As my first actual acquaintance with Anarchists was effected in
Nekrovitch's house, it will not be out of place for me to give a slight
sketch of the gatherings held there and of my host himself.
An interminably dreary journey by tram and rail, omnibus and foot, the
latter end of which lay along a monotonous suburban road, brought you
to the humble dwelling of the famous Nihilist. Here from time to time
on Sunday evenings it was my wont to put in an appearance towards ten
or eleven, for the journey was deceptively long from Fitzroy Square,
and Nekrovitch, like most Russians, was himself of so unpunctual and
irregular a nature, that he seemed to foster the like habits in all his
friends. The nominal hour for these social gatherings to commence was
eight, but not till past nine did the guests begin to assemble, and
till midnight and later they would come dribbling in. Only one
conscientiously punctual German was ever known to arrive at the
appointed hour, but the only reward of the Teuton's mistaken zeal was to
wait for hours in solitary state in an unwarmed, unlighted room till his
host and fellow-guests saw fit to assemble.
The meeting-room, or parlour, or drawing-room in Nekrovitch's house was
by no means a palatial apartment. Small and even stuffy to the notions
of a hygienic Englishman, and very bare, scanty in furniture, and yet
poorer in decoration, this room bore evidence to its owners' contempt
for such impedimenta, and their entire freedom from slavery to household
gods. It was evidently the home of people used to pitching their tent
often, and to whom a feeling of settled security was unknown. But its
occupants usually made up for any deficiencies in their surroundings.
The company was always of a very mixed cosmopolitan character--Russian
Nihilists and exiles, English Liberals who sympathised with the Russian
constitutional movement, Socialists and Fabians, Anarchists of all
nationalities, journalists and literary men whose political views were
immaterial, the pseudo-Bohemian who professes interest in the "queer
side of life," all manner of faddists, rising and impecunious musicians
and artists--all were made welcome, and all were irresistibly attracted
towards the great Russian Nihilist.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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