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.

CZAREVITCH:

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 on myself; but I will fight with it to the death. I am done with half treasures. I shall crush these Nihilists at a blow. There shall not be a man of them, no, nor a woman either, left alive in Russia. Am I Emperor for nothing, that a woman should hold me at bay? Vera Sabouroff shall be in my power, I swear it, before a week is ended, though I burn my whole city to find her. She shall be flogged by the knout, stifled in the fortress, strangled in the square!

CZAREVITCH:

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 will carry off your surplus population in six months, and save you any expense 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 on courts of justice. I'll shut them up.

CZAREVITCH:

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---

CZAREVITCH:

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 [(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. Some day he'll find out that the best cure for Republicism is the Imperial crown, and will cut up the red cap of liberty to make decorations for his Prime Minister.

CZAR:

You are right. If he really loved the people, he could not be my son.