BORÍS. All this nonsense? You know that I am quite well and that I am sent here because I refuse to take part in their evil deeds, and because they have no answer to give to the truth I told them; and that is why they pretend to think me mad. And you co-operate with them. It is horrid and it is shameful. Don't do it! HEAD DOCTOR. Then you don't wish to walk? BORÍS. No, I don't. You may torture me, but you must do it yourself; I won't help you. [Hotly] Let me alone! [The Doctor presses button of bell. Enter two Warders]. HEAD DOCTOR. Don't get excited. I quite understand that your nerves are strained. Will you please go to your ward? Enter Assistant Doctor. ASSISTANT DOCTOR. Some visitors have just come to see Cheremshánov. BORÍS. Who are they? ASSISTANT DOCTOR. Sarýntsov and his daughter. BORÍS. I should like to see them. HEAD DOCTOR. There is no reason why you shouldn't. Ask them in. You may see them here. [Exit, followed by Assistant and Warders]. Enter Nicholas Ivánovich and Lyúba. The Princess looks in at the door and says, "_Go in, I'll come later._" LYÚBA [goes straight to Borís, takes his head in her hands and kisses him] Poor Borís. BORÍS. No, don't pity me. I feel so well, so joyful, so light. How d'you do. [Kisses Nicholas Ivánovich]. NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. I have come to say chiefly one thing to you. First of all, in such affairs it is worse to overdo it than not to do enough. And in this matter you should do as is said in the Gospels, and not think beforehand, "I shall say this, or do that": "When they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaketh in you." That is to say, do not act because you have reasoned out beforehand that you should do so and so, but act only when your whole being feels that you cannot act otherwise. BORÍS. I have done so. I did not think I should refuse to serve; but when I saw all this fraud, those Mirrors of Justice, those Documents, the Police and Officers smoking, I could not help saying what I did. I was frightened, but only till I had begun, after that it was all so simple and joyful. Lyúba sits down and cries. NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. Above all, do nothing for the sake of being praised, or to gain the approval of those whose opinion you value. For myself I can say definitely, that if you take the oath at once, and enter the service, I shall love and esteem you not less but more than before; because not the things that take place in the external world are valuable, but that which goes on within the soul. BORÍS. Of course, for what happens within the soul must make a change in the outside world. NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. Well, I have said my say. Your mother is here. She is terribly upset. If you can do what she asks, do it--that is what I wished to say to you. From the corridor outside hysterical weeping is heard. A Lunatic rushes in, followed by Warders who drag him out again.