PRES. Ay, Prince Paul, that is the best way. Vera, the Czar[28] sleeps to-night in his own room in the north wing of the palace. Here is the key of the private door in the street. The passwords of the guards will be given to you. His own servants will be drugged. You will find him alone. VERA. It is well. I shall not fail. PRES. We will wait outside in the Place St. Isaac, under the window. As the clock strikes twelve from the tower of St. Nicholas you will give us the sign that the dog is dead. VERA. And what shall the sign be? PRES. You are to throw us out the bloody dagger. MICH. Dripping with the traitor's life. PRES. Else we shall know that you have been seized, and we will burst our way in, drag you from his guards. MICH. And kill him in the midst of them. PRES. Michael, you will head us? MICH. Ay, I shall head you. See that your hand fails not, Vera Sabouroff. [29]VERA. Fool, is it so hard a thing to kill one's enemy.[29] PRINCE PAUL (_aside_). This is the ninth conspiracy I have been in in Russia. They always end in a "voyage en Siberie" for my friends and a new decoration for myself. MICH. It is your last conspiracy, Prince. PRES. At twelve o'clock, the bloody dagger. VERA. Ay, red with the blood of that false heart. I shall not forget it. (_Standing in the middle of the stage._) [30]To strangle whatever nature is in me, neither to love nor to be loved, neither to pity nor to be pitied. Ay! it is an oath, an oath. Methinks the spirit of Charlotte Corday has entered my soul now. I shall carve my name on the world, and be ranked among the great heroines. Ay! the spirit of Charlotte Corday beats in each petty vein, and nerves my woman's hand to strike, as I have nerved my woman's heart to hate. Though he laughs in his dreams, I shall not falter. Though he sleep peacefully I shall not miss my blow.[30] Be glad, my brother, in your stifled cell; be glad and laugh to-night. To-night this new-fledged Czar shall post with bloody feet to Hell, and greet his father there! [31]This Czar! O traitor, liar, false to his oath, false to me! To play the patriot amongst us, and now to wear a crown; to sell us, like Judas, for thirty silver pieces, to betray us with a kiss![31] (_With more passion._) O Liberty, O mighty mother of eternal time, thy robe is purple with the blood of those who have died for thee! Thy throne is the Calvary of the people, thy crown the crown of thorns. O crucified mother, the despot has driven a nail through thy right hand, and the tyrant through thy left! Thy feet are pierced with their iron. When thou wert athirst thou calledst on the priests for water, and they gave thee bitter drink. They thrust a sword into thy side. They mocked thee in thine agony of age on age. [32]Here, on thy altar, O Liberty, do I dedicate myself to thy service; do with me as thou wilt![32] (_Brandishing dagger._) The end has come now, and by thy sacred wounds, O crucified mother, O Liberty, I swear that Russia shall be saved!