He was suffering.
He had not expected such callousness from his fellow-members of the Sword and Ploughshare.
Elena Stanislavovna was unable to restrain herself.
"Gentlemen," she said, "this is awful.
How could you forget Victor Mikhailovich, so dear to us all?"
She got up and kissed the mechanic-aristocrat on his sooty forehead.
"Surely Victor Mikhailovich is worthy of being a ward or a police chief."
"Well, Victor Mikhailovich," asked the governor, "do you want to be a ward?"
"Well of course, he would make a splendid, humane ward," put in the mayor, swallowing a mushroom and frowning.
"But what about Raspopov? You've already nominated Raspopov."
"Yes, indeed, what shall we do with Raspopov?"
"Make him a fire chief, eh?"
"A fire chief!" exclaimed Polesov, suddenly becoming excited.
A vision of fire-engines, the glare of lights, the sound of the siren and the drumming of hoofs suddenly flashed through his mind.
Axes glimmered, torches wavered, the ground heaved, and black dragons carried him to a fire at the town theatre.
"A fire chief!
I want to be a fire chief!"
"Well, that's fine.
Congratulations! You're now the fire chief."
"Let's drink to the prosperity of the fire brigade," said the chairman of the stock-exchange committee sarcastically.
They all went for him.
"You were always left-wing!
We know you!"
"What do you mean, gentlemen, left-wing?"
"We know, we know I"
"Left-wing!"
"All Jews are left-wing I"
"Honestly, gentlemen, I don't understand such jokes."
"You're left-wing, don't try to hide it!"
"He dreams about Milyukov at night."
"Cadet!
You're a Cadet."
"The Cadets sold Finland," cried Charushnikov suddenly. "And took money from the Japanese.
They split the Armenians."
Kislarsky could not endure the stream of groundless accusations.
Pale, his eyes blazing, the chairman of the stock-exchange committee grasped hold of his chair and said in a ringing voice:
"I was always a supporter of the Tsar's October manifesto and still am."
They began to sort out who belonged to which party.
"Democracy above all, gentlemen," said Charushnikov. "Our town government must be democratic."
"But without Cadets!
They did the dirty on us in 1917."
"I hope,' said the governor acidly, "that there aren't any so-called Social Democrats among us."
There was nobody present more left-wing than the Octobrists, represented at the meeting by Kislarsky.
Charushnikov declared himself to be the "centre".
The extreme right-wing was the fire chief.
He was so right-wing that he did not know which party he belonged to.
They talked about war.
"Any day now," said Dyadyev.
"There'll be a war, yes, there will."
"I advise stocking up with a few things before it's too late."