevitch</span> turns
+round for an instant.</i>) Ah! (<i><span class="smcap">Vera</span> snatches dagger
+and flings it out of window.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Consps.</span> (<i>below</i>). Long live the people!</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Czar.</span> What have you done?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vera.</span> I have saved Russia (<i>Dies.</i>)</p>
+
+<p class="bk3">TABLEAU.</p>
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CORRECTIONS AND ADDITIONS.</h2>
+
+<div class="stg2"><p class="ctr"><span class="smcap">Made by the Author in his original copy</span>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="stg1"><i>The numbers of the "Notes" correspond with the superior
+figures in the body of the text.</i></div>
+
+<div class='ctr'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+
+<tr><td class="td3" colspan="3">ACT I.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td1">Note</td><td class="td2"><a name="ni_1" id="ni_1"></a><a href="#ai_1">1</a></td><td class="td1">Changed to 2 in violet pencil.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="ni_2" id="ni_2"></a><a href="#ai_2">2</a></td><td class="td1">Lines from 2 to 2 scored out.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="ni_3" id="ni_3"></a><a href="#ai_3">3</a></td><td class="td1">These lines scored out, and "we will have" added.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="ni_4" id="ni_4"></a><a href="#ai_4">4</a></td><td class="td1">This word underlined.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="ni_5" id="ni_5"></a><a href="#ai_5">5</a></td><td class="td1">These lines scored out.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="ni_6" id="ni_6"></a><a href="#ai_6">6</a></td><td class="td1">These lines scored out, "what news to-night?" inserted.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="ni_7" id="ni_7"></a><a href="#ai_7">7</a></td><td class="td1">Lines scored out.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="ni_8" id="ni_8"></a><a href="#ai_8">8</a></td><td class="td1">Altered to "He."</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="ni_9" id="ni_9"></a><a href="#ai_9">9</a></td><td class="td1">Lines scored out.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="ni_10" id="ni_10"></a><a href="#ai_10">10</a></td><td class="td1">Altered to "signal for."</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="ni_11" id="ni_11"></a><a href="#ai_11">11</a></td><td class="td1">Lines scored out.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="ni_12" id="ni_12"></a><a href="#ai_12">12</a></td><td class="td1">Lines scored out.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="ni_13" id="ni_13"></a><a href="#ai_13">13</a></td><td class="td1">Altered to "Be calm, Michael!"</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="ni_14" id="ni_14"></a><a href="#ai_14">14</a></td><td class="td1">These words underlined.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="ni_15" id="ni_15"></a><a href="#ai_15">15</a></td><td class="td1">Words underlined.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="ni_16" id="ni_16"></a><a href="#ai_16">16</a></td><td class="td1">Word underlined.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="ni_17" id="ni_17"></a><a href="#ai_17">17</a></td><td class="td1">Lines scored out.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="ni_18" id="ni_18"></a><a href="#ai_18">18</a></td><td class="td1">Words scored out.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="ni_19" id="ni_19"></a><a href="#ai_19">19</a></td><td class="td1">Lines scored out, "from Berlin" inserted.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="ni_20" id="ni_20"></a><a href="#ai_20">20</a></td><td class="td1">Word scored through.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="ni_21" id="ni_21"></a><a href="#ai_21">21</a></td><td class="td1">Altered to "strong."</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="ni_22" id="ni_22"></a><a href="#ai_22">22</a></td><td class="td1">These lines scored through.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="ni_23" id="ni_23"></a><a href="#ai_23">23</a></td><td class="td1">Scored through.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="ni_24" id="ni_24"></a><a href="#ai_24">24</a></td><td class="td1">Altered to "martial law scheme."</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="ni_25" id="ni_25"></a><a href="#ai_25">25</a></td><td class="td1">Altered to "To raise the barricades."</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="ni_26" id="ni_26"></a><a href="#ai_26">26</a></td><td class="td1">Crossed out.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="ni_27" id="ni_27"></a><a href="#ai_27">27</a></td><td class="td1">The word "pause" as a stage direction inserted.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="ni_28" id="ni_28"></a><a href="#ai_28">28</a></td><td class="td1">Lines crossed out.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="ni_29" id="ni_29"></a><a href="#ai_29">29</a></td><td class="td1">Scored through.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="ni_30" id="ni_30"></a><a href="#ai_30">30</a></td><td class="td1">Scored through.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="ni_31" id="ni_31"></a><a href="#ai_31">31</a></td><td class="td1">Word underlined.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="ni_32" id="ni_32"></a><a href="#ai_32">32</a></td><td class="td1">Word underlined.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="ni_33" id="ni_33"></a><a href="#ai_33">33</a></td><td class="td1">Words "Who is there?" inserted.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="ni_34" id="ni_34"></a><a href="#ai_34">34</a></td><td class="td1">Scored through.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="ni_35" id="ni_35"></a><a href="#ai_35">35</a></td><td class="td1">Scored through.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="ni_36" id="ni_36"></a><a href="#ai_36">36</a></td><td class="td1">Scored through.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="ni_37" id="ni_37"></a><a href="#ai_37">37</a></td><td class="td1">Altered to "He has sold us."</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="ni_38" id="ni_38"></a><a href="#ai_38">38</a></td><td class="td1">Word underlined.</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="td3" colspan="3">ACT II.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td1">Note</td><td class="td2"><a name="nii_1" id="nii_1"></a><a href="#aii_1">1</a></td><td class="td1">Lines scored through.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="nii_2" id="nii_2"></a><a href="#aii_2">2</a></td><td class="td1">Altered to "you missed."</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="nii_3" id="nii_3"></a><a href="#aii_3">3</a></td><td class="td1">Altered to "profession."</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="nii_4" id="nii_4"></a><a href="#aii_4">4</a></td><td class="td1">Scored through.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="nii_5" id="nii_5"></a><a href="#aii_5">5</a></td><td class="td1">Word scored through.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="nii_6" id="nii_6"></a><a href="#aii_6">6</a></td><td class="td1">Insert "for them to go to."</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="nii_7" id="nii_7"></a><a href="#aii_7">7</a></td><td class="td1">Insert "dining."</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="nii_8" id="nii_8"></a><a href="#aii_8">8</a></td><td class="td1">Altered to "bored to death."</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="nii_9" id="nii_9"></a><a href="#aii_9">9</a></td><td class="td1">Scored through.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="nii_10" id="nii_10"></a><a href="#aii_10">10</a></td><td class="td1">Word underlined.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="nii_11" id="nii_11"></a><a href="#aii_11">11</a></td><td class="td1">Altered to "a."</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="nii_12" id="nii_12"></a><a href="#aii_12">12</a></td><td class="td1">Lines scored through.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="nii_13" id="nii_13"></a><a href="#aii_13">13</a></td><td class="td1">"O God!" scored through.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="nii_14" id="nii_14"></a><a href="#aii_14">14</a></td><td class="td1">Scored through.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="nii_15" id="nii_15"></a><a href="#aii_15">15</a></td><td class="td1">Lines scored through.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="nii_16" id="nii_16"></a><a href="#aii_16">16</a></td><td class="td1">Words scored through.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="nii_17" id="nii_17"></a><a href="#aii_17">17</a></td><td class="td1">Word underlined.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="nii_18" id="nii_18"></a><a href="#aii_18">18</a></td><td class="td1">Word underlined.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="nii_19" id="nii_19"></a><a href="#aii_19">19</a></td><td class="td1">Words underlined.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="nii_20" id="nii_20"></a><a href="#aii_20">20</a></td><td class="td1">Stage direction, "a pause" indicated.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="nii_21" id="nii_21"></a><a href="#aii_21">21</a></td><td class="td1">Altered to "may."</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="nii_22" id="nii_22"></a><a href="#aii_22">22</a></td><td class="td1">Word "I" underlined.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="nii_23" id="nii_23"></a><a href="#aii_23">23</a></td><td class="td1">This speech cut out.</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="td3" colspan="3">ACT III.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td1">Note</td><td class="td2"><a name="niii_1" id="niii_1"></a><a href="#aiii_1">1</a></td><td class="td1">"Marat" underlined.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="niii_2" id="niii_2"></a><a href="#aiii_2">2</a></td><td class="td1">Altered to "<span class="smcap">Vera.</span> Unmask! a spy!"</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="niii_3" id="niii_3"></a><a href="#aiii_3">3</a></td><td class="td1">Scored through.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="niii_4" id="niii_4"></a><a href="#aiii_4">4</a></td><td class="td1">Scored through.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="niii_5" id="niii_5"></a><a href="#aiii_5">5</a></td><td class="td1">Scored through.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="niii_6" id="niii_6"></a><a href="#aiii_6">6</a></td><td class="td1">Lines scored through.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="niii_7" id="niii_7"></a><a href="#aiii_7">7</a></td><td class="td1">Insert "and quite as unintelligible."</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="niii_8" id="niii_8"></a><a href="#aiii_8">8</a></td><td class="td1">Alter "<span class="smcap">Pres.</span>" to "<span class="smcap">Vera.</span>"</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="niii_9" id="niii_9"></a><a href="#aiii_9">9</a></td><td class="td1">Scored through.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="niii_10" id="niii_10"></a><a href="#aiii_10">10</a></td><td class="td1">These lines struck out.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="niii_11" id="niii_11"></a><a href="#aiii_11">11</a></td><td class="td1">This passage scored through.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="niii_12" id="niii_12"></a><a href="#aiii_12">12</a></td><td class="td1">This is struck out.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="niii_13" id="niii_13"></a><a href="#aiii_13">13</a></td><td class="td1">Scored through.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="niii_14" id="niii_14"></a><a href="#aiii_14">14</a></td><td class="td1">Scored through.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="niii_15" id="niii_15"></a><a href="#aiii_15">15</a></td><td class="td1">This speech cut out.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="niii_16" id="niii_16"></a><a href="#aiii_16">16</a></td><td class="td1">Lines scored through.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="niii_17" id="niii_17"></a><a href="#aiii_17">17</a></td><td class="td1">Lines scored through.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="niii_18" id="niii_18"></a><a href="#aiii_18">18</a></td><td class="td1">Cut out this passage and insert "Alexis" after "but."</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="niii_19" id="niii_19"></a><a href="#aiii_19">19</a></td><td class="td1">Lines scored through.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="niii_20" id="niii_20"></a><a href="#aiii_20">20</a></td><td class="td1">Altered to "No! No!"</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="niii_21" id="niii_21"></a><a href="#aiii_21">21</a></td><td class="td1">This passage is cut out.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="niii_22" id="niii_22"></a><a href="#aiii_22">22</a></td><td class="td1">Insert "Alexis" in place of "him."</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="niii_23" id="niii_23"></a><a href="#aiii_23">23</a></td><td class="td1">Lines scored through.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="niii_24" id="niii_24"></a><a href="#aiii_24">24</a></td><td class="td1">This speech cut out.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="niii_25" id="niii_25"></a><a href="#aiii_25">25</a></td><td class="td1">This passage is scored through.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="niii_26" id="niii_26"></a><a href="#aiii_26">26</a></td><td class="td1">The words "no laugh" are inserted here&mdash;possibly as a stage direction.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="niii_27" id="niii_27"></a><a href="#aiii_27">27</a></td><td class="td1">Passage scored through.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="niii_28" id="niii_28"></a><a href="#aiii_28">28</a></td><td class="td1">In place of "the Czar" read "Alexis."</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="niii_29" id="niii_29"></a><a href="#aiii_29">29</a></td><td class="td1">Delete this speech.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="niii_30" id="niii_30"></a><a href="#aiii_30">30</a></td><td class="td1">This passage is scored out.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="niii_31" id="niii_31"></a><a href="#aiii_31">31</a></td><td class="td1">This passage is scored out.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="niii_32" id="niii_32"></a><a href="#aiii_32">32</a></td><td class="td1">This passage is scored out.</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="td3" colspan="3">ACT IV.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td1">Note</td><td class="td2"><a name="niv_1" id="niv_1"></a><a href="#aiv_1">1</a></td><td class="td1">These three speeches are scored through.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="niv_2" id="niv_2"></a><a href="#aiv_2">2</a></td><td class="td1">Insert "for the politician."</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="niv_3" id="niv_3"></a><a href="#aiv_3">3</a></td><td class="td1">All these lines are cut out.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="niv_4" id="niv_4"></a><a href="#aiv_4">4</a></td><td class="td1">Alter to "Gentlemen."</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="niv_5" id="niv_5"></a><a href="#aiv_5">5</a></td><td class="td1">Cut out this sentence.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="niv_6" id="niv_6"></a><a href="#aiv_6">6</a></td><td class="td1">Words scored through.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="niv_7" id="niv_7"></a><a href="#aiv_7">7</a></td><td class="td1">Delete "the crown."</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="niv_8" id="niv_8"></a><a href="#aiv_8">8</a></td><td class="td1">Substitute "stop near" for "stay with."</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2" colspan="2"><a name="niv_9" id="niv_9"></a><a href="#aiv_9">9</a></td><td class="td1">This passage is cut out.</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<div class="trn"><p><b>Transcriber's Note (Significant Amendments):</b></p>
+<ul><li>p. <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, 'Place S. Isaac' amended to <i>Place St. Isaac</i>;</li>
+<li>p. <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, 'Prince Petouchof' amended to <i>Count Petouchof</i>.</li></ul></div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Vera, by Oscar Wilde
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Vera
+       or, The Nihilists
+
+Author: Oscar Wilde
+
+Release Date: August 30, 2008 [EBook #26494]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VERA ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Meredith Bach, Stephen Blundell and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+VERA; OR, THE NIHILISTS.
+
+
+
+
+ _Of this work, 200 copies only have been printed, for
+         private circulation. This is No...._
+
+
+
+
+             VERA;
+      OR, THE NIHILISTS.
+
+            A DRAMA
+ IN A PROLOGUE, AND FOUR ACTS.
+
+              BY
+         OSCAR WILDE.
+
+     NOW FIRST PUBLISHED.
+
+
+           [Device]
+
+
+     _PRIVATELY PRINTED_,
+             1902.
+
+
+
+
+This Play was written in 1881, and is now published from the author's
+own copy, showing his corrections of and additions to the original
+text.
+
+
+
+
+PERSONS IN THE PROLOGUE.
+
+
+ PETER SABOUROFF (an Innkeeper).
+ VERA SABOUROFF (his Daughter).
+ MICHAEL (a Peasant).
+ COLONEL KOTEMKIN.
+
+
+ Scene, Russia. Time, 1795.
+
+
+
+
+PERSONS IN THE PLAY.
+
+
+ IVAN THE CZAR.
+ PRINCE PAUL MARALOFFSKI (Prime Minister of Russia).
+ PRINCE PETROVITCH.
+ COUNT ROUVALOFF.
+ MARQUIS DE POIVRARD.
+ BARON RAFF.
+ GENERAL KOTEMKIN.
+ A PAGE.
+
+
+ _Nihilists._
+
+ PETER TCHERNAVITCH, President of the Nihilists.
+ MICHAEL.
+ ALEXIS IVANACIEVITCH, known as a Student of Medicine.
+ PROFESSOR MARFA.
+ VERA SABOUROFF.
+
+
+ _Soldiers, Conspirators, &c._
+
+
+ Scene, Moscow. Time, 1800.
+
+
+
+
+PROLOGUE.
+
+SCENE.--_A Russian Inn._
+
+_Large door opening on snowy landscape at back of stage._
+
+_PETER SABOUROFF and MICHAEL._
+
+
+PETER (_warming his hands at a stove_). Has Vera not come back yet,
+Michael?
+
+MICH. No, Father Peter, not yet; 'tis a good three miles to the post
+office, and she has to milk the cows besides, and that dun one is a rare
+plaguey creature for a wench to handle.
+
+PETER. Why didn't you go with her, you young fool? she'll never love you
+unless you are always at her heels; women like to be bothered.
+
+MICH. She says I bother her too much already, Father Peter, and I fear
+she'll never love me after all.
+
+PETER. Tut, tut, boy, why shouldn't she? you're young and wouldn't be
+ill-favoured either, had God or thy mother given thee another face.
+Aren't you one of Prince Maraloffski's gamekeepers; and haven't you got
+a good grass farm, and the best cow in the village? What more does a
+girl want?
+
+MICH. But Vera, Father Peter--
+
+PETER. Vera, my lad, has got too many ideas; I don't think much of ideas
+myself; I've got on well enough in life without 'em; why shouldn't my
+children? There's Dmitri! could have stayed here and kept the inn; many
+a young lad would have jumped at the offer in these hard times; but he,
+scatter-brained featherhead of a boy, must needs go off to Moscow to
+study the law! What does he want knowing about the law! let a man do his
+duty, say I, and no one will trouble him.
+
+MICH. Ay! but Father Peter, they say a good lawyer can break the law as
+often as he likes, and no one can say him nay.
+
+PETER. That is about all they are good for; and there he stays, and has
+not written a line to us for four months now--a good son that, eh?
+
+MICH. Come, come, Father Peter, Dmitri's letters must have gone
+astray--perhaps the new postman can't read; he looks stupid enough, and
+Dmitri, why, he was the best fellow in the village. Do you remember how
+he shot the bear at the barn in the great winter?
+
+PETER. Ay, it was a good shot; I never did a better myself.
+
+MICH. And as for dancing, he tired out three fiddlers Christmas come two
+years.
+
+PETER. Ay, ay, he was a merry lad. It is the girl that has the
+seriousness--she goes about as solemn as a priest for days at a time.
+
+MICH. Vera is always thinking of others.
+
+PETER. There is her mistake, boy. Let God and our Little Father look to
+the world. It is none of my work to mend my neighbour's thatch. Why,
+last winter old Michael was frozen to death in his sleigh in the
+snowstorm, and his wife and children starved afterwards when the hard
+times came; but what business was it of mine? I didn't make the world.
+Let God and the Czar look to it. And then the blight came, and the black
+plague with it, and the priests couldn't bury the people fast enough,
+and they lay dead on the roads--men and women both. But what business
+was it of mine? I didn't make the world. Let God and the Czar look to
+it. Or two autumns ago, when the river overflowed on a sudden, and the
+children's school was carried away and drowned every girl and boy in it.
+I didn't make the world--let God and the Czar look to it.
+
+MICH. But, Father Peter--
+
+PETER. No, no, boy; no man could live if he took his neighbour's pack
+on his shoulders. (_Enter VERA in peasant's dress._) Well, my girl,
+you've been long enough away--where is the letter?
+
+VERA. There is none to-day, Father.
+
+PETER. I knew it.
+
+VERA. But there will be one to-morrow, Father.
+
+PETER. Curse him, for an ungrateful son.
+
+VERA. Oh, Father, don't say that; he must be sick.
+
+PETER. Ay! sick of profligacy, perhaps.
+
+VERA. How dare you say that of him, Father? You know that is not true.
+
+PETER. Where does the money go, then? Michael, listen. I gave Dmitri
+half his mother's fortune to bring with him to pay the lawyer folk of
+Moscow. He has only written three times, and every time for more money.
+He got it, not at my wish, but at hers (_pointing to VERA_), and now for
+five months, close on six almost, we have heard nothing from him.
+
+VERA. Father, he will come back.
+
+PETER. Ay! the prodigals always return; but let him never darken my
+doors again.
+
+VERA (_sitting down pensive_). Some evil has come on him; he must be
+dead! Oh! Michael, I am so wretched about Dmitri.
+
+MICH. Will you never love any one but him, Vera?
+
+VERA (_smiling_). I don't know; there is so much else to do in the world
+but love.
+
+MICH. Nothing else worth doing, Vera.
+
+PETER. What noise is that, Vera? (_A metallic clink is heard._)
+
+VERA (_rising and going to the door_). I don't know, Father; it is not
+like the cattle bells, or I would think Nicholas had come from the fair.
+Oh! Father! it is soldiers!--coming down the hill--there is one of them
+on horseback. How pretty they look! But there are some men with them
+with chains on! They must be robbers. Oh! don't let them in, Father; I
+couldn't look at them.
+
+PETER. Men in chains! Why, we are in luck, my child! I heard this was to
+be the new road to Siberia, to bring the prisoners to the mines; but I
+didn't believe it. My fortune is made! Bustle, Vera, bustle! I'll die a
+rich man after all. There will be no lack of good customers now. An
+honest man should have the chance of making his living out of rascals
+now and then.
+
+VERA. Are these men rascals, Father? What have they done?
+
+PETER. I reckon they're some of those Nihilists the priest warns us
+against. Don't stand there idle, my girl.
+
+VERA. I suppose, then, they are all wicked men.
+
+(_Sound of soldiers outside; cry of "Halt!" enter Russian officer with a
+body of soldiers and eight men in chains, raggedly dressed; one of them
+on entering hurriedly puts his coat above his ears and hides his face;
+some soldiers guard the door, others sit down; the prisoners stand._)
+
+COLONEL. Innkeeper!
+
+PETER. Yes, Colonel.
+
+COLONEL (_pointing to Nihilists_). Give these men some bread and water.
+
+PETER (_to himself_). I shan't make much out of that order.
+
+COLONEL. As for myself, what have you got fit to eat?
+
+PETER. Some good dried venison, your Excellency--and some rye whisky.
+
+COLONEL. Nothing else?
+
+PETER. Why, more whisky, your Excellency.
+
+COLONEL. What clods these peasants are! You have a better room than
+this?
+
+PETER. Yes, sir.
+
+COLONEL. Bring me there. Sergeant, post your picket outside, and see
+that these scoundrels do not communicate with any one. No letter
+writing, you dogs, or you'll be flogged for it. Now for the venison.
+(_To PETER bowing before him._) Get out of the way, you fool! Who is
+that girl? (_sees VERA_).
+
+PETER. My daughter, your Highness.
+
+COLONEL. Can she read and write?
+
+PETER. Ay, that she can, sir.
+
+COLONEL. Then she is a dangerous woman. No peasant should be allowed to
+do anything of the kind. Till your fields, store your harvests, pay your
+taxes, and obey your masters--that is your duty.
+
+VERA. Who are our masters?
+
+COLONEL. Young woman, these men are going to the mines for life for
+asking the same foolish question.
+
+VERA. Then they have been unjustly condemned.
+
+PETER. Vera, keep your tongue quiet. She is a foolish girl, sir, who
+talks too much.
+
+COLONEL. Every woman does talk too much. Come, where is this venison?
+Count, I am waiting for you. How can you see anything in a girl with
+coarse hands? (_He passes with PETER and his aide-de-camp into an inner
+room._)
+
+VERA (_to one of the Nihilists_). Won't you sit down? you must be tired.
+
+SERGEANT. Come now, young woman, no talking to my prisoners.
+
+VERA. I shall speak to them. How much do you want?
+
+SERGEANT. How much have you?
+
+VERA. Will you let these men sit down if I give you this? (_Takes off
+her peasant's necklace._) It is all I have; it was my mother's.
+
+SERGEANT. Well, it looks pretty enough, and is heavy too. What do you
+want with these men?
+
+VERA. They are hungry and tired. Let me go to them?
+
+ONE OF THE SOLDIERS. Let the wench be, if she pays us.
+
+SERGEANT. Well, have your way. If the Colonel sees you, you may have to
+come with us, my pretty one.
+
+VERA (_advances to the Nihilists_). Sit down; you must be tired.
+(_Serves them food._) What are you?
+
+A PRISONER. Nihilists.
+
+VERA. Who put you in chains?
+
+PRISONER. Our Father the Czar.
+
+VERA. Why?
+
+PRISONER. For loving liberty too well.
+
+VERA (_to prisoner who hides his face_). What did you want to do?
+
+DMITRI. To give liberty to thirty millions of people enslaved to one
+man.
+
+VERA (_startled at the voice_). What is your name?
+
+DMITRI. I have no name.
+
+VERA. Where are your friends?
+
+DMITRI. I have no friends.
+
+VERA. Let me see your face!
+
+DMITRI. You will see nothing but suffering in it. They have tortured me.
+
+VERA (_tears the cloak from his face_). Oh, God! Dmitri! my brother!
+
+DMITRI. Hush! Vera; be calm. You must not let my father know; it would
+kill him. I thought I could free Russia. I heard men talk of Liberty one
+night in a cafe. I had never heard the word before. It seemed to be a
+new god they spoke of. I joined them. It was there all the money went.
+Five months ago they seized us. They found me printing the paper. I am
+going to the mines for life. I could not write. I thought it would be
+better to let you think I was dead; for they are bringing me to a living
+tomb.
+
+VERA (_looking round_). You must escape, Dmitri. I will take your place.
+
+DMITRI. Impossible! You can only revenge us.
+
+VERA. I shall revenge you.
+
+DMITRI. Listen! there is a house in Moscow--
+
+SERGEANT. Prisoners, attention!--the Colonel is coming--young woman,
+your time is up.
+
+(_Enter COLONEL, AIDE-DE-CAMP and PETER._)
+
+PETER. I hope your Highness is pleased with the venison. I shot it
+myself.
+
+COLONEL. It had been better had you talked less about it. Sergeant, get
+ready. (_Gives purse to PETER._) Here, you cheating rascal!
+
+PETER. My fortune is made! long live your Highness. I hope your Highness
+will come often this way.
+
+COLONEL. By Saint Nicholas, I hope not. It is too cold here for me. (_To
+VERA._) Young girl, don't ask questions again about what does not
+concern you. I will not forget your face.
+
+VERA. Nor I yours, or what you are doing.
+
+COLONEL. You peasants are getting too saucy since you ceased to be
+serfs, and the knout is the best school for you to learn politics in.
+Sergeant, proceed.
+
+(_The COLONEL turns and goes to top of stage. The prisoners pass out
+double file; as DMITRI passes VERA he lets a piece of paper fall on the
+ground; she puts her foot on it and remains immobile._)
+
+PETER (_who has been counting the money the COLONEL gave him_). Long
+life to your Highness. I will hope to see another batch soon. (_Suddenly
+catches sight of DMITRI as he is going out of the door, and screams and
+rushes up._) Dmitri! Dmitri! my God! what brings you here? he is
+innocent, I tell you. I'll pay for him. Take your money (_flings money
+on the ground_), take all I have, give me my son. Villains! Villains!
+where are you bringing him?
+
+COLONEL. To Siberia, old man.
+
+PETER. No, no; take me instead.
+
+COLONEL. He is a Nihilist.
+
+PETER. You lie! you lie! He is innocent. (_The soldiers force him back
+with their guns and shut the door against him. He beats with his fists
+against it._) Dmitri! Dmitri! a Nihilist! (_Falls down on floor._)
+
+VERA (_who has remained motionless, picks up paper now from under her
+feet and reads_). "99 Rue Tchernavaya, Moscow. To strangle whatever
+nature is in me; neither to love nor to be loved; neither to pity nor to
+be pitied; neither to marry nor to be given in marriage, till the end is
+come." My brother, I shall keep the oath. (_Kisses the paper._) You
+shall be revenged!
+
+(_VERA stands immobile, holding paper in her lifted hand. PETER is lying
+on the floor. MICHAEL, who has just come in, is bending over him._)
+
+
+END OF PROLOGUE.
+
+
+
+
+ACT I.[1]
+
+SCENE.--_99 Rue Tchernavaya, Moscow. A large garret lit by oil lamps
+hung from ceiling. Some masked men standing silent and apart from one
+another. A man in a scarlet mask is writing at a table. Door at back.
+Man in yellow with drawn sword at it. Knocks heard. Figures in cloaks
+and masks enter._
+
+
+_Password._ Per crucem ad lucem.
+
+_Answer._ Per sanguinem ad libertatem.
+
+(_Clock strikes. CONSPIRATORS form a semicircle in the middle of the
+stage._)
+
+[2]PRESIDENT. What is the word?
+
+FIRST CONSP. Nabat.
+
+PRES. The answer?
+
+SECOND CONSP. Kalit.
+
+PRES. What hour is it?
+
+THIRD CONSP. The hour to suffer.
+
+PRES. What day?
+
+FOURTH CONSP. The day of oppression.
+
+PRES. What year?
+
+FIFTH CONSP. Since the Revolution of France, the ninth year.[2]
+
+PRES. How many are we in number?
+
+SIXTH CONSP. Ten, nine, and three.
+
+PRES. The Galilaean had less to conquer the world; but what is our
+mission?
+
+SEVENTH CONSP. To give freedom.
+
+PRES. Our creed?
+
+EIGHTH CONSP. To annihilate.
+
+PRES. Our duty?
+
+NINTH CONSP. To obey.
+
+PRES. Brothers, the questions have been answered well. There are none
+but Nihilists present. Let us see each other's faces. (_The CONSPIRATORS
+unmask._) Michael, recite the oath.
+
+MICHAEL. To strangle whatever nature is in us; neither to love nor to be
+loved, neither to pity nor to be pitied, neither to marry nor to be
+given in marriage, till the end is come; to stab secretly by night; to
+drop poison in the glass; to set father against son, and husband against
+wife; without fear, without hope, without future, to suffer, to
+annihilate, to revenge.
+
+PRES. Are we all agreed?
+
+CONSPIRATORS. We are all agreed. (_They disperse in various directions
+about the stage._)
+
+PRES. 'Tis after the hour, Michael, and she is not yet here.
+
+MICH. Would that she were! We can do little without her.
+
+ALEXIS. She cannot have been seized, President? but the police are on
+her track, I know.
+
+MICH. You always seem to know a good deal about the movements of the
+police in Moscow--too much for an honest conspirator.
+
+PRES. If those dogs have caught her, [3]the red flag of the people will
+float on a barricade in[3] every street till we find her! It was foolish
+of her to go to the Grand Duke's ball. I told her so, but she said she
+wanted to see the Czar and all his cursed brood face to face once.
+
+ALEXIS. Gone to the State ball?
+
+MICH. I have no fear. She is as hard to capture as a she-wolf is, and
+twice as dangerous; besides, she is well disguised. But is there any
+news from the Palace to-night, President? What is that bloody[4] despot
+doing now besides torturing his only son? Have any of you seen him? One
+hears strange stories about him. They say he loves the people; but a
+king's son never does that. You cannot breed them like that.
+
+PRES. Since he came back from abroad a year ago his father has kept him
+in close prison in his palace.
+
+MICH. An excellent training to make him a tyrant in his turn; but is
+there any news, I say?
+
+PRES. A council is to be held to-morrow, at four o'clock, on some secret
+business the spies cannot find out.
+
+MICH. A council in a king's palace is sure to be about some bloody work
+or other. But in what room is this council to be held?
+
+PRES. (_reading from letter_). In the yellow tapestry room called after
+the Empress Catherine.
+
+MICH. I care not for such long-sounding names. I would know where it is.
+
+PRES. I cannot tell, Michael. I know more about the insides of prisons
+than of palaces.
+
+MICH. (_speaking suddenly to ALEXIS_). Where is this room, Alexis?
+
+ALEXIS. It is on the first floor, looking out on to the inner courtyard.
+But why do you ask, Michael?
+
+MICH. Nothing, nothing, boy! I merely take a great interest in the
+Czar's life and movements, and I knew you could tell me all about the
+palace. Every poor student of medicine in Moscow knows all about king's
+houses. It is their duty, is it not?
+
+ALEXIS (_aside_). Can Michael suspect me? There is something strange in
+his manner to-night. Why doesn't she come? The whole fire of revolution
+seems fallen into dull ashes when she is not here.
+
+[5]MICH. Have you cured many patients lately, at your hospital, boy?
+
+ALEX. There is one who lies sick to death I would fain cure, but cannot.
+
+MICH. Ay, and who is that?
+
+ALEX. Russia, our mother.
+
+MICH. The curing of Russia is surgeon's business, and must be done by
+the knife. I like not your method of medicine.[5]
+
+PRES. Professor, we have read the proofs of your last article; it is
+very good indeed.
+
+MICH. What is it about, Professor?
+
+PROFESSOR. The subject, my good brother, is assassination considered as
+a method of political reform.
+
+MICH. I think little of pen and ink in revolutions. One dagger will do
+more than a hundred epigrams. Still, let us read this scholar's last
+production. Give it to me. I will read it myself.
+
+PROF. Brother, you never mind your stops; let Alexis read it.
+
+MICH. Ay! he is as tripping of speech as if he were some young
+aristocrat; but for my own part I care not for the stops so that the
+sense be plain.
+
+ALEX. (_reading_). "The past has belonged to the tyrant, and he has
+defiled it; ours is the future, and we shall make it holy." Ay! let us
+make the future holy; let there be one revolution at least which is not
+bred in crime, nurtured in murder!
+
+MICH. They have spoken to us by the sword, and by the sword we shall
+answer! You are too delicate for us, Alexis. There should be none here
+but men whose hands are rough with labour or red with blood.
+
+PRES. Peace, Michael, peace! He is the bravest heart among us.
+
+MICH. (_aside_). He will need to be brave to-night.
+
+(_The sound of sleigh bells is heard outside._)
+
+VOICE (_outside_). Per crucem ad lucem.
+
+_Answer of man on guard._ Per sanguinem ad libertatem.
+
+MICH. Who is that?
+
+VERA. God save the people!
+
+PRES. Welcome, Vera, welcome! [6]We have been sick at heart till we saw
+you; but now methinks the star of freedom has come to wake us from the
+night.[6]
+
+VERA. [7]It is night, indeed, brother! Night without moon or star![7]
+Russia is smitten to the heart! The man Ivan whom men call the Czar
+strikes now at our mother with a dagger deadlier than ever forged by
+tyranny against a people's life!
+
+MICH. What has the tyrant[8] done now?
+
+VERA. To-morrow martial law is to be proclaimed in Russia.
+
+OMNES. Martial law! We are lost! We are lost!
+
+ALEX. Martial law! Impossible!
+
+MICH. Fool, nothing is impossible in Russia but reform.
+
+VERA. Ay, martial law. The last right to which the people clung has been
+taken from them. Without trial, without appeal, without accuser even,
+our brothers will be taken from their houses, shot in the streets like
+dogs, sent away to die in the snow, to starve in the dungeon, to rot in
+the mine. Do you know what martial law means? It means the strangling of
+a whole nation. [9]The streets will be filled with soldiers night and
+day; there will be sentinels at every door.[9] No man dare walk abroad
+now but the spy or the traitor. Cooped up in the dens we hide in,
+meeting by stealth, speaking with bated breath; what good can we do now
+for Russia?
+
+PRES. We can suffer at least.
+
+VERA. We have done that too much already. The hour is now come to
+annihilate and to revenge.
+
+PRES. Up to this the people have borne everything.
+
+VERA. Because they have understood nothing. But now we, the Nihilists,
+have given them the tree of knowledge to eat of and the day of silent
+suffering is over for Russia.
+
+MICH. Martial law, Vera! This is fearful tidings you bring.
+
+PRES. It is the death warrant of liberty in Russia.
+
+VERA. Or the tocsin of[10] revolution.
+
+MICH. Are you sure it is true?
+
+VERA. Here is the proclamation. I stole it myself at the ball to-night
+from a young fool, one of Prince Paul's secretaries, who had been given
+it to copy. It was that which made me so late.
+
+(_VERA hands proclamation to MICHAEL, who reads it._)
+
+MICH. "To ensure the public safety--martial law. By order of the Czar,
+father of his people." The father of his people!
+
+VERA. Ay! a father whose name shall not be hallowed, whose kingdom shall
+change to a republic, whose trespasses shall not be forgiven him,
+because he has robbed us of our daily bread; with whom is neither might,
+nor right, nor glory, now or for ever.
+
+PRES. It must be about this that the council meet to-morrow. It has not
+yet been signed.
+
+ALEX. It shall not be while I have a tongue to plead with.
+
+MICH. Or while I have hands to smite with.
+
+VERA. Martial law! O God, how easy it is for a king to kill his people
+by thousands, but we cannot rid ourselves of one crowned man in Europe!
+What is there of awful majesty in these men which makes the hand
+unsteady, the dagger treacherous, the pistol-shot harmless? Are they not
+men of like passions with ourselves, vulnerable to the same diseases, of
+flesh and blood not different from our own? What made Olgiati tremble at
+the supreme crisis of that Roman life, [11]and Guido's nerve fail him
+when he should have been of iron and of steel? A plague, I say, on these
+fools of Naples, Berlin, and Spain![11] Methinks that if I stood face to
+face with one of the crowned men my eye would see more clearly, my aim
+be more sure, my whole body gain a strength and power that was not my
+own! Oh, to think what stands between us and freedom in Europe! a few
+old men, wrinkled, feeble, tottering dotards whom a boy could strangle
+for a ducat, or a woman stab in a night-time. And these are the things
+that keep us from democracy, that keep us from liberty. But now
+methinks the brood of men is dead and the dull earth grown sick of
+child-bearing, else would no crowned dog pollute God's air by living.
+
+OMNES. Try us! Try us! Try us!
+
+MICH. We shall try thee, too, some day, Vera.
+
+VERA. I pray God thou mayest! Have I not strangled whatever nature is in
+me, and shall I not keep my oath?
+
+MICH. (_to PRESIDENT_). Martial law, President! Come, there is no time
+to be lost. We have twelve hours yet before us till the council meet.
+[12]Twelve hours! One can overthrow a dynasty in less time than
+that.[12]
+
+PRES. [13]Ay! or lose one's own head.[13]
+
+(_MICHAEL and the PRESIDENT retire to one corner of the stage and sit
+whispering. VERA takes up the proclamation, and reads it to herself;
+ALEXIS watches and suddenly rushes up to her._)
+
+ALEX. Vera!
+
+VERA. Alexis, you here! Foolish boy, have I not prayed you to stay away?
+All of us here are doomed to die before our time, fated to expiate by
+suffering whatever good we do; but you, with your [14]bright boyish
+face,[14] you are too young to die yet.
+
+ALEX. One is never too young to die for one's country!
+
+VERA. Why do you come here night after night?
+
+ALEX. Because I love the people.
+
+VERA. But your fellow-students must miss you. Are there no traitors
+among them? You know what spies there are in the University here. O
+Alexis, you must go! You see how desperate suffering has made us. There
+is no room here for a nature like yours. You must not come again.
+
+ALEX. Why do you think so poorly of me? Why should I live while my
+brothers suffer?
+
+VERA. You spake to me of your mother once. You said you loved her. Oh,
+think of her!
+
+ALEX. I have no mother now but Russia, my life is hers to take or give
+away; but to-night I am here to see you. They tell me you are leaving
+for Novgorod to-morrow.
+
+VERA. I must. They are getting faint-hearted there, and I would fan the
+flame of this revolution into such a blaze that the eyes of all kings in
+Europe shall be blinded. If martial law is passed they will need me all
+the more there. There is no limit, it seems, to the tyranny of one man;
+but there shall be a limit to the suffering of a whole people.
+
+ALEX. God knows it, I am with you. But you must not go. [15]The police
+are watching every train for you.[15] When you are seized they have
+orders to place you without trial in the lowest dungeon of the
+palace.[16] I know it--no matter how. [17]Oh, think how without you the
+sun goes from our life, how the people will lose their leader and
+liberty her priestess.[17] Vera, you must not go!
+
+VERA. If you wish it, I will stay. I would live a little longer for
+freedom, a little longer for Russia.
+
+ALEX. When you die then Russia is smitten indeed; when you die then I
+shall lose all hope--all.... Vera, this is fearful news you
+bring--martial law--it is too terrible. I knew it not, by my soul, I
+knew it not!
+
+VERA. How could you have known it? It is too well laid a plot for that.
+This great White Czar, whose hands are red with the blood of the people
+he has murdered, whose soul is black with his iniquity, is the cleverest
+conspirator of us all. Oh, how could Russia bear two hearts like yours
+and his!
+
+ALEX. Vera, the Emperor was not always like this. There was a time when
+he loved the people. It is that devil, whom God curse, Prince Paul
+Maraloffski who has brought him to this. To-morrow, I swear it, I shall
+plead for the people to the Emperor.
+
+VERA. Plead to the Czar! Foolish boy, it is only those who are
+sentenced to death that ever see our Czar. Besides, what should he care
+for a voice that pleads for mercy? The cry of a strong nation in its
+agony has not moved that heart of stone.
+
+ALEX. (_aside_). Yet shall I plead to him. They can but kill me.
+
+PROF. Here are the proclamations, Vera. Do you think they will do?
+
+VERA. I shall read them. [18]How fair he looks?[18] Methinks he never
+seemed so noble as to-night. Liberty is blessed in having such a lover.
+
+ALEX. Well, President, what are you deep in?
+
+MICH. We are thinking of the best way of killing bears. (_Whispers to
+PRESIDENT and leads him aside._)
+
+PROF. (_to VERA_). And the letters [19]from our brothers at Paris and
+Berlin. What answer shall we send to them?[19]
+
+VERA (_takes them mechanically_). Had I not strangled nature, sworn
+neither to love nor be loved, methinks[20] I might have loved him. Oh, I
+am a fool, a traitor myself, a traitor myself! But why did he come
+amongst us with his bright[21] young face, his heart aflame for liberty,
+his pure white soul? Why does he make me feel at times as if I would
+have him as my king, Republican though I be? Oh, fool, fool, fool! False
+to your oath! weak as water! Have done! Remember what you are--a
+Nihilist, a Nihilist!
+
+PRES. (_to MICHAEL_). But you will be seized, Michael.
+
+MICH. I think not. I will wear the uniform of the Imperial Guard, and
+the Colonel on duty is one of us. It is on the first floor, you
+remember; so I can take a long shot.
+
+PRES. Shall I tell the brethren?
+
+[22]MICH. Not a word, not a word! There is a traitor amongst us.
+
+VERA. Come, are these the proclamations? Yes, they will do; yes, they
+will do. Send five hundred to Kiev and Odessa and Novgorod, five
+hundred to Warsaw, and have twice the number distributed among the
+Southern Provinces, though these dull Russian peasants care little for
+our proclamations, and less for our martyrdoms. When the blow is struck,
+it must be from the town, not from the country.
+
+MICH. Ay, and by the sword not by the goose-quill.
+
+VERA. Where are the letters from Poland?
+
+PROF. Here.
+
+VERA. Unhappy Poland! The eagles of Russia have fed on her heart. We
+must not forget our brothers there.[22]
+
+PRES. Is this true, Michael?
+
+MICH. Ay, I stake my life on it.
+
+PRES. [23]Let the doors be locked, then.[23] Alexis Ivanacievitch
+entered on our roll of the brothers as a Student of the School of
+Medicine at Moscow. Why did you not tell us of this bloody scheme[24] of
+martial law?
+
+ALEX. I, President?
+
+MICH. Ay, you! You knew it, none better. Such weapons as these are not
+forged in a day. Why did you not tell us of it? A week ago there had
+been time [25]to lay the mine, to raise the barricade, to strike one
+blow at least for liberty.[25] But now the hour is past. It is too late,
+[26]it is too late![26] Why did you keep it a secret from us, I say?
+
+ALEX. Now by the hand of freedom, Michael, my brother, you wrong me. I
+knew nothing of this hideous law. By my soul, my brothers, I knew not of
+it! How should I know?
+
+MICH. Because you are a traitor! Where did you go when you left us the
+night of our last meeting here?
+
+[27]ALEX. To mine own house, Michael.[27]
+
+MICH. Liar! I was on your track. You left here an hour after midnight.
+Wrapped in a large cloak, you crossed the river in a boat a mile below
+the second bridge, and gave the ferryman a gold piece, you, the poor
+student of medicine! You doubled back twice, and hid in an archway so
+long that I had almost made up my mind to stab you at once, only that I
+am fond of hunting. So! you thought that you had baffled all pursuit,
+did you? Fool! I am a bloodhound that never loses the scent. I followed
+you from street to street. At last I saw you pass swiftly across the
+Place St. Isaac, whisper to the guards the secret password, enter the
+palace by a private door with your own key.
+
+CONSPIRATORS. The palace!
+
+VERA. Alexis!
+
+MICH. I waited. All through the dreary watches of our long Russian night
+I waited, that I might kill you with your Judas hire still hot in your
+hand. But you never came out; you never left that palace at all. I saw
+the blood-red sun rise through the yellow fog over the murky town; I saw
+a new day of oppression dawn on Russia; but you never came out. So you
+pass nights in the palace, do you? You know the password for the guards!
+you have a key to a secret door. Oh, you are a spy--you are a spy! I
+never trusted you, [28]with your soft white hands, your curled hair,
+your pretty graces.[28] You have no mark of suffering about you; you
+cannot be of the people. You are a spy--[29]a spy--traitor.[29]
+
+OMNES. Kill him! Kill him! (_draw their knives_.)
+
+VERA (_rushing in front of ALEXIS_). Stand back, I say, Michael! Stand
+back all! [30]Do not dare[30] lay a hand upon him! He is the noblest
+heart amongst us.
+
+OMNES. Kill him! Kill him! He is a spy!
+
+VERA. Dare to lay a finger on him, and I leave you all to yourselves.
+
+PRES. Vera, did you not hear what Michael said of him? He stayed all
+night in the Czar's palace. He has a password and a private key. What
+else should he be but a spy?
+
+VERA. Bah! I do not believe Michael. It is a lie! It is[31] a lie!
+Alexis, say it is a lie!
+
+ALEX. It is true. Michael has told what he saw. I did pass that night in
+the Czar's palace. Michael has spoken the truth.
+
+VERA. Stand back, I say; stand back! Alexis, I do not care. I trust you;
+you would not betray us; you would not sell the people for money. You
+are honest, true! Oh, say you are no spy!
+
+ALEX. Spy? You know I am not. I am with you, my brothers, to the death.
+
+MICH. Ay, to your own death.
+
+ALEX. Vera, you[32] know I am true.
+
+VERA. I know it well.
+
+PRES. Why are you here, traitor?
+
+ALEX. Because I love the people.
+
+MICH. Then you can be a martyr for them?
+
+VERA. You must kill me first, Michael, before you lay a finger on him.
+
+PRES. Michael, we dare not lose Vera. It is her whim to let this boy
+live. We can keep him here to-night. Up to this he has not betrayed us.
+
+(_Tramp of soldiers outside, knocking at door._)[33]
+
+VOICE. Open in the name of the Emperor!
+
+MICH. He _has_ betrayed us. This is your doing, spy!
+
+PRES. Come, Michael, come. We have no time to cut one another's throats
+while we have our own heads to save.
+
+VOICE. Open in the name of the Emperor!
+
+PRES. Brothers, be masked all of you. [34]Michael, open the door. It is
+our only chance.[34]
+
+(_Enter GENERAL KOTEMKIN and soldiers._)
+
+GEN. All honest citizens should be in their own houses at an hour before
+midnight, and not more than five people have a right to meet privately.
+Have you not noticed the proclamation, fellows?
+
+MICH. Ay, you have spoiled every honest[35] wall in Moscow with it.
+
+VERA. Peace, Michael, peace. Nay, Sir, we knew it not. We are a company
+of strolling players travelling from Samara to Moscow to amuse His
+Imperial Majesty the Czar.
+
+GEN. But I heard loud voices before I entered. What was that?
+
+VERA. We were rehearsing a new tragedy.
+
+GEN. Your answers are too _honest_ to be true. Come, let me see who you
+are. Take off those players' masks. By St. Nicholas, my beauty, if your
+face matches your figure, you must be a choice morsel! Come, I say,
+pretty one; I would sooner see your face than those of all the others.
+
+PRES. O God! if he sees it is Vera, we are all lost!
+
+GEN. No coquetting, my girl. Come, unmask, I say, or I shall tell my
+guards to do it for you.
+
+ALEX. Stand back, I say, General Kotemkin!
+
+GEN. Who are you, fellow, that talk with such a tripping tongue to your
+betters? (_ALEXIS takes his mask off_.) His Imperial Highness the
+Czarevitch!
+
+OMNES. The Czarevitch! [36]It is all over![36]
+
+[37]PRES. He will give us up to the soldiers.[37]
+
+MICH. (_to VERA_). Why did you not let me kill him? Come, we must fight
+to the death for it.
+
+VERA. Peace! he will not betray us.
+
+ALEX. A whim of mine, General! You know how my father keeps me from the
+world and imprisons me in the palace. I should really be bored to death
+if I could not get out at night in disguise sometimes, and have some
+romantic adventure in town. I fell in with these honest folks a few
+hours ago.
+
+GEN. But, your Highness--
+
+ALEX. Oh, they are excellent actors, I assure you. If you had come in
+ten minutes ago, you would have witnessed a most interesting scene.
+
+GEN. Actors, are they, Prince?
+
+ALEX. Ay, and very ambitious actors, too. They only care to play before
+kings.
+
+GEN. I' faith, your Highness, I was in hopes I had made a good haul of
+Nihilists.[38]
+
+ALEX. Nihilists in Moscow, General! with you as head of the police?
+Impossible!
+
+GEN. So I always tell your Imperial father. But I heard at the council
+to-day that that woman Vera Sabouroff, the head of them, had been seen
+in this very city. The Emperor's face turned as white as the snow
+outside. I think I never saw such terror in any man before.
+
+ALEX. She is a dangerous woman, then, this Vera Sabouroff?
+
+GEN. The most dangerous in all Europe.
+
+ALEX. Did you ever see her, General?
+
+GEN. Why, five years ago, when I was a plain Colonel, I remember her,
+your Highness, a common waiting girl in an inn. If I had known then what
+she was going to turn out, I would have flogged her to death on the
+roadside. She is not a woman at all; she is a sort of devil! For the
+last eighteen months I have been hunting her, and caught sight of her
+once last September outside Odessa.
+
+ALEX. How did you let her go, General?
+
+GEN. I was by myself, and she shot one of my horses just as I was
+gaining on her. If I see her again I shan't miss my chance. The Emperor
+has put twenty thousand roubles on her head.
+
+ALEX. I hope you will get it, General; but meanwhile you are frightening
+these honest people out of their wits, and disturbing the tragedy. Good
+night, General.
+
+GEN. Yes; but I should like to see their faces, your Highness.
+
+ALEX. No, General; you must not ask that; you know how these gipsies
+hate to be stared at.
+
+GEN. Yes. But, your Highness--
+
+ALEX. (_haughtily_). General, they are my friends, that is enough. And,
+General, not a word of this little adventure here, you understand. I
+shall rely on you.
+
+GEN. I shall not forget, Prince. But shall we not see you back to the
+palace? The State ball is almost over and you are expected.
+
+ALEX. I shall be there; but I shall return alone. Remember, not a word
+about my strolling players.
+
+GEN. Or your pretty gipsy, eh, Prince? your pretty gipsy! I' faith, I
+should like to see her before I go; she has such fine eyes through her
+mask. Well, good night, your Highness; good night.
+
+ALEX. Good night, General.
+
+(_Exit GENERAL and the soldiers._)
+
+VERA (_throwing off her mask_). Saved! and by you!
+
+ALEX. (_clasping her hand_). Brothers, you trust me now?
+
+
+TABLEAU.
+
+
+END OF ACT I.
+
+
+
+
+ACT II.
+
+SCENE.--_Council Chamber in the Emperor's Palace, hung with yellow
+tapestry. Table, with chair of State, set for the Czar; window behind,
+opening on to a balcony. As the scene progresses the light outside gets
+darker._
+
+_Present._--PRINCE PAUL MARALOFFSKI, PRINCE PETROVITCH, COUNT ROUVALOFF,
+BARON RAFF, COUNT PETOUCHOF.
+
+
+PRINCE PETRO. So our young scatter-brained Czarevitch has been forgiven
+at last, and is to take his seat here again.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. Yes; if that is not meant as an extra punishment. For my
+own part, at least, I find these Cabinet Councils extremely exhausting.
+
+PRINCE PETRO. Naturally; you are always speaking.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. No; I think it must be that I have to listen sometimes.
+
+COUNT R. Still, anything is better than being kept in a sort of prison,
+like he was--never allowed to go out into the world.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. My dear Count, for romantic young people like he is, the
+world always looks best at a distance; and a prison where one's allowed
+to order one's own dinner is not at all a bad place. (_Enter the
+CZAREVITCH. The courtiers rise._) Ah! good afternoon, Prince. Your
+Highness is looking a little pale to-day.
+
+CZARE. (_slowly, after a pause_). I want change of air.
+
+PRINCE PAUL (_smiling_). A most revolutionary sentiment! Your Imperial
+father would highly disapprove of any reforms with the thermometer in
+Russia.
+
+CZARE. (_bitterly_). My Imperial father had kept me for six months in
+this dungeon of a palace. This morning he has me suddenly woke up to see
+some wretched Nihilists hung; it sickened me, the bloody butchery,
+though it was a noble thing to see how well these men can die.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. When you are as old as I am, Prince, you will understand
+that there are few things easier than to live badly and to die well.
+
+CZARE. Easy to die well! A lesson experience cannot have taught you,
+whatever you may know of a bad life.
+
+PRINCE PAUL (_shrugging his shoulders_). Experience, the name men give
+to their mistakes. I never commit any.
+
+CZARE. (_bitterly_). No; crimes are more in your line.
+
+PRINCE PETRO. (_to the CZAREVITCH_). The Emperor was a good deal
+agitated about your late appearance at the ball last night, Prince.
+
+[1]COUNT R. (_laughing_). I believe he thought the Nihilists had broken
+into the palace and carried you off.
+
+BARON RAFF. If they had you would have missed a charming dance.[1]
+
+PRINCE PAUL. And[2] an excellent supper. Gringoire really excelled
+himself in his salad. Ah! you may laugh, Baron; but to make a good salad
+is a much more difficult thing than cooking accounts. To make a good
+salad is to be a brilliant diplomatist--the problem is so entirely the
+same in both cases. To know exactly how much oil one must put with one's
+vinegar.
+
+BARON RAFF. A cook and a diplomatist! an excellent parallel. If I had a
+son who was a fool I'd make him one or the other.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. I see your father did not hold the same opinion, Baron.
+But, believe me, you are wrong to run down cookery. For myself, the only
+immortality I desire is to invent a new sauce. I have never had time
+enough to think seriously about it, but I feel it is in me, I feel it is
+in me.
+
+CZARE. You have certainly missed your _metier_,[3] Prince Paul; the
+_cordon bleu_ would have suited you much better than the Grand Cross of
+Honour. But you know you could never have worn your white apron well;
+you would have soiled it too soon, your hands are not clean enough.
+
+PRINCE PAUL (_bowing_). Que voulez vous? I manage your father's
+business.
+
+CZARE. (_bitterly_). You mismanage my father's business, you mean! Evil
+genius of his life that you are! before you came there was some love
+left in him. It is you who have embittered his nature, poured into his
+ear the poison of treacherous counsel, made him hated by the whole
+people, made him what he is--a tyrant!
+
+(_The courtiers look significantly at each other._)
+
+PRINCE PAUL (_calmly_). I see your Highness does want change of air. But
+I have been an eldest son myself. (_Lights a cigarette._) I know what it
+is when a father won't die to please one.
+
+(_The CZAREVITCH goes to the top of the stage, and leans against the
+window, looking out._)
+
+PRINCE PETRO. (_to BARON RAFF_). Foolish boy! [4]He will be sent into
+exile, or worse, if he is not careful.[4]
+
+BARON RAFF. Yes.[5] What a mistake it is to be sincere!
+
+PRINCE PETRO. The only folly you have never committed, Baron.
+
+BARON RAFF. One has only one head, you know, Prince.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. My dear Baron, your head is the last thing any one would
+wish to take from you. (_Pulls out snuffbox and offers it to PRINCE
+PETROVITCH._)
+
+PRINCE PETRO. Thanks, Prince! Thanks!
+
+PRINCE PAUL. Very delicate, isn't it? I get it direct from Paris. But
+under this vulgar Republic everything has degenerated over there.
+"Cotelettes a l'imperiale" vanished, of course, with the Bourbon, and
+omelettes went out with the Orleanists. La belle France is entirely
+ruined, Prince, through bad morals and worse cookery. (_Enter the
+MARQUIS DE POIVRARD._) Ah! Marquis. I trust Madame la Marquise is well.
+
+MARQUIS DE P. You ought to know better than I do, Prince Paul; you see
+more _of_ her.
+
+PRINCE PAUL (_bowing_). Perhaps I see more _in_ her, Marquis. Your wife
+is really a charming woman, so full of _esprit_, and so satirical too;
+she talks continually of you when we are together.
+
+PRINCE PETRO. (_looking at the clock_). His Majesty is a little late
+to-day, is he not?
+
+PRINCE PAUL. What has happened to you, my dear Petrovitch? you seem
+quite out of sorts. You haven't quarrelled with your cook, I hope? What
+a tragedy that would be for you; you would lose all your friends.
+
+PRINCE PETRO. I fear I wouldn't be so fortunate as that. You forget I
+would still have my purse.[6] But you are wrong for once; my chef and I
+are on excellent[7] terms.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. Then your creditors or Mademoiselle Vera Sabouroff have
+been writing to you? I find both of them such excellent correspondents.
+But really you needn't be alarmed. I find the most violent proclamations
+from the Executive Committee, as they call it, left all over my house. I
+never read them; they are so badly spelt as a rule.
+
+PRINCE PETRO. Wrong again, Prince; the Nihilists leave me alone for some
+reason or other.
+
+PRINCE PAUL (_aside_). Ah! true. I forgot. Indifference is the revenge
+the world takes on mediocrities.
+
+PRINCE PETRO. I am bored with life,[8] Prince. Since the opera season
+ended I have been a perpetual martyr to ennui.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. The maladie du siecle! You want a new excitement, Prince.
+Let me see--you have been married twice already; suppose you
+try--falling in love, for once.
+
+BARON R. Prince, I have been thinking a good deal lately--
+
+PRINCE PAUL (_interrupting_). You surprise me very much, Baron.
+
+BARON R. I cannot understand your nature.
+
+PRINCE PAUL (_smiling_). If my nature had been made to suit your
+comprehension rather than my own requirements, I am afraid I would have
+made a very poor figure in the world.
+
+COUNT R. There seems to be nothing in life about which you would not
+jest.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. Ah! my dear Count, life is much too important a thing ever
+to talk seriously about it.
+
+CZARE. (_coming back from the window_). I don't think Prince Paul's
+nature is such a mystery. He would stab his best friend for the sake of
+writing an epigram on his tombstone, or experiencing a new sensation.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. Parbleu! I would sooner lose my best friend than my worst
+enemy. To have friends, you know, one need only be good-natured; but
+when a man has no enemy left there must be something mean about him.
+
+CZARE. (_bitterly_). If to have enemies is a measure of greatness, then
+you must be a Colossus, indeed, Prince.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. Yes, I know I'm the most hated man in Russia, except your
+father, [9]except your father, of course,[9] Prince. He doesn't seem to
+like it much, by the way, but I do, I assure you. (_Bitterly._) I love
+to drive through the streets and see how the canaille scowl at me from
+every corner. It makes me feel I am a power in Russia; one man against a
+hundred millions! Besides, I have no ambition to be a popular hero, to
+be crowned with laurels one year and pelted with stones the next; I
+prefer dying peaceably in my own bed.
+
+CZARE. And after death?
+
+PRINCE PAUL (_shrugging his shoulders_). Heaven is a despotism. I shall
+be at home there.
+
+CZARE. Do you never think of the people and their rights?
+
+PRINCE PAUL. The people and their rights bore me. I am sick of both. In
+these modern days to be vulgar, illiterate, common and vicious, seems to
+give a man a marvellous infinity of rights that his honest fathers never
+dreamed of. Believe me, Prince, in good democracy every man should be an
+aristocrat; but these people in Russia who seek to thrust us out are no
+better than the animals in one's preserves, and made to be shot at, most
+of them.
+
+CZARE. (_excitedly_). If they are[10] common, illiterate, vulgar, no
+better than the beasts of the field, who made them so?
+
+(_Enter AIDE-DE-CAMP._)
+
+AIDE-DE-CAMP. His Imperial Majesty, the Emperor! (_PRINCE PAUL looks at
+the CZAREVITCH, and smiles._)
+
+(_Enter the CZAR, surrounded by his guard._)
+
+CZARE. (_rushing forward to meet him_). Sire!
+
+CZAR (_nervous and frightened_). Don't come too near me, boy! Don't come
+too near me, I say! There is always something about an heir to a crown
+unwholesome to his father. Who is that man over there? I don't know him.
+What is he doing? Is he a conspirator? Have you searched him? Give him
+till to-morrow to confess, then hang him!--hang him!
+
+PRINCE PAUL. Sire, you are anticipating history. This is Count
+Petouchof, your new ambassador to Berlin. He is come to kiss hands on
+his appointment.
+
+CZAR. To kiss my hand? There is some plot in it. He wants to poison me.
+There, kiss my son's hand; it will do quite as well.
+
+(_PRINCE PAUL signs to COUNT PETOUCHOF to leave the room. Exit PETOUCHOF
+and the guards. CZAR sinks down into his chair. The courtiers remain
+silent._)
+
+PRINCE PAUL (_approaching_). Sire! will your Majesty--
+
+CZAR. What do you startle me like that for? No, I won't. (_Watches the
+courtiers nervously._) Why are you clattering your sword, sir? (_To
+COUNT ROUVALOFF._) Take it off, I shall have no man wear a sword in my
+presence (_looking at CZAREVITCH_), least of all my son. (_To PRINCE
+PAUL._) You are not angry with me, Prince? You won't desert me, will
+you? Say you won't desert me. What do you want? You can have
+anything--anything.
+
+PRINCE PAUL (_bowing very low_). Sire, 'tis enough for me to have your
+confidence. (_Aside._) I was afraid he was going to revenge himself and
+give me another decoration.
+
+CZAR (_returning to his chair_). Well, gentlemen.
+
+MARQ. DE POIV. Sire, I have the honour to present to you a loyal address
+from your subjects in the Province of Archangel, expressing their horror
+at the last attempt on your Majesty's life.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. The last attempt but two, you ought to have said, Marquis.
+Don't you see it is dated three weeks back?
+
+CZAR. They are good people in the Province of Archangel--honest, loyal
+people. They love me very much--simple, loyal people; give them a new
+saint, it costs nothing. Well, Alexis (_turning to the CZAREVITCH_)--how
+many traitors were hung this morning?
+
+CZARE. There were three men strangled, Sire.
+
+CZAR. There should have been three[11] thousand. I would to God that
+this people had but one neck that I might strangle them with one noose!
+Did they tell anything? whom did they implicate? what did they confess?
+
+CZARE. Nothing, Sire.
+
+CZAR. They should have been tortured then; why weren't they tortured?
+Must I always be fighting in the dark? Am I never to know from what root
+these traitors spring?
+
+CZARE. What root should there be of discontent among the people but
+tyranny and injustice amongst their rulers?
+
+CZAR. What did you say, boy? tyranny! tyranny! Am I a tyrant? I'm not. I
+love the people. I'm their father. I'm called so in every official
+proclamation. Have a care, boy; have a care. You don't seem to be cured
+yet of your foolish tongue. (_Goes over to PRINCE PAUL, and puts his
+hand on his shoulder._) Prince Paul, tell me were there many people
+there this morning to see the Nihilists hung?
+
+PRINCE PAUL. Hanging is of course a good deal less of a novelty in
+Russia now, Sire, than it was three or four years ago; and you know how
+easily the people get tired even of their best amusements. But the
+square and the tops of the houses were really quite crowded, were they
+not, Prince? (_To the CZAREVITCH who takes no notice._)
+
+CZAR. That's right; all loyal citizens should be there. It shows them
+what to look forward to. Did you arrest any one in the crowd?
+
+PRINCE PAUL. Yes, Sire, a woman for cursing your name. (_The CZAREVITCH
+starts anxiously._) She was the mother of the two criminals.
+
+CZAR (_looking at CZAREVITCH_). She should have blessed me for having
+rid her of her children. Send her to prison.
+
+CZARE. The prisons of Russia are too full already, Sire. There is no
+room in them for any more victims.
+
+[12]CZAR. They don't die fast enough, then. You should put more of them
+into one cell at once. You don't keep them long enough in the mines. If
+you do they're sure to die; but you're all too merciful. I'm too
+merciful myself. Send her to Siberia.[12] She is sure to die on the way.
+(_Enter an AIDE-DE-CAMP._) Who's that? Who's that?
+
+AIDE-DE-CAMP. A letter for his Imperial Majesty.
+
+CZAR (_to PRINCE PAUL_). I won't open it. There may be something in it.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. It would be a very disappointing letter, Sire, if there
+wasn't. (_Takes letter himself, and reads it._)
+
+PRINCE PETRO. (_to COUNT ROUVALOFF_). It must be some sad news. I know
+that smile too well.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. From the Chief of the Police at Archangel, Sire. "The
+Governor of the province was shot this morning by a woman as he was
+entering the courtyard of his own house. The assassin has been seized."
+
+CZAR. I never trusted the people of Archangel. It's a nest of Nihilists
+and conspirators. Take away their saints; they don't deserve them.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. Your Highness would punish them more severely by giving
+them an extra one. Three governors shot in two months. (_Smiles to
+himself._) Sire, permit me to recommend your loyal subject, the Marquis
+de Poivrard, as the new governor of your Province of Archangel.
+
+MARQ. DE POIV. (_hurriedly_). Sire, I am unfit for this post.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. Marquis, you are too modest. Believe me, there is no man
+in Russia I would sooner see Governor of Archangel than yourself.
+(_Whispers to CZAR._)
+
+CZAR. Quite right, Prince Paul; you are always right. See that the
+Marquis's letters are made out at once.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. He can start to-night, Sire. I shall really miss you very
+much, Marquis. I always liked your taste in wines and wives extremely.
+
+MARQ. DE POIV. (_to the CZAR_). Start to-night, Sire? (_PRINCE PAUL
+whispers to the CZAR._)
+
+CZAR. Yes, Marquis, to-night; it is better to go at once.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. I shall see that Madame la Marquise is not too lonely while
+you are away; so you need not be alarmed for her.
+
+COUNT R. (_to PRINCE PETROVITCH_). I should be more alarmed for myself.
+
+CZAR. The Governor of Archangel shot in his own courtyard by a woman!
+I'm not safe here. I'm not safe anywhere, with that she devil of the
+revolution, Vera Sabouroff, here in Moscow. Prince Paul, is that woman
+still here?
+
+PRINCE PAUL. They tell me she was at the Grand Duke's ball last night. I
+can hardly believe that; but she certainly had intended to leave for
+Novgorod to-day, Sire. The police were watching every train for her;
+but, for some reason or other, she did not go. Some traitor must have
+warned her. But I shall catch her yet. A chase after a beautiful woman
+is always exciting.
+
+CZAR. You must hunt her down with bloodhounds, and when she is taken I
+shall hew her limb from limb. I shall stretch her on the rack till her
+pale white body is twisted and curled like paper in the fire.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. Oh, we shall have another hunt immediately for her, Sire!
+Prince Alexis will assist us, I am sure.
+
+CZARE. You never require any assistance to ruin a woman, Prince Paul.
+
+CZAR. Vera, the Nihilist, in Moscow! O God,[13] were it not better to
+die at once the dog's death they plot for me than to live as I live now!
+Never to sleep, or, if I do, to dream such horrid dreams that Hell
+itself were peace when matched with them. To trust none but those I have
+bought, to buy none worth trusting! To see a traitor in every smile,
+poison in every dish, a dagger in every hand! To lie awake at night,
+listening from hour to hour for the stealthy creeping of the murderer,
+for the laying of the damned mine! You are all spies! you are all spies!
+You worst of all--you, my own son! Which of you is it who hides these
+bloody proclamations under my own pillow, or at the table where I sit?
+Which of ye all is the Judas who betrays me? O God! O God! methinks
+there was a time once, in our war with England, when nothing could make
+me afraid. (_This with more calm and pathos._) I have ridden into the
+crimson heart of war, and borne back an eagle which those wild islanders
+had taken from us. Men said I was brave then. My father gave me the Iron
+Cross of valour. Oh, could he see me now with this coward's livery ever
+in my cheek! (_Sinks into his chair._) I never knew any love when I was
+a boy. I was ruled by terror myself, how else should I rule now?
+(_Starts up._) But I will have revenge; I will have revenge. For every
+hour I have lain awake at night, waiting for the noose or the dagger,
+they shall pass years in Siberia, centuries in the mines! Ay! I shall
+have revenge.
+
+CZARE. Father! have mercy on the people. Give them what they ask.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. And begin, Sire, with your own head; they have a particular
+liking for that.
+
+CZAR. The people! the people! A tiger which I have let loose upon
+myself; but I will fight with it to the death. [14]I am done with half
+measures.[14] I shall crush these Nihilists at a blow. There shall not
+be a man of them, ay, or a woman either, left alive in Russia. [15]Am I
+Emperor for[15] nothing, that a woman should hold me at bay? Vera
+Sabouroff shall be in my power, I swear it, before a week is ended,
+[16]though I burn my whole city to find her.[16] She shall be flogged by
+the knout, stifled in the fortress, strangled in the square!
+
+CZARE. O God!
+
+CZAR. For two years her hands have been clutching at my throat; for two
+years she has made my life a hell; but I shall have revenge. Martial
+law, Prince, martial law over the whole Empire; that will give me
+revenge. A good measure, Prince, eh? a good measure.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. And an economical one too, Sire. It would carry off your
+surplus population in six months, and save you many expenses in courts
+of justice; they will not be needed now.
+
+CZAR. Quite right. There are too many people in Russia, too much money
+spent on them, too much money in courts of justice. I'll shut them up.
+
+CZARE. Sire, reflect before--
+
+CZAR. When can you have the proclamations ready, Prince Paul?
+
+PRINCE PAUL. They have been printed for the last six months, Sire. I
+knew you would need them.
+
+CZAR. That's good! That's very good! Let us begin at once. Ah, Prince,
+if every king in Europe had a minister like you--
+
+CZARE. There would be less kings in Europe than there are.
+
+CZAR (_in frightened whisper, to PRINCE PAUL_). What does he mean? Do
+you trust him? His prison hasn't cured him yet. Shall I banish him?
+Shall I (_whispers_)...? The Emperor Paul did it. The Empress Catherine
+there[17] (_points to picture on the wall_) did it. Why shouldn't I?
+
+PRINCE PAUL. Your Majesty, there is no need for alarm. The Prince is a
+very ingenuous young man. He pretends to be devoted to the people, and
+lives in a palace; preaches socialism, and draws a salary that would
+support a province. He'll find out one day that the best cure for
+Republicanism is the Imperial crown, and will cut up the "bonnet rogue"
+of Democracy to make decorations for his Prime Minister.
+
+CZAR. You are right. If he really loved the people, he could not be my
+son.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. If he lived with the people for a fortnight, their bad
+dinners would soon cure him of his democracy. Shall we begin, Sire?
+
+CZAR. At once. Read the proclamation. Gentlemen, be seated. Alexis,
+Alexis, I say, come and hear it! It will be good practice for you; you
+will be doing it yourself some day.
+
+CZARE. I have heard too much of it already. (_Takes his seat at the
+table. COUNT ROUVALOFF whispers to him._)
+
+CZAR. What are you whispering about there, Count Rouvaloff?
+
+COUNT R. I was giving his Royal Highness some good advice, your Majesty.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. Count Rouvaloff is the typical spendthrift, Sire; he is
+always giving away what he needs most. (_Lays papers before the CZAR._)
+I think, Sire, you will approve of this:--"Love of the people," "Father
+of his people," "Martial law," and the usual allusions to Providence in
+the last line. All it requires now is your Imperial Majesty's signature.
+
+CZARE. Sire!
+
+PRINCE PAUL (_hurriedly_). I promise your Majesty to crush every
+Nihilist in Russia in six months if you sign this proclamation; every
+Nihilist in Russia.
+
+CZAR. Say that again! To crush every Nihilist in Russia; to crush this
+woman, their leader, who makes war upon me in my own city. Prince Paul
+Maraloffski, I create you Marechale of the whole Russian Empire to help
+you to carry out martial law.
+
+CZAR. Give me the proclamation. I will sign it at once.
+
+PRINCE PAUL (_points on paper_). Here, Sire.
+
+CZARE. (_starts up and puts his hands on the paper_). Stay! I tell you,
+stay! The priests have taken heaven from the people, and you would take
+the earth away too.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. We have no time, Prince, now. This boy will ruin
+everything. The pen, Sire.
+
+CZARE. What! is it so small a thing to strangle a nation, to murder a
+kingdom, to wreck an empire? Who are we who dare lay this ban of terror
+on a people? Have we less vices than they have, that we bring them to
+the bar of judgment before us?
+
+PRINCE PAUL. What a Communist the Prince is! He would have an equal
+distribution of sin as well as of property.
+
+CZARE. Warmed by the same sun, nurtured by the same air, fashioned of
+flesh and blood like to our own, wherein are they different to us, save
+that they starve while we surfeit, that they toil while we idle, that
+they sicken while we poison, that they die while we strangle?
+
+CZAR. How dare--?
+
+CZARE. I dare all for the people; but you would rob them of common
+rights of common men.
+
+CZAR. The people have no rights.
+
+CZARE. Then they have great wrongs. Father, they have won your battles
+for you; from the pine forests of the Baltic to the palms of India they
+have ridden on victory's mighty wings in search of your glory! Boy as I
+am in years, I have seen wave after wave of living men sweep up the
+heights of battle to their death; ay, and snatch perilous conquest from
+the scales of war when the bloody crescent seemed to shake above our
+eagles.
+
+CZAR (_somewhat moved_). Those men are dead. What have I to do with
+them?
+
+CZARE. Nothing! The dead are safe; you[18] cannot harm them now. They
+sleep their last long sleep. Some in Turkish waters, others by the
+windswept heights of Norway and the Dane! But these, the living, our
+brothers, what have you done for them? They asked you for bread, you
+gave them a stone. They sought for freedom, you scourged them with
+scorpions. You have sown the seeds of this revolution yourself!--
+
+PRINCE PAUL. And are we not cutting down the harvest?
+
+CZARE. Oh, my brothers! better far that ye had died in the iron hail and
+screaming shell of battle than to come back to such a doom as[19] this!
+The beasts of the forests have their lairs, and the wild beasts their
+caverns, but the people of Russia, conquerors of the world, have not
+where to lay their heads.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. They have the headsman's block.
+
+CZARE. The headsman's block! Ay! you have killed their souls at your
+pleasure, you would kill their bodies now.
+
+CZAR. Insolent boy! Have you forgotten who is Emperor of Russia?
+
+CZARE. No! The people reign now, by the grace of God.[20] You should
+have been their shepherd; you have fled away like the hireling, and let
+the wolves in upon them.
+
+CZAR. Take him away! Take him away, Prince Paul!
+
+CZARE. God hath given this people tongues to speak with; you would cut
+them out that they may be dumb in their agony, silent in their torture!
+But God hath given them hands to smite with, and they shall smite! Ay!
+from the sick and labouring womb of this unhappy land some revolution,
+like a bloody child, shall[21] rise up and slay you.
+
+CZAR (_leaping up_). Devil! Assassin! Why do you beard me thus to my
+face?
+
+CZARE. Because I[22] am a Nihilist! (_The ministers start to their feet;
+there is dead silence for a few minutes._)
+
+CZAR. A Nihilist! a Nihilist! Scorpion whom I have nurtured, traitor
+whom I have fondled, is this your bloody secret? Prince Paul
+Maraloffski, Marechale of the Russian Empire, arrest the Czarevitch!
+
+MINISTERS. Arrest the Czarevitch!
+
+CZAR. A Nihilist! If you have sown with them, you shall reap with them!
+If you have talked with them, you shall rot with them! If you have lived
+with them, with them you shall die!
+
+PRINCE PETRO. Die!
+
+CZAR. A plague on all sons, I say! There should be no more marriages in
+Russia when one can breed such vipers as you are! Arrest the Czarevitch,
+I say!
+
+PRINCE PAUL. Czarevitch! by order of the Emperor, I demand your sword.
+(_CZAREVITCH gives up sword; PRINCE PAUL places it on the table._)
+Foolish boy! you are not made for a conspirator; you have not learned to
+hold your tongue. Heroics are out of place in a palace.
+
+CZAR (_sinks into his chair with his eyes fixed on the CZAREVITCH_). O
+God!
+
+CZARE. If I am to die for the people, I am ready; one Nihilist more or
+less in Russia, what does that matter?
+
+PRINCE PAUL (_aside_). A good deal I should say to the one Nihilist.
+
+[23]CZARE. The mighty brotherhood to which I belong has a thousand such
+as I am, ten thousand better still! (_The CZAR starts in his seat._) The
+star of freedom is risen already, and far off I hear the mighty wave
+democracy break on these cursed shores.[23]
+
+PRINCE PAUL (_to PRINCE PETROVITCH_). In that case you and I had better
+learn how to swim.
+
+CZARE. Father, Emperor, Imperial Master, I plead not for my own life,
+but for the lives of my brothers, the people.
+
+PRINCE PAUL (_bitterly_). Your brothers, the people, Prince, are not
+content with their own lives, they always want to take their neighbour's
+too.
+
+CZAR (_standing up_). I am sick of being afraid. I have done with terror
+now. From this day I proclaim war against the people--war to their
+annihilation. As they have dealt with me, so shall I deal with them. I
+shall grind them to powder, and strew their dust upon the air. There
+shall be a spy in every man's house, a traitor on every hearth, a
+hangman in every village, a gibbet in every square. Plague, leprosy, or
+fever shall be less deadly than my wrath; I will make every frontier a
+grave-yard, every province a lazar-house, and cure the sick by the
+sword. I shall have peace in Russia, though it be the peace of the dead.
+Who said I was a coward? Who said I was afraid? See, thus shall I crush
+this people beneath my feet! (_Takes up sword of CZAREVITCH off table
+and tramples on it._)
+
+CZARE. Father, beware, the sword you tread on may turn and wound you.
+The people suffer long, but vengeance comes at last, vengeance with red
+hands and bloody purpose.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. Bah! the people are bad shots; they always miss one.
+
+CZARE. There are times when the people are instruments of God.
+
+CZAR. Ay! and when kings are God's scourges for the people. Oh, my own
+son, in my own house! My own flesh and blood against me! Take him away!
+Take him away! Bring in my guards. (_Enter the Imperial Guard. CZAR
+points to CZAREVITCH, who stands alone at the side of the stage._) To
+the blackest prison in Moscow! Let me never see his face again.
+(_CZAREVITCH is being led out._) No, no, leave him! I don't trust
+guards. They are all Nihilists! They would let him escape and he would
+kill me, kill me! No, I'll bring him to prison myself, you and I (_to
+PRINCE PAUL_). I trust you, you have no mercy. I shall have no mercy.
+Oh, my own son against me! How hot it is! The air stifles me! I feel as
+if I were going to faint, as if something were at my throat. Open the
+windows, I say! Out of my sight! Out of my sight! I can't bear his eyes.
+Wait, wait for me. (_Throws window open and goes out on balcony._)
+
+PRINCE PAUL (_looking at his watch_). The dinner is sure to be spoiled.
+How annoying politics are and eldest sons!
+
+VOICE (_outside, in the street_). God save the people! (_CZAR is shot,
+and staggers back into the room._)
+
+CZARE. (_breaking from the guards, and rushing over_). Father!
+
+CZAR. Murderer! Murderer! You did it! Murderer! (_Dies._)
+
+
+TABLEAU.
+
+
+END OF ACT II.
+
+
+
+
+ACT III.
+
+_Same scene and business as Act I. Man in yellow dress, with drawn
+sword, at the door._
+
+
+_Password outside._ Vae tyrannis.
+
+_Answer._ Vae victis (_repeated three times_).
+
+(_Enter CONSPIRATORS, who form a semicircle, masked and cloaked._)
+
+PRESIDENT. What hour is it?
+
+FIRST CONSP. The hour to strike.
+
+PRES. What day?
+
+SECOND CONSP. The day of Marat.[1]
+
+PRES. In what month?
+
+SECOND CONSP. The month of liberty.
+
+PRES. What is our duty?
+
+FOURTH CONSP. To obey.
+
+PRES. Our creed?
+
+FIFTH CONSP. Parbleu, Mons. le President, I never knew you had one.
+
+CONSPS. A spy! A spy! Unmask! Unmask! A spy!
+
+PRES. [2]Let the doors be shut. There are others but Nihilists
+present.[2]
+
+CONSPS. Unmask! Unmask! [3]Kill him! kill him![3] (_Masked CONSPIRATOR
+unmasks._) Prince Paul!
+
+VERA. Devil! Who lured you into the lion's den?
+
+CONSPS. Kill him! kill him![4]
+
+PRINCE PAUL. En verite, Messieurs, you are not over-hospitable in your
+welcome.
+
+VERA. Welcome! What welcome should we give you but the dagger or the
+noose?
+
+PRINCE PAUL. I had no idea, really, that the Nihilists were so
+exclusive. Let me assure you that if I had not always had an _entree_
+to the very best society, and the very worst conspiracies, I could never
+have been Prime Minister in Russia.
+
+VERA. The tiger cannot change its nature, nor the snake lose its venom;
+but are you turned a lover of the people?
+
+PRINCE PAUL. Mon Dieu, non, Mademoiselle! I would much sooner talk
+scandal in a drawing-room than treason in a cellar. Besides, I hate the
+common mob, who smell of garlic, smoke bad tobacco, get up early, and
+dine off one dish.
+
+PRES. What have you to gain, then, by a revolution?
+
+PRINCE PAUL. Mon ami, I have nothing left to lose. That scatter-brained
+boy, this new Czar, has banished me.
+
+VERA. To Siberia?
+
+PRINCE PAUL. No, to Paris. He has confiscated my estates, robbed me of
+my office and my cook. I have nothing left but my decorations. I am here
+for revenge.[5]
+
+PRES. Then you have a right to be one of us. [5]We also meet daily for
+revenge.[5]
+
+PRINCE PAUL. You want money, of course. No one ever joins a conspiracy
+who has any. Here. (_Throws money on table._) You have so many spies
+that I should think you want information. Well, you will find me the
+best informed man in Russia on the abuses of our Government. I made them
+nearly all myself.
+
+VERA. President, I don't trust this man. He has done us too much harm in
+Russia to let him go in safety.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. Believe me, Mademoiselle, you are wrong; I will be a most
+valuable addition to your circle; as for you, gentlemen, if I had not
+thought that you would be useful to me I shouldn't have risked my neck
+among you, or dined an hour earlier than usual so as to be in time.
+
+PRES. Ay, if he had wanted to spy on us, Vera, he wouldn't have come
+himself.
+
+PRINCE PAUL (_aside_). No; I should have sent my best friend.
+
+PRES. Besides, Vera, he is just the man to give us the information we
+want about some business we have in hand to-night.
+
+VERA. Be it so if you wish it.
+
+PRES. Brothers, is it your will that Prince Paul Maraloffski be
+admitted, and take the oath of the Nihilist?
+
+CONSPS. It is! it is!
+
+PRES. (_holding out dagger and a paper_). Prince Paul, the dagger or the
+oath?
+
+PRINCE PAUL (_smiles sardonically_). I would sooner annihilate than be
+annihilated. (_Takes paper._)
+
+PRES. Remember: [6]Betray us, and as long as the earth holds poison or
+steel, as long as men can strike or woman betray, you shall not escape
+vengeance.[6] The Nihilists never forget their friends, or forgive their
+enemies.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. Really? I did not think you were so civilized.
+
+VERA (_pacing up and down_). Why is he not here? He will not keep the
+crown. I know him well.
+
+PRES. Sign. (_PRINCE PAUL signs_.) You said you thought we had no creed.
+You were wrong. Read it!
+
+VERA. This is a dangerous thing, President. What can we do with this
+man?
+
+PRES. We can use him.
+
+VERA. And afterwards?
+
+PRES. (_shrugging his shoulders_). Strangle him.
+
+PRINCE PAUL (_reading_). "The rights of humanity!" In the old times men
+carried out their rights for themselves as they lived, but nowadays
+every baby seems born with a social manifesto in its mouth much bigger
+than itself.[7] "Nature is not a temple, but a workshop: we demand the
+right to labour." Ah, I shall surrender my own rights in that respect.
+
+VERA (_pacing up and down behind_). Oh, will he never come? will he
+never come?
+
+PRINCE PAUL. "The family as subversive of true socialistic and communal
+unity is to be annihilated." Yes, President, I agree completely with
+Article 5. A family is a terrible incumbrance, especially when one is
+not married. (_Three knocks at the door._)
+
+VERA. Alexis at last!
+
+_Password._ Vae tyrannis!
+
+_Answer._ Vae victis!
+
+(_Enter MICHAEL STROGANOFF._)
+
+PRES.[8] Michael, the regicide! Brothers, let us do honour to a man who
+has killed a king.
+
+[9]VERA (_aside_). Oh, he will come yet.[9]
+
+PRES. Michael, you have saved Russia.
+
+MICH. Ay, Russia was free for a moment [10]when the tyrant fell, but the
+sun of liberty has set again like that false dawn which cheats our eyes
+in autumn.
+
+PRES. The dread night of tyranny is not yet past for Russia.
+
+MICH. (_clutching his knife_).[10] One more blow, and the end is come
+indeed.
+
+VERA (_aside_). One more blow! What does he mean? Oh, impossible! but
+why is he not with us? Alexis! Alexis! why are you not here?
+
+PRES. But how did you escape, Michael? They said you had been seized.
+
+MICH. I was dressed in the uniform of the Imperial Guard. The Colonel on
+duty was a brother, and gave me the password. I drove through the troops
+in safety with it, and, thanks to my good horse, reached the walls
+before the gates were closed.
+
+PRES. What a chance his coming out on the balcony was!
+
+MICH. A chance? There is no such thing as chance. It was God's finger
+led him there.
+
+PRES. And where have you been these three days?
+
+MICH. Hiding in the house of the priest Nicholas at the cross-roads.
+
+PRES. Nicholas is an honest man.
+
+MICH. Ay, honest enough for a priest. I am here now for vengeance on a
+traitor!
+
+VERA (_aside_). O God, will he never come? Alexis! why are you not here?
+You cannot have turned traitor!
+
+MICH. (_seeing PRINCE PAUL_). Prince Paul Maraloffski here! By St.
+George, a lucky capture! This must have been Vera's doing. She is the
+only one who could have lured that serpent into the trap.
+
+PRES. Prince Paul has just taken the oath.
+
+VERA. Alexis, the Czar, has banished him from Russia.
+
+MICH. Bah! A blind to cheat us. We will keep Prince Paul here, [11]and
+find some office for him in our reign of terror.[11] He is well
+accustomed by this time to bloody work.
+
+PRINCE PAUL (_approaching MICHAEL_). That was a long shot of yours, mon
+camarade.
+
+MICH. I have had a good deal of practice shooting, since I have been a
+boy, off your Highness's wild boars.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. Are my gamekeepers like moles, then, always asleep?
+
+MICH. No, Prince. I am one of them; but, like you, I am fond of robbing
+what I am put to watch.
+
+PRES. This must be a new atmosphere for you, Prince Paul. We speak the
+truth to one another here.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. How misleading you must find it. You have an odd medley
+here, President--a little rococo, I am afraid.
+
+PRES. You recognise a good many friends, I dare say?
+
+PRINCE PAUL. Yes, there is always more brass than brains in an
+aristocracy.
+
+PRES. But you are here yourself?
+
+PRINCE PAUL. I? As I cannot be Prime Minister, I must be a Nihilist.
+There is no alternative.
+
+VERA. O God, will he never come? The hand is on the stroke of the hour.
+Will he never come?
+
+MICH. (_aside_). President, you know what we have to do? 'Tis but a
+sorry hunter who leaves the wolf cub alive to avenge his father. How are
+we to get at this boy? It must be to-night. To-morrow he will be
+throwing some sop of reform to the people, and it will be too late for a
+Republic.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. You are quite right. Good kings are the enemies of
+Democracy, and when he has begun by banishing me you may be sure he
+intends to be a patriot.
+
+MICH. I am sick of patriot kings; [12]what Russia needs is a
+Republic.[12]
+
+PRINCE PAUL. Messieurs, I have brought you two documents which I think
+will interest you--the proclamation this young Czar intends publishing
+to-morrow, and a plan of the Winter Palace, where he sleeps to-night.
+(_Hands paper._)
+
+VERA. [13]I dare not ask them what they are plotting about.[13] Oh, why
+is Alexis not here?
+
+PRES. Prince, this is most valuable information. Michael, you were
+right. If it is not to-night it will be too late. Read that.
+
+MICH. Ah! A loaf of bread flung to a starving nation. [14]A lie to cheat
+the people.[14] (_Tears it up._) It must be to-night. I do not believe
+in him. Would he have kept his crown had he loved the people? But how
+are we to get at him?
+
+PRINCE PAUL. The key of the private door in the street. (_Hands key._)
+
+PRES. Prince, we are in your debt.
+
+PRINCE PAUL (_smiling_). The normal condition of the Nihilists.
+
+MICH. Ay, but we are paying our debts off with interest now. Two
+Emperors in one week. That will make the balance straight. We would have
+thrown in a Prime Minister if you had not come.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. Ah, I am sorry you told me. It robs my visit of all its
+picturesqueness and adventure. I thought I was perilling my head by
+coming here, and you tell me I have saved it. One is sure to be
+disappointed if one tries to get romance out of modern life.
+
+MICH. It is not so romantic a thing to lose one's head, Prince Paul.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. No, but it must often be very dull to keep it. Don't you
+find that sometimes? (_Clock strikes six._)
+
+VERA (_sinking into a seat_). Oh, it is past the hour! It is past the
+hour!
+
+MICH. (_to PRESIDENT_). Remember to-morrow will be too late.
+
+PRES. Brothers, it is full time. Which of us is absent?
+
+CONSPS. Alexis! Alexis!
+
+PRES. Michael, read Rule 7.
+
+MICH. "When any brother shall have disobeyed a summons to be present,
+the President shall enquire if there is anything alleged against him."
+
+PRES. Is there anything against our brother Alexis?
+
+CONSPS. He wears a crown! He wears a crown!
+
+PRES. Michael, read Article 7 of the Code of Revolution.
+
+MICH. "Between the Nihilists and all men who wear crowns above their
+fellows, there is war to the death."
+
+PRES. Brothers, what say you? Is Alexis, the Czar, guilty or not?
+
+OMNES. He is guilty!
+
+PRES. What shall the penalty be?
+
+OMNES. Death!
+
+PRES. Let the lots be prepared; it shall be to-night.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. Ah, this is really interesting! I was getting afraid
+conspiracies were as dull as courts are.
+
+PROF. MARFA. My forte is more in writing pamphlets than in taking shots.
+Still a regicide has always a place in history.
+
+MICH. If your pistol is as harmless as your pen, this young tyrant will
+have a long life.
+
+PRINCE PAUL. You ought to remember, too, Professor, that if you were
+seized, as you probably would be, and hung, as you certainly would be,
+there would be nobody left to read your own articles.
+
+PRES. Brothers, are you ready?
+
+VERA (_starting up_). Not yet! Not yet! I have a word to say.
+
+MICH. (_aside_). [15]Plague take her! I knew it would come to this.[15]
+
+VERA. This boy has been our brother. Night after night he has perilled
+his own life to come here. [16]Night after night, when every street was
+filled with spies, every house with traitors.[16] Delicately nurtured
+like a king's son, he has dwelt among us.
+
+PRES. Ay! under a false name. [17]He lied to us at the beginning. He
+lies to us now at the end.[17]
+
+VERA. I swear he is true. There is not a man here who does not owe him
+his life a thousand times. When the bloodhounds were on us that night,
+who saved us [18]from arrest, torture, flogging, death,[18] but he ye
+seek to kill?--
+
+MICH. To kill all tyrants is our mission!
+
+VERA. He is no tyrant. I know him well! He loves the people.
+
+PRES. We know him too; he is a traitor.
+
+VERA. A traitor! Three days ago he could have betrayed every man of you
+here, [19]and the gibbet would have been your doom.[19] He gave you all
+your lives once. Give him a little time--a week, a month, a few days;
+but not now!--O God,[20] not now!
+
+CONSPS. (_brandishing daggers_). To-night! to-night! to-night!
+
+VERA. Peace, you gorged adders; peace!
+
+MICH. What, are we not here to annihilate? shall we not keep our oath?
+
+VERA. Your oath! your oath! [21]Greedy that you are of gain, every man's
+hand lusting for his neighbour's pelf, every heart set on pillage and
+rapine;[21] who, of ye all, if the crown were set on his head, would
+give an empire up for the mob to scramble for? The people are not yet
+fit for a Republic in Russia.
+
+PRES. Every nation is fit for a Republic.
+
+MICH. The man is a tyrant.
+
+VERA. A tyrant! Hath he not dismissed his evil counsellors. That
+ill-omened raven of his father's life hath had his wings clipped and his
+claws pared, and comes to us croaking for revenge. Oh, have mercy on
+him![22] Give him a week to live!
+
+PRES. Vera pleading for a king!
+
+VERA (_proudly_). I plead not for a king, but for a brother.
+
+MICH. For a traitor to his oath, for a coward who should have flung the
+purple back to the fools that gave it to him. No, Vera, no. The brood of
+men is not dead yet, nor the dull earth grown sick of child-bearing. No
+crowned man in Russia shall pollute God's air by living.
+
+PRES. You bade us try you once; we have tried you, and you are found
+wanting.
+
+MICH. Vera, I am not blind; I know your secret. You love this boy, this
+young prince with his pretty face, his curled hair, his soft white
+hands. Fool that you are, dupe of a lying tongue, do you know what he
+would have done to you, this boy you think loved you? He would have made
+you his mistress, used your body at his pleasure, thrown you away when
+he was wearied of you; you, the priestess of liberty, the flame of
+Revolution, the torch of democracy.
+
+VERA. What he would have done to me matters little. To the people, at
+least, he will be true. He loves the people--at least, he loves liberty.
+
+PRES. So he would play the citizen-king, would he, while we starve?
+[23]Would flatter us with sweet speeches, would cheat us with promises
+like his father, would lie to us as his whole race have lied.[23]
+
+MICH. And you whose very name made every despot tremble for his life,
+you, Vera Sabouroff, you would betray liberty for a lover and the people
+for a paramour!
+
+CONSPS. [24]Traitress! Draw the lots; draw the lots![24]
+
+VERA. In thy throat thou liest, Michael! I love him not. He loves me
+not.
+
+MICH. You love him not? Shall he not die then?
+
+VERA (_with an effort, clenching her hands_). Ay, it is right that he
+should die. He hath broken his oath. [25]There should be no crowned man
+in Europe. Have I not sworn it? To be strong our new Republic should be
+drunk with the blood of kings. He hath broken his oath. As the father
+died so let the son die too.[25] Yet not to-night, not to-night. Russia,
+that hath borne her centuries of wrong, can wait a week for liberty.
+Give him a week.
+
+PRES. We will have none of you! Begone from us to this boy you love.
+
+MICH. Though I find him in your arms I shall kill him.
+
+CONSPS. To-night! To-night! To-night!
+
+MICH. (_holding up his hand_). A moment! I have something to say.
+(_Approaches VERA; speaks very slowly._) Vera Sabouroff, have you
+forgotten your brother? (_Pauses to see effect; VERA starts._) Have you
+forgotten that young face, pale with famine; those young limbs twisted
+with torture; the iron chains they made him walk in? What week of
+liberty did they give him? What pity did they show him for a day? (_VERA
+falls in a chair._) Oh! you could talk glibly enough then of vengeance,
+glibly enough of liberty. When you said you would come to Moscow, your
+old father caught you by the knees and begged you not to leave him
+childless and alone.[26] I seem to hear his cries still ringing in my
+ears, but you were as deaf to him as the rocks on the roadside; as chill
+and cold as the snow on the hill. You left your father that night, and
+three weeks after he died of a broken heart. You wrote to me to follow
+you here. I did so; first because I loved you; but you soon cured me of
+that; whatever gentle feeling, whatever pity, whatever humanity, was in
+my heart you withered up and destroyed, as the canker worm eats the
+corn, and the plague kills the child. You bade me cast out love from my
+breast as a vile thing, you turned my hand to iron, and my heart to
+stone; you told me to live for freedom and for revenge. I have done so;
+but you, what have you done?
+
+VERA. Let the lots be drawn! (_CONSPIRATORS applaud._)
+
+PRINCE PAUL (_aside_). Ah, the Grand Duke will come to the throne sooner
+than he expected. He is sure to make a good king under my guidance. He
+is so cruel to animals, and never keeps his word.
+
+MICH. Now you are yourself at last, Vera.
+
+VERA (_standing motionless in the middle_). The lots, I say, the lots!
+I am no woman now. My blood seems turned to gall; my heart is as cold as
+steel is; my hand shall be more deadly. From the desert and the tomb the
+voice of my prisoned brother cries aloud, and bids me strike one blow
+for liberty. The lots, I say, the lots!
+
+PRES. Are you ready. Michael, you have the right to draw first; you are
+a Regicide.
+
+VERA. O God, into my hands! Into my hands! (_They draw the lots from a
+bowl surmounted by a skull._)
+
+PRES. Open your lots.
+
+VERA (_opening her lot_). The lot is mine! see the bloody sign upon it!
+Dmitri, my brother, you shall have your revenge now.
+
+PRES. Vera Sabouroff, you are chosen to be a regicide. God has been good
+to you. The dagger or the poison? (_Offers her dagger and vial._)
+
+VERA. I can trust my hand better with the dagger; it never fails. (_Take
+dagger._) I shall stab him to the heart, as he has stabbed me. Traitor,
+to leave us for a ribbon, a gaud, a bauble, to lie to me every day he
+came here, to forget us in an hour. [27]Michael was right, he loved me
+not, nor the people either.[27] Methinks that if I was a mother and bore
+a man-child I would poison my breast to him, lest he might grow to a
+traitor or to a king. (_PRINCE PAUL whispers to the PRESIDENT._)
+
+PRES. Ay, Prince Paul, that is the best way. Vera, the Czar[28] sleeps
+to-night in his own room in the north wing of the palace. Here is the
+key of the private door in the street. The passwords of the guards will
+be given to you. His own servants will be drugged. You will find him
+alone.
+
+VERA. It is well. I shall not fail.
+
+PRES. We will wait outside in the Place St. Isaac, under the window. As
+the clock strikes twelve from the tower of St. Nicholas you will give us
+the sign that the dog is dead.
+
+VERA. And what shall the sign be?
+
+PRES. You are to throw us out the bloody dagger.
+
+MICH. Dripping with the traitor's life.
+
+PRES. Else we shall know that you have been seized, and we will burst
+our way in, drag you from his guards.
+
+MICH. And kill him in the midst of them.
+
+PRES. Michael, you will head us?
+
+MICH. Ay, I shall head you. See that your hand fails not, Vera
+Sabouroff.
+
+[29]VERA. Fool, is it so hard a thing to kill one's enemy.[29]
+
+PRINCE PAUL (_aside_). This is the ninth conspiracy I have been in in
+Russia. They always end in a "voyage en Siberie" for my friends and a
+new decoration for myself.
+
+MICH. It is your last conspiracy, Prince.
+
+PRES. At twelve o'clock, the bloody dagger.
+
+VERA. Ay, red with the blood of that false heart. I shall not forget it.
+(_Standing in the middle of the stage._) [30]To strangle whatever nature
+is in me, neither to love nor to be loved, neither to pity nor to be
+pitied. Ay! it is an oath, an oath. Methinks the spirit of Charlotte
+Corday has entered my soul now. I shall carve my name on the world, and
+be ranked among the great heroines. Ay! the spirit of Charlotte Corday
+beats in each petty vein, and nerves my woman's hand to strike, as I
+have nerved my woman's heart to hate. Though he laughs in his dreams, I
+shall not falter. Though he sleep peacefully I shall not miss my
+blow.[30] Be glad, my brother, in your stifled cell; be glad and laugh
+to-night. To-night this new-fledged Czar shall post with bloody feet to
+Hell, and greet his father there! [31]This Czar! O traitor, liar, false
+to his oath, false to me! To play the patriot amongst us, and now to
+wear a crown; to sell us, like Judas, for thirty silver pieces, to
+betray us with a kiss![31] (_With more passion._) O Liberty, O mighty
+mother of eternal time, thy robe is purple with the blood of those who
+have died for thee! Thy throne is the Calvary of the people, thy crown
+the crown of thorns. O crucified mother, the despot has driven a nail
+through thy right hand, and the tyrant through thy left! Thy feet are
+pierced with their iron. When thou wert athirst thou calledst on the
+priests for water, and they gave thee bitter drink. They thrust a sword
+into thy side. They mocked thee in thine agony of age on age. [32]Here,
+on thy altar, O Liberty, do I dedicate myself to thy service; do with me
+as thou wilt![32] (_Brandishing dagger._) The end has come now, and by
+thy sacred wounds, O crucified mother, O Liberty, I swear that Russia
+shall be saved!
+
+
+CURTAIN.
+
+
+END OF ACT III.
+
+
+
+
+ACT IV.
+
+SCENE.--_Antechamber of the CZAR'S private room. Large window at the
+back, with drawn curtains over it._
+
+_Present._--PRINCE PETROVITCH, BARON RAFF, MARQUIS DE POIVRARD, COUNT
+ROUVALOFF.
+
+
+PRINCE PETRO. He is beginning well, this young Czar.
+
+BARON RAFF (_shrugs his shoulders_). All young Czars do begin well.
+
+COUNT R. And end badly.
+
+[1]MARQ. DE POIV. Well, I have no right to complain. He has done me one
+good service, at any rate.
+
+PRINCE PETRO. Cancelled your appointment to Archangel, I suppose?
+
+MARQ. DE POIV. Yes; my head wouldn't have been safe there for an
+hour.[1]
+
+(_Enter GENERAL KOTEMKIN._)
+
+BARON RAFF. Ah! General, any more news of our romantic Emperor?
+
+GEN. KOTEMK. You are quite right to call him romantic, Baron; a week ago
+I found him amusing himself in a garret with a company of strolling
+players; to-day his whim is all the convicts in Siberia are to be
+recalled, and political prisoners, as he calls them, amnestied.
+
+PRINCE PETRO. Political prisoners! Why, half of them are no better than
+common murderers!
+
+COUNT R. And the other half much worse?
+
+BARON RAFF. Oh, you wrong them, surely, Count. Wholesale trade has
+always been more respectable than retail.
+
+COUNT R. But he is really too romantic. He objected yesterday to my
+having the monopoly of the salt tax. He said the people had a right to
+have cheap salt.
+
+MARQ. DE POIV. Oh, that's nothing; but he actually disapproved of a
+State banquet every night because there is a famine in the Southern
+provinces. (_The young CZAR enters unobserved, and overhears the rest._)
+
+PRINCE PETRO. Quelle betise! The more starvation there is among the
+people, the better. It teaches them self-denial, an excellent virtue,
+Baron, an excellent virtue.
+
+BARON RAFF. I have often heard so; I have often heard so.
+
+GEN. KOTEMK. He talked of a Parliament, too, in Russia, and said the
+people should have deputies to represent them.
+
+BARON RAFF. As if there was not enough brawling in the streets already,
+but we must give the people a room to do it in. But, Messieurs, the
+worst is yet to come. He threatens a complete reform in the public
+service on the ground that the people are too heavily taxed.
+
+MARQ. DE POIV. He can't be serious there. What is the use of the people
+except[2] to get money out of? But talking of taxes, my dear Baron, you
+must really let me have forty thousand roubles to-morrow? my wife says
+she must have a new diamond bracelet.
+
+COUNT R. (_aside to BARON RAFF_). Ah, to match the one Prince Paul gave
+her last week, I suppose.
+
+PRINCE PETRO. I must have sixty thousand roubles at once, Baron. My son
+is overwhelmed with debts of honour which he can't pay.
+
+BARON RAFF. What an excellent son to imitate his father so carefully!
+
+GEN. KOTEMK. You are always getting money. I never get a single kopeck I
+have not got a right to. It's unbearable; it's ridiculous! My nephew is
+going to be married. I must get his dowry for him.
+
+PRINCE PETRO. My dear General, your nephew must be a perfect Turk. He
+seems to get married three times a week regularly.
+
+GEN. KOT. Well, he wants a dowry to console him.
+
+COUNT R. I am sick of town. I want a house in the country.
+
+MARQ. DE POIV. I am sick of the country. I want a house in town.
+
+BARON RAFF. Mes amis, I am extremely sorry for you. It is out of the
+question.
+
+PRINCE PETRO. But my son, Baron?
+
+GEN. KOTEMK. But my nephew?
+
+MARQ. DE POIV. But my house in town?
+
+COUNT R. But my house in the country?
+
+MARQ. DE POIV. But my wife's diamond bracelet?
+
+BARON RAFF. Gentlemen, impossible! The old _regime_ in Russia is dead;
+the funeral begins to-day.
+
+COUNT R. Then I shall wait for the resurrection.
+
+PRINCE PETRO. Yes, but, _en attendant_, what are we to do?
+
+BARON RAFF. What have we always done in Russia when a Czar suggests
+reforms?--nothing. You forget we are diplomatists. Men of thought should
+have nothing to do with action. Reforms in Russia are very tragic, but
+they always end in a farce.
+
+COUNT R. I wish Prince Paul were here. [3]By the bye, I think this boy
+is rather ungrateful to him. If that clever old Prince had not
+proclaimed him Emperor at once without giving him time to think about
+it, he would have given up his crown, I believe, to the first cobbler he
+met in the street.
+
+PRINCE PETRO. But do you think, Baron, that Prince Paul is really
+going?[3]
+
+BARON RAFF. He is exiled.
+
+PRINCE PETRO. Yes; but is he going?
+
+BARON RAFF. I am sure of it; at least he told me he had sent two
+telegrams already to Paris about his dinner.
+
+COUNT R. Ah! that settles the matter.
+
+CZAR (_coming forward_). Prince Paul better send a third telegram and
+order (_counting them_) six extra places.
+
+BARON RAFF. The devil!
+
+CZAR. No, Baron, the Czar. Traitors! There would be no bad kings in the
+world if there were no bad ministers like you. It is men such as you who
+wreck mighty empires on the rock of their own greatness. Our mother,
+Russia, hath no need of such unnatural sons. You can make no atonement
+now; it is too late for that. The grave cannot give back your dead, nor
+the gibbet your martyrs, but I shall be more merciful to you. I give you
+your lives! That is the curse I would lay on you. But if there is a man
+of you found in Moscow by to-morrow night your heads will be off your
+shoulders.
+
+BARON RAFF. You remind us wonderfully, Sire, of your Imperial father.
+
+CZAR. I banish you all from Russia. Your estates are confiscated to the
+people. You may carry your titles with you. Reforms in Russia, Baron,
+always end in a farce. You will have a good opportunity, Prince
+Petrovitch, of practising self-denial, that excellent virtue! that
+excellent virtue! So, Baron, you think a Parliament in Russia would be
+merely a place for brawling. Well, I will see that the reports of each
+session are sent to you regularly.
+
+BARON RAFF. Sire, you are adding another horror to exile.
+
+CZAR. But you will have such time for literature now. You forget you are
+diplomatists. Men of thought should have nothing to do with action.
+
+PRINCE PETRO. Sire, we did but jest.
+
+CZAR. Then I banish you for your bad jokes. Bon voyage, Messieurs.[4] If
+you value your lives you will catch the first train for Paris. (_Exeunt
+MINISTERS._) Russia is well rid of such men as these. They are the
+jackals that follow in the lion's track. [5]They have no courage
+themselves, except to pillage and rob.[5] But for these men and for
+Prince Paul my father would have been a good king, would not have died
+so horribly as he did die. How strange it is, the most real parts of
+one's life always seem to be a dream! The council, the fearful law which
+was to kill the people, the arrest, the cry in the courtyard, the
+pistol-shot, my father's bloody hands, and then the crown! One can live
+for years sometimes, without living at all, and then all life comes
+crowding into a single hour. I had no time to think. Before my father's
+hideous shriek of death had died in my ears I found this crown on my
+head, the purple robe around me, and heard myself called a king. I would
+have given it up all then; it seemed nothing to me then; but now, can I
+give it up now? Well, Colonel, well? (_Enter COLONEL OF THE GUARD._)
+
+COLONEL. What password does your Imperial Majesty desire should be given
+to-night?
+
+CZAR. Password?
+
+COLONEL. [6]For the cordon of[6] guards, Sire, on night duty around the
+palace.
+
+CZAR. You can dismiss them. I have no need of them. (_Exit COLONEL._)
+(_Goes to the crown lying on the table._) What subtle potency lies
+hidden in this gaudy bauble, the crown,[7] that makes one feel like a
+god when one wears it? To hold in one's hand this little fiery coloured
+world, to reach out one's arm to earth's uttermost limit, to girdle the
+seas with one's hosts; this is to wear a crown! to wear a crown! The
+meanest serf in Russia who is loved is better crowned than I. How love
+outweighs the balance! How poor appears the widest empire of this
+golden world when matched with love! Pent up in this palace, with spies
+dogging every step, I have heard nothing of her; I have not seen her
+once since that fearful hour three days ago, when I found myself
+suddenly the Czar of this wide waste, Russia. Oh, could I see her for a
+moment; tell her now the secret of my life I have never dared utter
+before; tell her why I wear this crown, when I have sworn eternal war
+against all crowned men! There was a meeting to-night. I received my
+summons by an unknown hand; but how could I go? I who have broken my
+oath! who have broken my oath!
+
+(_Enter PAGE._)
+
+PAGE. It is after eleven, Sire. Shall I take the first watch in your
+room to-night?
+
+CZAR. Why should you watch me, boy? The stars are my best sentinels.
+
+PAGE. It was your Imperial father's wish, Sire, never to be left alone
+while he slept.
+
+CZAR. My father was troubled with bad dreams. Go, get to your bed, boy;
+it is nigh on midnight, and these late hours will spoil those red
+cheeks. (_PAGE tries to kiss his hand._) Nay, nay; we have played
+together too often as children for that. Oh, to breathe the same air as
+her, and not to see her! the light seems to have gone from my life, the
+sun vanished from my day.
+
+PAGE. Sire,--Alexis,--let me stay with[8] you to-night! There is some
+danger over you; I feel there is.
+
+CZAR. What should I fear? I have banished all my enemies from Russia.
+Set the brazier here, by me; it is very cold, and I would sit by it for
+a time. Go, boy, go; I have much to think about to-night. (_Goes to back
+of stage, draws aside curtain. View of Moscow by moonlight._) The snow
+has fallen heavily since sunset. How white and cold my city looks under
+this pale moon! And yet, what hot and fiery hearts beat in this icy
+Russia, for all its frost and snow! Oh, to see her for a moment; to tell
+her all; to tell her why I am a king! But she does not doubt me; she
+said she would trust in me. Though I have broken my oath, she will have
+trust. It is very cold. Where is my cloak? I shall sleep for an hour.
+Then I have ordered my sledge, and, though I die for it, I shall see
+Vera to-night. Did I not bid thee go, boy? What! must I play the tyrant
+so soon? Go, go! I cannot live without seeing her. My horses will be
+here in an hour; one hour between me and love! How heavy this charcoal
+fire smells. (_Exit the PAGE. Lies down on a couch beside brazier._)
+
+(_Enter VERA in a black cloak._)
+
+VERA. Asleep! God, thou art good! Who shall deliver him from my hands
+now? [9]This is he! The democrat who would make himself a king, the
+republican who hath worn a crown, the traitor who hath lied to us.
+Michael was right. He loved not the people. He loved me not.[9] (_Bends
+over him._) Oh, why should such deadly poison lie in such sweet lips?
+Was there not gold enough in his hair before, that he should tarnish it
+with this crown? But my day has come now; the day of the people, of
+liberty, has come! Your day, my brother, has come! Though I have
+strangled whatever nature is in me, I did not think it had been so easy
+to kill. One blow and it is over, and I can wash my hands in water
+afterwards, I can wash my hands afterwards. Come, I shall save Russia. I
+have sworn it. (_Raises dagger to strike._)
+
+CZAR (_staring up, seizes her by both hands_). Vera, you here! My dream
+was no dream at all. Why have you left me three days alone, when I most
+needed you? O God, you think I am a traitor, a liar, a king? I am, for
+love of you. Vera, it was for you I broke my oath and wear my father's
+crown. I would lay at your feet this mighty Russia, which you and I
+have loved so well; would give you this earth as a footstool! set this
+crown on your head. The people will love us. We will rule them by love,
+as a father rules his children. There shall be liberty in Russia for
+every man to think as his heart bids him; liberty for men to speak as
+they think. I have banished the wolves that preyed on us; I have brought
+back your brother from Siberia; I have opened the blackened jaws of the
+mine. The courier is already on his way; within a week Dmitri and all
+those with him will be back in their own land. The people shall be
+free--are free now--and you and I, Emperor and Empress of this mighty
+realm, will walk among them openly, in love. When they gave me this
+crown first, I would have flung it back to them, had it not been for
+you, Vera. O God! It is men's custom in Russia to bring gifts to those
+they love. I said, I will bring to the woman I love a people, an empire,
+a world! Vera, it is for you, for you alone, I kept this crown; for you
+alone I am a king. Oh, I have loved you better than my oath! Why will
+you not speak to me? You love me not! You love me not! You have come to
+warn me of some plot against my life. What is life worth to me without
+you? (_CONSPIRATORS murmur outside._)
+
+VERA. Oh, lost! lost! lost!
+
+CZAR. Nay, you are safe here. It wants five hours still of dawn.
+To-morrow, I will lead you forth to the whole people--
+
+VERA. To-morrow--!
+
+CZAR. Will crown you with my own hands as Empress in that great
+cathedral which my fathers built.
+
+VERA (_loosens her hands violently from him, and starts up_). I am a
+Nihilist! I cannot wear a crown!
+
+CZAR (_falls at her feet_). I am no king now. I am only a boy who has
+loved you better than his honour, better than his oath. For love of the
+people I would have been a patriot. For love of you I have been a
+traitor. Let us go forth together, we will live amongst the common
+people. I am no king. I will toil for you like the peasant or the serf.
+Oh, love me a little too! (_CONSPIRATORS murmur outside._)
+
+VERA (_clutching dagger_). To strangle whatever nature is in me, neither
+to love nor to be loved, neither to pity nor---- Oh, I am a woman! God
+help me, I am a woman! O Alexis! I too have broken my oath; I am a
+traitor. I love. Oh, do not speak, do not speak--(_kisses his
+lips_)--the first, the last time. (_He clasps her in his arms; they sit
+on the couch together._)
+
+CZAR. I could die now.
+
+VERA. What does death do in thy lips? Thy life, thy love are enemies of
+death. Speak not of death. Not yet, not yet.
+
+CZAR. I know not why death came into my heart. Perchance the cup of life
+is filled too full of pleasure to endure. This is our wedding night.
+
+VERA. Our wedding night!
+
+CZAR. And if death came himself, methinks that I could kiss his pallid
+mouth, and suck sweet poison from it.
+
+VERA. Our wedding night! Nay, nay. Death should not sit at the feast.
+There is no such thing as death.
+
+CZAR. There shall not be for us. (_CONSPIRATORS murmur outside._)
+
+VERA. What is that? Did you not hear something?
+
+CZAR. Only your voice, that fowler's note which lures my heart away like
+a poor bird upon the limed twig.
+
+VERA. Methought that some one laughed.
+
+CZAR. It was but the wind and rain; the night is full of storm.
+(_CONSPIRATORS murmur outside._)
+
+VERA. It should be so indeed. Oh, where are your guards? where are your
+guards?
+
+CZAR. Where should they be but at home? I shall not live pent round by
+sword and steel. The love of a people is a king's best body-guard.
+
+VERA. The love of a people!
+
+CZAR. Sweet, you are safe here. Nothing can harm you here. O love, I
+knew you trusted me! You said you would have trust.
+
+VERA. I have had trust. O love, the past seems but some dull grey dream
+from which our souls have wakened. This is life at last.
+
+CZAR. Ay, life at last.
+
+VERA. Our wedding night! Oh, let me drink my fill of love to-night! Nay,
+sweet, not yet, not yet. How still it is, and yet methinks the air is
+full of music. It is some nightingale who, wearying of the south, has
+come to sing in this bleak north to lovers such as we. It is the
+nightingale. Dost thou not hear it?
+
+CZAR. Oh, sweet, mine ears are clogged to all sweet sounds save thine
+own voice, and mine eyes blinded to all sights but thee, else had I
+heard that nightingale, and seen the golden-vestured morning sun itself
+steal from its sombre east before its time for jealousy that thou art
+twice as fair.
+
+VERA. Yet would that thou hadst heard the nightingale. Methinks that
+bird will never sing again.
+
+CZAR. It is no nightingale. 'Tis love himself singing for very ecstasy
+of joy that thou art changed into his votaress. (_Clock begins striking
+twelve._) Oh, listen, sweet, it is the lover's hour. Come, let us stand
+without, and hear the midnight answered from tower to tower over the
+wide white town. Our wedding night! What is that? What is that?
+
+(_Loud murmurs of CONSPIRATORS in the street._)
+
+VERA (_breaks from him and rushes across the stage_). The wedding guests
+are here already! Ay, you shall have your sign! (_Stabs herself._) You
+shall have your sign! (_Rushes to the window._)
+
+CZAR (_intercepts her by rushing between her and window, and snatches
+dagger out of her hand_). Vera!
+
+VERA (_clinging to him_). Give me back the dagger! Give me back the
+dagger! There are men in the street who seek your life! Your guards have
+betrayed you! This bloody dagger is the signal that you are dead.
+(_CONSPIRATORS begin to shout below in the street._) Oh, there is not a
+moment to be lost! Throw it out! Throw it out! Nothing can save me now;
+this dagger is poisoned! I feel death already in my heart.
+
+CZAR (_holding dagger out of her reach_). Death is in my heart too; we
+shall die together.
+
+VERA. Oh, love! love! love! be merciful to me! The wolves are hot upon
+you! you must live for liberty, for Russia, for me! Oh, you do not love
+me! You offered me an empire once! Give me this dagger now! Oh, you are
+cruel! My life for yours! What does it matter? (_Loud shouts in the
+street, "VERA! VERA! To the rescue! To the rescue!_")
+
+CZAR. The bitterness of death is past for me.
+
+VERA. Oh, they are breaking in below! See! The bloody man behind you!
+(_CZAREVITCH turns round for an instant._) Ah! (_VERA snatches dagger
+and flings it out of window._)
+
+CONSPS. (_below_). Long live the people!
+
+CZAR. What have you done?
+
+VERA. I have saved Russia (_Dies._)
+
+
+TABLEAU.
+
+
+
+
+CORRECTIONS AND ADDITIONS.
+
+MADE BY THE AUTHOR IN HIS ORIGINAL COPY.
+
+_The numbers of the "Notes" correspond with the superior figures in the
+body of the text._
+
+
+ACT I.
+
+ Note  [1]: Changed to 2 in violet pencil.
+       [2]: Lines from 2 to 2 scored out.
+       [3]: These lines scored out, and "we will have" added.
+       [4]: This word underlined.
+       [5]: These lines scored out.
+       [6]: These lines scored out, "what news to-night?" inserted.
+       [7]: Lines scored out.
+       [8]: Altered to "He."
+       [9]: Lines scored out.
+      [10]: Altered to "signal for."
+      [11]: Lines scored out.
+      [12]: Lines scored out.
+      [13]: Altered to "Be calm, Michael!"
+      [14]: These words underlined.
+      [15]: Words underlined.
+      [16]: Word underlined.
+      [17]: Lines scored out.
+      [18]: Words scored out.
+      [19]: Lines scored out, "from Berlin" inserted.
+      [20]: Word scored through.
+      [21]: Altered to "strong."
+      [22]: These lines scored through.
+      [23]: Scored through.
+      [24]: Altered to "martial law scheme."
+      [25]: Altered to "To raise the barricades."
+      [26]: Crossed out.
+      [27]: The word "pause" as a stage direction inserted.
+      [28]: Lines crossed out.
+      [29]: Scored through.
+      [30]: Scored through.
+      [31]: Word underlined.
+      [32]: Word underlined.
+      [33]: Words "Who is there?" inserted.
+      [34]: Scored through.
+      [35]: Scored through.
+      [36]: Scored through.
+      [37]: Altered to "He has sold us."
+      [38]: Word underlined.
+
+
+ACT II.
+
+ Note  [1]: Lines scored through.
+       [2]: Altered to "you missed."
+       [3]: Altered to "profession."
+       [4]: Scored through.
+       [5]: Word scored through.
+       [6]: Insert "for them to go to."
+       [7]: Insert "dining."
+       [8]: Altered to "bored to death."
+       [9]: Scored through.
+      [10]: Word underlined.
+      [11]: Altered to "a."
+      [12]: Lines scored through.
+      [13]: "O God!" scored through.
+      [14]: Scored through.
+      [15]: Lines scored through.
+      [16]: Words scored through.
+      [17]: Word underlined.
+      [18]: Word underlined.
+      [19]: Words underlined.
+      [20]: Stage direction, "a pause" indicated.
+      [21]: Altered to "may."
+      [22]: Word "I" underlined.
+      [23]: This speech cut out.
+
+
+ACT III.
+
+ Note  [1]: "Marat" underlined.
+       [2]: Altered to "VERA. Unmask! a spy!"
+       [3]: Scored through.
+       [4]: Scored through.
+       [5]: Scored through.
+       [6]: Lines scored through.
+       [7]: Insert "and quite as unintelligible."
+       [8]: Alter "PRES." to "VERA."
+       [9]: Scored through.
+      [10]: These lines struck out.
+      [11]: This passage scored through.
+      [12]: This is struck out.
+      [13]: Scored through.
+      [14]: Scored through.
+      [15]: This speech cut out.
+      [16]: Lines scored through.
+      [17]: Lines scored through.
+      [18]: Cut out this passage and insert "Alexis" after "but."
+      [19]: Lines scored through.
+      [20]: Altered to "No! No!"
+      [21]: This passage is cut out.
+      [22]: Insert "Alexis" in place of "him."
+      [23]: Lines scored through.
+      [24]: This speech cut out.
+      [25]: This passage is scored through.
+      [26]: The words "no laugh" are inserted here--possibly as a stage
+            direction.
+      [27]: Passage scored through.
+      [28]: In place of "the Czar" read "Alexis."
+      [29]: Delete this speech.
+      [30]: This passage is scored out.
+      [31]: This passage is scored out.
+      [32]: This passage is scored out.
+
+
+ACT IV.
+
+ Note  [1]: These three speeches are scored through.
+       [2]: Insert "for the politician."
+       [3]: All these lines are cut out.
+       [4]: Alter to "Gentlemen."
+       [5]: Cut out this sentence.
+       [6]: Words scored through.
+       [7]: Delete "the crown."
+       [8]: Substitute "stop near" for "stay with."
+       [9]: This passage is cut out.
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Note:
+
+    Inconsistent hyphenation has been standardised. Minor typographical
+    errors have been corrected without note, whilst significant
+    amendments have been listed below:
+
+      p. 25, 'Place S. Isaac' amended to _Place St. Isaac_;
+      p. 36, 'Prince Petouchof' amended to _Count Petouchof_.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Vera, by Oscar Wilde
+
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