How could I have failed?
A mask may hide your features, not your soul.
There is an air about you like the air
That folds a star. A blind man knows the night,
And feels the constellations. No coarse sense
Of eye or ear had made you plain to me.
Through these I had not found you; for your eyes,
As blue as violets of our Novgorod,
Look black behind your mask there, and your voice--
I had not known that either. My heart said,
"Pauline Pavlovna."


SHE.

Ah! Your heart said that?
You trust your heart, then! 'Tis a serious risk!--
How is it you and others wear no mask?


HE.

The Emperor's orders.


SHE.

Is the Emperor here?
I have not seen him.