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"For Trotsky to read out?" said Grigori.
"No, not Trotsky. " Lenin scanned the men-and one woman-on the platform. "Lunacharsky," he said.
Grigori guessed Lenin felt Trotsky had already gained enough glory.
Grigori took the proclamation to Lunarcharsky, who made a signal to the chairman. A few minutes later Kamenev called on Lunarcharsky, who stood up and read out Lenin's words.
Every sentence was greeted with a roar of approval.
The chairman called for a vote.
And now, at last, Grigori began to see why Lenin was happy. With the Mensheviks and the Socialist Revolutionaries out of the room, the Bolsheviks had an overwhelming majority. They could do anything they liked. There was no need for compromise.
A vote was taken. Only two delegates were against.
The Bolsheviks had the power, and now they had the legitimacy.
The chairman closed the session. It was five A. M. on Thursday, November 8. The Russian Revolution was victorious. And the Bolsheviks were in charge.
Grigori left the room behind Josef Stalin, the Georgian revolutionary, and another man. Stalin's companion wore a leather coat and a cartridge belt, as did many of the Bolsheviks, but something about him rang an alarm bell in Grigori's memory. When the man turned to say something to Stalin, Grigori recognized him, and a tremor of shock and horror ran through him.
It was Mikhail Pinsky.
He had joined the revolution.
{VI}
Grigori was exhausted. He had not slept for two nights. There had been so much to do that he had hardly noticed the passage of days. The armored car was the most uncomfortable vehicle he had ever traveled in, but all the same he fell asleep as it drove him home. When Isaak woke him he saw that they were outside the house. He wondered how much Katerina knew of what had happened. He hoped she had not heard too much, for that would give him the pleasure of telling her about the triumph of the revolution.
He went into the house and stumbled up the stairs. There was a light under the door. "It's me," he said, and went into the room.
Katerina was sitting up in bed with a tiny baby in her arms.
Grigori was suffused with delight. "The baby came!" he said. "He's beautiful. "
"It's a girl. "
"A girl!"
"You promised you would be here," Katerina said accusingly.
"I didn't know!" He looked at the baby. "She has dark hair, like me. What shall we call her?"
"I sent you a message. "
Grigori recalled the guard who had told him someone was looking for him. Something about a midwife, the man had said. "Oh, my God," Grigori said. "I was so busy. . . "
"Magda was attending to another birth," Katerina said. "I had to have Kseniya. "
Grigori was concerned. "Did you suffer?"
"Of course I suffered," Katerina snapped.
"I'm so sorry. But listen! There's been a revolution! A
real one, this time-we've taken power! The Bolsheviks are forming a government. " He bent down to kiss her.
"That's what I thought," she said, and she turned her face away.
