CATHERINE. I don't think you are [tickling him].

EDSTASTON. Agh! Cat!

CATHERINE. What [she tickles him again].

EDSTASTON [with a shriek]. No: angel, angel!

CATHERINE [tenderly]. Geliebter!

EDSTASTON. I don't know a word of German; but that sounded kind.
[Becoming hysterical.] Little Mother, beautiful little darling
angel mother: don't be cruel: untie me. Oh, I beg and implore
you. Don't be unkind. I shall go mad.

CATHERINE. You are expected to go mad with love when an Empress
deigns to interest herself in you. When an Empress allows you to
see her foot you should kiss it. Captain Edstaston, you are a
booby.

EDSTASTON [indignantly]. I am nothing of the kind. I have been
mentioned in dispatches as a highly intelligent officer. And let
me warn your Majesty that I am not so helpless as you think. The
English Ambassador is in that ballroom. A shout from me will
bring him to my side; and then where will your Majesty be?

CATHERINE. I should like to see the English Ambassador or anyone
else pass through that curtain against my orders. It might be a
stone wall ten feet thick. Shout your loudest. Sob. Curse.
Scream. Yell [she tickles him unmercifully].