NICOLA.
You heard Miss Raina say that I did, sir.
PETKOFF.
I know that, you idiot. Was it true?
NICOLA.
I am sure Miss Raina is incapable of saying anything that is not true, sir.
PETKOFF.
Are you? Then I’m not. (Turning to the others.) Come: do you think I don’t see it all? (Goes to Sergius, and slaps him on the shoulder.) Sergius: you’re the chocolate cream soldier, aren’t you?
SERGIUS.
(starting up). I! a chocolate cream soldier! Certainly not.
PETKOFF.
Not! (He looks at them. They are all very serious and very conscious.) Do you mean to tell me that Raina sends photographic souvenirs to other men?
SERGIUS.
(enigmatically). The world is not such an innocent place as we used to think, Petkoff.
BLUNTSCHLI.
(rising). It’s all right, Major. I’m the chocolate cream soldier. (Petkoff and Sergius are equally astonished.) The gracious young lady saved my life by giving me chocolate creams when I was starving—shall I ever forget their flavour! My late friend Stolz told you the story at Peerot. I was the fugitive.
PETKOFF.
You! (He gasps.) Sergius: do you remember how those two women went on this morning when we mentioned it? (Sergius smiles cynically. Petkoff confronts Raina severely.) You’re a nice young woman, aren’t you?
RAINA.
(bitterly). Major Saranoff has changed his mind. And when I wrote that on the photograph, I did not know that Captain Bluntschli was married.