At last V. arrived. He was in good spirits, very cordial and friendly, talking of the fires past which he had come and of the common report that they were due to arson. Then he added, half in jest : 'It's Pugachev4 over again. Just look out, or you and I will be caught by the rebels and impaled.'
'I am more afraid that the authorities will lay us by the heels,'
I answered. 'Do you know that Ogarev was arrested last night by the police ? '
The police ! Good heavens I'
'That is why I came. Something must b e done. You must g o to the Governor and find out what the charge is ; and you must ask leave for me to see him.'
No answer came, and I looked at V. I saw a face that might have belonged to his elder brother - the pleasant colour and features were changed; he groaned aloud and was obviously disturbed.
'What's the matter ? ' I asked.
'Y au know I told you, I always told you, how it would end.
Yes, yes, it was bound to happen. It's likely enough they will shut me up too, though I am perfectly innocent. I know what the inside of a fortress is like, and it's no joke, I can tell you.'
'Will you go to the Governor ?'
'My dear fellow, what good would it do ? Let me give you a 4· The leader of a famous rebellion in Catherine's reign. Many nobles were murdered with brutal cruelty.
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piece of friendly advice : don't say a word about Ogarev ; keep as quiet as you can, or harm will come of it. You don't know how dangerous affairs like this are. I frankly advise you to keep out of it. Make what stir you like, you will do Ogarev no good and you will get caught yourself. That is what autocracy means - Russian subjects have no rights and no means of defence, no advocates and no judges.'
But his brave words and trenchant criticisms had no attractions for me on this occasion : I took my hat and departed.
5
I found a general commotion going on at home. My father was angry with me because Ogarev had been arrested ; my uncle, the Senator, was already on the scene, runimaging among my books and picking out those which he thought dangerous; he was very uneasy.
On my table I found an invitation to dine that day with Count Orlov. Possibly he might be able to do something ? Though I had learned a lesson by my first experiment, it could do no harm to try.
Mikhail Orlov was one of the founders of the famous Society of Welfare ;5 and if he missed Siberia, he was less to blame for that than his brother, who was the first to gallop up with his squadron of the Guards to the defence of the Winter Palace, on 14 December 1825. Orlov was confined at first to his own estates, and allowed to settle in Moscow a few years later. During his solitary life in the country he studied political economy and chemistry.
The first time I met hini he spoke of a new method of naming chemical compounds. Able men who take up some science late in life often show a tendency to rearrange the furniture, so to speak, to suit their own ideas. Orlov's system was more complicated than the French system, which is generally accepted. As I wished to attract his attention, I argued in a friendly way that, though his system was good, it was not as good as the old one.
He contested the point, but ended by agreeing with me.
My little trick was successful, and we became intimate. He saw in me a rising possibility, and I saw in him a man who had fought 5· An imitation of the Tuge:nbund formed by German students in 1808. In Russia the society became identified with the Decembrists.
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for our ideals, a n intimate friend o f our heroes, and a shining light amid surrounding darkness.
Poor Orlov was like a caged lion. He beat against the bars of his cage at every tum ; nowhere could he find elbow-room or occupation, and he was devoured by a passion for activity.
More than once since the collapse of France 6 I have met men of this type, men to whom political activity was an absolute necessity, who never could find rest within the four walls of their study or in family life. To them solitude is intolerable : it makes them fanciful and unreasonable ; they quarrel with their few remaining friends, and are constantly discovering plots against themselves, or else they make plots of their own, in order to unmask the imaginary schemes of their enemies.
A theatre of action and spectators are as vital to these men as the air they breathe, and they are capable of real heroism under such conditions. Noise and publicity are essential to them ; they must be making speeches and hearing the objections of their opponents ; they love the excitement of contest and the fever of danger, and, if deprived of these stimulants, they grow depressed and spiritless, run to seed, lose their heads, and make mistakes.
Ledru-Rollin 7 is a man of this type ; and he, by the way, especially since he has grown a beard, has a personal resemblance to Orlov.
Orlov was a very fine-looking man. His tall figure, dignified bearing, handsome manly features, and entirely bald scalp seemed to suit one another perfectly, and lent an irresistible attraction to his outward appearance. His head would make a good contrast with the head of General Yermolov, that tough old warrior, whose square frowning forehead, peniliouse of grey hair, and penetrating glance gave him the kind of beauty which fascinated Maria Kochubey in the poem.8
Orlov was at his wits' end for occupation. He started a factory for stained-glass windows of medieval patterns and spent more in 6. i.e., after 2 December 1 8 5 1 .
7· Alexandre Ledru-Rollin (1807-'74), a French liberal politician and advocate of universal suffrage. See also p. 106.
8. See Pushkin's Poltuva. Maria, who was young and beautiful. fell in love with Mazeppa, who was old and war-worn and her father's enemy.
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producing them than he got by selling them. Then he tried to write a book On Credit, but that proved uncongenial, though it was his only outlet. The lion was condemned to saunter about Moscow with nothing to do, and not daring even to use his tongue freely.
Orlov's struggles to tum hinlseli into a philosopher and man of science were most painful to watch. His intellect, though clear and showy, was not at all suited to abstract thought, and he confused himself over the application of newly devised methods to familiar subjects, as in the case of chemistry. Though speculation was decidedly not his forte, he studied metaphysics with immense perseverance.
Being imprudent and careless in his talk, he was constantly making slips ; he was carried away by his instincts, which were always chivalrous and generous, and then he suddenly remembered his position and checked hinlself in mid-course. In these diplomatic withdrawals he was even less successful than in metaphysics or scientific terminology : in trying to clear himself of one indiscretion, he often slipped into two or three more. He got blamed for this ; people are so superficial and unobservant that they think more of words than actions, and attach more importance to particular mistakes than to a man's general character. It was unfair to expect of him a high standard of consistency ; he was less to blame than the sphere in which he lived, where every honourable feeling had to be hidden, like smuggled goods, up your sleeve, and uttered behind closed doors. If you spoke above your breath, you would spend the whole day in wondering wheilier the police would soon be down upon you.