Smiley’s People by John le Carré

‘When did you last see him, William?’ Smiley asked.

‘Who, Max? See who? I don’t understand you, please.’

‘Tell him, Bill,’ Stella ordered her husband, not moving her eyes from him for a moment.

‘When did you last see Vladimir?’ Smiley repeated patiently.

‘Long time, Max.’

‘Weeks?’

‘Sure. Weeks.’

‘Months?’

‘Months. Six months! Seven! At christening. He was godfather, we make a party. But no politics.’

Smiley’s silences had begun to produce an awkward tension. ‘And not since?’ he asked at last.

‘No.’

‘What time did William get back yesterday?’

‘Early,’ she said.

‘As early as ten o’clock in the morning?’

‘Could have been. I wasn’t here. I was visiting Mother.’

‘Vladimir drove down here yesterday by taxi,’ he explained. still to Stella. ‘I think he saw William.’

Nobody helped him, not Smiley, not his wife. Even the child kept still.

‘On his way here Vladimir bought a toy. The taxi waited an hour down the lane and took him away again, back to Paddington where he lives,’ Smiley said, still being very careful to keep the present tense.

Villem had found his voice at last : ‘Vladi is of Beckie the godfather!’ he protested with another flourish, as his English threatened to desert him entirely. ‘Stella don’t like him, so he must come here like a thief, okay? He bring my Beckie toy, okay? Is a crime already, Max? Is a law, an old man cannot bring to his godchild toys?’

Once again neither Smiley nor Stella spoke. They were both waiting for the same inevitable collapse.

‘Vladi is old man, Max! Who knows when he sees his Beckie again? He is friend of family!’

‘Not of this family,’ said Stella. ‘Not any more.’

‘He was friend of my father! Comrade! In Paris they fight together Bolshevism. So he brings to Beckie a toy. Why not, please? Why not, Max?’

‘You said you bought the bloody thing yourself.’ said Stella. Putting a hand to her breast, she closed a button as if to cut him off.

Villem swung to Smiley, appealing to him : ‘Stella don’t like the old man, okay? Is afraid I make more politics with him, okay? So I don’t tell Stella. She goes to see her mother in Staines hospital and while she is away Vladi makes a small visit to see Beckie, say hullo, why not?’ In desperation he actually leapt to his feet, flinging up his arms in too much protest. ‘Stella!’ he cried. ‘Listen to me! So Vladi don’t get home last night? Please, I am so sorry! But it is not my fault, okay? Max! That Vladi is an old man! Lonely. So maybe he finds a woman once. Okay? So he can’t do much with her, but he still likes her company. For this he was pretty famous, I think! Okay? Why not?’

‘And before yesterday?’ Smiley asked, after an age. Villem seemed not to understand, So Smiley paced out the question again : ‘You saw Vladimir yesterday. He came by taxi and brought a yellow wooden duck for Beckie. On wheels.’

‘Sure.’

‘Very well. But before yesterday – not counting yesterday when did you last see him?’

Some questions are hazard, some are instinct, some – like this one – are based on a premature understanding that is more than instinct, but less than knowledge.

Villem wiped his lips on the back of his hand. ‘Monday,’ he said miserably. ‘I see him Monday. He ring me, we meet. Sure.’

Then Stella whispered, ‘Oh William,’ and held the child upright against her, a little soldier, while she peered downward at the haircord carpet waiting for her feelings to right themselves.

The phone began ringing. Like an infuriated infant Villem sprang at it, lifted the receiver, slammed it back on the cradle, then threw the whole telephone on to the floor and kicked the receiver clear. He sat down.

Stella turned to Smiley : ‘I want you to go,’ she said. ‘I want you to walk out of here and never come back. Please Max. Now.’

For a time Smiley seemed to consider this request quite seriously. He looked at Villem with avuncular affection; he looked at Stella. Then he delved in his inside pocket and pulled out a folded copy of the day’s first edition of the Evening Standard and handed it to Stella rather than to Villem, partly because he guessed that Villem would break down.

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