THE SERGEANT. Sainted Nicholas!

VARINKA. Hoo hoo! [a stifled splutter of laughter].

EDSTASTON [following the Empress and resuming kindly but
judicially]. After all, though your Majesty is of course a great
queen, yet when all is said, I am a man; and your Majesty is only
a woman.

CATHERINE. Only a wo-- [she chokes].

EDSTASTON [continuing]. Believe me, this Russian extravagance
will not do. I appreciate as much as any man the warmth of heart
that prompts it; but it is overdone: it is hardly in the best
taste: it is really I must say it--it is not proper.

CATHERINE [ironically, in German]. So!

EDSTASTON. Not that I cannot make allowances. Your Majesty has, I
know, been unfortunate in your experience as a married woman--

CATHERINE [furious]. Alle Wetter!!!

EDSTASTON [sentimentally]. Don't say that. Don't think of him in
that way. After all, he was your husband; and whatever his faults
may have been, it is not for you to think unkindly of him.

CATHERINE [almost bursting]. I shall forget myself.