Instinctively, I shrank back out of sight of the doorway. I swiped at my face with my sleeve.
Mr. Kutsov said, "Yes. What can I do for you."
The policeman moved one step inside the house where I could see him again. He said in a flat voice, "I have a warrant for your arrest."
There was only one light on in the house, in the front room. From the shadows at the rear I watched them both. The policeman had a hard mask for a face, no more human than a Losel. Mr. Kutsov was determined and I had the feeling that he had forgotten my presence.
"To jail again? For my book?" He shook his head. "No."
"It be nothing to do with any book I know of, Kutsov. It be known that you be an Anti-Redemptionist. So come along." He grasped Mr. Kutsov's arm.
Mr. Kutsov shook loose. "No. I won't go to jail again. It be no crime to be against stupidity. I won't go."
The policeman said, "You be coming whether you want to or not. You be under arrest."
Mr. Kutsov's voice had never shown his age before, but it shook now. "Get out of my house!"