Vera (e-book) (used book) | Oscar Wilde | bookbook.eu

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Excerpt: ... My father gave me the Iron Cross of valour. Oh, could he see me now with this coward's livery ever in my cheek! (Sinks into his chair.) I never knew any love when I was a boy. I was ruled by terror myself, how else should I rule now? (Starts up.) But I will have revenge; I will have revenge. For every hour I have lain awake at night, waiting for the noose or the dagger, they shall pass years in Siberia, centuries in the mines! Ay! I shall have revenge. Czare. Father! have mercy on the people. Give them what they ask. Prince Paul. And begin, Sire, with your own head; they have a particular liking for that. Czar. The people! the people! A tiger which I have let loose upon myself; but I will fight with it to the death. 14 I am done with half measures.14 I 41 shall crush these Nihilists at a blow. There shall not be a man of them, ay, or a woman either, left alive in Russia. 15 Am I Emperor for15 nothing, that a woman should hold me at bay? Vera Sabouroff shall be in my power, I swear it, before a week is ended, 16 though I burn my whole city to find her.16 She shall be flogged by the knout, stifled in the fortress, strangled in the square! Czare. O God! Czar. For two years her hands have been clutching at my throat; for two years she has made my life a hell; but I shall have revenge. Martial law, Prince, martial law over the whole Empire; that will give me revenge. A good measure, Prince, eh? a good measure. Prince Paul. And an economical one too, Sire. It would carry off your surplus population in six months, and save you many expenses in courts of justice; they will not be needed now. Czar. Quite right. There are too many people in Russia, too much money spent on them, too much money in courts of justice. I'll shut them up. Czare. Sire, reflect before