'I am glad to hear you express those opinions,' said Pewtress, who spoke with some deliberation, and chose his words carefully. 'I have noticed that most of the foreigners I have had the pleasure of meeting do not quite understand the condition of affairs here.'
'Do not misunderstand me,' said Petrovitch, rising from the table. 'I consider force to be the last refuge of the oppressed and the wretched—only to be tried when everything else has failed—but then perfectly legitimate.'
'Hear, hear,' cried Vernon enthusiastically, as they all rose; 'that's more like yourself, Petrovitch! And as for Count Litvinoff, I can't help admiring him, if it's only for what he's gone through.'
'For that,' said Hirsch, who seemed to have grown grumpier and grumpier ever since Litvinoff's name had been introduced, 'you, Petrovitch, have had adventures better to hear about than any of his. Did Mr Vernon ever hear how you escaped from Tieff?'
'If Mr Vernon has, I have not,' said Pewtress, as they gathered round the fire. 'If our kind host will tell us the story, I am sure we shall all follow it with a great deal of interest.'
'I am quite willing to tell you about that little affair, but I fancy I've told it once or twice before,' said Petrovitch, handing round a box of thick, short Russian cigarettes, to which his friends all helped themselves; 'and there is no greater bore than the man who will always be telling of his own deeds and adventures.'
'You, at any rate, never speak of yours,' said Vernon, fixing his large eyes on Petrovitch; 'do tell us, please.'
'I assure you I was not refusing "pour me faire prier," and if we are all comfortable I will tell you with pleasure the little there is to tell. Toomey, you have no light.'
'All right, sir,' said Toomey, picking up a hot coal in his fingers and lighting his cigarette therefrom as his host began.