KNAVE (bowing). Knave, Your Majesty.
POMPDEBILE. You Knave, you shall be punished for this.
CHANCELLOR. Behead him, Your Majesty.
POMPDEBILE. Yes, behead him at once.
VIOLETTA. Oh, no, Pompy, not that! It is not severe enough.
POMPDEBILE. Not severe enough, to cut off a man's head! Really,
Violetta—
VIOLETTA. No, because, you see, when one has been beheaded, one's consciousness that one has been beheaded comes off too. It is inevitable. And then, what does it matter, when one doesn't know? Let us think of something really cruel—really fiendish. I have it—deprive him of social position for the rest of his life—force him to remain a mere knave, forever.
POMPDEBILE. You are right.
KNAVE. Terrible as this punishment is, I admit that I deserve it,
Your Majesty.
POMPDEBILE. What prompted you to commit this dastardly crime?