Nicholas and Alexandra1971

[Tobolsk. It is a bleak winter even during Easter]

Colonel Koblinsky:
I can't trust my own men. Anything could set them off. I don't give orders anymore; I make suggestions. They go and vote. Tomorrow they could vote to hang me. It's absurd!

Tsar Nicholas II:
They're decent boys.

Colonel Koblinsky:
They were once, but they're lonely now, cold and scared to death. Have you got any money?

Tsar Nicholas II:
Not much, why?

Colonel Koblinsky:
Has it crossed your mind that I represent a nonexistent government? Who put me in this post? Who gave me the authority? Whose money pays the troops? Kerensky's gone! The money's gone! I haven't paid them in a month!

Tsar Nicholas II:
You think I should pay them? The prisoners keep the guard. [chuckling] I wish I'd had you for my finance minister. You would have revolutionized the penal system!

Colonel Koblinsky:
Don't laugh.

Tsar Nicholas II:
Shall I take the collection?

Colonel Koblinsky:
In Tobolsk there are rumors of a civil war. God only knows what's going on! Out here, exposed like this... [points to the stockade being built] That's not to keep you in here; it's to keep them out.

Tsar Nicholas II:
"Them"? Who are you expecting?

Colonel Koblinsky:
I don't know. I hate this damned assignment! I can't answer for your safety. I can't do my job.

Tsar Nicholas II:
You care what happens to us, don't you?

Colonel Koblinsky:
It's my job to.