SCENE 1. _Same room at night. A score or more of peasant men and

women, and half as many revolutionists assembled. They are singing as the curtain rises._

Hark, brothers, hark! [_Knock, knock, knock!_] What do you here, Knocking in the cold? Red are your hands, Frozen are your feet, [_Knock, knock, knock!_] What do you here, Knocking in the cold?

A prison we build, [_Knock, knock, knock!_] Here the Czar knelt, Blessing the stones; But when it is finished The gates will unfold And swallow the builders. [_Knock, knock, knock!_] They who labor not, The rich and the idle, Will imprison the workers Who make the babe's bread. Despair drives our hammer, The hearts of the toilers Lie under the blow; We will throw down the hammer, We will labor no more.

No, brothers, no! Build ye the prison, Be willing of heart; And when it is finished, Your heavy oppressors Through the dark gates In terror shall pass. Weeping to dungeon The rich and the idle Then shall descend, While above ye shall sing, Swinging your hammers In the broad light. Knock, brothers, knock! [_Knock, knock, knock!_]

[_At close of song Adrian rises. Silence_]

_An old man._ Speak, Adrian Lavrov.

_Adr._ Brothers, we have met to talk matters over.

_Manlief._ We have talked for seventy-five years!

_A student._ The lash spoke the last word to-day.

_Old man._ Speak, Adrian Lavrov.

_Adr._ Friends, the truth that was clear to you before the enemy's blow fell to-day is no less true now that the blow has fallen.

_Manl._ Not on your back, Lavrov.

_A peasant._ The lash of the Czar goes deeper than the words of the preacher.

_Another._ We have obeyed you until now, shepherd of Lonz.

_Adr._ [_Gently_] And you will obey me again.

_Manl._ You will obey the voice of your own manhood!

_Adr._ You will remember that you bear the leaven of the race, that you carry in your blood the universal peace.

_Manl._ Every beat of your hearts is telling you now to be men!

_Adr._ Submission is the only death-answer to violence. The world for very shame must cease to crucify Christ!

_Gregorief._ [_Leaping up_] Move your Sunday-school to the dungeons of Schlusselburg! Yes, I have been there. I was twenty years under the storm-waves of Lake Ladoga, and if your words could have reached me through the damp walls they would have received their true answer--a madman's answer. For torture does not give men the serenity of gods or preachers, Lavrov. Twenty years of the silence that welcomes the silence of death--twenty years of the loneliness that makes men pray for the joy of weeping together--twenty years with starving eyes on naked walls, while above me the great, wide seasons were going by--twenty years of void and gloom with the windy waters whipping my prison island, and all the more maddening because I could not hear them, because they too were a silent guard. I was like this boy [_touching Vasil, who is leaning toward him listening intently_] when they put me in, and I came out--as you see. [_Laughs ironically_] But I am fortunate. I left others behind me to whom those dark doors will never open, while I have the privilege of--_dying_ above ground.

_Adr._ It makes no difference which side of a prison door the conquering spirit is on, Gregorief.

_Greg._ Ha! I wasn't a spirit then. They put me in while I was still in this life, where the flesh throbs and the blood sings. I was like this boy, I say, and I came out two months ago a broken consumptive wretch. You see me, Lavrov. Am I fit to leaven the race? _I_ am what oppression makes, not the meek angels you dream about. Into my children will go the bitterness of the wronged to come out in hate, the feebleness of the broken man to come out in cunning, the stinging for revenge to come out in murder----

_Adr._ But if you had triumphed--the immortal you--what a soul you could bequeath to your country! O, one such could almost save her!

_Greg._ One! She has them by the thousand, everywhere thwarting us--their holy tears putting out our living fire as fast as we kindle it! [_Laying his hands on Vasil_] Ah, here is a spirit worth all your saints, Lavrov. Son, take up my torch as I drop it--my torch and sword, lad----

_Vasil._ [_Eager and trembling_] I am a singer, not a fighter.

_Greg._ Songs are good weapons. Write them for us, boy. Give us one to-night before the fire dies there. [_Knocking Vasil's breast_] A war-song----

_Vasil._ [_Springing up_] I will! A song from Schlusselburg!

[_Rushes out, street door_]

_Adr._ Are you the devil, Gregorief?

_Greg._ [_Laughing_] If I am I must have my legions. Did you intend my recruit for a saint, Lavrov? [_Fervidly_] I have sworn to level my prison before I die----

_Adr._ You have laid another stone upon it. There is but one power before which the prisons will forever fall--the power of the soul. Strike them down, and the blows that lay them low will raise them again for your children.

_Greg._ Fanaticism! You can not fit the laws of Heaven to the energies of earth, Lavrov! I tell you----

_Galovkine._ Leave this. We've no time. The burning of Yaltowa is fixed for to-morrow night.

_Adr._ [_Dazed_] The burning of Yaltowa!

_Greg._ Yes, Lavrov. Petrizoff intends to burn the town in our name. We are moving too fast toward the favor of the world, and must be repainted as red ogres.

_Adr._ Burn the town!

_Manl._ [_Bitterly_] That is not so bad a matter. What are a few thousand homes more or less in a country where no house is safe? The terrible part is the blow to the cause. Our great parties were never more united, never so ready for a telling stroke, and this horrible crime laid at the door of the revolutionists----

_Adr._ It must be prevented! We must act at once----

_Manl._ And get clapped into prison a little sooner. There is not time now for general action.

_Adr._ Burnt? The horror of it!

_Greg._ [_Looking at Adrian_] It _can_ be prevented.

_Adr._ How?

_Greg._ Petrizoff is the whole plot, and he is not immortal.

_Adr._ [_After a cold silence_] You are a fool to say this to me, Gregorief.

_Greg._ Reserve your judgment till you know yourself better. Your heart is with us, Lavrov, in spite of your preaching.

_Adr._ Do you suppose I would quietly permit this murder?

_Greg._ Will you quietly permit Petrizoff's ten-thousand murders?

_Adr._ There is a difference.

_Greg._ Yes. We put one assassin to righteous death, he murders thousands of honest men.

_Adr._ [_In same tone as before_] There is a difference.

_Greg._ _Your_ difference!

_Adr._ God's difference. The wicked may do their worst and the world still hope, but if the children of light borrow their weapons----

_Greg._ There is but one way to fight the devil!

_Adr._ If you use his own fire you must live in hell to do it.

_Greg._ And we don't live in hell now, I suppose!

_Adr._ Not an everlasting one. You have the selfishness of the living generation, Gregorief, that consumes as its candle the sun of the unborn.

_Greg._ Bah! Each generation must fight for its own breath.

_Adr._ Who conquers with a club will rule with a club. It is only through the enduring righteousness now taking deepest root in the night of oppression that true liberation will come, pushing upward to flower in the conscience of every man. When we are free from within, government will of itself fall away----

_Greg._ Anarchy!

_Adr._ Yes. Anarchy of the soul, not of the blood. The anarchy that Christ saw when he said the meek shall inherit the earth. This is the vision before me, the vision that I held before the bleeding bodies in Lonz to-day----

_Greg._ To the devil with your visions! Man will always be a worm while he crawls! It is those who have remembered their stature that have done most for the race. And I--from under their feet--with Death's hand upon me--I will remember mine!

[_Galovkine, who is watching at the door, steps forward, lifting his hand in signal. Instantly the scene becomes one of merrymaking. A man who sits on shelf above stove begins fiddling, and a peasant dances a clog in the middle of the floor. Orloff enters, followed by two or three guards. Vetrova rises to meet them_]

_Vet._ You are welcome.

_Orl._ A jolly ending to the day, good people.

_Vet._ We've reason to be merry, sir, as you know, who spared my lad this morning.

_Cath._ And you too, Petrovich.

_Vet._ Eh, but I don't count, mother.

_Orl._ 'Tis sporting time with us too. We are on our way to the officers' ball at Yaltowa. A little gayety after the hard work at Petoff. Glad to find you are not making more trouble for us.

_Vet._ We've had our lesson, sir.

_Orl._ [_Suspiciously_] And this happy meeting is to encourage yourselves in good intentions?

_Vet._ Sir, we are true men.

[_Vasil suddenly appears in door, rear, waving a paper_]

_Vasil._ I have it: The song is ready!

_Adr._ [_Looking meaningly at Vasil_] Don't be so sure of your first effort, my boy. Better let it get cold.

_Orl._ No, we'll hear it. That paper looks interesting.

_Vasil._ Pardon me. [_Folds paper and puts it into his pocket_]

_Orl._ I insist upon hearing it.

_Vasil._ [_Taking paper out reluctantly_] 'Tis merely a song, sir, and will hardly bear reading. I will sing it for you. [_Unfolds paper slowly_] A Welcome to Summer, friends. 'Tis an old chorus, and you can help me with it. [_Sings_]

Come out, come out with me To meet the summer maid! A queen, a queen is she, Whose love is as the sea That would all lands caress, Whose loves are many as the sands, And each a sovereign is, For whom her arms enring Is royal by her kiss, Forevermore a king, a king, a king!

Come, dance, dance, dance, and welcome the summer maid! Who has looked into her eyes is nevermore afraid! We will gather our hearts together, we will mingle our feet on the grass, We will hold her with kisses, nor ever, nor ever let her pass!

[_The peasants join in chorus_]

Her free step is the dawn No darkness can waylay, Her laugh is the wild waterfall By winter never chained, Her hair the winds unreined, Her eyes unbridled sun, And all the waves are in her call That heard is never still, Her breath the clouds that hie Free as they list or will, And in her bosom find a greater sky!

Ye mothers, come, forsake Dead fire and frozen hearth; The bones ye call your babes, awake, For in her lap she bears Sweet grain and golden ears That warming in their veins shall make The ruddy might of men; Your daughters that now lie Blanched, broken, still, shall then Lift up rose faces and forget to die.

Old Winter in his snows Is covered, covered deep, For all above him lie his slain, And not until his breath Has warmed them out of death May he arise from his cold sleep. Good-by, good-by, good-by, Old Winter dead and white, No more meet you and I, A last and long, a long and last good-night!

[_As the chorus is sung the last time, Vasil dances out among the peasants, who join hands with him and all move in a ring, singing_]

_Orl._ I congratulate you. And now will you favor me with the copy?

_Vasil._ [_Seeming to hesitate_] 'Tis hardly worthy----

_Orl._ [_Taking it_] Leave that to me. [_Glances disappointedly at song, repeating the first line_] Humph! Yes ... [_Puts it into his pocket_] So you are all true men enjoying yourselves? I've no objection. On the contrary. I'm in the humor to join you if my lady Bright-eyes [_looking at Vera_] will honor me.

[_Vera rises, curtsies, and couples spring up, forming a dance, Orloff and Vera leading_]

_Orl._ [_At close of the dance_] Thank you, Bright-eyes. I shall find no fairer partner at the ball, whither I must be going. And here, young man. I will leave you your song. It may be your _only_ copy. [_Brings out several papers from his pocket and looks them over_] Here is the song, but ... [_Assumes sudden sternness_] A serious matter. I have lost an important paper since I came into this room. [_Looks searchingly at their faces_] An important paper on official business. [_All are silent, betraying no emotion. He turns his gaze to Vera, who is sitting by her grandfather_] Ah, my little lady, perhaps your fingers were busy in the dance. Come forward, please.

[_Vera steps out, bewildered_]

_Vera._ I did not touch it.

_Orl._ Of course not. Now will you shake your scarf, please? Yes, I will do it for you. [_Shakes her scarf and a paper drops to the floor. Orloff picks it up_] Ah, found! Good, but rather a sad affair for you, little one. Even fingers so dainty as yours must not meddle with the Czar's papers.

_Vera._ I did not touch them!

_Orl._ Of course not. But you must come with me. [_Mutterings from the men_] I hear you, friends. If any of you want to come along just make it known. Our prisons are well stuffed, but we can manage to pack away all present.

_Adr._ [_After a second of silence_] The child is innocent.

_Orl._ O, you want to go, do you? But you happen to be the one we don't want--yet. Anybody else?

_Vera._ [_Sobbing_] I did not touch it.

_Orl._ You may tell that to Petrizoff. He is always kind to beauty.

_Vera._ [_In terror_] Am I going to him?

_Orl._ He will not be far away, I imagine.

_Adr._ You can not take this child. The paper was not stolen.

_Orl._ You saw it drop from her scarf.

_Adr._ Where you put it.

_Orl._ [_In a rage_] Your mouth will soon be shut! If I could have had my way this morning your hide wouldn't hold shucks to-night!

[_Noise of a carriage at door. Sophie enters in ball dress. She draws back in astonishment at sight of Orloff_]

_Soph._ [_Faintly_] You here?

_Orl._ And you?

_Soph._ [_Composed_] May I speak to you, Count Orloff?

_Orl._ At your service, your highness.

[_They draw aside, left, front. The peasants talk in low tones. Guards stand by Vera_]

_Soph._ Of course I know why you are here, but I had to simulate surprise.

_Orl._ You were very successful.

_Soph._ Since the exposure of this morning the people are ready to suspect me, and I must retain their confidence or my usefulness is at an end.

_Orl._ Quite.

_Soph._ They heard to-day of the girl's danger, and were planning her escape, so I, not knowing whether you would arrive in time, stopped--to----

_Orl._ Yes?

_Soph._ Quiet their fears and assure them of her safety. Are there any prisoners besides the girl?

_Orl._ No, but I would give something to take this insolent Shepherd. I've only a few hours to wait though.

_Soph._ A few hours?

_Orl._ Yes--ah, you _don't_ know everything then!

_Soph._ Dear man, I know everything but one,--that is, how much _you_ know. If you will go to the ball in my carriage we may find out how far we can trust each other.

_Orl._ Angel!

_Soph._ Don't! The people--you must pretend to oppose me. They think I am interceding for the girl.

_Orl._ [_As if suddenly recalling something_] Why did you save the boy this morning?

_Soph._ I will explain that too--in the carriage. We must go now. I first, so they will not know we leave together.

_Orl._ [_Crestfallen_] I promised Petrizoff not to leave the girl till I had her safe in prison. There have been so many escapes----

_Soph._ [_With a glance at Vera_] She _is_ pretty. Good-evening then.

_Orl._ Wait--I will go with you!

_Soph._ [_Melting_] Will you? Then you sha'n't. You shall take no risks for me.

_Orl._ Risk! I would risk anything. Ah, you can't deprive me now.

_Soph._ Can you trust the guards?

_Orl._ I _will_ trust them!

_Soph._ Very well. I will wait for you. [_Going, stops before Adrian_] I have not been able to obtain her release, but I am sure there is hope. At least I have touched Colonel Orloff's heart. Have I not, Count?

_Orl._ You have indeed!

_Soph._ [_Looking steadily at Adrian_] And you will hear news of great importance before morning. [_To Orloff_] Will he not?

_Orl._ Without doubt, your highness.

_Soph._ [_Going, again turns to Adrian_] The Count will give you his word that _I am to be trusted_.

_Orl._ To be sure, your highness.

_Soph._ Good-night. [_Exit_]

_Orl._ [_After following Sophie's departure with a fatuous look_] Come, lady-bird, we must be moving. [_Starts out, the guards following with Vera. Vetrova, who has seemed quite stunned, suddenly rushes after them and beats guards with his crutch_]

_Orl._ [_Seizing him by the collar and throwing him to the floor_] You old fool! We don't want to bother with you!

[_Exeunt Orloff, guards and Vera. Vetrova, lying on floor, lifts his fist and curses_]

_Adr._ [_Bending over him_] Petrusha!

_Vet._ Let me be, Adrian Lavrov! I have held my peace all my life to die cursing at last! I was dumb when they broke my bones under the rod. I was dumb when my son died under the lash. But Vera, my little girl--dragged to that--O God, send thy fires upon him! Curse him--curse him--curse----[_Dies. The peasants cross themselves. Some kneel before the icon, praying. Catherine gazes at Vetrova in hopeless terror. Galovkine kneels and examines the body_]

_Galovkine._ Dead.

_Cath._ Dead--and a curse on his lips. My Petrusha--dead--and a curse on his lips.

[_Two men pick up the body and bear it off right centre, Adrian opening the door. Catherine follows with several women. The other peasants go off silently, street door, leaving only Adrian, Vasil and the revolutionists_]

_Greg._ As I was saying when--the Czar interrupted us--Petrizoff must die. And you will help us, Lavrov. Yes--you must! You say yourself that our best hope lies in sympathy and sentiment----

_Adr._ Which the bomb utterly destroys.

_Greg._ Not when the Shepherd throws it. Wait! I do not mean that literally, for this [_raising his hand_] is the consecrated hand. But your name as our leader would sanctify the deed.

_Adr._ Your leader?

_Greg._ Yes. Not only for this, but for our army. Your name is a divine word in every peasant home in Russia. It is cheered by every body of workmen gathered together to-night, and in the army who would not surrender the colors of Romanov to the hero line of Donskoi?

_Adr._ [_Starting_] Gregorief----

_Greg._ Wait! They are all ready now. The peasantry, inspired by the teaching of our martyrs for the last thirty years,--the nobility with awakened conscience,--the workmen, one great body with suspended arms,--the army of the Czar ready to become the army of the people,--all await their leader--you! [_A pause_] Russia is looking but one way--to freedom. To-day you may lead us to victory almost without blood. Let Petrizoff commit this crime in the name of liberty, and to-morrow we shall be like the scattered limbs of a dissevered body. You will not let this be, Lavrov. You will----

_Adr._ No! Let civilization wait another century rather than deliver her flag to the hands of murderers!

_Greg._ And where is it now if not in the hands of murderers?

_Adr._ It is not in _their_ hands, Gregorief, but in ours, that are yet clean. Do this thing, and it is you, not Petrizoff, who give the greatest blow to freedom. The world is just beginning to understand us----

_Greg._ Yes! Where is that understanding growing strongest? In America. And how does the autocracy propose to meet this new influence? By a secret commercial treaty with the United States. Give any government a pocket interest in the security of another and to the winds with sympathy! Petrizoff has his agents there now, and the burning of Yaltowa is only a part of his scheme to chill the hearts that are warming to us. But he shall not live to do it. You will not let him live, Lavrov. My God, don't you see that your opportunity has come?

_Adr._ Yes. My opportunity to point once more to where the sun shall rise.

_Greg._ The sun never rises on the blind. You would throw us back into night for another thousand years!

_Adr._ What are a thousand years to the soul of man on the right path to the right thing?

_Galovkine._ [_Plucking at Gregorief_] Come away. We lose time here.

_Greg._ Not until I tell this fool where he stands! You imagine, Lavrov, that you are a friend to freedom, but a greater enemy does not tread Russian soil. Why does the government leave you at work? Because of your power to subdue the spirit in men. It is you--such as you--who forget our shackles and fill the prisons. But thank the Powers that keep the race alive, there are still some of us who believe in manhood--in the virtues of the heart as well as the soul--in courage, honor, justice! [_To the others_] Come up to Breshloff's. We will finish there.

[_Enter Korelenko hurriedly_]

_Greg._ [_Grasping his hand_] Korelenko! The word? What is it?

_Kore._ What you wished. We needed only the consent of the Social Democrats to Petrizoff's death----

_Greg._ Yes, yes!

_Kore._ And I have brought their sanction----

_Greg._ [_Almost sobbing_] Thank God!

_Kore._ If it is done under the leadership of the Shepherd of Lonz.

[_Adrian staggers back against loom_]

_Greg._ [_Clutching Korelenko_] Take back that infernal proviso!

_Kore._ I thought you wished it.

_Greg._ I did, when I believed the man there was human.

_Kore._ He is. The most human of us all. You don't know him. Adrian, you see that all depends upon you----

_Adr._ [_Waving him away_] Begone--all of you!

_Manl._ Come! God gave us good right arms. We need not wait for Lavrov's.

_Kore._ But can we do without the Social Democrats?

_Greg._ Yes! We have the others. Come to Breshloff's!

[_All go except Korelenko, who lingers in the door. Adrian sits exhausted on bench before loom_]

_Adr._ Sasha?

_Kore._ [_Turning back quickly_] Well?

_Adr._ You have chosen?

_Kore._ Between my friends and my enemies? Yes.

_Adr._ Between the body and the soul.

_Kore._ Soul! There is none in Russia. When we get possession of our bodies we may be permitted to cultivate souls!

_Adr._ If you would wait a little, Sasha. Reforms are coming. The Czar will grant a constitution----

_Kore._ He will grant what we take, no more. And what do we gain if he gives us a constitution and keeps his army? If he gives us schools and exiles the teachers? If he gives us freedom and denies it to the men who have won it--our brothers in the dungeons? No, we want _our_ constitution, not the Czar's--a constitution with law and justice behind it, not an army.

_Adr._ Is it time? There is so much ignorance yet----

_Kore._ Ignorance! Where is it greater than among our masters? We suffer as much from their stupidity as their oppression. I hate the ass's head more than the tyrant's!

_Adr._ But the poor, illiterate peasants. Are they ready----

_Kore._ Viatka and Perm answer that! There, where they have been let alone, they have established the best governed provinces in Russia. But here, where ignorance is _protected_--do you know what will happen if Yaltowa is burnt? The peasants of Karitz will be led into the town to pillage and slaughter in the name of Christ.

_Adr._ [_In horror_] Karitz! My poor people! I must go there at once.

_Kore._ There? It is only because you are here that Lonz will not be led into it. [_Ironically_] Since you can't be everywhere, hadn't we better devise some other means for the protection of the people?

_Adr._ O, it is horrible!

_Kore._ More horrible than you dream. A good man can not know how bad the world is, for he can never get away from himself.

[_Re-enter Manlief_]

_Manl._ Come, Korelenko. We shall be too late.

_Adr._ He is not going.

_Manl._ No? I'll stiffen his heart. You don't know, do you, that your little Vera has been taken to Petrizoff?

_Kore._ [_Stares in amazement, and clutches Adrian_] Is this a lie?

_Adr._ She has been arrested.

_Kore._ You let her be taken?

_Adr._ I had no choice.

_Kore._ There is always a choice. You could have killed her. [_Breaks down_]

_Manl._ [_Touching him_] Come.

_Kore._ Yes! Go on! I'll come!

_Manl._ At Breshloff's. [_Exit_]

_Kore._ [_Savagely, starting up_] You would save his life knowing that!

_Adr._ What has Vera's misfortune--yours--mine--to do with an eternal principle?

_Kore._ Damn your principle! It will put us all into hell!

_Adr._ The princess may be able to do something for her. She----

_Kore._ You still believe in that spy? [_Adrian is silent. Korelenko looks at him_] Forgive me. You love her. No! If you knew what love is you would help me!

_Adr._ [_Going to him as he reaches the door_] Wait. I do know. I love her even as you love Vera, and I swear to you that if she stood in Vera's place my answer would be the same.

_Kore._ [_Abstractedly_] You love her. [_Starts suddenly away_]

_Adr._ You will stay now, Sasha?

_Kore._ Now? No. There is something to do now.

[_Exit_]

_Adr._ Light, light, O my God!

[_Door opens, right centre, and a woman appears_]

_Woman._ Can you come to Catherine Vetrova now, sir?

[_Adrian bows his head and follows her out. Vasil, who has been sitting behind the little table rear, at times listening eagerly, at times overcome, rises and moves slowly forward, carrying his violin_]

_Vasil._ [_Repeats softly_] "As impersonal as the universe."

[_Strikes two or three notes on the violin and stops, terrified. Dashes the instrument down and throws himself to the floor, sobbing_] O, Vera! Vera! Vera!

[_Curtain_]