LORD HUNTINGTON [with a slight pause]: I think it was the act of a swine, but it didn’t surprise me. And now that we’ve vented our little personal rage, suppose we—suppose we sit down and talk business.

VASHYA: You take it coolly, don’t you! Yeah, because you’ve got to. You know who’s the ringmaster now! Me, Vashya, the peasant.

LORD HUNTINGTON [quietly]: You’ve lost your mind.

VASHYA [breathing heavily]: No. That’s over now. [He laughs.] I keep forgetting to be a gentleman. I ate too much black bread when I was a boy. But just the same—That was the most satisfactory moment of all my life, the moment when I felt my fingers stinging against your cheek. It was the act of a swine, but I liked it. Have a drink.

LORD HUNTINGTON: No, thanks. I thought I’d made it plain this wasn’t a social call.

VASHYA: Isn’t it?

LORD HUNTINGTON: No. And now you’ve had your amusement and we can get down to business.

VASHYA: What business?

LORD HUNTINGTON: You have it in your power, as I said before, to put a stop to the war.

VASHYA: I have it in my power—yes!

LORD HUNTINGTON: If you’ll do it, I—in exchange—will keep my secret!

VASHYA: About—?

LORD HUNTINGTON: Your dual personality, Vashya!

VASHYA: My dual personality?

LORD HUNTINGTON: Yes. I have in my possession papers that prove you have been supplying our enemies with ammunition as well as ourselves. Yes—from the very beginning of the war to this present date! Here are the papers!

VASHYA: Forgeries! Do you think I would be such a fool?

LORD HUNTINGTON: The code was difficult. We worked on it over two years before we found the slightest clue. But now we’ve worked it out in full, ready to turn over to whoever might be interested, Vashya, in your secret communications with governments!

VASHYA: I repeat they’re forgeries of the most absurd kind. —But even if they weren’t—what could you do about it? Have you forgotten the powers that I control?

LORD HUNTINGTON: No. That’s why I haven’t come here to arrest you. That’s why I’ve come here to strike a bargain with you. That’s why I even let you slap me—which wasn’t the easiest thing I’ve done in my life. If you’ll stop this carnage, if you’ll put an end to the war—and I know you can do it! —These papers will be destroyed or returned to your possession. You’ll go down in history, perhaps, as the man who saved his country. Nobody will be the wiser.

VASHYA: And I—I reject your proposition! I reject it completely. I know my position. I am the one who makes bargains. Me, Vashya, not you. And I—I defy you to expose me. Go on! Do it if you dare! If you do, the powers I represent will stop supplying your country with arms. You’ll be defenseless. You’ll be at your enemy’s mercy. The great warships will hum over your capitol, dropping bombs, gases, annihilating you, blasting you to bits! You won’t have an ounce of gunpowder to fire back. And it will be me, Vashya, that you’ll have to thank for it. I’ll take you and I’ll— [The sound of a bottle breaking is heard.] I’ll smash you like that! [Then, more quietly.] You see, Lord Huntington, this war will end when and HOW I choose! You have my answer—now GO! [Screaming.] Go! Go! Take your hat and get out of my house, before I—! [Pause.]