Re: There is a petition to keep the french channels in the clear

dissemble your feelings, to
control your face, to do what everyone else was doing, was an instinctive
reaction. But there was a space of a couple of seconds during which the
expression of his eyes might conceivably have betrayed him. And it was
exactly at this moment that the significant thing happened -- if, indeed,
it did happen.
Momentarily he caught O'Brien's eye. O'Brien had stood up. He had
taken off his spectacles and was in the act of resettling them on his nose
with his characteristic gesture. But there was a fraction of a second when
their eyes met, and for as long as it took to happen Winston knew -- yes,
he knew! -- that O'Brien was thinking the same thing as himself. An
unmistakable message had passed. It was as though their two minds had
opened and the thoughts were flowing from one into the other through their
eyes. 'I am with you,' O'Brien seemed to be saying to him. 'I know
precisely what you are feeling. I know all about your contempt, your
hatred, your disgust. But don't worry, I am on your side!' And then the
flash of intelligence was gone, and O'Brien's face was as inscrutable as
everybody else's.
That was all, and he was already uncertain whether it had happened.
Such incidents never had any sequel. All that they did was to keep alive in
him the belief, or hope, that others besides himself were the enemies of
the Party. Perhaps the rumours of vast underground conspiracies were true
after all -- perhaps the Brotherhood really existed! It was impossible, in
spite of the endless arrests and confessions and executions, to be sure
that the Brot