Vera. I shall read them. [18]How fair he looks?[18] Methinks he never seemed so noble as to-night. Liberty is blessed in having such a lover.
Alex. Well, President, what are you deep in?
Mich. We are thinking of the best way of killing bears. (Whispers to President and leads him aside.)
Prof. (to Vera). And the letters [19]from our brothers at Paris and Berlin. What answer shall we send to them?[19]
Vera (takes them mechanically). Had I not strangled nature, sworn neither to love nor be loved, methinks[20] I might have loved him. Oh, I am a fool, a traitor myself, a traitor myself! But why did he come amongst us with his bright[21] young face, his heart aflame for liberty, his pure white soul? Why does he make me feel at times as if I would have him as my king, Republican though I be? Oh, fool, fool, fool! False to your oath! weak as water! Have done! Remember what you are—a Nihilist, a Nihilist!
Pres. (to Michael). But you will be seized, Michael.
Mich. I think not. I will wear the uniform of the Imperial Guard, and the Colonel on duty is one of us. It is on the first floor, you remember; so I can take a long shot.
Pres. Shall I tell the brethren?
[22]Mich. Not a word, not a word! There is a traitor amongst us.
Vera. Come, are these the proclamations? Yes, they will do; yes, they will do. Send five hundred to Kiev and Odessa and Novgorod, five hundred to Warsaw, and have twice the number distributed among the Southern Provinces, though these dull Russian peasants care little for our proclamations, and less for our martyrdoms. When the blow is struck, it must be from the town, not from the country.