initial commit of ebook 26494HEADmain

1 files changed, 3242 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/26494.txt b/26494.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e7e1f92
--- /dev/null
+++ b/26494.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,3242 @@
+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
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VERA ***
+
+***** This file should be named 26494.txt or 26494.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        https://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/4/9/26494/
+
+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.)
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+https://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+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
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+https://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at https://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit https://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including including checks, online payments and credit card
+donations.  To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     https://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.