amphlet]. Captain Edstaston, why did you
refuse to come when I sent for you?

EDSTASTON. Madam, I cannot talk tied up like this.

CATHERINE. Do you still admire me as much as you did this morning?

EDSTASTON. How can I possibly tell when I can't see you? Let me get up
and look. I can't see anything now except my toes and yours.

CATHERINE. Do you still intend to write to the London Gazette about me?

EDSTASTON. Not if you will loosen these straps. Quick: loosen me. I'm
fainting.

CATHERINE. I don't think you are [tickling him].

EDSTASTON. Agh! Cat!

CATHERINE. What [she tickles him again].

EDSTASTON [with a shriek]. No: angel, angel!

CATHERINE [tenderly]. Geliebter!

EDSTASTON. I don't know a word of German; but that sounded kind.
[Becoming hysterical.] Little Mother, beautiful little darling angel
mother: don't be cruel: untie me. Oh, I beg and implore you. Don't be
unkind. I shall go mad.

CATHERINE. You are expected to go mad with love when an Empress deigns
to interest herself in you. When an Empress allows you to see her foot
you should kiss it. Captain Edstaston, you are a booby.

EDSTASTON [indignantly]. I am nothing of the kind. I have been mentioned
in dispatches as a highly intelligent officer. And let me warn your
Majesty that I am not so helpless as you think. The English Ambassador
is in that ballroom. A shout from me will bring him to my side; and then
where will your Majesty be?

CATHERINE. I should like to see the English Ambassador or anyone else
pass through that curtain against my orders. It might be a stone wall
ten feet thick. Shout your loudest. Sob. Curse. Scream. Yell [she
tickles him unmercifully].

EDSTASTON [frantically]. Ahowyou!!!! Agh! oh! Stop! Oh Lord! Ya-a-a-ah!
[A tumult in the ballroom responds to his cries].

VOICES FROM THE BALLROOM. Stand back. You cannot pass. Hold her back
there. The Empress's orders. It is out of the question. No, little
darling, not in there. Nobody is allowed in there. You will be sent to
Siberia. Don't let her through there, on your life. Drag her back. You
will be knouted. It is hopeless, Mademoiselle: you must obey orders.
Guard there! Send some men to hold her.

CLAIRE'S VOICE. Let me go. They are torturing Charles in there. I WILL
go. How can you all dance as if nothing was happening? Let me go, I tell
you. Let--me--go. [She dashes through the curtain, no one dares follow
her.]

CATHERINE [rising in wrath]. How dare you?

CLAIRE