CLAIRE [impetuously]. I will give you [she is about to say fifty
roubles, but checks herself cautiously]-- Well: I don't mind
giving you two roubles if I can speak to the Empress.

THE SERGEANT [joyfully]. I praise Heaven for you, Little Mother.
Come. [He leads the way out.] It was the temptation of the devil
that led your young man to bruise my vitals and deprive me of
breath. We must be merciful to one another's faults.



THE FOURTH SCENE

A triangular recess communicating by a heavily curtained arch
with the huge ballroom of the palace. The light is subdued by red
shades on the candles. In the wall adjoining that pierced by the
arch is a door. The only piece of furniture is a very handsome
chair on the arch side. In the ballroom they are dancing a
polonaise to the music of a brass band.

Naryshkin enters through the door, followed by the soldiers
carrying Edstaston, still trussed to the pole. Exhausted and
dogged, he makes no sound.

NARYSHKIN. Halt. Get that pole clear of the prisoner. [They dump
Edstaston on the floor and detach the pole. Naryshkin stoops over
him and addresses him insultingly. Well! are you ready to be
tortured? This is the Empress's private torture chamber. Can I do
anything to make you quite comfortable? You have only to mention
it.