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By Root 14138 0

sura there came a few moments of silence in which nobody stirred or uttered a word, but appeared sunk in contemplation of what had gone before. The preacher then sank his chin upon his breastbone as if to regain his strength and softly linked his fingers. Then once more he would look upwards towards the sightless light and declaim, and once more one felt the tension of the words as they sped through the attentive con-sciousness of his listeners. It was after midnight when the Koran reading was complete and some measure of relaxation came back to the audience as the old man embarked upon the stories of tradition; these were no longer listened to as if they were a part of music, but were followed with the active proverbial mind: for they were the dialectics of revelation — its ethic and application. The company responded to the changed tone by letting the ir expression brighten to the keenness of habitual workers in the world, bankers, students, or business men.

It was two o’clock before the evening ended and Memlik showed his guests to the front door where their cars awaited them, with

a white dew upon their wheels and chromium surfaces. To Nessim he said in a quiet deliberate voice — a voice which went down to the heart of their relationship like some heavy plumb-line : ‘I will inv ite you again, sir, for as long as may be possible. But reflect.’

And with his finger he gently touched the coat-button of his guest as if to underline the remark.

Nessim thanked him and walked down the drive among the palm-trees to where he had left the great car; his naked relief was by no means unmixed with doubt. He had at best, he re-flected, gained a respite which did not fundamentally alter the enmity of the forces ranged against him. But even a respite was something to be grateful for; for how long though? It was at this stage impossible to judge.

Justine had not gone to bed. She was sitting in the lounge of Shepheards Hotel under the clock with an untouched Turkish coffee before her. She stood up eagerly as he passed through the swing doors with his usual gentle smile of welcome; she did not move but stared at him with a peculiar strained intensity — as if she were trying to decipher his feelings from his carriage. Then she relaxed and smiled with relief. ‘I’m so relieved! Thank God!

I could see from your face as you came in.’ They embraced gently and he sank into a chair beside her whispering: ‘My goodness, I thought it would never end. I spent part of the time being rather anxious too. Did you dine alone?’

‘Yes. I saw David.’

‘Mountolive?’

‘He was at some big dinner. He bowed frigidly but did not stop to speak to me. But then, he had people with him, bankers or something.’

Nessim ordered a coffee and as he drank it gave an account of his evening with Memlik. ‘It is clear’ he said thoughtfully ‘that the sort of pressure the British are bringing is based upon those files of correspondence they captured in Palestine. The Haifa office told Capodistria so. It would be a good angle to present these to Nur and press him to … take action.’ He drew a tiny gallows in pencil on the back of an envelope with a small fly-like victim hanging from it. ‘What I gathered from Memlik suggested that he can delay action but that the sort of pressure is too strong to ignore indefinitely; sooner or later he will be forced to satisfy

Nur. I virtually told him that by Christmas I would be able …

I would be out of the danger zone. His investigations would lead nowhere.’

‘ If everything goes according to plan.’

‘Everything will go according to plan.’

‘Then what?’

‘Then what!’ Nessim stretched his long arms over his head, yawning, and nodded sideways at her. ‘We will take up new dis-positions. Da Capo will disappear; you will go away. Leila will go down to Kenya for a long holiday together with Narouz. That is what!’

‘And you?’

‘I shall stay on a little while to keep things in place here. The Community needs me. There is a lot to be done politically still. Then I shall come to you and we can have a long holiday in Europe or anywhere you