The Ka of Gifford Hillary by Dennis Wheatley

urgent necessity of our adopting the New Look, and say that in view of them you could not square it with your conscience to be a party to such a scandalous waste of the public’s money.’
    I said nothing for the moment, and he went on:
    ‘That will send the balloon up. The following day it will be front page news in every paper in this country, in theUnited States, and on the Continent as well. Your obvious integrity will be evident from the sacrifice you are making. Logic is on our side. We’ll have spiked the Admiralty’s guns and have the nation behind us. You have it in your power, Hillary, to enable the Government to go to the House on this thing without risking defeat—more, by enabling us to act in time, you may save us from annihilation by the Soviets in a few years from now. Will you do it?’
    ‘Has the Prime Minister approved this idea for catching the Old Lookers napping?’ I asked.
    Sir Charles made a little gesture with one of his long slim hands. ‘I don’t think we need go into that. We all know that, even if it meant the fall of his Government, he would still face the House and ask it to do what he felt to be the right thing for the nation. It’s my job, and that of my colleagues, to lighten, as far as we can, the burden he has to carry; and the heaviest one in a democracy is that of persuading the mainly ignorant masses to accept a programme that sound evidence has shown to be the best for them.
    ‘Of course, I am fully aware that my proposal to you is highly unorthodox, and if it got out that I had made it I should have to resign; but you wouldn’t think much of me if I did so for no apparent reason and left the baby for some other poor devil to hold, would you? Or if I shirked facing up to the issue?
    ‘Frankly, Hillary, I believe that if we continue with the Old Look, or even try to have it both ways, Britain will be as much a thing of the past within ten years as Greece or Rome; the only difference being that any of our grandchildren who may survive will not even be allowed to know about the great achievements of their race. That is why I don’t feel the least scruple about asking you to do this thing.’
    I realised then that by my last question I had implied that he was doing something vaguely dishonest. He had taken it very well; but, actually, that was the very last thing I had had in mind. No one could have been more of an antithesis to the modern politician whose eyes are always, flickering round to catch sight of a band-wagon on to which he can climb with the hope of doing a bit better for himself. Sir Charles was a most modest and retiring man. Rather than seek office he had been pushed into it by those who appreciatedhis many gifts. He was a younger son of one of our great families, who, like the Cecils, the Stanleys, the Churchills and the Seymours, had served the country with little thought of self for many generations.
    Smiling, I said: ‘That you feel the way you do, Sir, is quite good enough for me. But there is just one point that I have to consider. I am the largest individual shareholder in my Company, but I don’t hold a controlling interest. Our next Board Meeting is on Friday. It is then that Admiral Waldron will produce this order he has secured for two E-boats. When he has done so it will be up to me to turn it down. Naturally, my co-directors will think I’ve suddenly gone crazy; so, to win most of them over to support me in this altruistic sacrifice of the Company’s financial interests, I shall have to produce some very strong arguments. I realise, of course, that I must keep you out of it; but I’d like you to give me an idea how far I may go in using this material that you’ve shown me tonight?’
    After a moment, he replied: ‘I see your point, and it’s a very sound one. You must not disclose that you have seen these papers, as to do so would as good as give the game away; but providing you warn your co-directors that, for security reasons, what you are