“You will have heard rumours of the existence of the Brotherhood. No doubt you have formed your own picture of it. You have imagined， probably， a huge underworld of conspirators， meeting secretly in cellars， scribbling messages on walls， recognizing one another by codewords or by special movements of the hand. Nothing of the kind exists. The members of the Brotherhood have no way of recognizing one another， and it is impossible for any one member to be aware of the identity of more than a few others. Goldstein himself， if he fell into the hands of the Thought Police， could not give them a complete list of members， or any information that would lead them to a complete list. No such list exists. The Brotherhood cannot be wiped out because it is not an organization in the ordinary sense. Nothing holds it together except an idea which is indestructible. You will never have anything to sustain you， except the idea. You will get no comradeship and no encouragement. When finally you are caught， you will get no help. We never help our members. At most， when it is absolutely necessary that someone should be silenced， we are occasionally able to smuggle a razor blade into a prisoner’s cell. You will have to get used to living without results and without hope. You will work for a while， you will be caught， you will confess， and then you will die. Those are the only results that you will ever see. There is no possibility that any perceptible change will happen within our own lifetime. We are the dead. Our only true life is in the future. We shall take part in it as handfuls of dust and splinters of bone. But how far away that future may be， there is no knowing. It might be a thousand years. At present nothing is possible except to extend the area of sanity little by little. We cannot act collectively. We can only spread our knowledge outwards from individual to individual， generation after generation. In the face of the Thought Police there is no other way.”
He halted and looked for the third time at his wrist-watch.
“It is almost time for you to leave， comrade，” he said to Julia. “Wait. The decanter is still half full.”
He filled the glasses and raised his own glass by the stem.
“What shall it be this time？” he said， still with the same faint suggestion of irony. “To the confusion of the Thought Police？ To the death of Big Brother？ To humanity？ To the future？”
“To the past，” said Winston.
“The past is more important，” agreed O’Brien gravely.
They emptied their glasses， and a moment later Julia stood up to go. O’Brien took a small box from the top of a cabinet and handed her a flat white tablet which he told her to place on her tongue. It was important， he said， not to go out smelling of wine： the lift attendants were very observant. As soon as the door had shut behind her he appeared to forget her existence. He took another pace or two up and down， then stopped.
“There are details to be settled，” he said. “I assume that you have a hiding-place of some kind？”
Winston explained about the room over Mr. Charrington’s shop.
“That will do for the moment. Later we will arrange something else for you. It is important to change one’s hiding-place frequently. Meanwhile I shall send you a copy of the book” — even O’Brien， Winston noticed， seemed to pronounce the words as though they were in italics-“， you understand， as soon as possible. It may be some days before I can get hold of one. There are not many in existence， as you can imagine. The Thought Police hunt them down and destroy them almost as fast as we can produce them. It makes very little difference. The book is indestructible. If the last copy were gone， we could reproduce it almost word for word. Do you carry a brief-case to work with you？” he added.
“As a rule， yes.”
“What is it like？”
“Black， very shabby. With two straps.”
“Black， two straps， very shabby — good. One day in the fairly near future—I cannot give a date — one of the messages among your morning’s work will contain a misprinted word， and you will have to ask for a repeat. On the following day you will go to work without your brief-case. At some time during the day， in the street， a man will touch you on the arm and say ‘I think you have dropped your brief-case.’ The one he gives you will contain a copy of . You will return it within fourteen days.”
They were silent for a moment.
“There are a couple of minutes before you need go，” said O’Brien. “We shall meet again — if we do meet again—”
Winston looked up at him. “In the place where there is no darkness？” he said hesitantly.
O’Brien nodded without appearance of surprise.“In the place where there is no darkness，” he said， as though he had recognized the allusion. “And in the meantime， is there anything that you wish to say before you leave？ Any message？ Any question？.”
Winston thought. There did not seem to be any further question that he wanted to ask： still less did he feel any impulse to utter high-sounding generalities. Instead of anything directly connected with O’Brien or the Brotherhood， there came into his mind a sort of composite picture of the dark bedroom where his mother had spent her last days， and the little room over Mr. Charrington"s shop， and the glass paperweight， and the steel engraving in its rosewood frame. Almost at random he said：
“Did you ever happen to hear an old rhyme that begins ‘Oranges and lemons， say the bells of St Clement’s’？”Again O’Brien nodded. With a sort of grave courtesy he completed the stanza：
“You knew the last line！” said Winston.
“Yes， I knew the last line. And now， I am afraid， it is time for you to go. But wait. You had better let me give you one of these tablets.”
As Winston stood up O’Brien held out a hand. His powerful grip crushed the bones of Winston’s palm. At the door Winston looked back， but O’Brien seemed already to be in process of putting him out of mind. He was waiting with his hand on the switch that controlled the telescreen. Beyond him Winston could see the writing-table with its green- shaded lamp and the speakwrite and the wire baskets deep- laden with papers. The incident was closed. Within thirty seconds， it occurred to him， O’Brien would be back at his interrupted and important work on behalf of the Party.
英文十七
