"Well, naturally. He never talks about anything else. Anyway, let's stop this sort of talk. Tell me how you meant to get away." Pepper told him.
"You shouldn't beat him all the time," said Kim, thoughtful.
"There's nothing I can do. I'm a pretty strong player, you know, and he's just an amateur. And he plays a queer game."
"That doesn't matter. I'd have thought a bit in your shoes. I'm getting not to like you just lately... They're writing denunciations about you... You know what, I'll fix a meeting with the director for you tomorrow. Go to him and explain yourself fully. I reckon he'll let you go. Stress the fact that you're a linguist, an arts graduate, and got here accidentally. Mention, as if in passing, that you were very keen to get into the forest, but you've changed your mind, because you don't think you're competent." "All right."
They were silent for a while. Pepper imagined himself face to face with the director and was terrified. Domino method, he thought, Stevenson-Zade...
"Main thing, don't be afraid to cry," said Kim. "He likes that."
Pepper sprang to his feet and paced the room in agitation.
"Good lord," he said. "If I only knew what he looks like. What sort of a man he is."
"What sort? He's not very tall, gingerish..."
"Hausbotcher was saying that he was a real giant."
"Hausbotcher's a fool. Boaster and liar. The director is a ginger sort of guy, stoutish, small scar on right cheek. Bit pigeon-toed when he walks, like a sailor. In fact that's what he used to be."
"But Acey said he was skinny and had long hair because of his missing ear."
"What Acey is this?"
"Driver. I was telling you about him."
Kim gave an irritated laugh.
"How would driver Acey know about all that? Take my advice, Peppy, and don't be so trusting."
"Acey said he'd been his driver and seen him several times."
"Well, what of it? He's lying, probably. I was his personal secretary and never saw him once."
"Who?"
"The director. I was his secretary for ages till I got my further degree."
"And never saw him once?"
"Well, naturally! You imagine it's that easy?"
"Wait a minute, how do you know he's ginger and so forth?"
Kim shook his head.
"Peppy," said he tenderly. "Dear lad. Nobody's ever seen a hydrogen atom, but everybody knows it has an electron shell having certain characteristics and a nucleus consisting in the simplest instance of one proton."
"That's true enough," said Pepper limply. He felt weary. "So I'll see him tomorrow."
"Now, now, ask me something easier," said Kim. "I'll fix you a meeting, that I can guarantee you. But what you'll see or who - that I don't know. Or what you'll hear, either. You don't ask me whether the director will let you go or not, do you? And rightly so, I can hardly know that, can I?"
"That's a different matter, surely," said Pepper. "Same thing. Peppy," said Kim. "Believe me, the same."
"I must seem very stupid," Pepper said sadly. "A bit." "I just slept badly, that's all."
"No, you're not practical, that's all. Why did you sleep badly anyway?"
Pepper told all and became alarmed. Kirn's kindly face flushed and his hair became disarranged. He snarled and grabbed the telephone, dialed furiously and barked:
"Warden? What does this mean? How dare you turn Pepper out? Si-1-ence! I didn't ask what had run out. I'm asking you how you dared move Pepper out? What? Si-1-ence! You don't dare! What? Rubbish, blather! Si-1-ence! I'll walk all over you! You and your Claudius-Octavian! You'll clean out my toilet, you'll go into the forest in twenty-four hours, in sixty minutes! What? Yes ... yes... What? Yes ... that's right. Now you're talking. And the best sheets... That's your business. In the street if you like... What? All right. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Sorry to disturb you... Well, naturally. Thanks a lot. Bye." He replaced the receiver.
"Everything's okay," he said. "Marvelous man when all's said. Go and lie down. You'll be living in his flat, he and his family are moving into the hotel room you had, otherwise, unfortunately, he can't... And don't argue, for heaven's sake, it's not at all our business. He decided himself. Go on, go, that's an order. I'll call you about the director."
Pepper went out into the street, swaying. He stood for a moment, blinking in the sun, then set off for the park to look for his suitcase. He did not find it at once since it was firmly held in the muscular gypsum hand of the thieving discus-thrower by the fountain. The filthy inscription on his thigh was not as filthy as all that. A chemical pencil had written: "Girls, beware of syphilis."
