Just you wait, my precious! You'll get what's coming to you, and mighty quick. The devil will come and hurl you into the fiery pit. To h.e.l.l, to gehenna, with you! How your fat will melt and run! Do you get the smell, monk?

FAT MONK

That's from the refectory.

KING HEROD

You are on the run, fast as your feet can carry you! Ah! but where to?

Everywhere is h.e.l.l, everywhere is fire. You refused to hearken unto me, my pet; now you shall hearken unto the fire. Won't I be glad, won't I rejoice! I'll take off my chains so that I can catch them and present them to the devil--first one, then the other. Here, take him.

And the howl they'll set up, and the weeping and lamentation. "I am not guilty." Not guilty? Who, then, is--who? To gehenna with you!

Burn, you d.a.m.ned hypocrites, until the second Advent. And then we'll build a new fire, then we'll build a new fire.

GRAY MONK

Isn't it time for us to go, Father Kirill?

FAT MONK

Yes, we had better be moving along. It's getting dark, and it's time to retire.

KING HEROD

Aha! You don't like to hear the truth. It isn't pleasant, is it?

FAT MONK

Hee-hee, brother, talk is cheap. A barking dog doesn't bite. Scold away, scold away. We are listening. G.o.d in heaven will decide who is to go to h.e.l.l and who elsewhere. "The meek, shall inherit the earth,"

says the Gospel. Good-bye, young gentlemen.

GRAY MONK _(to King Herod)_

Let me give you a piece of advice, however. Talk, but don't talk too much. Don't go too far. We are only tolerating you because you are a pitiful creature and because you are foolish. But if you give your tongue too free a rein, we can stop it, you know. Yes, indeed.

KING HEROD

All right, try--try to stop me.

FAT MONK

What's the use, Father Vissarion? Let him talk. It doesn't do any harm. Listen, listen, young gentlemen. He is an interesting fellow.

Good night.

_[They go. The Fat Monk is heard laughing heartily._

KING HEROD _(to Savva)_

Fine specimens. I can't stand them.

SAVVA

I like you, uncle.

KING HEROD

Do you? So you don't like their kind either?

SAVVA

No, I don't.

KING HEROD

Well, I'll sit down for a while. My legs are swollen. Have you got a cigarette?

SAVVA _(handing him a cigarette)_

Do you smoke?

KING HEROD

Sometimes. Excuse me for having talked to you the way I did before.

You are a good fellow. But why did you lie and say you understood? No one can understand it. Who is this with you?

SAVVA

Oh, he just happened along.

KING HEROD

Well, brother, feeling bad, down in the mouth?

SPERANSKY

Yes, I feel blue.

KING HEROD

Keep still, keep still, I don't want to listen. You are suffering?

Keep still. I am a man too, brother, so I don't understand. I'll insult you if you don't look out. _(Throws away the cigarette)_ No, I can't. As long as I keep standing or walking I manage somehow. The moment I sit down, it's h.e.l.l. Oh! Ow-w! _(Writhing in agony)_ I simply can't catch my breath. Oh, G.o.d, do you see my torture? Eh? Well, well, it's nothing. It's gone. Oh! Ow-w!

_[The sky has become overcast with clouds. It turns dark quickly. Now and then there are flashes of lightning._

SAVVA _(quietly)_

One must try to stifle one's grief, old man. Fight it. Say to yourself firmly and resolutely: "I don't want it." And it will cease to be. You seem to be a good, strong man.

KING HEROD