mbers.]

Some of the courtiers move to carry him away.

CATHERINE [stopping them]. Let him lie. Let him sleep it off. If he
goes out it will be to a tavern and low company for the rest of the day.
[Indulgently.] There! [She takes a pillow from the bed and puts it under
his head: then turns to Edstaston: surveys him with perfect dignity: and
asks, in her queenliest manner.] Varinka, who is this gentleman?

VARINKA. A foreign captain: I cannot pronounce his name. I think he is
mad. He came to the Prince and said he must see your Majesty. He can
talk of nothing else. We could not prevent him.

EDSTASTON [overwhelmed by this apparent betrayal]. Oh! Madam: I am
perfectly sane: I am actually an Englishman. I should never have dreamt
of approaching your Majesty without the fullest credentials. I have
letters from the English ambassador, from the Prussian ambassador.
[Naively.] But everybody assured me that Prince Patiomkm is all-powerful
with your Majesty; so I naturally applied to him.

PATIOMKIN [interrupts the conversation by an agonized wheezing groan as
of a donkey beginning to bray]!!!

CATHERINE [like a fishfag]. Schweig, du Hund. [Resuming her impressive
royal manner.] Have you never been taught, sir, how a gentleman should
enter the presence of a sovereign?

EDSTASTON. Yes, Madam; but I did not enter your presence: I was carried.

CATHERINE. But you say you asked the Prince to carry you.

EDSTASTON. Certainly not, Madam. I protested against it with all my
might. I appeal to this lady to confirm me.

VARINKA [pretending to be indignant]. Yes, you protested. But, all the
same, you were very very very anxious to see her Imperial Majesty.
You blushed when the Prince spoke of her. You threatened to strike him
across the face with your sword because you thought he did not speak
enthusiastically enough of her. [To Catherine.] Trust me: he has seen
your Imperial Majesty before.

CATHERINE [to Edstaston]. You have seen us before?

EDSTASTON. At the review, Madam.

VARINKA [triumphantly]. Aha! I knew it. Your Majesty wore the hussar
uniform. He saw how radiant! how splendid! your Majesty looked. Oh! he
has dared to admire your Majesty. Such insolence is not to be endured.

EDSTASTON. All Europe is a party to that insolence, Madam.

THE PRINCESS DASHKOFF. All Europe is content to do so at a respectful
distance. It is possible to admire her Majesty's policy and her eminence
in literature and philosophy without pe