I do not know who was responsible for the final incident--Semyonov
perhaps--but I have often wondered whether some word or other of mine
precipitated it. We had finished our meal and were sitting quietly
together, each occupied with his own thoughts. I had noticed that
Markovitch had been drinking a great deal.
I was just thinking it was time for me to go when I heard Semyonov say:
"Well, what do you think of your Revolution now, Nicholas?"
"What do you mean--my Revolution?" he asked.
(The strange thing on looking back is that the whole of this scene seems
to me to have passed in a whisper, as though we were all terrified of
somebody.)
"Well--do you remember how you talked to me?... about the saving of the
world and all the rest of it that this was going to be? Doesn't seem to
be quite turning out that way, does it, from all one hears? A good deal
of quarrelling, isn't there? And what about the army--breaking up a bit,
isn't it?"
"Don't, Uncle Alexei," I heard Vera whisper.
"What I said I still believe," Nicholas answered very quietly. "Leave
Russia alone, Alexei--and leave me alone, too.
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