"Four...and double." "I win!" "A drink!" "Don't worry, the Count won't be home until dawn." "It's his last night of freedom." "He'll be married tomorrow." "Princess Fedora Romazov is a widow...and she's in a hurry." "She's rich enough...14 million!" "It's best for our frivolous Count." "All those women..." "And cards." "And drink." "All those race horses." "And money-lenders." "When were we last paid?" "Now we're saved." "It's the Count!" "The Princess!" "The Count is not here?" "I've waited for him all evening." "Run to his club." "It's chilly this evening." "So many flowers, and lovely furnishings." "So this is his drawing room." "That's the Count's bedroom." "There's his portrait." "Such a luminous, sincere face." "Such a thoughtful look..." "so attentive to me." "Lips that never lie." "A smile that charms." "Here I can sense his most tender thoughts." "I can almost hear him swearing his love and fidelity to me." "And I am filled with ecstasy." "A new life is beginning for me." "The master's sleigh!" "The Count's bedroom..." "He's been wounded." "Who is that woman?" "The Princess?" "Doctor, an assassination attempt..." "on the Count!" "Send in the doctor!" "I'm Jean de Siriex." "I'm a French diplomat." "Get this medicine, and send for a priest." "I pray to you, as if to God Himself." "Save my beloved." "Save his life." "Let me go in with you." "I have courage. I'm not weeping anymore." "We'll call you shortly." "May I ask Your Serene Highness a question?" "He's the police inspector." "Where is the assassin?" "We have not caught him yet." "Did the Count mention any name?" "Not even my name." "Did he have enemies?" "Who could they be?" "I'll interrogate the servants in the other room." "No." "Right here!" "Take notes." "When did your master leave the restaurant?" "At half-past eight." "I went to receive my master's orders." ""Go home, boy," he said, getting into his sleigh. "I don't need anything."" "Call the coachman." "Your name is Cirillo?" "What orders did your master give you?" "He said, "To the Hunt Club."" "I waited for him outside a while." "Suddenly in the silence two shots rang out." "Then nothing...nothing more." "I was frozen with shock." "Then a man ran through the gate so quickly I couldn't recognize him." "As he ran, he left a trail of blood in the snow." "When in danger, I always pray to the saints." "And to the merciful mother of God." "And my prayers were answered." "A sleigh approached." "I called and called." "It was that gentleman." "My poor master!" "Continue, sir." "The bloody trail led to an empty pavilion." "We entered." "The Count lay there bathed in blood." "He held this pistol?" "It was on the ground." "Only one shot was fired." "This belongs to the Count?" "Yes, he's always been armed since he was threatened." "Well, he's the son of your Chief of Police." "It was a Nihilist!" "The pavilion was rented from an old woman..." "Silence!" "He's calling!" "The pavilion was rented from an old woman..." "Today an old woman brought the Count a letter." "It's in that drawer." "It's been stolen!" "This morning, a gentleman came and waited here." "Suddenly, without telling me his name, he ran out." "He's the assassin!" "What a hasty conclusion." "Call it courage." "These mysterious people are determined." "You are lazy, foolish, blind." "You're not like them, inflamed by hatred and conviction." "My fiance is the son of your Chief." "You won't avenge him!" "My Vladimir, my dream of love, peace, and poetry." "The glory of my life." "My entire happiness." "I take up this sacred cross, left to me by my mother." "I swear to avenge him." "I pledge myself to eternal chastity." "And my heart, to eternal mourning." "May the Madonna and all the saints assist me." "You saw the man before?" "What is his name?" "I can't remember." "Think hard, try to recall." "Who else saw him?" "The porter, perhaps." "On Christmas Day, a man argued with the Count at the door." "Ipanov!" "He lives next door." "The house is dark." "The assassin is asleep!" "Watch those shadows stalking the rooms." "Arrest him!" "The shadows have converged!" "He escaped!" "He is dead." "Vladimir, my beloved." "It is I, your Fedora." "I love you, I adore you." "Speak..." "Answer me." "I present Lazinski." "His name is familiar to all." "Meet Dr. Borov." "He's an exile." "Just as I am." "Politics is my passion." "Monsieur de Siriex, my old friend from Russia...meet a new friend." "Count Loris Ipanov." "De Siriex is secretary of foreign affairs." "I've trapped him." "You're in danger here." "I hunted him down, and flirted with him." "He's in love with me." "He suspects nothing." "I love her." "I'm as light and swift as a caprice." "I'll have no pity on him!" "I ruin the joys of love, and don't know why." "You're a puzzle!" "Your Highness, you're ignoring us." "Each of us has a cross to bear." "You see, here is mine." "This ancient cross once held a sacred relic." "Now I have filled it with a potion that cures every ill." "ls it for you or your friends?" "Who knows?" "I present Lazinski." "He's a Polish genius." "The successor of Chopin." "A poet of the keyboard." "A prince of tenderness." "Little Cossack!" "Gentleman, defend me." "He insulted me." "Why did he dare call me a Cossack?" "The Russian woman is doubly feminine." "She's both adorable and hostile." "She is the true daughter of Eve." "She's tender and impetuous." "She's capable of ecstasy and deception." "She'll sacrifice herself and then betray another." "She is the soul of sensuality." "She is an altar, and an abyss." "A mystery." "An angel and serpent, gypsy and queen." "Eastern sun and northern ice." "That's the Russian woman, with her tenderness and rage." "She'll sacrifice herself and then betray another." "That's the true Russian woman." "Our ideal!" "Your portrait is perfect." "I have a more accurate portrait." "The Parisian gentleman is like a famous wine..." "Champagne!" "Captivating and wicked, playful and icy." "Bad for the heart!" "Acid and sugar, vapor and spirit." "Crackling and fizzing." "Gurgling and trembling." "This golden medicine is poison." "Too much noise and too much foam." "The smoke clears, the intoxication ends." "You're left with boredom and a headache." "The Parisian man is like a famous wine...champagne!" "I caught you." "Whom were you with?" "ls it love then?" "Delirium!" "What can you hope for?" "Everything!" "And if I forbade it?" "By what right?" "Must I be forced to love you?" "Love itself forbids you not to love." "Your gentle hand pushes me away." "Yet it seeks my own hand's warm embrace." "Your eyes say "I love you."" "Even as your lips say..." ""..." "I will love not you."" "Princess, have you any messages for me to take to Russia?" "l, too, am going there." "Then we'll meet." "I am leaving Paris." "For Russia, where I cannot follow you!" "When I arrive, I will petition for your pardon." "It will not be granted." "Did you do something serious?" "But you are innocent?" "Of a crime, yes." "Princess, may Lazinski begin?" "Tell me what happened." "I was accused of hunting down Vladimir Yariskin." "His father is the powerful Chief of Police." "If you are innocent, he will believe you." "How can you offer me your love when it is tainted by terrible suspicion?" "And your name is that of an assassin!" "I am innocent." "Prove this great innocence of yours." "Fling it in everyone's face." "To gain your honor and my love." "You are silent?" "Answer me." "Fedora, do you love me?" "Yes, I love you." "But answer me." "Very well." "I killed him." "Assassin!" "You don't understand." "lt was an accident?" "A punishment." "A cowardly ambush?" "What do you know of it?" "You would leave me here in doubt?" "You don't love me." "I disgust you." "No, it was the shock." "You called me an assassin." "That was my first impulse." "But then my heart questioned it." "I bless you." "Tell me why you killed him." "Here in the middle of a party?" "I'll show you the proof tomorrow." "No, tonight!" "Will you return?" "I'll return." "You do not disgust me." "ln an hour, then." "Criminal!" "You won't escape me any longer." "Overwhelming!" "A little dancing now?" "It's rather late." "Dance is the cognac of love." "An official dispatch..." "an attempted assassination." "On the Czar?" "Those criminals!" "What a pity." "I lost my dance." "God save the Czar!" "Are your men here?" "I have continued to follow Loris Ipanov." "Today a suspect from Russia gave him a letter from his brother Valeriano." "His brother!" "Another criminal!" "I have proof now...his own confession." "He confessed to the crime?" "He's about to return here." "Wait in the garden." "Give me a signal, and I'll dismiss him." "Do your duty. ln silence!" "We brought a gag." "At the Seine, a Russian steamer is waiting for you." "I'll arrest him...dead or alive." "This is for the Ambassador." "Send it to St. Petersburg at once." "For Chief of Police Yariskin?" "I informed him of everything." "It's he!" "Leave!" "Today our beloved Czar was shot." "Just like Vladimir Yariskin." "By Nihilists!" "And you are one of them!" "That is false!" "Then why did you kill him?" "Because of a woman." "My woman." "My wife." "My old mother lives alone peacefully, in her castle." "Last April, she hired a young woman to read to her." "A blonde temptress." "Her name was Wanda." "She flattered me, and I fell in love with her." "My mother saw through her wiles." "And she sent her far away." "I followed her, and in church proclaimed her mine before God." "An old friend was the witness." "Vladimir!" "He was so attentive to Wanda, he aroused my suspicion." "Soon after Christmas, I was leaving my estate." "I remembered a gift for my mother." "I got into my sleigh and rode back." "I saw Wanda's maid leaving Vladimir's home." "I followed her, questioned her." "She confessed." "She had carried letters between Wanda and Vladimir." "I didn't find Vladimir at home." "His servant left me for a moment and I found a letter." "That hateful letter!" "It said, "l'lI wait for you tonight at nine."" "I ask myself if you are the vilest of men or the most unhappy." "What if you are lying?" "You still doubt me?" "How can I be certain?" "Here is your proof." "(Vladimir's handwriting!" ")" ""Your Vladimir adores you."" "(A portrait of him!" ")" "Then it is true." "And he himself was betrothed." ""Think of my future fortune."" "(His fortune!" ")" ""My wife will never be your rival." "You are my only love, Wanda."" "Unfaithful man!" "Now tell me of their punishment." "Wanda's maid showed me their meeting place." "I went there armed." "The outer room was empty." "Then I heard a wave of laughter, and kisses." "They mocked my name." "I was blind with rage." "I hurled myself against the door." "I threw her to the ground." ""Leave her," the vile man shouted." "I turned on him." "He drew his gun and fired, wounding me in the side." "I fired back." "But I killed him!" "She fled." "Soon she fell ill." "She languished and died." "Who is spying on me now?" "Do you know these wretches?" "I know nothing." "You see I am weeping." "I am not weeping for my own life." "I am thinking of my mother." "I weep for her sadness." "I can never return home." "I can never beg her forgiveness or be with her at her death." "I will not close her dear eyes." "You see I am weeping." "These are not the tears of a coward." "Let me be the one to weep." "I weep out of shame." "Shame for my false accusation." "For my terrible mistake." "I thought you were a slave to the hatred of others." "Your revenge was justified." "I am without homeland, name and family." "I will not leave you." "I will embrace you for your mother." "(The signal!" ")" "Until tomorrow." "I'm leaving." "It's late." "Don't leave!" "Spies surround you!" "They'll kill you!" "I will not involve you in my misfortune." "Stay!" "I'm frightened." "You're going to your death." "Gossips will say I'm your lover." "Let them!" "I do love you." "Fedora, I love you." "Your gaze intoxicates me." "You don't regret leaving your country and mother?" "I regret nothing." "Fedora, your reputation is lost." "To save you!" "Tell me again that you love me." "Then stay!" "The chirping birds announce the coming of spring." "The snow caps melt in the vanishing winter." "The accordion plays a song of young love." "And the ancient mountains glisten bathed by silver waterfalls." "How beautiful you are!" "And how kind you are." "What lovely flowers." "And so many of them!" "You don't care for flowers?" "I see only you, a human flower." "My perfect flower." "You are the flower of passion, an incomparable flower." "The flower of love." "What, again?" "Always!" "You still have faith." "I don't believe in anything." "I've renounced the world." "Everything bores me." "Even the beauties of nature?" "The same old greenery." "The same white lambs." "The same sweating babies." "The symphony of crickets and the kingdom of flies!" "Cousin, thanks, but I've had enough." "A visitor?" "I'm off to the post office." "I'm expecting news from Paris." "Loris, come back soon." "Why, it's De Siriex!" "I'm staying at a nearby hotel." "When I heard you were here, I hopped on a bicycle." "I looked for you, and here I am." "A prince of courtesy!" "No more love affairs?" "I'm resting." "What about the great pianist?" "He was another disappointment." "That's my destiny." "He was sweet...the pianist." "An angel." "But too blond." "And as delicate as a woman." "A heart of fire." "A volcano!" "He was jealous." "Othello." "lago!" "He followed me everywhere." "A servant." "A bodyguard." "He was always reading." "Your letters?" "Who told you?" "I only guessed." "Once I shouted at him." "And he stormed out." "The next day...he was gone." "Now he's nearby in Geneva." "That's serious." "Countess, are you strong?" "Like steel." "You won't faint?" "Our Polish genius, successor of Chopin..." "He may be a secret agent." "A spy?" "Sent by the lmperial Government to make you talk!" "All things must come to an end." "It's not the first time." "And it won't be the last." "Love is a bird on the wing." "It appears, only to fly away." "Let's erase him from our memory." "For something better." "A kidnapping!" "On a bicycle." "I'll go dress for it!" "What a scatterbrain." "I'm not here because of her." "Do you truly love him?" "Loris?" "More than life itself." "Then you're happy?" "As if I were dreaming." "Then I've come to awaken you." "Count, you almost frighten me." "It's that savage Chief of Police." "He has struck a cruel blow." "The old tiger mourned his dead son." "And he longed for a bloody revenge." "With a wave of his hand, he imprisoned a young man as a Nihilist." "As an accomplice in Vladimir's assassination." "The boy was thrown into the prison on the Neva." "One night, the river suddenly flooded." "He drowned in his cell." "What was his name?" "Valeriano Ipanov." "Loris's brother?" "His aged, ill mother received this news." "And died?" "His mother, too!" "What have I done?" "I am the one who killed them!" "I'm ready." "Do you like my costume?" "I'll race you." "What's the prize?" "A kiss." "Princess, be brave." "My little mountain maiden will never again return." "God of justice, look down with Thy holy gaze." "Scrutinize the anguished and see their remorse." "God of pity, do not refuse to hear this plea." "I pray to You for the sake of another." "Do not be charitable with me." "I am unworthy." "But save Loris." "Save my beloved." "No letter from my mother." "Or from my brother." "Here's a telegram." "It must be from my brother." "No, from Dr. Borov." "My pardon!" "Oh, my aged mother, my dear brother..." "My family home and native land..." "I shall see them again at last." "And you will follow me to the wedding altar." "Fedora, why are you silent?" "I still fear destiny." "Borov was in Paris." "He'll be here today." "I forgot to read my other letters." "It's from Borov, written before the telegram." ""Yariskin offered proof of your crime."" ""Your confession, and the name of your accomplice..."" "What accomplice?" ""Valeriano..."" "My brother!" "Oh, this is criminal." ""The accusation was written by a Russian woman in Paris."" ""She signed only her first name." "I have the letter."" "At last, I will know who my enemy is!" ""Yariskin ordered your brother's arrest."" ""The prison...flooded...at night..."" ""Drowned!"" "My mother!" "My poor mother!" "My dearest love." "Dead because of me!" "They were innocent." "I'll punish her, by God!" "Fedora, why are you moving away?" "Stay near me." "You are all I have left." "Give me your hand." "Weep with me." "It's Borov?" "We'll find that woman in Paris." "We'll search for that spy and unmask her!" "What if the unfortunate woman had lost her heart to Vladimir?" "You killed her beloved." "She hated you." "And hate knows no pardon." "Just as love knows no reason." "But what harm did my mother do her?" "Or my brother?" "Perhaps now she mourns with you and prays for them." "ln her blind fury, she committed a terrible sin." "The madwoman gave no thought to innocent victims." "A carriage." "It's Borov." "If she repented, would you show her pity?" "Pity?" "Never!" "What if that unhappy woman kneeled at your feet and mourned almost to the point of death?" "What if she begged for pardon?" "And asked your pity?" "Your mercy!" "Mercy!" "Loris, I know your sweetness and goodness." "You would be merciful." "Don't say no." "Tell me you would forgive her." "Only after I had strangled her!" "(I am lost.)" "(He will kill me!" ")" "One last word..." "Forgive that woman." "You care so much for her?" "You know her, and you dare..." "That criminal was you!" "Forgive me." "You murdered my brother and mother?" "To avenge your Vladimir!" "Your vile lover!" "So this is how you love, murderer." "You betrayed me." "My death is at hand." "She took poison." "I know everything." "Save her!" "It's useless." "My death is approaching." "Forgive me now." "I am dying." "I don't want her to die." "Help her, Borov, in heaven's name." "It is too late." "Everything is growing dim." "I do not regret dying, Loris." "Love is unjust." "Death has its comforts." "While I was alive you cursed me." "Perhaps you will forgive me as I die." "I am so cold." "Lend me your warmth." "I want your love a little longer." "Sleep...the endless night..." "Loris, where are you?" "I am here beside you." "To grant you my forgiveness." "Your lips that I adore..." "How I love you!"