I had been told he was an angel and a saint. What I found was a
fluttering and agitated bird. The joke is that he is looked upon as the
“gentleman” of the party. He is by origin well-born and propertied. His
property he gave away to the people. To-day was a particularly
unfortunate one for me. It happened to be the first day for months that
Tchicherin had gone out. He went to the dentist. Someone watching him
from an office window described to me the phenomenon of Tchicherin in
the street. He did not go in a car, but on foot. He stood at the corner
of the kerb, looked at the street hesitatingly, much as one might look
into a river on a cold day before plunging in. When he did finally
decide to get across, he got half way and then ran back. What with the
traffic, the fresh air, and the dentist, it must have been a thoroughly
unnerving day for him, and no wonder he received me so ill!
OCTOBER 26TH.
Tchicherin sent me a message through Litvinoff, inviting me to start at
4 o’clock in the morning, as that is his quietest time, but it is
unfortunately my quietest time too.
OCTOBER 29TH.
I have had four inactive days, but the sense of work completed is a
great relief. I am prepared to enjoy the holiday. I have drifted about
with Andrev, and in his spare moments with Maxim Litvinoff. On his way
to work at midday he first takes me in his car to the place I want to
photograph. At 5 o’clock he comes back and has tea with me, brings his
portfolio and works in my room till 7. Then he starts out again to
meetings. I have interesting talks with him and learn a good deal. He
smiles tolerantly when my bourgeois breeding breaks out. But he says I
am getting better. Even Rothstein has grown to treat me more seriously.
To-day my fourth day of rest began to rouse in me a fresh energy. I long
to fill in this interim of waiting with some new work. I have offered to
do Litvinoff, and he suggests that I should work in his office; this is
so difficult that I have asked him to let me do it at home, in odd
moments when he is free. Between the two, nothing gets decided.
Meanwhile the sentries at the Kremlin gate have fired my enthusiasm.
They are magnificent, wrapped around in goatskin coats with collars that
envelop their entire heads. My efforts to get such an one to sit to me
have at last been successful.
Andrev and I wandered from building to building this morning to
accomplish this purpose. Andrev is great fun to explore with; with a
“_Je m’en fiche_” air, he opens all the doors he comes to, and walks in
everywhere. I see all sorts of places that I would never dare to
investigate alone.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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