Sazonov shushes him urgently. The Servant has entered. He whispers to Bakunin.
BAKUNIN (cont.) My cabbie wants to go home. Can you lend me five francs?
HERZEN No. You should have walked.
TURGENEV I’ll do it.
Turgenev gives five francs to the Servant, who leaves.
BELINSKY Isn’t it time to go?
SAZONOV (to Belinsky) It’s a shame. With your abilities, you could have done more, instead of wasting your time in Russia.
HERZEN (to Sazonov) And do tell us, what have you done? You don’t think discussing the borders of Poland with the émigrés every day in the Café Lamblin is doing something?—
SAZONOV Hold on, hold on, you forget our situation.
HERZEN What situation? You’ve lived in freedom all these years, playing statesmen-in-waiting and calling yourselves pink budgerigars—
SAZONOV (furiously) Who told you about the—
HERZEN You did.
SAZONOV (bursting into tears) I knew I wasn’t to be trusted!
EMMA Parlez français, s’il vous plaît!
BAKUNIN (comforting Sazonov with a hug) I trust you.
NATALIE Is George all right?
HERZEN I never saw a man more all right.
Natalie goes to George and Emma.
BAKUNIN (to Herzen) Don’t be deceived by George Herwegh. He got expelled from Saxony for political activity.
HERZEN Activity? George?
BAKUNIN And he’s got what every revolutionary needs, a rich wife.
HERZEN Nick Ogarev knew him when they were together in Paris … Nick gave me a letter …
BAKUNIN What’s more, she’ll do anything for him. I once heard Marx explaining economic relations to George for an hour while Emma rubbed his feet.
HERZEN Why?
BAKUNIN He said his feet were cold … other parts of him, it seems, are kept warm by the Contesse d’Agoult.
NATALIE (to Emma) Continuez, continuez …
HERZEN (offended) I won’t have tittle-tattle about my friends in my house … and anyway, you don’t know it’s true.
BAKUNIN (laughs) You’re right—maybe he’s only boasting.
Emma continues to smooth George’s brow.
NATALIE (arriving) Ah, that’s what love should be!
BAKUNIN Love is a mystery, and woman’s privilege is to be the priestess of the mystery, vestal of the sacred flame.
HERZEN Am I being reproached because I don’t let you mother me?
NATALIE I don’t reproach you, Alexander, I only say it’s a fine thing to see.
HERZEN What is? George having the vapours?
NATALIE No … a woman’s love that transcends egoism.
HERZEN Love without egoism cheats women of equality and independence, not to mention any other … satisfaction.
BAKUNIN He’s right, madame!
HERZEN But you just said the opposite!
BAKUNIN (unabashed) He’s right again!
GEORGE (in German) Emma, Emma …
EMMA Was ist denn, mein Herz? [What is it, my precious?]
GEORGE Weiss ich nicht … Warum machst du nicht weiter? [I don’t know … Why have you stopped?]
Emma resumes stroking his brow.
NATALIE (privately to Herzen) You’re being unkind.
HERZEN I like George, but I’d feel ridiculous.
NATALIE (angrily) Idealised love doesn’t mean a lack of … or perhaps you think it does?
HERZEN What’s this?
NATALIE It’s despicable to imply George doesn’t … satisfy a woman …
HERZEN (stung) I’m sure he does—I’m told she’s a countess.
NATALIE I see. Well, if it’s only a countess …
She leaves the room abruptly, leaving Herzen baffled. Belinsky is now on his knees on the floor, puzzling over some small flat wooden shapes, one of the toys. Bakunin loudly calls for attention.
BAKUNIN My friends! Comrades! I give you a toast! The liberty of each, for the equality of all!
There is a mild, dutiful attempt to repeat the toast.
HERZEN What does that mean? It doesn’t mean anything.
BAKUNIN I am not free unless you, too, are free!
HERZEN That’s nonsense. You were free when I was locked up.
BAKUNIN Freedom is a state of mind.
HERZEN No, it’s a state of not being locked up … of having a passport … I am devoted to you, Bakunin, I delight in the fanfare, no, the funfair of your pronouncements, I would name my child for you, but equally I would name you for my child, because everything which is simple you make difficult and everything difficult simple. You’ve made yourself a European reputation by a kind of revolutionary word-music from which it is impossible to extract an ounce of meaning, let alone a political idea, let alone a course of action. What freedom means is being allowed to sing in my bath as loudly as will not interfere with my neighbour’s freedom to sing a different tune in his. But above all, let my neighbour and I be free to join or not to join the revolutionary opera, the state orchestra, the Committee of Public Harmony …
TURGENEV This is a metaphor, is it?
HERZEN Not necessarily.
SAZONOV An orchestra is a very good metaphor. There is no contradiction between individual freedom and duty to the collective—
HERZEN I’d like to be there when they play.
SAZONOV —because being in the orchestra is the individual right.
HERZEN We all missed it, Plato, Rousseau, Saint-Simon, me …
BAKUNIN The mistake is to put ideas before action. Act first! The ideas will follow, and if not—well, it’s progress.
HERZEN Belinsky—save me from this madness!
BELINSKY I can’t fit the pieces together to make a square—it’s a children’s puzzle, and I can’t do it …
TURGENEV Perhaps it’s a circle.
Natalie enters and hurries to Herzen, making it up with him.
NATALIE Alexander …?
Herzen embraces her.
GEORGE Mir geht es besser. [I feel better.]
BELINSKY Turgenev’s got a point …
EMMA Georg geht es besser! [George is feeling better!]
The dialogues which follow are written to be ‘wasted’. They are spoken on top of each other, to make a continuum of word-noise.