Tallente wasted no words as soon as they had entered the smoking room
and found it empty.
"Do you mind talking shop, Greening?" he asked. "I've been down to your
place twice this morning, but couldn't find you."
"Go ahead," the other invited. "I had to go round to Downing Street and
then on to see the chief. Sorry you had a fruitless journey."
"I will be quite frank with you," Tallente went on. "What I am going to
suggest to you is pure guesswork. A political opponent, if I can
dignify the fellow with such a term, has in his possession an article of
mine which I wrote some years ago, during the war. I have been given to
understand that he means to obtain publication of it for the purpose of
undermining my position with the Labour Party. Has he brought it to
you?"
"He has," Greening answered briefly.
"Are you going to use it?"
"We are. The article is in type now. It won't be out for a day or two.
When it does, we look upon it as the biggest political scoop of this
decade."
"I protest to you formally," Tallente said, "against the publication by
a respectable journal of a stolen document.
Pages:
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336