I stayed in bed all day as I felt ill, and there was nothing better to
do. Litvinoff came in to see me in the afternoon and was surprised that
I had not begun to work on Trotsky. I explained to him that, through
Comrade Alexandre, Trotsky had flatly refused to let me do him.
Litvinoff could not understand this, but said he had seen Trotsky last
night. It was then decided that Litvinoff would see Trotsky again during
the day, and telephone to me what arrangements he could make. He then
left me, to come back again in a few minutes bringing something
preciously in both hands. It was a hen’s egg. As I have not seen one
since I have been in Moscow, I stifled my instinctive aversion to
accepting valuable presents from men and had the egg fried for dinner.