WAITING-WOMAN. (Runs in.) The guests have come already.
MARINA. There you see;
You're ready to chatter silliness till daybreak.
Meanwhile I am not dressed--
ROUZYA. Within a moment
'Twill be quite ready.
(The Waiting-women bustle.)
MARINA. (Aside.) I must find out all.
A SUITE OF LIGHTED ROOMS.
VISHNEVETSKY, MNISHEK
MNISHEK. With none but my Marina doth he speak,
With no one else consorteth--and that business
Looks dreadfully like marriage. Now confess,
Didst ever think my daughter would be a queen?
VISHNEVETSKY. 'Tis wonderful.--And, Mnishek, didst thou think
My servant would ascend the throne of Moscow?
MNISHEK. And what a girl, look you, is my Marina.
I merely hinted to her: "Now, be careful!
Let not Dimitry slip"--and lo! Already
He is completely tangled in her toils.
(The band plays a Polonaise. The PRETENDER and
MARINA advance as the first couple.)
MARINA. (Sotto voce to Dimitry.) Tomorrow evening at eleven, beside
The fountain in the avenue of lime-trees.
(They walk off. A second couple.)
CAVALIER. What can Dimitry see in her?
DAME. How say you?
She is a beauty.
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