It was Osnard’s turn to act the smiler, Pendel’s to hold back.
‘Wasn’t Louisa who told you about it, then?’
‘Not till it was public. She wouldn’t.’
Stay away from my friend, Pendel’s eyes were saying. Stay away from my wife.
‘Why ever not?’ Osnard asked.
‘She’s discreet. It’s her sense of duty. I’ve told you already.’
‘She know you’re meeting me tonight?’
‘Of course she doesn’t. What am I? Daft?’
‘She knows something’s going on, though, doesn’t she? Noticed your change o’ life style, all that? Not blind.’
‘I’m branching out. That’s all she knows or needs to.’
‘Lot o’ ways o’ branching out though, aren’t there? Not all of ’em good news. Not for wives.’
‘She’s not bothered.’
‘Wasn’t the impression she gave me, Harry. Out there on Anytime Island. Struck me as being a mite exercised in her mind. Wasn’t making heavy weather of it. Not her way. Just wanted me to tell her whether it was normal at your age.’
‘What was?’
‘Needing everybody’s company. Twenty-four hours a day. Except hers. Scampering around town.’
‘What did you tell her?’
‘Said I’d wait till I was forty and let her know. Great woman, Harry.’
‘Yes. She is. So stay off her.’
‘Just occurred to me she might be happier if you were able to put her mind at ease.’
‘Her mind’s all right where it is.’
‘Just wish we could step a bit closer to the well, that’s all.’
‘What well?’
‘The well. The source. Fountain of all knowledge. Delgado. She’s a fan o’ Mickie’s. Admires him. Told me. Adores Delgado. Loathes the idea of a backdoor sellout o’ the Canal. Looks like a dead cert to me. Seen from here.’
Pendel’s eyes were prison eyes again, sullen and locked in. But Osnard failed to notice Pendel’s retreat into his own interior, preferring to muse aloud about Louisa in an inferential kind of way.
‘One o’ the absolute naturals of all time, if you ask me.’
‘Who?’
‘ “Target the Canal,” ‘ Osnard mused. ‘ “Everything rides on the Canal.” Only thing London seems able to think about. Who’s going to get it. What they’ll do with it. Whole o’ Whitehall wetting its striped pants to find out who Delgado talks to in the woodshed.’ He closed his eyes reflectively. ‘Marvellous girl. One o’ the world’s best. Steady as a rock, grip like a limpet, loyal unto the grave. Fabulous material.’
‘What for?’
Osnard let the Scotch slip down. ‘Bit o’ help from you, sold to her in the right way, proper use o’ language, no problem,’ he went on ruminatively. ‘No direct action involved. Not asking her to plant a bomb in the Palace o’ Herons, shack up with the students, go to sea with the fisher lads. All she has to do is listen and watch.’
‘Watch what?’
‘Don’t have to mention your chum Andy. Didn’t have to mention him to Abraxas or the others. Don’t with her. Stress the marital tie, best thing. The old honour and obey. Louisa hands her stuff to you. You hand it to me. I bung it back at London. Doddle.’
‘She loves the Canal, Andy. She’s not about to betray it. That’s not who she is.’
‘She won’t be betraying it, you ass! Saving it, Christ’s sakes! She thinks the sun shines out o’ Delgado’s arse, right?’
‘She’s a Yankee, Andy. She respects Delgado but she loves her America as well.’
‘Not betraying the Yanks either, Christ’s sakes! Holding Uncle Sam’s nose to the grindstone. Keeping his troops in situ. Keeping the military bases. What more can she ask? She’ll be helping Delgado by saving the Canal from the crooks, helping the Yankees by telling us how the Pans are screwing up and there’s all the more reason for US troops to stay put. You speak? Didn’t catch you.’
Pendel had indeed spoken, but his voice was so choked that it was barely audible. So like Osnard he drew himself upright, then tried again.
‘I think I must have asked you how much you thought Louisa was worth on the open market, Andy.’
Osnard welcomed this practical question. He had intended to raise it himself further down the line.