Oscar Wilde: The Complete Works. Knowledge house

Oscar Wilde: The Complete Works - Knowledge house


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paul

      [Smiling.] The normal condition of the Nihilists.

      michael

      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. ·99· 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.

      michael

      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!

      michael

      [To President] [E: President.]] Remember to-morrow will be too late.

      president

      Brothers, it is full time. Which of us is absent?

      conspirators

      Alexis! Alexis!

      ·100· president

      Michael, read Rule 7.

      michael

      “When any brother shall have disobeyed a summons to be present, the President shall enquire if there is anything alleged against him.”

      president

      Is there anything against our brother Alexis?

      conspirator

      He wears a crown! He wears a crown!

      president

      Michael, read Article 7 of the Code of Revolution.

      michael

      “Between the Nihilists and all men who wear crowns above their fellows, there is war to the death.”

      president

      Brothers, what say you? Is Alexis, the Czar, guilty or not?

      omnes

      He is guilty!

      ·101· president

      What shall the penalty be?

      omnes

      Death!

      president

      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.

      professor marfa

      My forte is more in writing pamphlets than in taking shots. Still a regicide has always a place in history.

      michael

      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.

      president

      Brothers, are you ready?

      ·102· vera

      [Starting up.] Not yet! Not yet! I have a word to say.

      michael

      [Aside.] Plague take her! I knew it would come to this.

      vera

      This boy has been our brother. Night after night he has perilled his own life to come here. Night after night, when every street was filled with spies, every house with traitors. Delicately nurtured like a king’s son, he has dwelt among us.

      president

      Ay! under a false name. He lied to us at the beginning. He lies to us now at the end.

      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 from arrest, torture, flogging, death, but he ye seek to kill?——

      michael

      To kill all tyrants is our mission!

      ·103· vera

      He is no tyrant. I know him well! He loves the people.

      president

      We know him too; he is a traitor.

      vera

      A traitor! Three days ago he could have betrayed every man of you here, and the gibbet would have been your doom. He gave you all your lives once. Give him a little time—a week, a month, a few days; but not now!—O God, not now!

      conspirators

      [Brandishing daggers.] To-night! to-night! to-night!

      vera

      Peace, you gorged adders; peace!

      michael

      What, are we not here to annihilate? shall we not keep our oath?

      vera

      Your oath! your oath! Greedy that you are of gain, every man’s hand lusting for his ·104· neighbour’s pelf, every heart set on pillage and rapine; 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.

      president

      Every nation is fit for a Republic.

      michael

      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! Give him a week to live!

      president

      Vera pleading for a king!

      vera

      [Proudly.] I plead not for a king, but for a brother.

      michael

      For a traitor to his oath, for a coward who should have flung the purple back to the fools ·105· 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.

      president

      You bade us try you once; we have tried you, and you are found wanting.

      michael

      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.

      president

      So he would play the citizen-king, would he, while we starve?


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