They spoke without emotion of the sufferings of the Russian peasants and workers under the lash of the Tsar, and in the civil war now raging. They reported that Petrograd was starving; a hundred thousand persons had died in the past month, and not a baby under two was left alive. The Soviets wanted peace; they would meet the Whites anywhere, and accept any reasonable terms. They had again and again declared their willingness to pay off their debts to the capitalist nations, including the monstrous debt which the Tsar had incurred to arm their country in the interest of French militarists and munitions makers. Poor as they were now, they would pay the interest in raw materials. Lanny was surprised by this, for the French newspapers were incessantly repeating that the debt had been repudiated; this was the reason for the French clamor for the overthrow of the Soviets. “You know what our newspapers are,” said the Frenchman, shrugging his shoulders; “our reptile press — I worked for it until my soul was poisoned.”
V
“Well, Alston, what do you think?” asked the colonel, when they were in their car again.
“If you want my opinion,” said the professor, “I think the civil war should be stopped at any cost.”
“Even if it means letting these people have a chance to establish their regime?”
“If their ideas are not sound, they will fail in the end.”
“Perhaps. But won't that mean another war?”
“That's a long way in the future, Colonel.”
The other turned to the young translator, whose eager competence he had observed. “What do you think, Budd?”
This gave Lanny a start, and he flushed. He had sense enough to know that the great man was being kind and that it would be the part of wisdom for a youth to be brief. “What struck me was that those fellows have all suffered a lot.”