When I had asked as many questions as I cared to, the conversation shifted to world interests, and we might have been a group in any London or New York club. How the sane men who make up a government can persuade themselves that it is the policy of wisdom to banish educated, intelligent men like those whom I met in Tobolsk is past finding out. It would seem that in Russia’s time of great need that these were the very ones who were most needed in active effort of reconstruction.
It was far into the night when we separated, and then it was with mutual reluctance that we said good-night. To me, the evening had been one of intensest interest and most genuine inspiration. And they, too, had appreciated the breath from west of the Urals.
My companion and I walked home with our friend, the girl who had brought together this little gathering for us. She talked vivaciously of the “work” in Siberia, and I wondered more than ever about her. When she stopped at her own front door, it proved to be before one of the few big houses in the town. This again increased my curiosity concerning her.
“Oh, she is probably a school-teacher,” suggested my interpreter.
“But school-teachers in Siberia are not apt to wear Paris-made gowns and live in one of the grandest houses in town,” I answered.
The next day I asked our physician about her, and he replied:
“She is the daughter of one of the governor’s staff. She was educated abroad. Most of her family live abroad. She chooses to accompany her father here because of the opportunities she has for service in the
| Sozonoff—a typical Siberian exile of the intellectual class | Head of a convoy of prisoners on the great Siberian Trakt |