they call for some wine and sit down at one of the tables, drinking great quantities of it. Behind them slips in Grigory, the young monk we saw in the first act. But he is a monk no longer: he has fled the monastery and put on civilian clothes, for he hopes to raise an army against Tsar Boris, claiming that he is the young Dimitri, the lawful heir to the throne of the Tsars, whom he believes Boris murdered.

Varlaam, a bottle of wine in his hand, sings a boisterous song that opens: "Once upon a time in the town of Kazan." While the two monks chatter, Grigory asks the hostess about the shortest road to the border. He is on the point of leaving the place by stealth when there comes a loud knocking at the door. Policemen enter, searching for a runaway monk and carrying a warrant for his arrest. Since they cannot read, Grigory volunteers to read out the warrant. In doing so he makes the description contained in the warrant he reads fit Varlaam, who is fuddled with drink. But the latter starts up in anger and proceeds to recite the true description set down in the warrant — which fits, of course, Grigory. He had expected this, so he drew a knife and cut himself a way out through the window, after overturning a table in the path of his pursuers, who tumbled one over another and could not follow him at once.

Scene Two: The Tsar's private apartments in the Kremlin palace.

Tsar Boris's two children are sitting with their nurse.. Fyodor

is poring over a geography book, and the girl Xenia is singing a sad song for the death of her betrothed. Boris enters and advises his daughter to amuse herself with friends of her own age.. and she leaves the room with her nurse. Boris talks with his son and urges him to be diligent in his lessons, for he will one day become Tsar and will need knowledge and wisdom. Then Tsar Boris falls to contemplating his misery, five years having passed since he seated himself in the seat of power. For he has felt no contentment or happiness in having reached the throne. Famine has broken out in Russia; there are unceasing conspiracies and quarrels among the nobles.. and worst of all, his conscience is never once at ease, and the vision of the murdered boy Dimitri haunts him always..

A messenger comes to inform him of fresh disturbances, followed by Prince Shuisky, one of the members of the court, known for his cunning and his foxiness. He acquaints Boris with the rebellion contrived by Grigory, who claims to be the lawful heir Dimitri. The Tsar cries out, "Can Dimitri rise from among the dead?" Shuisky, who witnessed the crime, trembles before the Tsar's wrath, and re-enacts before him the events of the bloody crime until Boris's nerves give way completely. He seizes Shuisky by the collar of his robe and orders him out, then falls prey to a terrible fit of the reproaches of conscience. He imagines that he sees the ghost of Dimitri streaming with blood; he sinks upon his knees, a prey to the

pains of remorse and self-reproach, and closes with prayer.

Act Three

Scene One: A lady's boudoir in a palace in Poland.

Here Dimitri, who claims the throne of the Tsars as its lawful heir, is organizing his revolt against Boris. And here is Marina Mnishek, the beautiful Polish noblewoman, seated before her mirror making ready for a ball, her maids-in-waiting assisting in her toilette and adornment. She turns to them, saying she is weary of hearing the airs of the mazurka and the polonaise, and asks them to sing her the songs of the Polish warriors. After she dismisses them she dreams of setting the Russian crown upon her head, for she has met the false Dimitri and believes he has fallen in love with her. The Jesuit priest Rangoni enters and persuades her not to content herself with Dimitri's request to marry her, but to adopt the cause of the Roman Catholic Church against the Russian Orthodox Church, the official church of the Russian Empire. Marina protests at first, saying the task is too perilous for her to undertake; but Rangoni takes up a small cross he carries, and Marina stands in awe of the moment and submits to his demands.

Scene Two: A fountain in the garden of Marina's palace.

Dimitri has a rendezvous with Marina in the garden, which is bathed in moonlight, and he

is yearning to meet her, that he may sing her his love. The