Johnson leaned out of the window and gently drew on the aerial to make sure it was still fast, then began looking over his receiver like a racing driver before the start, needlessly touching terminals and adjusting dials. Leclerc watched him admiringly.
“Johnson, that was nobly done last time. Nobly done. We owe you a vote of thanks.” Leclerc’s face was shiny, as if he had only recently shaved. He looked oddly fragile in the pale light. “I propose to hear one more schedule and get back to London.” He laughed. “We’ve work to do, you know. This isn’t the season for continental holidays.”
Johnson might not have heard. He held up his hand. “Thirty minutes,” he said. “I shall be asking you for a little hush soon, gentlemen.” He was like a conjurer at a children’s party. “Fred’s a devil for punctuality,” he observed loudly.
Leclerc addressed himself to Avery. “You’re one of those lucky people, John, who have seen action in peacetime.” He seemed anxious to talk.
“Yes. I’m very grateful.”
“You don’t have to be. You’ve done a good job, and we recognize that. There’s no question of gratitude. You’ve achieved something very rare in our work. I wonder if you know what it is?”
Avery said he did not.
“You’ve induced an agent to like you. In the ordinary way— Adrian will bear me out—the relationship between an agent and his controllers is clouded with suspicion. He resents them, that’s the first thing, for not doing the job themselves. He suspects them of ulterior motives, ineptitude, duplicity. But we’re not the Circus, John: that’s not the way we do things.”
Avery nodded. “No, quite.”
“You’ve done something else, you and Adrian. I would like to feel that if a similar need arose in the future we could use the same technique, the same facilities, the same expertise— that means the Avery-Haldane combination. What I’m trying to say is”—Leclerc raised one hand and with his forefinger and thumb lightly touched the bridge of his nose in an unusual gesture of English diffidence—”the experience you’ve made is to our mutual advantage. Thank you.”
Haldane moved to the stove and began warming his hands, rubbing them gently as if he were separating wheat.
“That Budapest thing,” Leclerc continued, raising his voice, partly in enthusiasm and partly perhaps to dispel the atmosphere of intimacy which suddenly threatened them: “It’s a complete reorganization. Nothing less. They’re moving their armor to the border, do you see. The Ministry is talking about forward strategy. They’re really most interested.”
Avery said, “More interested than in the Mayfly area?”
“No, no,” Leclerc protested lightly. “It’s all part of the same complex—they think very big over there, you know—a move here and a move there—it all has to be pieced together.”
“Of course,” Avery said gently. “We can’t see it ourselves, can we? We can’t see the whole picture.” He was trying to make it better for Leclerc. “We haven’t the perspective.”
“When we get back to London,” Leclerc proposed, “you must come and dine with me, John: you and your wife; both come. I’ve been meaning to suggest it for some time. We’ll go to my club. They do a rather good dinner in the ladies’ dining room; your wife would enjoy it.”
“You mentioned it. I asked Sarah. We’d love to. My mother-in-law’s with us just now. She could baby-sit.”
“How nice. Don’t forget.”
“We’re looking forward to it.”
“Am I not invited?” Haldane asked coyly.
“Why of course, Adrian. Then we shall be four. Excellent.” His voice changed. “Incidentally, the landlords have complained about the house in Oxford. They say we left it in a poor state.”
“Poor state?” Haldane echoed angrily.
“It appears we have been overloading the electrical circuit. Parts of it are quite burnt out. I told Woodford to cope with it.”
“We should have our own place,” said Avery. “Then we wouldn’t have to worry.”
“I agree. I spoke to the Minister about it. A training center is what we need. He was enthusiastic. He’s keen on this kind of thing, now, you know. They have a new phrase for it over there. They are speaking of ICOs—Immediate Clarification Operations. He suggests we find a place and take it for six months. He proposes to speak to the Treasury about a lease.”