cts. Without first proving your
theories correct you would ram them down the throat of the world. The
world rejects you."

"Wait and see, damned bourgeoisie!" thundered Karlov, not alive to the
fact that he was being baited.

"Bourgeoisie? Yes, I am of the middle class; the rogue on top and the
fool below. I see. The rogue and the fool cannot combine unless the
bourgeoisie is obliterated. Go on. I am interested."

"Under the soviet the government shall be everything."

"As it was in Prussia."

Karlov ignored this. "The individual shall never again become rich by
exploiting the poor."

Karlov strove to speak calmly. Gregor's willingness to discuss the aims
of the proletariat confused him. He suspected some ulterior purpose
behind this apparent amiability. He must hold down his fury until this
purpose was in the open.

"Well, that is good," Gregor admitted. "But somehow it sounds ancient on
my ear. Was there not a revolution in France?"

"Fool, it is the world that is revolting!" Karlov paused. "And no man in
the future shall see his sister or his daughter made into a loose woman
without redress."

"Your proletariat's sister and daughter. But the daughter of the noble
and the daughter of the bourgeoisie--fair game!"

Sometimes there enters a man's head what might be called a sick idea;
when the vitality is at low ebb and the future holds nothing. Thus there
was a grim and sick idea behind Gregor's gibes. It was in his mind to
die. All the things he had loved had been destroyed. So then, to goad
this madman into a physical frenzy. Once those gorilla-like hands
reached out for him Stefani Gregor's neck would break.

"Be still, fiddler! You know what I mean. There will be no upper class,
which is idleness and wastefulness; no middle class, the usurers, the
gamblers of necessities, the war makers. One great body of equals shall
issue forth. All shall labour."

"For what?"

"The common good."

"Your Lenine offered peace, bread, and work for the overthrow of
Kerensky. What you have given--murder and famine and idleness. Can there
be common good that is based upon the blood of innocents? Did Ivan ever
harm a soul? Have I?"

"You!" Karlov trembled. "You--with your damned green stones! Did you not
lure Anna to dishonour with the promise to show her the drums, the sight
of which would make all her dreams come true? A child, with a fairy
story in her head!"

"You speak of Anna! If you hadn't been spouting your