‘Kirov,’ he said again, reminding her, and waited, wondering seriously whether it was all up with her; whether her mind was dying with her body, and this was all there was.
‘Kirov, Oleg,’ she repeated, in a musing tone. ‘Born Leningrad October, 1929, according to his passport, which doesn’t mean a damn thing except that he probably never went near Leningrad in his life.’ She smiled, as if that were the way of the wicked world. ‘Arrived Paris June 1, 1974, in the rank and quality of Second Secretary, Commercial. Three to four years ago, you say? Dear Lord, it could be twenty. That’s right, darling, he was a hood. ‘Course he was. Identified by the Paris lodge of the poor old Riga Group, which didn’t help us any, specially not on the fifth floor. What was his real name? Kursky. Of course it was. Yes, I think I remember Oleg Kirov, né Kursky all right.’ Her smile returned, and was once more very pretty. ‘Must have been Vladimir’s last case, near enough. How is the old stoat?’ she asked, and her moist clever eyes waited for his answer.
‘Oh, fighting fit,’ said Smiley.
‘Still terrifying the virgins of Paddington?’
‘I’m sure he is.’
‘Bless you, darling,’ said Connie, and turned her head till it was in profile to him, very dark except for the one fine line from the oil lamp, while she again stared out of the French windows.
‘Go and see how the mad bitch is, will you, heart?’ she asked fondly. ‘Make sure the idiot hasn’t thrown herself into the mill-race or drunk the universal weed-killer.’
Stepping outside, Smiley stood on the veranda, and in the thickening gloom made out the figure of Hilary loping awkwardly among the coops. Her heard the clanking of her spoon on the bucket, and shreds of her well-bred voice on the night air as she called out childish names : Come on Whitey, Flopsy, Bo.
‘She’s fine,’ said Smiley, coming back. ‘Feeding the checkens.’
‘I should tell her to bugger off, shouldn’t I, George?’ she remarked, ignoring his information entirely. ‘ “Go forth into the world, Hils my dear.” That’s what I should say. “Don’t tie yourself to a rotting old hulk like Con. Marry a chinless fool, spawn brats, fulfil your foul womanhood.” ‘ She had voices for everybody, he remembered : even for herself. She had them still. ‘I’ll be damned if I will, George. I want her. Every gorgeous bit of her. I’d take her with me if I’d half a chance. You want to try it some time.’ A break. ‘How are all the boys and girls?’
For a second, he didn’t understand her question; his thoughts were with Hilary still, and Ann.
‘His Grace Saul Enderby is still top of the heap, I take it? Eating well, I trust? Not moulting?’
‘Oh, Saul goes from strength to strength, thanks.’
‘That toad Sam Collins still Head of Operations?’
There was an edge to her questions, but he had no choice except to answer.
‘Sam’s fine too,’ he said.
‘Toby Esterhase still oiling round the corridors?’
‘It’s all pretty much as usual.’
Her face was now so dark to him that he could not tell whether she was proposing to speak again. He heard her breathing and the rasp of her chest. But he knew he was still the object of her scrutiny.
‘You’d never work for that bunch, George,’ she remarked at last, as if it were the most self-evident of platitudes. ‘Not you. Give me another drink.’
Glad of the movement, Smiley went down the room again.
‘Kirov, you said?’ Connie called to him.
‘That’s right,’ said Smiley cheerfully, and returned with her glass replenished.
‘That little ferret Otto Leipzig was the first hurdle,’ she rebuked with relish, when she had taken a deep draught. ‘The fifth floor wouldn’t believe him, would they? Not our little Otto – oh no! Otto was a fabricator, and that was that!’
‘But I don’t think Leipzig ever lied to us about the Moscow target,’ Smiley said, taking up her tone of reminiscence.
‘No, darling, he did not,’ she said with approval. ‘He had his weaknesses, I’ll grant you. But when it came to the big stuff he always played a straight bat. And you understood that, alone of all your tribe, I’ll say that for you. But you didn’t get much support from the other barons, did you?’