e. The windows in the house of that city are all
small. Those living in them are all fond of light, but it never occurs
to anyone that the windows might be made larger. And when a new house
is built, they put in the same kind of windows, just as small, just as
they have always been.

LIPA

The idea! I never would have thought it. But they can't all be like
that. You must have met good people who knew how to live.

SAVVA

I don't know how to make you understand. Yes, I did meet, if not
altogether good people, yet--The last people with whom I lived were
a pretty good sort. They didn't accept life ready-made, but tried to
make it over to suit themselves. But--

LIPA

Who were they--students?

SAVVA

No. Look here--how about your tongue--is it of the loose kind?

LIPA

Savva, you ought to be ashamed!

SAVVA

All right. Now then. You've read of people who make bombs--little
bombs, you understand? Now if they see anybody who interferes with
life, they take him off. They're called anarchists. But that isn't
quite correct. _(Contemptuously)_ Nice anarchists they are!

LIPA _(starting back, awestruck)_

What are you talking about? You can't possibly be in earnest. It isn't
true. And you in it, too? Why, you look so simple and talk so simply,
and suddenly--I was hot a moment ago, but now I am cold, _(The rooster
crows-under the window, calling the chickens to share some seed he has
found)_

SAVVA

There now--you're frightened. First you want me to tell you, and
then--

LIPA

Don't mind me, Savva, it's nothing. It was so unexpected. I thought
such people didn't really exist--that they were just a fiction of the
imagination. And then, all of a sudden, to find you, my brother--You
are not joking, Savva? Look me straight in the eye.

SAVVA

But why did you get frightened? They are not so terrible after all. In
fact, they are very quiet, orderly people, and very deliberate. They
meet and meet, and weigh and consider a long time, and then--bang!--a
sparrow drops dead. The next minute there is another sparrow in its
place, hopping about on the very same branch. Why are you looking at
my hands?

LIPA

Oh, nothing. Give me your hand--no, your right hand.

SAVVA

Here.

LIPA

How heavy it is. Feel how cold mine are. Go on, tell me all about it.
It's so interesting.

SAVVA

What's there to tell? They are a brave set of people, I must admit;
but it is a bravery of the head, not of the hands. And t