1984 - Planet eBook

suddenly the grim face broke down into what might havebeen the beginnings of a smile. With his characteristic gestureO’Brien resettled his spectacles on his nose.‘Shall I say it, or will you?’ he said.‘I will say it,’ said Winston promptly. ‘That thing is reallyturned off?’‘Yes, everything is turned off. We are alone.’‘We have come here because——’He paused, realizing for the first time the vagueness ofhis own motives. Since he did not in fact know what kindof help he expected from O’Brien, it was not easy to say whyhe had come here. He went on, conscious that what he wassaying must sound both feeble and pretentious:‘We believe that there is some kind of conspiracy, somekind of secret organization working against the Party, andthat you are involved in it. We want to join it and work for it.We are enemies of the Party. We disbelieve in the principlesof Ingsoc. We are thought-criminals. We are also adulterers.I tell you this because we want to put ourselves at yourmercy. If you want us to incriminate ourselves in any otherway, we are ready.’He stopped and glanced over his shoulder, with thefeeling that the door had opened. Sure enough, the little yellow-facedservant had come in without knocking. Winstonsaw that he was carrying a tray with a decanter and glasses.‘Martin is one of us,’ said O’Brien impassively. ‘Bringthe drinks over here, Martin. Put them on the round table.Have we enough chairs? Then we may as well sit down andtalk in comfort. Bring a chair for yourself, Martin. This is