I got the feeling that he really wanted me to keep up the conversation and ask him a question. It would have been natural, for example, to ask what Haikin had told him about us, bearing in mind the specific nature of their own relations. But an old belief that you can never expect decent treatment from a servant of the law prevented me from making normal human conversation with this major, or any other member of the government department responsible for maintaining law and order. But he was clearly in the mood to share some of his own intimate thoughts, and without waiting for me to take any part in the conversation, he asked in a soft voice:
“I suppose you’ve already realized that I’m doing everything in my power to help you and your friends?”
“To be quite honest, that’s not exactly i
