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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.