But they have only becomeso very
recently.
I am usually at home in the evenings, he said. Have
you seen the tenth edition of the NewspeakDictionary?
It wasntjust a question of somebody being
killed.
Take a good look at these comrades facesbefore you
go. We have about twenty minutes at our disposal. I wasreading one of your Newspeak
articles in The Times the other day. They had been talking to one another for a
couple of minutes at the most.
The last step was something that wouldhappen in the
Ministry of Love. The little girl took holdof it and looked at it dully, perhaps not
knowing what it was. Any identifiable reference to him would havebeen mortally
dangerous.
Theywere governed by private loyalties which they
did not question. I tell you this because we want to put ourselves at yourmercy. To
knowthat it was there, inviolate, was almost the same as being in it.
OBrien had turned himself a little in his chair so
that he was facingWinston.
It would not have occurred to her that an action
which isineffectual thereby becomes meaningless. You will have readabout it in
books, no doubt.
Thenwe may as well sit down and talk in comfort. It
might have planted a few doubtshere and there, supposing that Id dared to show it to
anybody. We may be obliged to give him a new identity.
It mightinterest you to look at it, perhaps? But
you write it very elegantly, said OBrien.
The proles, it suddenly occurred to him, had
remained in thiscondition.
His sister, conscious of havingbeen robbed of
something, had set up a feeble wail.
The tenth edition is not due to appear for some
months, I believe. No, he said a little more hopefully, no; thats quite
true.
Nothing exists except an endlesspresent in which
the Party is always right.
Until he had said it, he did notknow which word he
was going to say. There was not a trace of friendliness in hismanner. The proles, it
suddenly occurred to him, had remained in thiscondition.
It mightinterest you to look at it, perhaps? He
almost ignored Julia, seeming to take it for granted thatWinston could speak for
her. There was only one meaning that the episode could possibly have.