But at last they are all gone except Naryshkin.
EDSTASTON. Ouf!
PATIOMKIN [jumping up vigorously]. You have done it, darling.
Superbly! Beautifully!
EDSTASTON [astonished]. Do you mean to say you are not drunk?
PATIOMKIN. Not dead drunk, darling. Only diplomatically drunk. As
a drunken hog, I have done for you in five minutes what I could
not have done in five months as a sober man. Your fortune is
made. She likes you.
EDSTASTON. The devil she does!
PATIOMKIN. Why? Aren't you delighted?
EDSTASTON. Delighted! Gracious heavens, man, I am engaged to be
married.
PATIOMKIN. What matter? She is in England, isn't she?
EDSTASTON. No. She has just arrived in St. Petersburg.
THE PRINCESS DASHKOFF [returning]. Captain Edstaston, the Empress
is robed, and commands your presence.
EDSTASTON. Say I was gone before you arrived with the message.
[He hurries out. The other three, too taken aback to stop him,
stare after him in the utmost astonishment.]
NARYSHKIN [turning from the door]. She will have him knouted. He
is a dead man.
THE PRINCESS DASHKOFF. But what am I to do? I cannot take such an
answer to the Empress.
PATIOMKIN. P-P-P-P-P-P-W-W-W-W-W-rrrrrr [a long puff, turning
into a growl]! [He spits.
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