The Heart of the Matter - Graham Greene [16]
‘I want to send my wife to South Africa.’
‘Oh yes. Yes.’
‘I daresay,’ Scobie said, ‘I might do it on a bit less. I shan’t be able to allow her very much on my salary though.’
‘I really don’t see how...’
‘I thought perhaps I could get an overdraft,’ he said vaguely. ‘Lots of people have them, don’t they? Do you know I believe I only had one once - for a few weeks - for about fifteen pounds. I didn’t like it. It scared me. I always felt I owed the bank manager the money.’
‘The trouble is, Scobie,’ Robinson said, ‘we’ve had orders to be very strict about overdrafts. It’s the war, you know, There’s one valuable security nobody can offer now, his life.’
‘Yes, I see that of course. But my life’s pretty good and I’m not stirring from here. No submarines for me. And the job’s secure, Robinson,’ he went on with the same ineffectual at’ tempt at flippancy.
‘The Commissioner’s retiring, isn’t he?’ Robinson said, reaching the safe at the end of the room and turning.
‘Yes, but I’m not’
‘I’m glad to hear that Scobie. There’ve been rumours .. .’
‘I suppose I’ll have to retire one day, but that’s a long way off. I’d much rather die in my boots. There’s always my life insurance policy, Robinson. What about that for security?’
‘You know you dropped one insurance three years ago.’
‘That was the year Louise went home for an operation.’
‘I don’t think the paid-up value of the other two amounts to much, Scobie.’
‘Still they protect you in case of death, don’t they?’
‘If you go on paying the premiums. We haven’t any guarantee, you know.’
‘Of course not,’ Scobie said, ‘I see that.’
‘I’m very sorry, Scobie. This isn’t personal. It’s the policy of the bank. If you’d wanted fifty pounds, I’d have lent it you myself.’
‘Forget it, Robinson,’ Scobie said. ‘It’s not important.’ He gave his embarrassed laugh. ‘The boys at the Secretariat would say I can always pick it up in bribes. How’s Molly?’
‘She’s very well, thank you. Wish I were the same.’
‘You read too many of those medical books, Robinson.’
‘A man’s got to know what’s wrong with him. Going to be at the club tonight?’
‘I don’t think so. Louise is tired. You know how it is before the rains. Sorry to have kept you, Robinson. I must be getting along to the wharf.’
He walked rapidly down-hill from the bank with his head bent He felt as though he had been detected in a mean action - he had asked for money and had been refused. Louise had deserved better of him. It seemed to him that he must have failed in some way in manhood.
Druce had come out himself to the Esperança with his squad of F.S.P. men. At the gangway a steward awaited them with an invitation to join the captain for drinks in his cabin. The officer in charge of the naval guard was already there before them. This was a regular part of the fortnightly routine - the establishment of friendly relations. By accepting his hospitality they tried to ease down for the neutral the bitter pill of search; below the bridge the search party would proceed smoothly without them. While the first-class passengers had their passports examined, their cabins would be ransacked by a squad of the F.S.P. Already others were going through the hold - the dreary hopeless business of sifting rice. What had Yusef said, ‘Have you ever found one little diamond? Do you think you ever will?’ In a few minutes when relations had become sufficiently smooth after the drinks Scobie would have the unpleasant task of searching the captain’s own cabin. The stiff disjointed conversation was carried on mainly by the naval lieutenant.
The captain wiped his fat yellow face and said, ‘Of course for the English I feel in the heart an enormous admiration.’
‘We don’t like doing it, you know,’ the lieutenant said. ‘Hard luck being a neutral.’
‘My heart,’ the Portuguese captain said, ‘is full of admiration for your great