Pres. What a chance his coming out on the balcony was!
Mich. A chance? There is no such thing as chance. It was God's finger led him there.
Pres. And where have you been these three days?
Mich. Hiding in the house of the priest Nicholas at the cross-roads.
Pres. Nicholas is an honest man.
Mich. Ay, honest enough for a priest. I am here now for vengeance on a traitor!
Vera (aside). O God, will he never come? Alexis! why are you not here? You cannot have turned traitor!
Mich. (seeing Prince Paul). Prince Paul Maraloffski here! By St. George, a lucky capture! This must have been Vera's doing. She is the only one who could have lured that serpent into the trap.
Pres. Prince Paul has just taken the oath.
Vera. Alexis, the Czar, has banished him from Russia.