TATA (opening her parcel) Lace!

  NATALIE Brussels lace!

  Tata jumps up, hoicks up her skirt to accommodate the lace petticoat.

  OGAREV None of us thanked you for granting our adolescent fumblings the status of revolutionary ideas—you elevated a kiss in the corner into free love.

  NATALIE Pas devant les enfants! [Not in front of the children.]

  MALWIDA (worried) Excusez moi … ?

  TATA Look at me!

  HERZEN (aware of Malwida) Sit down—eat your soup. (resuming) Under Tsar Nicholas it was all or nothing—all ideas were revolutionary when thought itself was subversive.

  OGAREV Preaching socialism from London didn't make you friends among your friends at home.

  HERZEN (thrilled) You read my pamphlets?

  TATA Thank you, Natalie!

  NATALIE No more presents till you've had your soup.

  HERZEN You were reading the Free Russian Press?

  OGAREV What is this soup?

  SASHA It's called Brown Windsor. The Queen has it every day.

  OGAREV Well, she can have mine.

  TATA I don't like it either.

  OGAREV Then why are you eating it?

  TATA (enlightened) Oh, yes! (pushing her plate aside) I've finished, Natalie.

  SASHA So have I, Natalie.

  NATALIE Well, let's see now … (Natalie picks out a small parcel for each of them.)

  MALWIDA (appealing to Herzen) Alexander … !

  HERZEN You were reading the Free Russian Press.

  OGAREV I told you—Herzen in London was the only candle still alight.

  HERZEN I didn't know.

  OGAREV But socialism in Russia!—it’s Utopian, Sasha.

  HERZEN So we can expect nothing from Granowski, Ketscher, Botkin, the old gang.

  OGAREV There's not much sign of a young gang.

  HERZEN Well, I've taken a vow of silence about socialism. We have to move forward looking at our feet, not at the horizon, and we stub our toes on serfdom, censorship, corporal punishment … If the Tsar frees the serfs, I'll drink his health—and after that, we'll see.

  Sasha and Tata, with a harmonica and a bangle, whoop their thanks and hug Natalie. Ogarev, who has been drinking steadily, suddenly has a mild epileptic fit. Herzen jumps up. Natalie comes expertly to Ogarev's aid.

  HERZEN (cont.) What is it?

  NATALIE It's all right—I know what to do.

  She does it, and Ogarev calms.

  NATALIE (cont.) He's not well. He should see a doctor … There.

  HERZEN What happened to you?

  NATALIE He doesn't eat properly. He's all right … leave him alone … You must stay in bed tomorrow, sweetheart.

  OGAREV No, we're going to see the sights.

  SASHA We've got lessons.

  NATALIE It's educational, seeing the sights.

  TATA Can we go to the waxworks?

  SASHA She means the guillotine with Robespierre's head chopped off. Malwida won't let us.

  NATALIE Oh yes, let's see that.

  MALWIDA (to Natalie) Excusez-moi … ?

  NATALIE Il n'y aura pas d'études demain. [No lessons tomorrow.]

  Malwida stands up.

  NATALIE (cont.) I need to visit, where is it?

  The Parlourmaid, having returned to service the table and now leaving again, is intercepted by Natalie, who speaks to her and follows her out. Malwida leaves the room for ‘next door’.

  HERZEN Malwida …

  OGAREV ‘Malwida’, ‘Alexander’ … is this … ?

  HERZEN Are you mad?

  Sasha blows tunelessly into the mouth organ. Herzen catches up with Malwida ‘next door’, making a conciliatory gesture.

  MALWIDA I'm training the children on pedagogic principles which I have studied.

  HERZEN Of course. But Ogarev is my oldest friend …

  MALWIDA There will be lessons tomorrow at the correct time. I wish to make that clear.

  HERZEN Of course. Leave it to me.

  They are interrupted by screams from Olga upstairs. Malwida runs to the sound. Sasha and Tata also leave the table hurriedly, following Malwida. Distantly, Olga, Natalie and Malwida contribute loudly to a Russian-German slew of howls, comforts and argument.

  The Parlourmaid enters to clear the table. Herzen groans to himself He picks up the Polar Star and returns to Ogarev.

  PARLOURMAID (leaving) I'd scream, too, if I woke up with the Russians on my bed.

  Herzen and Ogarev embrace, and leave towards the sounds of Natalie's voice laughingly consoling Olga, who has calmed clown.

  JUNE 1856

  Indoors.

  Malwida, dressed to travel, with a capacious bag, waits for Sasha, Tata and Olga to troop in. Tata's socks are, at second or third glance, odd socks.

  MALWIDA Come closer, and listen to me, and try to remember this moment. I will never forget you. We're saying goodbye today.

  SASHA Are you leaving us?

  MALWIDA Yes.

  TATA Why?

  SASHA I know why. I'm sorry, Miss Malwida. Malwida kisses Sasha and then kisses Tata and Olga.

  TATA Are you leaving right this minute?!

  MALWIDA Yes. (She calls.) Mrs Blainey!

  The NURSE enters.

  MALWIDA (cont.) ‘Please conduct the children to Madame Ogarev. Tell Mr Herzen, please … well, just tell him I'll send for my trunk.’

  NURSE I can't say as I blame you—it's all got topsy-turvy, with nothing you can set your clock by …

  MALWIDA ‘Goodbye.‘ (pointing to Tata's socks) ‘Matching socks please, Mrs Blainey.’

  NURSE Come along, then.

  MALWIDA Be good children.

  TATA (to Malwida) It's like the splinter, isn't it?

  Malwida stops, nods and continues out.

  JUNE 1856

  In cosy domestic intimacy in the late evening, Herzen and Ogarev occupy the armchairs, with Olga asleep and lightly covered on the couch, and Natalie sitting on the floor by the couch and at Herzen's feet.

  NATALIE This is what Natalie prayed for with her dying breath. Your wife was a saint, Alexander. It was because she was a saint that she was defenceless against evil, (to Ogarev) Don't give me looks—Alexander understands me. I never trusted that German worm from the moment I saw him … acting so helpless and all the time worming himself into her innocent open heart—the wife of the only man who befriended him when he was the laughingstock of Paris—yes, Herwegh's romantic good looks didn't impress the German infantry!

  She laughs. Herzen leaves the room.

  OGAREV My darling … if he comes back, don't forget to mention his mother and son drowned at sea.

  NATALIE Oh, aren't we allowed to talk about anything that's changed his life completely since we met?—I don't call that friendship. He wants to talk about it.

  OGAREV I remember Kolya that last summer at Sokolovo. He was a happy little thing, he didn't know he was deaf.

  Herzen enters with a small framed photo.

  OGAREV (cont.) Well, I saw the doctor. He said I drink too much. I was impressed. He'd never met me in his life.

  Herzen gives the photograph to Natalie and resumes his seat.

  HERZEN For you.

  NATALIE Oh … That's just how I remember her!

  HERZEN She was a saint. A wonderful wife and companion, a devoted mother, a great spirit….

  NATALIE It's true.

  HERZEN Her devotion to me, her remorse, her courage when she faced the madness that man infected her mind with … The blows she suffered in her life! And then losing Kolya!—little Kolya … Natalie said over and over, ‘He must have been so cold, so frightened, seeing the fishes and the lobsters!’

  Natalie flashes a look at Ogarev, Herzen wipes his eyes.

  HERZEN (cont.) This won't do, this won't do. It's six years without a real friend by me! Oh, my dear friends, (to Ogarev) You've been lost, too. (to Natalie) You saved him.

  Herzen clasps Natalie's hand. She looks up at him devotedly.

  OGAREV She did. She took on a married man going rapidly downhill. But there!—my wife died and I'm a married man again, going downhill at a comfortable pace.

  NATALIE You were a free man wasting yourself on a wife who'd run off.

  HERZEN Well, enough waste … Now it's time for him to get back to work. (Herzen picks up bundles of letters from his desk.) Look at this. What are we going to do with it all?

  OGAREV We should have a new paper, not thick and expensive like the Polar Star, it should be a cheap rag, easy to smuggle, coming out once or twice a month … exposing abuses, naming names …

  HERZEN (excited) I was waiting for you without knowing it. Herzen and Ogarev! Together we'll dream men's dreams more clearly! What shall we call it?

  NATALIE (gazing raptly at Herzen) To dream men's dreams … !

  OGAREV Something short, like a shout … A call to arms.

  HERZEN (noticing Olga) Look at Olga.

  NATALIE They like to be with the grown-ups when they're little. I understand children, even though we can't have any. (kissing Ogarev) Well, it's not a secret. I admit it was a blow when Nick told me, but it wasn't without its advantages, when Maria wouldn't divorce him and we thought we could never be married …

  HERZEN (laughing) Your wife is a wonderful woman. May I have your permission to kiss her?

  Ogarev waves his hand graciously. Herzen and Natalie kiss chastely. Herzen picks up Olga.

  OGAREV It's just like life—waking up in your own bed and not knowing how you got there.

  Herzen carries Olga out. Ogarev and Natalie exchange a long look, Ogarev philosophically, Natalie defiantly.

  NATALIE What? (She collapses on Ogarev's lap and starts to weep.)

  JANUARY 1857

  Exterior.

  Herzen and Blanc, dressed for a funeral, take shelter.

  BLANC Was it noticed that I was late? I came in by the wrong gate, and the cemetery is so enormous …

  HERZEN I don't know. I find these affairs depressing.

  BLANC You find funerals depressing. That's all right, you don't have to be a controversialist all the time.

  HERZEN I mean the exiles … the dying burying their dead. Failure piled upon loss.

  BLANC Worcell wasn't a failure … well, he died before his aims were achieved, but they will be achieved by others, and their success will be his success. He did his duty.

  HERZEN What was that?

  BLANC He sacrificed himself for his cause, as men must.

  HERZEN Why must they?

  BLANC Because it's our human duty—to sacrifice ourselves for the well-being of society.

  HERZEN I don't see how the well-being of society is going to be achieved if everybody is sacrificing themselves and nobody's enjoying themselves. Worcell had been in exile for twenty-six years. He gave up his wife, his children, his estates, his country. Who has gained by it?

  BLANC The future.

  HERZEN Ah, yes, the future.

  They shake hands.

  BLANC I hope I see you before the next funeral, especially if it's yours.

  Blanc leaves.

  Natalie enters.

  HERZEN Natalie … how did you … ? Isn't Nick with you?

  Natalie shakes her head. She comes close to Herzen. They kiss on the mouth.

  Pause.

  HERZEN (cont.) I'm always at the wrong funeral. Kolya's body was never found. There was a young woman rescued from the sea, my mother's maid. For some reason one of Kolya's gloves was in her pocket. So that's all we got back. A glove.

  ACT TWO

  MAY 1859

  The Garden of the Herzen house. It is accessible from the house or from the road.’

  Herzen, aged forty-seven, is sitting in a comfortable garden chair. A young man, who is Sasha grown up, aged twenty now, is nearby, reclining on the grass with a copy of Herzen's magazine, the Bell. Tata, ‘grown up’, aged nearly fifteen, flounces backwards across the garden, calling back to a Nurse who is following in charge of Olga, now nearly nine, and of a pram in which an infant (LIZA) is asleep … So we are reminded of Herzen's dream at the beginning of the play.

  NURSE Tata! Tata!

  TATA I can if I want!—you're not my nurse!

  NURSE We'll see what Madame Ogarev says about that!

  HERZEN (continuing to Sasha) We're printing five thousand copies!—the Bell is being read in the Winter Palace itself…

  Tata storms off into the house, which is or is not visible, and is immediately heard in an argument with Natalie.

  OLGA (meanwhile) I don't want any tea!

  NURSE And don't you be silly, too.

  HERZEN (to Sasha) Ogarev and I were the first socialists in Russia, before we knew what socialism was.

  Ogarev enters the garden, coming in from a walk. There is something of the down-and-out about his appearance.

  OLGA (starting to cry) You can't make me.

  HERZEN We read anything we could get hold of. We took from Rousseau, Saint-Simon, Fourier …

  Tata storms back from the house.

  TATA I'm going to kill myself!

  OGAREV (to Tata) (What's this?

  HERZEN From Leroux, from Cabet …

  TATA She treats me like a child.

  NURSE Don't be so rude!

  TATA Not you—her!

  OGAREV Tata, Tata … Let me wipe your face …

  TATA You as well!

  NURSE You'll wake Liza.

  HERZEN Later we took from Proudhon, from Blanc …

  Tata continues out.

  The baby starts crying. Ogarev bends over the pram and makes soothing noises. Natalie comes crossly from the house.

  NURSE (to the pram) Look, it's Daddy come to see you.

  NATALIE Beetroot! Did you see?

  HERZEN to Sasha) (From Proudhon the abolition of authority …

  NATALIE (to the Nurse) And what's the matter with her?

  NURSE She says she won't have her tea.

  OLGA (angrily) I said I won't eat the fat!

  HERZEN (to Olga) Give me a kiss.

  NATALIE I won't give you any fat. Stop crying or I'll give you an enema.

  HERZEN From Rousseau, the nobility of man in his natural state …

  Ogarev greets Natalie, who embraces him emotionally and bursts into tears.

  HERZEN (cont.) (to Sasha) From Fourier, the harmonious community, the abolition of competition …

  The Nurse takes the pram to the house. Natalie breaks the embrace emotionally and follows the Nurse.

  NATALIE (to Olga) Come along, you're over-tired, that's what! Early to bed!

  OLGA I'm not tired! I'm not! (Olga mutinously retreats into the garden, out of sight.)

  HERZEN (meanwhile) From Blanc, the central role of the workers …

  OGAREV Stop boring the poor boy, he's going to be a doctor.

  HERZEN From Saint-Simon—

  OGAREV (nostalgically) Ah, Saint-Simon. The rehabilitation of the flesh.

  SASHA What's that?

  OGAREV We all get our bodies back, taken from us by Christian guilt. Yes, that was a good one, Saint-Simon's Utopia … the organisation of society by experts, and as much you-know-what as you want.

  HERZEN Pardon me, it was the development of man's whole nature, moral, intellectual, artistic—not just our sensuality … in the case of which, some of us didn't need encouragement.

  OGAREV Yes, but without the shame, without the confessing and swearing never to do it again.

  HERZEN I meant you.

  OGAREV I meant me, too.

  HERZEN Be a good boy and fetch me a glass of red wine.

  OGAREV When it came to love, I was curably romantic. And a glass of vodka.

  Sasha glances at Herzen, who shrugs at Ogarev, and leaves.

  HERZEN It's not me. It's Natalie. She blames herself for you, and not quietly.

  OGAREV Listen, Sasha, don't keep asking Natalie whether she's cross or not. If she puts on a face, ignore it and perhaps things will go better.

  HERZEN (considers) Yes. Good.

  OGAREV (considers) On the other hand, ignoring it might set her off. I don't know, it's difficult.

  HERZEN Well, you're right. I can't follow her logic.

  OGAREV But we must keep her calm, we must help her.

  HERZEN You're right. But you, too. When you get drunk, she says we've ruined your life. I don't know what she wants. She wanted you, then she wanted me, then for five minutes she was delirious with joy because we all loved each other, then she decided her love for me was a monstrosity for which she's being punished, and she has dreams where I'm with other women, and I have to deny it, although it was her dream, not mine. She's hysterical. The only thing that calms her down is intimate relations. If only she hadn't got pregnant.

  OGAREV If only you hadn't made her pregnant.

  HERZEN Yes, you're right. Do you want to know how it happened?

  OGAREV Am I to be spared nothing?

  HERZEN It was the night we heard the Tsar had appointed the commission on ending serfdom—and let it be known!—in Russia, where everything happens in secret. It meant we had won. Emancipation was only a matter of agreeing the details. There was no holding back, it had to come, I felt like a conqueror—

  OGAREV Yes, yes, enough, case dismissed. (Pause.) And now Liza is nearly a year old.

  HERZEN Ah, yes—well, we knew agreeing on the details would be difficult.

  Sasha enters with a glass of red wine, and carefully retrieves from his pocket a glass of vodka. He gives Herzen the wine and Ogarev the vodka. Ogarev knocks back the vodka. Sasha puts the empty glass in his pocket.

  OGAREV (meanwhile) The peasants won't wait till Liza's a grandmother. The Bell can't wait either.

  HERZEN We've said where we stand—abolition by the pen or by the axe, but by the axe would be a disaster.