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. W