We talked and talked, and then some rain drops forced us to get up and return to the Mitre hotel for dinner. After dinner, the weather cleared, and we had a lovely hour and a half in a boat on the river. There was a three-quarter moon, and the water reflected the pink lights from the Chinese lanterns of the houseboats. From the garden of Hampton Court, rose up what seemed to be a giant cypress tree, silhouetted against the dusk, and the reflection of it doubled its height. It was like something in Italy. I rowed the boat, which I loved doing, and Kameneff hummed Volga boatman-songs. Or else we broke back into discussions, and then he forgot that he was steering, and we had several slight collisions, and narrow escapes from more serious ones! It was a very successful evening, and we came back by the last train to Waterloo, _still_ talking, chiefly about that impending and all absorbing visit to Moscow, and we parted on my doorstep at a quarter to midnight. AUGUST 24TH. I felt ill, but got up early, expecting Krassin at 10 o’clock, but at 10 o’clock I got a telephone message to the effect that neither Krassin nor Kameneff could see me to-day, as the political crisis had caused a deluge of work. Lloyd George at Lucerne had taken exception to the clause in the Russian Peace Terms demanding that the Polish Civic Militia should be drawn from the working classes. This they say is an infringement of the liberty of Poland. Truth to tell, it is the Polish success over the Red Army that has caused this diplomatic _volte-face_. However, that is too long to go into here. At dinner time Kameneff telephoned to me that he at last had time to spare, and could he come and see me. I asked him to take pot-luck for dinner, and he arrived, a battered and worn fighting man, full of indignation, but still full of fight, and hope, and belief. He stayed till 11, and said that he felt better. It was very still here, and the peace did him good. There may be a “State of War” in a few days, and as things now stand, they all depart on Friday. Great excitement, as I shall go with them. AUGUST 25TH. Krassin gave me my second sitting at 5 p.m., and stayed till 7.30. I heard all the latest news. He’s a delightful man, never have I done a head that I admired more. He seems to be strong morally, to a degree of adamant. He is calm, sincere, dignified, proud, without self-consciousness and without vanity, and scientific in his analysis of things and people. Eyes that are unflinching and bewilderingly direct, nostrils that dilate with sensitiveness, a mouth that looks hard until it smiles, and a chin full of determination. AUGUST 26TH.