'Why not?' said Henry Horsham.
'Indeed? What are my 'qualities', as you call them? I can't, quite frankly, believe in them myself.'
'You're not a hero-worshipper,' said Horsham. 'That's why. You're the kind who sees through humbug. You don't take anyone at their own or the world's valuation. You take them at your own valuation.'
'Ce n'est pas un garзon serieux.' The words floated through Sir Stafford Nye's mind. A curious reason for which to be chosen for a difficult and exacting job.
'I've got to warn you,' he said, 'that my principal fault, and one that's been frequently noticed about me and which has cost me several good jobs is, I think, fairly well known. I'm not, I should say, a sufficiently serious sort of chap for an important job like this.'
'Believe it or not,' said Mr Horsham, 'that's one of the reasons why they want you. I'm right, my lord, aren't I?'
He looked towards Lord Altamount.
'Public service!' said Lord Altamount. 'Let me tell you that very often one of the most serious disadvantages in public life is when people in a public position take themselves too seriously. We feel that you won't. Anyway,' he said, 'Mary Ann thinks so.'
Sir Stafford Nye turned his head. So here she was, no longer a countess. She had become Mary Ann again.
'You don't mind my asking,' he said, 'but who are you really? I mean, are you a real countess?'
'Absolutely. Geboren, as the Germans say. My father was a man of pedigree, a good sportsman, a splendid shot, and had a very romantic but somewhat dilapidated castle in Bavaria. It's, still there, the castle. As far as that goes, I have connections with that large portion of the European world which is still heavily snobbish as far as birth is concerned. A poor and shabby countess sits down first at the table whilst a rich American with a fabulous fortune in dollars at the bank is kept waiting.'
'What about Daphne Theodofanous? Where does she come in?'
'A useful name for a passport. My mother was Greek.'
'And Mary Ann?'
It was almost the first smile Stafford Nye had seen on her face. Her eyes went to Lord Altamount and from him to Mr Robinson.
'Perhaps,' she said, 'because I'm a kind of maid-of-all-work, going places, looking for things, taking things from one country to another, sweeping under the mat, do anything, go anywhere, clear up the mess.' She looked towards Lord Altamount again. 'Am I right, Uncle Ned?'
'Quite right, my dear. Mary Ann you are and always will be to us.'
'Were you taking something on that plane? I mean taking something important from one country to another?'
'Yes. It was known I was carrying it. If you hadn't come to my rescue, if you hadn't drunk possibly poisonous beer and handed over your bandit cloak of bright colours as a disguise, well, accidents happen sometimes. I shouldn't have got here.'
'What were you carrying — or mustn't I ask? Are those things I shall never know?'
'There are a lot of things you will never know. There are a lot of things you won't be allowed to ask. But that question of yours I shall answer. A bare answer, a fact. If I am allowed to do so.'
Again she looked at Lord Altamount.
'I trust your judgment,' said Lord Altamount. 'Go on.'
'Give him the dope,' said the irreverent James.
Mr Horsham said, 'I suppose you've got to know. I won't tell you, but then I'm Security. Go ahead, Mary Ann.'
'One sentence. I was bringing a birth certificate. That's all. I don't tell you any more and it won't be any use your asking any more questions.'
Stafford Nye looked round the assembly.
'All right. I'll join. I'm flattered at your asking me. Where do we go from here?'
'You and I,' said Renata, 'leave here tomorrow to the Continent. You may have read, or know, that a Musical Festival taking place in Bavaria. It is some thing quite new which has only come into being in the last years. It has a rather formidable German name meaning 'Company of Youthful Singers' and is supported by Governments of several different countries. It is in opposition to the traditional festivals and productions of Bayreuth. Much of the music given is modern — new young composers are given the chance of their compositions being heard. Whilst thought of highly by some, it is utterly repudiated and held in contempt by others.'
'Yes,' said Sir Stafford, 'I have read about it. Are we going to attend it?'
'We have seats booked for two of the performances.'
'Has this festival any special significance in our investigation?'
'No,' said Renata. 'It is more in the nature of what you might call an exit and entry convenience. We go there for an ostensible and true reason, and we leave it for our next step in due course.'
He looked round. 'Instructions? Do I get any marching orders? Am I to be briefed?'
'Not in your meaning of those terms. You are going on a voyage of exploration. You will learn things as you go along. You will go as yourself, knowing only what you know at present. You go as a lover of music, as a slightly disappointed diplomat who had perhaps hoped for some post in his own country which he has not been given. Otherwise, you will know nothing. It is safer so.'
'But that is the sum of activities at present? Germany, Bavaria, Austria, the Tyrol — that part of the world?'
'It is one of the centres of interest.'
'It is not the only one?'
'Indeed, not even the principal one. There are other spots on the globe, all of varying importance and interest. How much importance each one holds is what we have to find out.'
'And I don't know, or am not to be told, anything about these other centres?'
'Only in cursory fashion. One of them, we think the most important one, has its headquarters in South America, there are two with headquarters in the United States of America, one in California, the other in Baltimore. There is one in Sweden, there is one in Italy. Things have become very active in the latter in the last six months. Portugal and Spain also have smaller centres. Paris, of course. There are further interesting spots just 'coming into production', you might say. As yet not fully developed.'
'You mean Malaya, or Vietnam?'
'No. No, all that lies rather in the past. It was a good rallying cry for violence and student indignation and for many other things.
'What is being promoted, you must understand, is the growing organization of youth everywhere against their mode of government; against their parental customs, against very often the religions in which they have been brought up. There is the insidious cult of permissiveness, there is the increasing cult of violence. Violence not as a means of gaining money, but violence for the love of violence. That particularly is stressed, and the reasons for it are to the people concerned one of the most important things and of the utmost significance.'
'Permissiveness, is that important?'
'It is a way of life, no more. It lends itself to certain abuses but not unduly.'
'What about drugs?'
'The cult of drugs has been deliberately advanced and fomented. Vast sums of money have been made that way, but it is not, or so we think, entirely activated for the money motive.'
All of them looked at Mr Robinson, who slowly shook his head.
'No,' he said, 'it looks that way. There are people who are being apprehended and brought to justice. Pushers of drugs will be followed up. But there is more than just the drug racket behind all this. The drug racket is a means, and an evil means, of making money. But there is more to it than that.'
'But who –' Stafford Nye stopped.
'Who and what and why and where? The four W's. That is your mission. Sir Stafford,' said Mr Robinson. 'That's what you've got to find out. You and Mary Ann. It won't be easy, and one of the hardest things in the world, remember, is to keep one's secrets.'
Stafford Nye looked with interest at the fat yellow face of Mr Robinson. Perhaps the secret of Mr Robinson's
