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39° A VISIT TO PETROGRAD [chap. xxi.
Concerning the war itself every one was far less
gloomy. They were hopeful about the reorganisation
of the Russian forces, and were confidently awaiting
the offensive which was to take place in the spring. I
remember a dinner-party composed only of men where
this question was much discussed. One of the guests
upheld the theory that from the purely military point of
view one could not hope for decisive successes, nor need
one fear fresh reverses ; that in fact it would be a draw.
I disputed that theory hotly. " Either we shall do for
them or else they will do for us," I summed up my opinion ;
"there can be no medium between complete victory and
complete disaster; and the final result will be seen in
the autumn of 1918 at the latest." At my suggestion a
short formula of the two opinions was drawn up; my
opponent alone signed his own; all the other guests
wrote their names under mine, and we gave the document
into the keeping of the Italian Ambassador, Marquis
Carlotti, who was one of those present.
And the people ? At first sight nothing seemed to
reveal their frame of mind. Externally it was the same
colourless, apathetic, sleepy mass. But the persons
who came most regularly in contact with the
working-classes of the capital and the country, with the lower
orders, did not conceal their anxiety.
I was out one day in a "izvostchik" with a young,
intelligent and well-educated woman, whose modest
income and occupations brought her a great deal in
touch with the masses. We passed a queue which
had formed outside a provision shop. Women were in
the majority, but both men and women walked up and
down the frozen pavement with the same air of gloomy
indifference. "That is what will make us lose the war,"
said my companion, pointing to the queue.
" In cauda venenum ? " I asked, jokingly.
"Do not joke; what I tell you is the absolute truth.
At the beginning of the war there was enthusiasm
among the lower classes, at least in Petrograd, which I
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