are you now, if I may ask?'

'The only thing that a self-respecting Jew can be--a Sejmist, of
course!'

'A Jewish Party?' asked David eagerly. After all the enthusiasm for
Russian politics and world politics he was now pleased with even this
loquacious form of Self-Defence.

'Come and have a glass of tea; I will tell you all about it,' said the
young man, soothed by the prospect of airing his theories. 'We will go
to Friedman's inn--the University Club, we call it, because the
intellectuals generally drink there.'

'With pleasure,' said David, sniffing the chance of recruits. 'But
before we talk of your Party I want to ask whether you can join me in
a branch of the _Samooborona_.'

The young man's face grew overclouded.

'Our Party cannot join any other,' he said.

'But mine isn't a Party--a corps.'

'Not a Party?'

'No.'

'But you have a Committee?'

'Yes--but only----'

'And Branches?'

'Naturally, but simply----'

'And a Party-Chest?'

'The money is only----'

'And Conferences?'

'Of course, but merely----'

'And you read Referats----'

'Not unless----'

'Surely you are a Party!'

'I tell you no. I want all Parties.'

'I am sorry. But I'm too busy just now to consider anything else. Our
Party-Day falls next week, and there's infinite work to be done.'

'Work!' cried David desperately. 'What work?'

'There will be many great speeches. I myself shall not speak beyond an
hour, but that is merely impromptu in the debate. Our Referat-speakers
need at least two hours apiece. We did not get through our last
session till five in the morning. And there were scenes, I tell you!'

'But what is there to discuss?'

'What is there to discuss?' The Sejmist looked pityingly at David.
'The great question of the Duma elections, for one thing. To boycott
or not to boycott. And if not, which candidates shall we support? Then
there is the question of Jewish autonomy in the Russian
Parliament--that is our great principle. Moreover, as a comparatively
new Party, we have yet to thresh out our relations to all the existing
Parties. With which shall we form _blocs_ in the elections? While most
are dangerous to the best interests of the Jewish people and opposed
to the evolution of historic necessity, with some we may be able to
co-operate here and there, where our work intersects.'

'What work?' David insisted again.

'Doesn't our name tell you? We are the _Vozrozhdenie_--the
Resurrectionists--our work