'Oh,' said Petrovitch, 'there are more Litvinoffs than one. It is not an uncommon name. I myself know more than one family of that name.'
'Of course you know the Count,' said Vernon, turning to him. 'What wonderful adventures he has had. He seems to be a man of splendid character. It must have cost him something to give up his social position and go in for the Revolution.'
'So far as I know Michael Litvinoff, he has never done more than his clear duty.'
'What does he do for the Revolution now?' growled Hirsch.
'Well, he does all that any one can do in England. There's not much else to be done besides talking.'
Vernon ended with a sigh, as of one who yearned for the barricades.
'Oh, yes; he'll talk,' said Hirsch discontentedly, and took a large bite of bread and butter.
'You are quite right, Mr Vernon,' said Petrovitch. 'He talks, and talks well; and, as you say, there is here no other means of helping the cause. And where you have such freedom of speech as in England a man's tongue is his best weapon, and ought, under existing circumstances, to be his only one.'
'The great reforms,' said Hirsch—'have they been carried by the tongue, or by the pike and the musket?'
'In this England enough has been carried by the tongue to leave good hopes for the future,' said Petrovitch.