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."

"I'm not touching you, Nicholas," Semyonov answered, laughing softly.

"Yes you are--you know that you are. I'm not angry--not yet. But it's
unwise of you--unwise...."

"Unwise--how?"

"Never mind. 'Below the silent pools there lie hidden many devils.'
Leave me alone. You are our guest."

"Indeed, Nicholas," said Semyonov, still laughing, "I mean you no harm.
Ask our friend Durward here whether I ever mean any one any harm. He
will, I'm sure, give me the best of characters."

"No--no harm perhaps--but still you tease me.... I'm a fool to mind....
But then I am a fool--every one knows it."

All the time he was looking with his pathetic eyes and his pale face at
Vera.

Vera said again, very low, almost in a whisper: "Uncle Alexei...
please."

"But really, Nicholas," Semyonov went on, "you under-rate yourself. You
do indeed. Nobody thinks you a fool. I think you a very lucky man. With
your talents--"

"Talents!" said Nicholas softly, looking at Vera. "I have no talents."

"--And Vera's love for you," went on Semyonov--

"Ah! that is over!" Nicholas said, so low that I scarcely heard it. I do
not know what then exactly happened. I think that Vera put out her hand
to cover Nicholas'. At any rate I saw him draw his away, very gently. It
lay on the table, and the only sound beside the voices was the tiny
rattle of his nails as