“No doubt of that; and I have the right to ask for the help of every well-meaning man.”
“What leads you to think that I am well-meaning?”
“I think it of every man, Mr. Blackless, until he shows me otherwise. I assume that you don't want to see any more war in Europe.”
“You assume incorrectly, Professor.”
“You do want war?”
“I tell the workers to fight for their rights, and I hope they will do so until they have overthrown the capitalist system.”
“But surely you can't think that the Russians can defeat the Allied armies, if they decide seriously to fight!”
“My answer is that if the Allied armies believed they could defeat the Russians, they'd be fighting right now. I take your visit as a sign that the Allied leaders are beginning to find out what the rank and file of their troops are thinking and saying. Lloyd George and Clemenceau will have to face it, and even Foch and the lineal descendant of the Duke of Marlborough.”
So Lanny and his employer knew that they had found a real Bolshevik; one who could tell President Wilson exactly what was in the hearts of men and women who were risking their lives trying to make revolutions throughout Europe!