18
PARTISAN REVIEW
And then suddenly someone comes up to him and says: "Say, have
you ever had such and such a pain, especially in the mornings,
usually after ... Yes, yes ..."
"Do you understand me, teacher?" asked Liss . "A certain Ger–
man - I'm sure you know his brilliant work - once said that Napo–
leon's tragedy was that he embodied the soul of England and yet in
England herself found his most deadly foe."
"If only they'd start beating me up!" thought Mostovskoy. And
then: "Ah, now he's on about Spengler."
Liss lit a cigarette and held out his cigarette case to Mostovskoy .
"No," said Mostovskoy abruptly.
He felt somehow calmed by the thought that all the policemen
in the world - the ones who'd interrogated him forty years ago and
the one talking about Hegel and Spengler right now - should use
this same idiotic technique of offering their victim a cigarette. Yes,
it was just that his nerves were weak - he'd been expecting to be
beaten up and suddenly he'd had to listen to this horrible, absurd
talk. But then even some of the Tsarist police had known a little
about politics - a few of them were really quite educated, one had
even read
Das Kapital.
But had there ever been a moment when a po–
liceman studying Marx had wondered, deep in his heart: "What if
Marx is right?" What had the policeman felt then .. . ? But what of
it? Mostovskoy had trampled on his doubts too . Still, that was dif–
ferent - he was a revolutionary.
Not noticing that Mostovskoy had refused the cigarette, Liss
muttered: "Yes, that's right, it's very good tobacco."
He then closed his cigarette case and began again. He sounded
genuinely upset.
"Why do you find this conversation so surprising? What did
you expect me to say? Surely you have some educated men at your
Lubyanka? People who can talk to Academician Pavlov or to Olden–
burg? But I'm different from them. I've got no ulterior motive. I give
you my word. I'm tormented by the same anxieties as you are." He
smiled and added: "My word of honor as a Gestapo officer. And I
don't say that lightly."
"Don't say anything," Mostovskoy repeated to himself, "that's
the main thing. Don't enter into conversation. Don't argue."
Liss went on talking. Once again he seemed to have forgotten
about Mostovskoy.
"Two poles of one magnet! Of course! If that wasn't the case,
then this terrible war wouldn't be happening. We're your deadly
