It is my affair, Ivan Andreievitch. I
couldn't live with Vera and Nicholas any longer."
Grogoff then interfered.
"I think this is about enough...." he said. "I have given you your
opportunity. Nina has been quite clear in what she has said. She does
not wish to return. There is your answer." He cleared his voice and went
on in rather a higher tone: "I think you forget, Ivan Andreievitch,
another aspect of this affair. It is not only a question of our private
family disputes. Nina has come here to assist me in my national work. As
a member of the Soviet I may, without exaggeration, claim to have an
opportunity in my hands that has been offered in the past to few human
beings. You are an Englishman, and so hidebound with prejudices and
conventions. You may not be aware that there has opened this week the
greatest war the world has ever seen--the war of the proletariats
against the bourgeoisies and capitalists of the world." I tried to
interrupt him, but he went on, his voice ever rising and rising: "What
is your wretched German war? What but a struggle between the capitalists
of the different countries to secure greater robberies and extortions,
to set their feet more firmly than ever on the broad necks of the
wretched People! Yes, you English, with your natural hypocrisy, pretend
that you are fighting for the freedom of the world.
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