"Madam." "I must see His Excellency." "His Excellency only receives visitors on presentation of a letter." "I have urgent business with him." "My brother is gravely ill in prison." "I'd like to ask for permission to bring him food from home." "I hoped to petition the Minister personally." "He's such a kind man." "I'm sure he'll give me permission." " How do you wish to be announced?" " Princess Beloselskaya-Belozerskaya." "I beg your pardon, gentlemen." "Please, sit down." "I know how kind Leonid Arkadevich is." "He'll give me permission." "Go ahead." "Thank you." "Please sit down, madam." " What's going on?" " He's been killed." "What do you mean, "killed"?" "We'll have to send for the doctor." "The conspirator at the Secret Police Department testified that she was a member of the paramilitary wing of the Social Revolutionary Party." "They hoped to realize their aims by means of violence against the most senior Imperial officials." "She was named as Zinaida Rogoznikova, a member of the gentry." "She refused to testify any further or to answer any further questions." "A RIDER NAMED DEATH" ""After the story by Boris Savinkov, The Pale Horse"" "6th August, 1906." "Following the service at the opening of the Nizhny Novgorod trade fair, as General Governor Baron Unterberger came out of the church, one of the destitute beggars in the church doorway shot him twice." "The perpetrator was killed by the crowd." "No documents were found on him." "To establish the corpse's identity, its head was cut off, preserved and displayed in public." "Two months later in Tambov," "Vice-Governor Preobrazhensky was killed." "The thrower of the bomb, Anna Sergeievna Soloveva, declared that she had killed him because ofhis brutal suppression of peasant unrest." "I have complete faith in our success." "The Grand Duke will die." "And I should throw the first bomb." "It should have been me who fired the shot in Kharkov." "But they let a worker called Kachura do it." "And now there's the Grand Duke." "I should have the first bomb." "I have a right to it." "What made you turn to violence?" "For me, the revolution is violent." "I believe in violence." "There aren't many of us now, but there soon will be." "I might be dead by then, but I'll be proud and happy because I'll be the one who killed the Grand Duke." "Vanya, go and wait for me by the door, please." " Didn't you like him?" " He's an odd fellow." " Do you know him well?" " Yes." "He was at school with my younger brother." "He'll be a good worker." "I heard he was a poet." " Does that interfere with violence?" " Everything does." "Religious faith, lofty romanticism, fanaticism." "Very well." "If you trust him so well, I can't object to his joining us." "Now to business." "Two of our men will pose as cabbies and spy on the Duke." "If the police can use such methods, why not paramilitaries?" " He didn't like me, George." " He did." "It's all right." "We'll kill the Duke." "There's absolutely no question." " Do you believe in Jesus Christ?" " I do." "But Vanya, Christ said, "Thou shalt not kill."" "George, people should love one another." "God should be with them and within them, but they've become brutalized." "They take to the sword not through strength, but weakness." " What are you laughing at?" " You sound like a parish priest!" "I don't care!" "Life is impossible without love." " Of course it's possible." " How?" "I'll tell you how." "By not giving a damn!" "You're joking, aren't you?" "No." "I'm not." "That'll do for now, Vanya." "I'll leave you here." "I'll be in touch." "Make way!" "Where to, sir?" "Jump in!" "He's gone to the Kremlin again." "Fyodor followed." "I went yesterday." " We'll definitely kill him." " Let's go." "How much longer are we going to have to work as cabbies, George?" "We have to work out his route, what time he goes out." "We already have." "I can rattle it off like the Lord's Prayer:" "Left out of the courtyard, then on round the corner." "Fyodor, tell me, what made you get involved in violence?" "I had a wife, a soul mate." "She was my one and only, the light of my life." " And?" " They killed her." "She went to a demonstration." "The Cossacks started chasing and whipping them." "Why do we just kill dukes?" "Why not the Czar?" "The Central Committee decides." "Then why are they so stupid?" "A fool can see it's better to kill the Czar than some old duke or other." "At the border, a customs official asked me to open the suitcase." "I opened it and he said, "What's that you have there?"" "I didn't panic at all." "I said, "My father owns a perfume factory in Kiev." "He asked me to bring him this mulberry oil from Paris." "He wants to use it for a new recipe in the production of cosmetics."" "He took a stick of dynamite, made a wry face and said," ""If only my wife knew what nasty stuff went into making her night cream."" "I've missed you so much." "George, my love." "I feel as if all that's kept me alive was the prospect of seeing you again." "You're in my dreams, you're in my prayers." "Who's this?" "Mama." "When you're there, I feel like a little girl again, a child." "I know there's nothing I can give you." "But I do love you." "Are you going already?" "Yes, I must." "Will you be here tomorrow?" "I don't know." "I am used to the life of an outlaw, used to being alone." "I don't want to know the future and I try to forget the past." "I have no roots, no family, no name." "Even from here, from miles away," "I can see the palace perfectly clearly." "It's as if I were right there next to him." "Signing papers with him, walking around the palace with him, praying with him, sleeping with him." "I harbor neither hatred nor resentment towards him." "I am indifferent to him." "But I want him dead." "We need two bombs ready by 9:00 tomorrow." "George." "What?" "Won't you stay?" "I'll come for the bombs tomorrow at 9:00." "Erna!" "George, I want " "Can I come with you?" "I want you to give me a bomb too." " But " " Don't say anything." "It's what I want." "I have to die." "I've decided." " George." " What is this nonsense?" "I'll be with you by evening." "All right?" "George." "I must go." "Open the gates!" "We were extremely unlucky." "Fyodor suggested that the Grand Duke changed his route because of a premonition of danger." "But the reason is more prosaic." "I find out from the paper that the Duke wasn't going to the Kremlin, but to catch a train to Petersburg to celebrate the Empress's name-day." "Hello." "Mr. Brian?" " Brien." " Oh, Brien." "May I come in?" "Of course." "Please do." "I've come from Wilna too." " It was Wilna you were in, wasn't it?" " Oh, yes." "I noticed your entry in the book downstairs." "May I sit down?" "Yes, of course." " What can I do for you?" " My name is Gashkess." "I edit a newspaper specializing in industrial, trade and financial issues." "I thought you might like to work with me." "I'm not a writer." "I'm a trade representative for a company." "What do we really mean by "writer" or "trade representative"?" "Which company is it you represent, anyway?" "I'm afraid I can't be of any assistance to you." "I should be going." "So are you English?" "It can't be helped." " Where to, sir?" " Straight on, and fast." "I hurtle around Moscow for more than two hours, from cab to tram to cab again, with Gashkess constantly on my tail." " I'm just off." " They're after me." "Who?" "Filthy cur!" "What do you want to do?" " Have you got your gun with you?" " Eight bullets." "Let's go." "I'm going outside." "If you come out, I'll shoot you, you filthy dog!" " Look, George." " He came after me in it." "He came in it, we'll go in it." "I'm engaged, gentlemen." "I said I'm engaged." "Drive!" "Look!" "He didn't do as I told him." "We should turn back and shoot him." "All right, we'll let him live a bit longer." "I forgot my cap." "Off you go!" "How did they track you down?" "I don't know." "You must leave town." " And you?" " I'll be leaving too." "And the Duke?" "I wanted to throw a bomb at the Duke." "Never mind." "We'll get him for sure." " Good-bye for now." " Good-bye." "Fyodor went to his parents in Poltava, Vanya to his brother in Yaroslavl." "I went abroad." "A month later, I'm back in Moscow." "With furnished rooms and a motorcar," "I act the part of a rich foreigner." "The chauffeur, supplied by Valentin Kuzmich, is called Henrich." "Where shall I serve the coffee?" "In the study." "Our clandestine lives have been worked out to the smallest detail." "Erna, my mistress, is a former opera buffa singer." "Fyodor is a servant and Vanya a street vendor." "One day, when I'm out, our landlady asks Erna how much money I've put in her account." "She was surprised not to see anyjewelry and says Erna should leave me." "Erna tells her that she lives with me, not for money, but for love." "There's no need for her to act the part." "I know you don't love me." "But I still love you." "I'll keep on loving you until the day I die." "I sleep with Erna but my thoughts are of Elena." "I met her on my second day back in Moscow." "What a long time it's been!" "Have you forgotten me?" " No, I haven't." " Where have you been?" "What have you been doing?" " Thinking about you." " You shouldn't do that." "Why not?" "Why shouldn't I think about you?" "Because you're married?" "The tragedy of love is endless." "It's the tragedy of marriage." "I understand." "I look at you now and I see a different person, although it's still a person I like very much." "Cigarettes!" "Writing paper!" "Pencils!" "Don't just walk on by, sir!" "Cigarettes!" "Writing paper!" "Pencils!" "Cigarettes!" "Writing paper!" "Pencils!" "Don't just walk on by, sir." "Ten for five kopecks." "Cigarettes!" "He came out today at 12:00 and went down the same street." "Cigarettes!" "Writing paper!" "Pencils!" " Who's that?" " His children." "We have to do it soon." "Cigarettes!" "Writing paper!" "Pencils!" "Yesterday, I had a message that a courier from Geneva would be bringing more dynamite today." "I have to pick up a fireproofbox at the bank and put the suitcase of dynamite in it." "Ostozhenka Street, please." "So you've been living abroad this past year?" "I know why you've come back." "I know I don't understand any of this, but why do you do it?" "Look how lovely it is here:" "The flowers are out, the birds are singing." "Yet what is constantly on your mind, what do you live for?" "Death." "Listen." "You're only doing this because someone has told you you must." "No." "No?" "I've told myself that it's what I want." "This is what you want?" "A man I know, a Belgian officer, served in the Congo." "He was alone there with just fifty black soldiers." "His cordon was in the forest on the bank of a big river." "On the other bank lived a tribe of Negroes with their own chief and their own laws." "The days dragged by." "There was always the same turbid river, the same black bodies." "Sometimes, out of boredom, he would pick up his gun and he'd try... to hit one of the curly heads on the other bank." "Out of boredom!" "When his soldiers caught somebody from the other bank on theirs, they would tie him to a tree trunk and shoot him." "And likewise, if one of his men fell into their hands, they would chop off his arms and legs and leave him lying there like that all night." "In the morning, they would chop off his head." "Why are you telling me this?" "I just keep asking myself, how - how do we, civilized people, differ from savages?" "When it comes to "thou shalt not kill", we're just as egregious as they are." "And as for "an eye for an eye" " "Why bother to justify ourselves?" "If we want to do something, we do it." "Elena, do you love your husband?" "You don't love me." "Stop, honey." "In the feverish days that follow, I put her out of my mind." "My entire will is focused on one thing:" "Killing him." "Let's go, Henrich!" "Fyodor!" "Take it straight to the bedroom." "Fyodor!" " Have you got it?" " Yes." "Give him a hand." "To the bedroom?" "Erna!" "All right, Henrich, you go out and find Vanya." "Tell him we've got to meet." "10:00 at the Tivoli." "Fyodor, Henrich has got an officer's uniform down in the car." "Put it on and be at the Tivoli at 10:00 too." "All right, that's all." "See you tomorrow." "Do you want to check it?" "There's something I want to tell you." "It's Henrich " "What about him?" "Last night he told me he loved me." "So?" "I don't love him." "You're the only one I love." "Aren't you jealous?" "Jealous?" "Me?" "I don't suppose you care." "You don't love me at all." "Come here, Erna." "Tell me you love me." "Do you?" "Erna, we need three bombs by tomorrow morning." " By tomorrow?" " Yes." "I love you." "Tomorrow, straight after breakfast, we shall all leave Moscow." "I might never see Erna again." "Suddenly, I feel sorry for her." "I should have been a general." "Then I wouldn't have to salute this colonel who's following me around." "We need to decide who's going first." "I should go first." "I should definitely go first." "Henrich, I've been waiting for ages." "It ought to be me who goes first." "What about you, Fyodor?" "I'm always ready." "How much do you think that dress cost?" " I don't know." " 200 rubles." "200!" "When I was working at the factory, I was getting a ruble a day." " How about doing it to all of them?" " Doing what?" "Bombing them all." " Why?" " To let them know." " Know what?" " That workers are dropping like flies." " We're not anarchists." " What?" "That would be anarchy, and we're not anarchists." "Those are just words." "I don't care what we call it." "They pay 200 rubles for clothes while children are begging for kopecks." "Be quiet!" "Fyodor!" "There's no justice in the world." "We work day in, day out, mothers scream, girls hang around street corners." "You know what I think?" "It's easy to miss if you throw by hand." "You might not hit." "You just go up to the window, throw it through, and it's done." " No, I won't have it." " What do you mean?" "I won't have Vanya going out there first." "He'll die." "I should be first." "Look here, Henrich, either you get on with it, in which case you stop all your talking... or you keep on talking," "in which case, go back to your university." " So this is it, George." "The end." " Yes, Vanya." "I feel so happy, but I'm awfully tired." "My nerves are tired." "You know," "Jesus said we would not be saved by the sword, but by love." "I'll kill him, but I believe Jesus' words." "That hurts." "Jesus said, "Thou shalt not kill,"" "yet his disciple, Peter, drew his sword to kill." "Jesus said, "Love one another," yetJudas betrayed him." "Jesus said, "I did not come to judge the world, but to save it,"" "yet he himself was judged." "Two thousand years ago, he prayed as he bled and the disciples saved him." "Two thousand years ago, the people said to Pilate," ""Take him and crucify him."" "Then Peter took a sword in his hand." "Then Annas and Caiaphas judged him." "Then Judas betrayed him." "So it does not follow that he is a staff." "Nor that we are branches." "Look at you, George." "You don't believe in God, or in Socialism, or in love." "But without faith, what are we?" "Just ordinary killers." "Then don't kill." "Walk away from it." "Walk away!" "How can you say that?" "Killing may be a grave sin, but there is no greater act of love than laying down, not one's life, but one's soul, for one's friends." "If the cross is heavy, bear it." "If the sin is great, accept it and the Lord will take pity and pardon you." "Good-bye, George." "Good-bye, Vanya." "Vanya!" "You must stop thinking about all that." "It's all nonsense." "Open the gates!" "At a trot!" "Back!" "I said back!" "It hasn't gone off!" "Get him!" "Go on!" "Don't shoot the children!" "I did do the right thing, didn't I, George?" "I couldn't throw it with children there." "We're killing the Duke." "There's been no resolution to kill children." "All is lost." " All is lost." " Shut up!" "What is this nonsense?" "Nothing is lost." "What about Fyodor?" "Fyodor's dead." "So Fyodor is dead." " So what?" " Think about it!" "How could you?" "How could you let the carriage pass?" "I don't know." "I realized that the police had noticed me." "Off I went and they followed." "That's probably when he went past." "You don't believe me." "You think I lost my nerve." "I believe you, Henrich." "You know what, Henrich?" "I think you should go back to your university and put aside all thoughts of violence." "Not everyone has to throw bombs or fire guns." "Have a go at peaceful work." " You can't tell me what not to do." " Go away!" "It's my fault, my fault that Fyodor died, that the second bomb didn't go off." "Vanya..." " We'll kill him!" " "We"?" "Vanya's alone now." "What about me?" "We'll kill him." " Vanya and I." " How?" "We'll blow him up in his house." " How will we get in?" " We'll shoot the guard." " But " " But what?" " His children are there." " So?" "We'll go into his house and blow him up." " George." " What?" "How dare you speak like that?" "Who gave you permission?" " I did." " You?" "Yes, me." "Me!" "Very well, then." "We'll do it outside." "Do you think this is because of the children?" "No." "It's a big palace." "We could shoot the guard and get inside, but it's a big place." "We might not find him." "There are lots of rooms." "Lots of rooms." "Lots." " Have you moved out of the flat?" " Yes." "I'm staying at a hotel now." "I've got the new passport you sent." "This Englishman, John Ribley." "There's a feeling that your paramilitary group should be dissolved." "Who feels that?" "The Central Committee." "And what do you think?" "If that's what the Central Committee decides, then you obey." "Do you think we should be dissolved?" "If the Central Committee makes such a resolution, then " "That's the Committee." "What about us?" "That's all I'm saying." "The Committee is considering ending the use of violent methods." "So?" "What of it?" "George, there are people who are saying that all you're interested in is killing the Grand Duke." " What made you take up violence?" " I've already told you." "I told you when I joined the group." "You can't kill him." "There are only two of you left." "It's not enough for a job like that." "It's hopeless." "Have you been living here all the time?" "I've been afraid for you." "You can't imagine how afraid." "It was terrible." "Elena," "I love you." "I love you too." "What about your husband?" "What about him?" "You're with him." "I'm with you now." "Stay with me forever." "You're a strange one." "How can you love forever?" "I must go." "How can you kiss two men at once?" "What business is it of yours who I kiss and when?" "Do I know who you've been kissing?" "Today, I love you." "Doesn't that make you happy?" "There is no sin, no deception, in happiness." "Of course, you don't know what happiness is." "Your whole life is dedicated to death." "You're made of iron." "The sun is not for you." "But why think about death?" "Do believe that a gypsy woman" "Needs no beauty" "She values a heart hotter than fire" "And to someone handsome but with a cold soul" "I'll say, "The hell with you The hell with you"" "The image of Elena fades." "I am alone again." "I've been alone all my life." "I have no way of getting close to people." "I can think only ofhim." "Not oflove, not of peace, not oflife, but only of death." "Death is a crown." "A crown of thorns, Vanya thinks." "Let him think that." "I read in the paper about a Red Cross charity show at the Bolshoi Theater under the patronage of the Grand Duke." "He will definitely be there." "Our meeting has come" "I'm as if on fire" "And to you, my dear" "I speak oflove" "Be tender with me" "Be braver with me" "So be it" "The hell with you The hell with you" " We're only going to have one bomb." " What do you mean?" "Some of the dynamite has gone bad." "It's not my fault, George." "Dynamite doesn't keep for long." "You don't love me at all." "What are you talking about?" "Failure after failure, and here you are, talking about love." "George, darling." "Go away." "Make sure you have it ready tomorrow at 8:00." " Ready?" " Vanya, we've only got one bomb." "You can't go." "You're the leader." "If something happens to you, all is lost." "If I die, you can plan the whole thing again and carry it through." "You think I won't do it if the children are there, but I will." "If it's the Lord's will, I'll throw it." " I'm glad it's not in the palace." " I'll go." "No!" "Good-bye!" "It will be crowded out the front." "I'll meet him round the corner, where the carriages drive up to the theater." "Very well." "Stand aside!" "Stand aside!" "Clear the road!" "I look at the people around me and wonder what the point is." "If God exists, why did he create them?" "Suddenly I wonder why they're singing and having fun." "Lfhe is dead, shouldn't they be in mourning?" "Haven't they heard the news yet?" "Then I read in the paper that he's still alive." "Vanya was blown to pieces." "Dead." "The coachman lost his head." "Dead." "A bystander who tried to stop Vanya is dead." "And there are more casualties." "Only he is alive." "Alive and unscathed." "Poor Vanya." "Get your things together, Erna." "You have to go right now." " Where to?" " Anywhere." " They're already after us." " What about you?" "I'll be going too." " George, let's go together." " No." "Erna, no." "So are we parting?" "Forever." "No, not forever." "You're tired." "You need to rest and forget." "I won't forget." "George, my love, don't leave me." "My darling, don't leave." "Don't cry." "George, you'll come back, won't you?" "Good-bye." "In the days that follow, I live only for my desire to kill him." "I know he knows about me." "He knows I'm here." "He doesn't leave the palace and has a triple guard for protection." "But I'll still kill him." "I just don't know how." "At the end of the week, I suddenly know how I'm going to kill him." "He'll be going to the next production of the opera he missed because of Vanya's bomb." "He is sure that I feel defeated, destroyed by my failure to kill him, and that I will not be trying again." "For him, I simply do not exist." "You said you would never be my wife." "Is that the truth?" "Yes." "And what if you didn't have a husband?" "I don't know." "Don't think about that." "And don't ask me." "No." "It's either me or him." "You choose." "I can't." "I said choose." "George, I love you." "You know that." "But I've already told you," "I'll never be your wife." "I don't have a plan." "I shall simply go into his box during the show and shoot him." "I'll almost certainly be shot first." "That doesn't matter." "I'm still going to do it." "Where are you from?" "I asked where you were from." "England." "England?" "Well, well." "The most despicable nation of all." "Passing their destroyers off as Japanese." "Sinking our flagships." "Taking Port Arthur." "And now visiting Russia, if you please." "Well, I won't have it!" " You could be a spy." " Shut up!" "Shut up?" "No, sir, let's settle the matter outside " "For the last time, shut up!" "I've been waiting for you." "You know why we're here." "I want you to go away." "Do you understand?" "Are you mad?" "What is this?" "Do you want to fight?" "I demand that you leave!" "You're mad!" "Let's fight, then." "One, two, three..." "Fire." "Vanya lived and died." "Fyodor lived and died." "The Grand Duke lived and died." "Elena's husband lived and died." "People live, die and are born." "I do not repent." "I have no desire for Elena." "It's as if that shot of mine extinguished my love for her." "I do not know where she is or what she's doing." "I only know that each day here brings more risk, yet I can't leave." "I have killed a man." "Until now, I've had a justification." "I've killed for an idea, for a principle." "This time, it was for myself." "I wanted to and I killed." "George." " Well done!" " What for?" "For your victory." "How did you do it?" "Following your success, the Committee wants reinforcements." "What do you mean?" "The constitution has been shown up, so the Committee needs reinforcing." "Fine." "Let them find reinforcements." "You're on the Committee now too." "You're to run the paramilitary wing after I move on to general duties." "It's a difficult job, working on a grand scale." " Why?" " What do you mean, "why"?" "Why kill more people?" "George, you need a rest." "You're tired." "We all are." "Waiter!" "Bring me some decent vodka." "Nizhny Novgorod Venetzaya, Smirnoff or honey vodka?" "I'll have some Venetzaya and some Astrakhan caviar." "You should get out." "The city is full of police." "You're looking quite conspicuous." " Is it fresh?" " Very." "Mind you, there was that time I had dinner in the "Slav Bazaar"." "They said their black caviar was very fresh too, but it certainly didn't agree with me." "Do you know why I turned to violence?" "For freedom, universal equality, social justice." "But that's all nonsense." "You don't believe in it, either." "You don't believe in anything, George." "Terrorism is the triumph of the individual over the state." "You killed the Grand Duke and nothing could stop you, a single individual with a bomb or a gun." "Not the police, not the army, not the courts." "Isn't that marvelous?" "You and I have almost toppled a powerful empire." "Us." "You and me." "Good-bye." "Erna blew herself up in the Hotel Bristol in St. Petersburg on December 24, 1906, while making a bomb to blow up General von der Launitz." "They identified her from her hands, which were found 200 yards away." "Henrich, whose real name was Tadeusz Sikorsky, shot the Governor of Chernigovsky on September 16, 1907." "He was shot on the same day by order of the court-martial." "Valentin Kuzmich was exposed as a secret agent." "He went into hiding in Germany." "During World War I, he was interned and he died on May 20, 1918, in a camp for displaced persons." "I left the Social Revolutionary Party." "When the Communists came to power in Russia, I fought against them." "After the Civil War, I organized a series of terror attacks in the USSR." "In 1925, I was arrested." "During interrogation in the Lyubyanka, I threw myself from a window." "Thirteen years earlier, in 1912, the poet Maximilian Voloshin had given a poetry reading in a St. Petersburg café." "The cold mouth, the crease of an impassive cheek, the glance from beneath the weary lids." "Thus has an iron century beaten you out, with impassioned flames and feverish delirium." "But beyond the gray parchment of the face" "I see the distant northern snows, and in the starry gloom there stands a mighty, melancholy elk." "A cross between its antlers." "He sent that poem to me." "I wrote to him, "I like your poem and I liked the elk, but why me?"" ""And when he had opened the fourth seal," "I heard the voice of the fourth beast" ""say, 'Come and see. '" "And I looked, and behold, a pale horse." "And his name that sat on him was Death," ""and Hell followed with him. "" "The Revelation of St. John the Theologian, Chapter 6."