translation.

_Rus. Big._ A happy thought! The moral is wholesome. The Monarchical
principle is advocated in the approved counting out of money and
consumption of bread and honey by their Majesties, and the right of
life and death is suggested by the pecking off of the nose of the
housemaid while employed in hanging out the clothes! And about the
troops--have they been warned that they might some day be expected to
give a hated alien an enthusiastic reception?

_Sub._ They have, my Lord. And in anticipation of such an occasion,
they have been taught for the last six months how to cheer in a
whisper.

_Rus. Big._ Good! And now to a pleasanter duty. Have you those hundred
thousand copies of _Punch_ that were yesterday seized at the frontier?

_Sub._ I have, my Lord!

_Rus. Big._ (_with fiendish glee_). To Siberia with them! Come, help
me to post them!

_Sub._ (_trembling_). But, my Lord, should _Punch_ be read by the
political prisoners who lie covered with chains in the secret mines
under the lowest mountain in the Czar's dominions? What then?

_Rus. Big._ (_in an awesome whisper_). Mark me well! In the present
pitiable state of the prisoners, such a feast of mirth-compelling
waggery would kill them--yes, _kill_ them--with laughter!