A POLITICAL MEETING.
The same evening Jacob set out to seek a friend of Ivas, who had been
his comrade at the university, and had become a very important person
in the present agitation. This man, a modest employe of the government,
exercised a powerful influence on the young men and in circles where
politics were the order of the day. He possessed superior intelligence,
rare executive ability, great energy and activity, and his character
was at the same time pliant and firm. Without being leader of any
party, he went from one to another, and the timid as well as the bold
bowed everywhere to his incontestable authority. Yet no one could have
said that Kruder--that was his name--belonged to the fire-eaters, to
the liberals, or to the conservatives, nor if he was red, blue, or
white.
With the excited he was all fire and flame; with the cool reasoners he
was calm and logical; with the prudent and timorous he was full of
discretion and consideration.
All listened to his objections; all followed his counsels. He knew how
to smooth all difficulties, conceal divergences, and to lead to the
same end contradictory views.
Amid such diversity of opinions he alone could maintain order, and
command sufficient confidence to subject all differences of opinion to
discipline, in advance of the coming revolution; for to do this was his
ambition, his only ambition.
He had friends in both camps; these precipitated the movement, those
retarded it. His intimate relations with both parties put him in the
way of hearing the opinions and knowing the situation thoroughly.
Nothing could happen without his cognizance. In his work of
centralization it was important to be well informed, so as to prevent
errors, or to correct them as well as he could.
To attract less notice and to more easily escape suspicion, Kruder
inhabited an unfrequented neighbourhood. He usually remained at home
until ten in the morning, the hour at which he went to his office. When
he had finished his government work, he commenced his active and errant
life, and this was prolonged late into the night. If he had to meet any
one, he made an appointment, sometimes at a _cafe_, sometimes in a
friend's house. To meet him, Jacob went to the dwelling of a young Jew,
Bartold by name, the proprietor of a manufactory and a hardware
merchant. His place was full of visitors every day, a fact which could
be easily explained by the importance of his business.
Well brought up and honest, he was not, however, a believer like Jacob.
In religious matters he was satisfied to select the morals and
repudiate the dogmas, but yet he proclaimed himself a Jew with a
certain boastfulness. It pleased him to say: "If the European
aristocracy are proud of tracing their origin back to the Crusades, I
ought to be very proud of mine, which goes back much farther. I am a
descendant of the tribe of Levi. That takes the place of arms or
crests. My ancestors guarded the Ark of the Covenant in Solomon's
temple; it is, at least, as great an honour as to have fought with the
Saracens."
Public agitation naturally increased the number of visitors at
Bartold's, and he had put at their disposal two large rooms of his
house. It was a neutral ground for political discussions. It was a
place of reunion sheltered from the police. Bartold took a great
interest in these meetings, for, in spite of his Israelitish genealogy,
he was a Pole at heart. He was thirty years old, tall, muscular, and
well formed. His eyes shone with more than ordinary intelligence. His
manner disclosed the serenity of an honest man who followed the right
path, and whose conscience was clear. He loved to laugh and to joke,
but under all this he concealed a warm, humane, and charitable heart.
He received Jacob with cries of joy and open arms.
"You could not have come to us," cried he, "in a more opportune moment.
You come to advise with us, do you not?"
With Bartold and Kruder there was a young Pole belonging to the most
advanced party of patriotic enthusiasm.
Kruder took his hat to go, but Jacob detained him.
"Pardon, monsieur," said he; "will you wait a moment? I have come to
seek you here, I have something to tell you."
"If it is not a personal affair you can speak freely before these
gentlemen. We are all friends here."
"Do you know Ivas?" asked the Jew abruptly.
"I know him well. He was with me at the university at Kief. What has
become of him? Have you met him anywhere?"
"Yes, in Italy. I brought him with me to the Polish frontier."
"And where is he at present?"
"In a hiding-place that I found for him, but he insists on coming to
Warsaw. I fear that would be dangerous for him. They are seeking him,
and his description is known."
"I do not agree with you. He had few acquaintances, and after some
years of absence he must have changed enough not to be recognized. We
could easily find an asylum for him here where he could escape the
police. It would be prudent, however, for him to secure a communal
passport."
"May he soon join us," said the young man of the extreme party. "He
will be very useful to our cause. We will undertake to conceal him. I
have often heard of him; he belongs to the Lithuanian provinces.
Nothing could be better. We will send him there to make converts to our
cause. What can we do to bring him here?"
"And," asked Kruder, looking at Jacob, "what are Ivas' feelings? You
see that here we are all fire, all flame."
"I fear he has too much fire," said Jacob. "Deleterious fire, alas!
This flame is, to my mind, the flame of despair. It will drive men to
unreasonable acts."
"Behold a cautious man!" cried the young Pole, paling with wrath; "the
sentiments of your race can be expressed in two words,--self-interest
and logic. We Poles, on the contrary, are led by what you call folly.
Is heroism folly? Then it will be by folly that we shall triumph."
"I am not," replied Jacob, "an exclusive partisan of cold reason. Logic
leads one astray at times. In a question of life or death for the
country's salvation we should not depend entirely on cold reasoning,
nor wholly on enthusiasm. Reasoners and enthusiasts are equally at
fault, are both on the wrong path."
"Would you, then, have a mixture of folly and reason?"
"Precisely. And I wish it for the common good. In it you will find the
veritable national instinct."
"No, no! Popular opinion aspires to a revolution which will accomplish
our deliverance."
"The revolutionary agitation is only at the surface," said Jacob. "In
the bottom of all hearts there are forebodings of the evils which may
arise from a premature explosion."
"If such are your opinions, I present you my compliments, and I salute
you."
"Wilk," interrupted Kruder, "do not allow yourself to become so angry."
"Why does he irritate me, then?" replied the young enthusiast, a little
appeased.
"However, I withdraw my brusque adieu and will remain."
"Be seated, gentlemen," said Bartold. "We are going to serve tea, and
you, Kruder, you must not go yet."
"I am expected at ten meetings."
"You can shirk five of them."
"I cannot, however, miss my interview with Count A. Z., nor the meeting
of the Agricultural Society, nor the University debate, nor the
Association for Popular Publications, nor"--
"You are verily a much-sought-for man, but, if I were you, I would
throw from my shoulders a good half of these burdens; childish bluster,
rhetorical competitions, a war of words of patriotic agitation, behold
to what you are invited! You wish to direct everything and everybody;
take care that you do not become a blunted tool in the end."
Kruder shook his head as if to say, "It will never be." But at heart he
felt that in his friend's warning he had something to fear.
After a general conversation he left the room with Wilk, and they
talked over the measures necessary to secure Ivas' safety.
Alone, Jacob and Bartold embraced warmly, for they loved each other
like brothers, despite the rationalism of the one and the piety of the
other.
They had an animated discussion on the situation of the Jews in Poland
and throughout the world. Jacob, as was his custom, spoke at length on
the apostleship he intended undertaking.
"You will lose your time and your efforts," said Bartold; "the era of
religious convictions is passed. We live in an age of reason, where it
is useless to wish to resuscitate the beliefs of antiquity and of the
Middle Ages. The structures which sheltered the wings of the cherubim
have crumbled away and can never be raised."
Jacob listened attentively, but his convictions were not shaken. He was
persuaded of the necessity of a reform in Judaism that should
reestablish the authority of the Mosaic law.