In my own mind I did not see how they could do otherwise, but my
ignorance on these things is so great, that I try to learn all I can
without giving myself away by asking too many questions. It is a slow
process, but I have hopes. The mere fact of being under the wing of a
man like Kameneff, and bound for Russia, seems to make people talk to me
as if I were a man. It is a great comfort no longer to meet people on a
social or superficial ground. There were people even who talked to me on
most obscure subjects, and asked for my intercession for them with
Kameneff!
At sunset we steamed into Reval, where the pointed towers and the sound
of old bells as in Italy awakened one to a new atmosphere that was no
longer Scandinavian. A motor met us at the quay, the only motor there,
and a man who had crossed with us, and whom I suspected of being a
British agent, said to me ironically as he drove away in a droshki:
“How very smart and distinguished of you to have a motor----”
Kameneff’s boy of twelve met us, and there were two small children as
well, belonging to Gukovski, the Soviet representative at Reval. They
took up most of the room that was needed for luggage. Alexandre Kameneff
had to stand on the step outside, and a soldier of the Red Army on the
other. Thus our curious car-load made its way, hooting loudly through
mediæval tortuous streets.
What followed is rather nebulous in my mind. I was very tired and the
town very dark; there were stars overhead, but no street lamps. We drove
to some bleak building called the Hotel Petersbourg, which seemed to be
the Bolshevik G.H.Q. It was dirty and grim, and full of strange-looking
people who talked no language that I understood. They looked at me
strangely; a great many hands shook mine. Kameneff was too busy to
explain to me what our plans were, or what was going to happen next, or
maybe he forgot that I could not understand. He was too surrounded for
me to be able to ask him any questions, so I just looked vague, waited
about and followed, relying on my eyes to convey the explanations that
my ears were denied. Kameneff was the centre of perpetual discussions
in which everyone spoke at the same moment, very quickly and very loud.
At first I suspected a most agitating State Council, but it turned out
to be merely a discussion as to where we should have supper. Finally it
was decided that we should go to the apartment in an hotel where the
wife of a Comrade would look after us. Off we went on foot over
cobblestones. The streets were full of people who moved like shadows,
and one could only see faces when they passed the glare of a lighted
doorway. We followed along in couples. At my side was Alexandre
Kameneff, a nice boy and friendly, but he could only talk Russian.
We got to the hotel (such an hotel, more like a wayside inn). We were
taken to the Comrade’s apartment, where his wife received us with great
cordiality and talked to me in good French.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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