‘Then we go on watch,’ said Bacchus with satisfaction. ‘She’ll do her packing, and leave. Either she’ll go north to Norfolk or south to Southampton. To jail or to freedom. It’s her choice.’
Joe raised his eyes to the ceiling. ‘No it’s not! No more than you would have any choice over the card you picked out of a greasy pack offered to you by a conjurer at the Palace of Varieties, Bacchus.’
‘That’s it then, sir?’ Lily asked.
‘Yes. We can all go home and get some rest while Bacchus goes to work with his forger. Seven o’clock start from here tomorrow. Best of luck, chaps! If there’s really nothing more you want to check …? No? Then you may dismiss now. Oh, Bacchus! Just a quick word if you wouldn’t mind?’ He waited until he heard the others’ footsteps going down the stairs then closed the door and turned to Bacchus, resting a congratulatory hand briefly on his shoulder. ‘I think that went well.’
Bacchus murmured something which might have been agreement.
‘What do you think of our chances?’
‘Not much. They’d have been better if we hadn’t been required to pussyfoot about. In fact, I’ve got a bad feeling about the whole thing … I just hope we can get through the preliminary pantomime without loss of life and reputation. Never underestimate the Russians, sir. We ought to remember: “Russian grain will not grow in foreign ways.” We think they’ve acclimatized, adjusted to western methods, but they haven’t.’
‘Mmm … I’ll remember that about the alien corn. Your friend Pushkin, Bacchus?’
‘No, sir. His friend Shakhovskoy.’
‘Ah! I haven’t yet had the pleasure. Just one thing — or three. The moustache, James. In view of what’s to come, perhaps …?’