... As
to ties, the only ties I have in the world are social. I must get
acknowledged in some way before I can act at all. I sit here working....
And don't you think I am working for progress too? I've got to find
my own ideas of the true way.... Pardon me," continued Razumov, after
drawing breath and with a short, throaty laugh, "but I haven't inherited
a revolutionary inspiration together with a resemblance from an uncle."
He looked again at his watch and noticed with sickening disgust that
there were yet a good many minutes to midnight. He tore watch and chain
off his waistcoat and laid them on the table well in the circle of
bright lamplight. Haldin, reclining on his elbow, did not stir. Razumov
was made uneasy by this attitude. "What move is he meditating over so
quietly?" he thought. "He must be prevented. I must keep on talking to
him."
He raised his voice.
"You are a son, a brother, a nephew, a cousin--I don't know what--to no
end of people. I am just a man. Here I stand before you. A man with a
mind. Did it ever occur to you how a man who had never heard a word of
warm affection or praise in his life would think on matters on which
you would think first with or against your class, your domestic
tradition--your fireside prejudices?... Did you ever consider how a
man like that would feel? I have no domestic tradition.
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