When I came down to breakfast at 10 my strange Counter-Revolutionary was
sitting in the hall. How he ever got there or why he came as I had not
telephoned to him, I shall never understand. I expressed my astonishment
and told him I was sorry I could not go out with him, as I had someone
coming to see me. I promised to telephone to him later. He seemed a
little disappointed, said he was “_entièrement a mon service_,” and
departed. In the dining-room I found Michael breakfasting and told him,
and he got up quickly to see, but I laughed and said that naturally I
had sent him away, before telling anyone he was there. Michael looked at
me with a cold look. He is like the others, one feels instinctively that
however much they may like one as a woman, they would sacrifice one in a
minute if it were necessary for the cause.
At lunch time H. G. Wells arrived from Petrograd with his son; they are
lodged in our house. It was a great pleasure to find an old friend and
to be able to talk of things and people familiar to us. He was, as
usual, laughing and extremely humorous about the condition of life in
Petrograd. On his account we were a big party for lunch, and there was
an effort to make a spread, but this was frustrated by Michael Borodin.
When I asked for some of the beautiful apple cake I had seen on the
side-table, Michael made grimaces at me: he had sent it back to the
kitchen. The perfect Communist in him revolted against the inequality of
H. G. having a special cake, considering that neither Vanderlip nor
Sheridan had had one on arrival. The household call me Sheridan, like a
man. One has quite lost the habit of prefixing Mr. or Mrs., in fact one
cannot do it, it sounds so absurd and affected. I have not yet been
honoured to the extent of being called Tovarisch (Comrade), but some
people ball me Clara Moretonovna (Clare, daughter of Moreton).
After lunch I went for a walk with Michael; he had tip-toed out of the
room at lunch time, and I asked him why. He was not very communicative,
and said that he hated people collectively and he disliked H. G., though
for no reason that I could make out. I sat up far into the night. One
felt quite sleepless with excitement over the evening’s discussions.