“I’d prefer one hour at the Centre Court at Wimbledon, sir, to a whole Test Match — even if it was against the West Indies!”
“I see,” said Gideon, drily. “Don’t ever tell my son that!” He moved to a big armchair and sat down. “Have you any idea how many people are likely to be involved?”
“A thousand, I suppose.”
Gideon, momentarily taken aback, suddenly chuckled again. This girl put him in a good humour and he was extremely glad he had not created problems of tension.
“Where will they come from?” he asked.
“I’m not sure, sir, but I do know at least fifty are coming in from Europe and they say there will be some on the S.S. France when she reaches Southampton from New York. That will be the day before the match begins.”
“I see.” Gideon looked at her very levelly, so that her smile faded, and she waited. But there was no tension; obviously she was at ease now. “Constable — do you think your identity has been suspected?”
“No, sir.”
“What do you think would happen if your colleagues on the Action Committee found out?”
She didn’t answer at once, and Gideon prompted: “Haven’t you thought of that?”
“Often, sir,” she replied.
“Well?”
“I’m sure there’s no danger,” Henry put in quickly.
The girl looked at him gravely for a long time, then turned back to Gideon, and he had no doubt at all that she would answer truthfully and that her opinion would be well-considered. She frowned, slightly; it seemed to narrow her features and to give her an added attractiveness.
. “I think they would disfigure me, sir,” she answered at last. “One or two might want to kill me.”
“Juanita!” exclaimed Henry.
“I do, sir,” insisted Juanita, without even glancing at him. “They feel very strongly about the apartheid situation, and they would believe I had betrayed them.” When Gideon made no answer, she added in a hushed voice: “And i one way, they would be right, wouldn’t they? That’s the awful tiling about —” She broke off, and after a pause went on in a different, almost defensive manner: “You did ask me, sir, didn’t you?”
“Yes. I wanted to know and I am very glad to know, answered Gideon. “You started to say something about -
“What I’d like to know is whether there was anything new last night,” interrupted Henry.
It was obvious that he had been searching for some justifiable way of interrupting, that this change of mood was far from his liking. And his exclamation: “Juanita!” told its own story: this was more than an official association — which could result in another cause for worry. She reported to him ‘at night’ he had said. Where? From the moment the conversation had taken this turn he had tried to break it up, but the girl did not even glance at him; her only concern at that moment was with Gideon. And Gideon, also, ignored Henry, who did not try again.”
“It’s the most awful thing about the world today,” she went on, flatly. “You have to spy on one another, if you believe in a thing strongly enough. And most of the Action Committee believe passionately, sir — they really do. Some or them — I really do think some of them would go to the stake for what they believe in. They hate apartheid. They certainly don’t mind a few months in prison.” She continued to eye Gideon levelly, but paused for a long time; it was his time to speak.
“Do you hate apartheid?” he asked, very quietly.
“In a way I do, sir,” she answered, without hesitation: obviously she had long since worked out her attitude about this. “But primarily I believe that you’ve got to obey the law, sir. You’ve just got to be law-abiding. I think a demonstration, especially an ugly demonstration about this — this game,” she said with almost scornful emphasis, “could do a terrible lot of harm. You just have to believe in something, sir, and I believe in law and order.”
Gideon spent a long moment looking intently into her alert, eager face, sensing that she was almost begging him to understand, then cleared his throat and asked: “And you’d go to the stake for it, in your own way, would you?”
“Well, of course,” said Juanita Conception, quite simply.
Gideon drew his gaze away at last and spoke to Henry: it was almost as if he had only now remembered that the other man was still present. At the back of his mind, there was a very great admiration for this young woman, and it was easy to understand that Henry might have become very attached to her. Henry was married, of course, so that could create all manner of complications. But the girl was remarkably level-headed and would probably keep any situation under control.
That wasn’t the immediate worry, anyhow.
“We’ll have to make sure that she doesn’t go to the stake, Superintendent,” he said, briskly. “I’d like you to go very closely into the situation and come to the Yard in the morning so that we can discuss it more fully. Is there an Action Committee tonight?” he asked the girl.
“We’ll meet in one of the coffee bars or perhaps in one of the members’ flat or house,” Juanita told him. “But there isn’t an official meeting.”
Gideon nodded.
“Be very careful,” he ordered. “Be very careful indeed, Constable. And remember that if it became necessary we could withdraw you from this assignment and keep on top. of the situation some other way. You’ve done a thoroughly good job, and if we manage to stop trouble at Lords, it will” be largely due to you.”
“Thank you — very much,” Juanita managed, huskily.
