It doesn't affect my argument. Take it broadly, on an
ethnological basis." He expanded his chest, sticking his thumbs into
the armholes of his waistcoat. "The Russians are a Slavonic people,
I presume?"
"Largely Slav, yes."
"And pray, sir, what have the Slavs done for the world? What do we
owe them? What Slavonic name can anyone mention in the history of
progress?"
"Two occur to me," replied Piers, in the same quiet tone, "well
worthy of a place in the history of intellectual progress. There was
a Pole named Kopernik, known to you, no doubt, as Copernicus, who
came before Galileo; and there was a Czech named Huss--John Huss
--who came before Luther."
The bilious man was smiling. The fourth person present in the room,
who sat with his book at some distance, had turned his eyes upon
Otway with a look of peculiar interest.
"You've made a special study, I suppose, of this sort of thing,"
said the fat-faced politician, with a grin which tried to be civil,
conveying in truth, the radical English contempt for mere
intellectual attainment. "You're a supporter of Russia, I suppose?"
"I have no such pretension. Russia interests me, that's all."
"Come now, would you say that in any single point Russia, modern
Russia, as we understand the term, had shown the way in _practical_
advance?"
All were attentive--the silent man with the book seeming
particularly so.
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