ever suffer so much.
That is impossible. Only, in their case it is more pitiful because they
cannot make a revolution. I used to be a Republican. I suppose you are a
Republican?"

Miss Haldin confessed to me that she did not know what to say. But she
nodded slightly, and asked in her turn--

"And are you no longer a Republican?"

"After taking down Peter Ivanovitch from dictation for two years, it is
difficult for me to be anything. First of all, you have to sit perfectly
motionless. The slightest movement you make puts to flight the ideas of
Peter Ivanovitch. You hardly dare to breathe. And as to coughing--God
forbid! Peter Ivanovitch changed the position of the table to the wall
because at first I could not help raising my eyes to look out of the
window, while waiting for him to go on with his dictation. That was not
allowed. He said I stared so stupidly. I was likewise not permitted to
look at him over my shoulder. Instantly Peter Ivanovitch stamped his
foot, and would roar, 'Look down on the paper!' It seems my expression,
my face, put him off. Well, I know that I am not beautiful, and that my
expression is not hopeful either. He said that my air of unintelligent
expectation irritated him. These are his own words."

Miss Haldin was shocked, but admitted to me that she was not altogether
surprised.

"Is it possible that Peter Ivanovitch could treat any woman so rudely?"
she cried.

The _dame de compagnie_ nodded several times with an air of discretion,
then assured Miss Haldin that she did not mind in the least. The trying
part of it was to have the secret of the composition laid bare before
her; to see the great author of the revolutionary gospels grope for
words as if he were in the dark as to what he meant to say.

"I am quite willing to be the blind instrument of higher ends. To
give one's life for the cause is nothing. But to have one's illusions
destroyed--that is really almost more than one can bear. I really don't
exaggerate," she insisted. "It seemed to freeze my very beliefs in
me--the more so that when we worked in winter Peter Ivanovitch, walking
up and down the room, required no artificial heat to keep himself warm.
Even when we move to the South of France there are bitterly cold days,
especially when you have to sit still for six hours at a stretch. The
walls of these villas on the Riviera are so flimsy. Peter Ivanovitch did
not seem to be aware of anything. It is true that I kept down my shiver