He seized her hand and flung it aside. “Will you ever come down to earth? What do you want? Want me to sing of life with little excursions to the G.P.U. between hymns? Afraid they’ve broken me? Afraid they’ll get me? Want me to keep something that the mire can’t reach, the more to suffer while it sucks me under? You’re being kind to me, aren’t you, because you love me so much? Don’t you think you’d be kinder if you’d let me fall into the mire? So that I’d be one with our times and would feel nothing any longer ... nothing ... ever ...”
A hand knocked at the door.
“Come in,” said Kira.
Andrei Taganov came in. “Good evening, Kira,” he said and stopped, seeing Leo.
“Good evening, Andrei,” said Kira.
Leo raised his head with effort. His eyes looked faintly startled.
“Good evening,” said Andrei, turning to him. “I didn’t know you were out already.”
“I’m out. I thought you had reason to expect it.”
“I did. But I didn’t know they’d hurry. I’m sorry to intrude like this. I know you don’t want to see any visitors.”
“It’s all right, Andrei,” said Kira. “Sit down.”
“There’s something I have to tell you, Kira.” He turned to Leo: “Would you mind if I took Kira out — for a few minutes?”
“I certainly would,” Leo answered slowly. “Have you any secrets to discuss with Kira?”
“Leo!” Her voice was almost a scream. She added, quietly, her voice still trembling: “Come on, Andrei.”
“No,” said Andrei calmly, sitting down. “It isn’t really necessary. It’s not a secret.” He turned to Leo. “I just wanted to spare you the necessity of ... of feeling indebted to me, but perhaps it would be better if you heard it, too. Sit down, Kira. It’s perfectly all right. It’s about his release from the G.P.U.”
Leo was looking at him fixedly, silently, leaning forward. Kira stood, her shoulders hunched, her hands clasped behind her back, as if they were tied. She looked at Andrei; his eyes were clear, serene.
“Sit down, Kira,” he said almost gently.
She obeyed.
“There’s something you should know, both of you,” said Andrei, “for your own protection. I couldn’t tell you sooner, Kira. I had to be sure that it had worked. Well, it has. I suppose you know who’s really behind your release. It’s Pavel Syerov. I want you to know what’s behind him — in case you ever need it.”
“It’s you, isn’t it?” asked Leo, a faint edge of sharpness in his voice.
“Leo, keep quiet. Please!” said Kira, turning away not to see his eyes watching her.
“It’s a letter,” Andrei continued calmly. “A letter he wrote and you know what that was. The letter had been sent to me ... by someone else. Syerov has powerful friends. That saved him. But he’s not very brave. That saved you. The letter had been destroyed. But I told him that I had photostats of it and that they were in the possession of friends who would send them to higher authorities in Moscow — unless you were released. The case is killed. I don’t think they’ll ever bother you again. But I want you to know this, so that you can hold it over Syerov’s head — if you need it. Let him think that you know the photostats are in good hands — and on their way to Moscow, if he makes one step in your direction. That’s all. I don’t think you’ll ever need it. But it’s a useful protection to have, in these times — and with your social record.”
“And ... the photostats?” Kira whispered. “Where are they actually?”
“There are no photostats,” said Andrei.
A truck thundered in the street below and the window panes trembled in the silence.
Andrei’s eyes met Kira’s. Their eyes met and parted swiftly, for Leo was watching them.
It was Leo who spoke first. He rose and walked to Andrei, and stood looking down at him. Then he said: “I suppose I should thank you. Well, consider me grateful. Only I won’t say that I thank you from the bottom of my heart, because in the bottom of my heart I wish you had left me where I was.”
“Why?” Andrei asked, looking up at him.
“Do you suppose Lazarus was grateful when Christ brought him back from the grave — if He did? No more than I am to you, I think.”
Andrei looked at him steadily; Andrei’s face was stern; his words were a threat: “Pull yourself together. You have so much to live for.”
Leo shrugged and did not answer.
“You’ll have to close that store of yours. Try to get a job. Better not a very prominent one. You’ll hate it. But you’ll have to stick to it.”
“If I can.”
“You can. You have to.”
“Do I?” said Leo, and Kira saw his eyes watching Andrei closely.
She asked: “Andrei, why did you want to tell us about Syerov’s letter?” “So that you’d know in case ... in case anything happened to me.”
“What is going to happen to you, Andrei?”
“Nothing ... Nothing that I know of.” He added, rising: “Except that I’m going to be thrown out of the Party, I think.”
“It ... it meant a lot to you, didn’t it ... your Party?”
“It did.”
“And ... and when you lose something that meant a lot to you, does it ... make any difference?”
“No. It still means a lot to me.”
“Will you ... hate them for it ... for throwing you out?”
“No.”
“Will you ... forgive them ... some day?”
“I have nothing to forgive. Because, you see, I have a lot to be grateful for, in the past, when I belonged to — to the Party. I don’t want them to feel that they had been ... unjust. Or that I blame them. I can never tell them that I understand. But I would like them to know it.”
“Perhaps they may be worried ... although they have no right to question you any longer ... about a life they may have broken ...”
“If I could ask a favor — when they throw me out — I’d ask them not to worry about me. So that ... in the Party annals ... I won’t become a wound, but a bearable memory. Then, my memories will be bearable, too.”
“I think they’d grant you that ... if they knew.”
“I’d thank them ... if I could.”
He turned and took his cap from the table and said, buttoning his jacket: “Well, I have to go. Oh, yes, another thing: keep away from Morozov. I understand he’s leaving town, but he’ll be back and starting some new scheme. Keep away. He’ll always get out of it and leave you to take the blame.”
“Shall we ... see you again, Andrei?” asked Kira.
“Sure. I’ll be very busy — for a while. But I’ll be around ... Well, good night.”
“Good night, Andrei.”
“Wait a minute,” said Leo suddenly. “There’s something I want to ask you.”
He walked to Andrei, and stood, his hands in his pockets, his lips spitting the words out slowly: “Just why did you do all this? Just what is Kira to you?”
Andrei looked at Kira. She stood, silent, erect, looking at them. She was leaving it up to him. He turned to Leo and answered: “Just a friend.”
“Good night,” said Leo.
The door had closed, and the door in Lavrov’s room, and in the silence they heard the door in the lobby opening and closing behind Andrei. Then Kira tore forward suddenly. Leo could not see her face. He heard only a sound that was not a moan and not quite a cry. She ran out of the room, and the door slammed shut behind her, and the crystals of the chandelier tinkled softly.
She ran down the stairs, out into the street. It was snowing. She felt the air like a scalding jet of steam striking her bare neck. Her feet felt very light and thin in their open slippers in the snow. She saw his tall figure walking away and she ran after him, calling: “Andrei!”