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 ONE

SCENE: 99 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 semi-circle in the middle of the stage.

PRESIDENT:

What is the word?

FIRST CONSPIRATOR:

Nabat.

PRESIDENT:

The answer?

SECOND CONSPIRATOR:

Kalit.

PRESIDENT:

What hour is it?

THIRD CONSPIRATOR:

The hour to suffer.

PRESIDENT:

What day?

FOURTH CONSPIRATOR:

The day of oppression.

PRESIDENT:

What year?

FIFTH CONSPIRATOR:

The year of hope.

PRESIDENT:

How many are we in number?

SIXTH CONSPIRATOR:

Ten, nine, and three.

PRESIDENT:

The Galilæan had less to conquer the world; but what is our mission?

SEVENTH CONSPIRATOR:

To give freedom.

PRESIDENT:

Our creed?

EIGHTH CONSPIRATOR:

To annihilate.

PRESIDENT:

Our duty?

NINTH CONSPIRATOR:

To obey.

PRESIDENT:

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.

PRESIDENT:

Are we all agreed?

CONSPIRATORS:

We are all agreed. [(They disperse in various directions about the stage.)]

PRESIDENT:

'Tis after the hour, Michael, and she is not yet here.

MICHAEL:

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.

MICHAEL:

You always do seem to know a good deal about the movements of the police in Moscow---too much for an honest conspirator.

PRESIDENT:

If those dogs have caught her the red flag of the people will float on a barricade in 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 for once.

ALEXIS:

Gone to the State ball!

MICHAEL:

I have no fear. She is as hard to capture as a she-wolf is, and twice as dangerous; besides, she is well disguised. To-night it is a masked ball.