kids are a bit wild, but I meant it when I said they'd settle down. Granted, I'm sort of sorry about Peter, but it's this protracted-adolescence bit, and it's simply the-uh-the in thing to flaunt your defiance of the conventions for a few years before you straighten your head anal cool off. He has girls too, you know, now and then."
"Nonetheless, a family like this must be-"
"My family," Turpin cut in with an air of not wanting to be contradicted, "is my best single cover. Sophie is a first-rate company wife. If it hadn't been for her, I could never have got where I am. I have to endure her mother, of course, but we only see her during the summer; she has a winter place in Florida. I planned the family to be my cover, in fact, so if you have any quarrel with it, you go blame the census department. I have an average number of kids, I give them average allowances, they've had typical educations, typical everything. My only worry has been that sometimes I've wondered whether someone might not figure it was so close to the norm it must be planned."
He hesitated, and then added, "My only worry, that is, until you were wished on me. Are you snaking any progress?" And added with his eyes: 1 hope!
Sheklov reached for the bowl of sugar resting on a low table between them and stirred a generous spoonful into his coffee; he liked it Turkish-style, thick and sweet. Not looking up, he said, "I'm not a miracle-worker, you know. I shall have to feel things out for a good while before I can do anything positive."
Turpin sighed. "I don't see why someone had to be sent specially," he grumbled. "Or why-if it was necessary-it had to be me who was used to cushion you."
"Also," Sheklov said delicately, "you don't like the scope of my brief."
There was a pause. Turpin looked everywhere except at Sheklov while deciding how best to reply- He settled for candour. "No, I don't!"
"If it's any,consolation, it makes me feel awkward, too." Sheklov raised his liqueur goblet. Barely in time he remembered to sip, not toss the contents back. While thinking as Holtzer he made no such errors, he reassured himself; it was trying to straddle his two personalities that-
But that led back to the recollection of how he had exposed himself to Danty.
Maintaining flawless outward calm, however, he said, "In fact, I was going to ask you this anyhow, and now is as good a time as any. How long would it take you to fix me a job with EG-a travelling job?"
Turpin's face went turkey-cock red. He said, "Now just a-!"
"I have the authority to insist," Sheklov murmured.
"The hell you do! Look, they gave me to understand that your timber-salesman cover was fire-proof, that the parent firm has been used before and can prop you up as long as necessaryl"
"As long as necessary for me to devise an alternative," Sheklov answered stonily. "You know as well as I do-I mean better than I do-that even a Canadian isn't allowed stay in this country without impeccable reasons."
Turpin's jowls trembled. "But they told me I only had to cushion your landfall. I took it for granted that you had a closed assignments"
"Nobody said that in so many words," Sheklov pointed out. "In fact my assignment is open-ended, category one. Anyway, why should the idea of finding me a job with EG upset you so much? You must be distributing patronage all the time."
"Patronage!" Turpin echoed, and slapped his thigh with his open palm, like a gun-shot. "This isn't patronage-it's blackmaill Bringing you into EG would be insanely dangerous. I've sweated blood for years, for decades, to make sure there was no one in the entire corporation who had a breath of suspicion against him. I'm damned if I'm going to break a clean record a quarter-century longl"
Eventually Sheklov sighed and turned around in his chair to a more comfortable position.
"Look, Dick," he said, "there's something that d6esn't seem to have registered with you yet. Out near
"Nonetheless, a family like this must be-"
"My family," Turpin cut in with an air of not wanting to be contradicted, "is my best single cover. Sophie is a first-rate company wife. If it hadn't been for her, I could never have got where I am. I have to endure her mother, of course, but we only see her during the summer; she has a winter place in Florida. I planned the family to be my cover, in fact, so if you have any quarrel with it, you go blame the census department. I have an average number of kids, I give them average allowances, they've had typical educations, typical everything. My only worry has been that sometimes I've wondered whether someone might not figure it was so close to the norm it must be planned."
He hesitated, and then added, "My only worry, that is, until you were wished on me. Are you snaking any progress?" And added with his eyes: 1 hope!
Sheklov reached for the bowl of sugar resting on a low table between them and stirred a generous spoonful into his coffee; he liked it Turkish-style, thick and sweet. Not looking up, he said, "I'm not a miracle-worker, you know. I shall have to feel things out for a good while before I can do anything positive."
Turpin sighed. "I don't see why someone had to be sent specially," he grumbled. "Or why-if it was necessary-it had to be me who was used to cushion you."
"Also," Sheklov said delicately, "you don't like the scope of my brief."
There was a pause. Turpin looked everywhere except at Sheklov while deciding how best to reply- He settled for candour. "No, I don't!"
"If it's any,consolation, it makes me feel awkward, too." Sheklov raised his liqueur goblet. Barely in time he remembered to sip, not toss the contents back. While thinking as Holtzer he made no such errors, he reassured himself; it was trying to straddle his two personalities that-
But that led back to the recollection of how he had exposed himself to Danty.
Maintaining flawless outward calm, however, he said, "In fact, I was going to ask you this anyhow, and now is as good a time as any. How long would it take you to fix me a job with EG-a travelling job?"
Turpin's face went turkey-cock red. He said, "Now just a-!"
"I have the authority to insist," Sheklov murmured.
"The hell you do! Look, they gave me to understand that your timber-salesman cover was fire-proof, that the parent firm has been used before and can prop you up as long as necessaryl"
"As long as necessary for me to devise an alternative," Sheklov answered stonily. "You know as well as I do-I mean better than I do-that even a Canadian isn't allowed stay in this country without impeccable reasons."
Turpin's jowls trembled. "But they told me I only had to cushion your landfall. I took it for granted that you had a closed assignments"
"Nobody said that in so many words," Sheklov pointed out. "In fact my assignment is open-ended, category one. Anyway, why should the idea of finding me a job with EG upset you so much? You must be distributing patronage all the time."
"Patronage!" Turpin echoed, and slapped his thigh with his open palm, like a gun-shot. "This isn't patronage-it's blackmaill Bringing you into EG would be insanely dangerous. I've sweated blood for years, for decades, to make sure there was no one in the entire corporation who had a breath of suspicion against him. I'm damned if I'm going to break a clean record a quarter-century longl"
Eventually Sheklov sighed and turned around in his chair to a more comfortable position.
"Look, Dick," he said, "there's something that d6esn't seem to have registered with you yet. Out near
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