government would be much less than for the last. Francis would fail, anyone would fail. He had done a good deal in the line of duty – but this, he said bleakly, was a hiding to nothing. If he had asked my opinion, I should have agreed.
But that wasn’t all. He had been an influence for so long. He had been criticised, at times in disfavour, privately defamed – but always, like other eminent scientists called in to give advice, covered by a kind of mantle of respect. That closed and secret politics was different from politics in the open. Francis hadn’t been brought up in open politics. At sixty-one (he was two years older than I was) his imagination and thin skin told him what it would be like. Francis had plenty of courage, but it was courage of the will.
But that was not all either, or even most of it. His major reason for saying no, almost without a thought, was much simpler. It was just that he had become very happy. This hadn’t always been so. His marriage – that had been good from the beginning. If he hadn’t been lucky there, if he hadn’t had the refuge of his wife and children, I had sometimes thought, he would have broken down. Even now, though his face looked younger than his age, his hair still dark, carefully trimmed on the forehead, by a streak of vanity, to conceal that he hadn’t much dome on the top of his fine El Greco features, he bore lines of strain and effort, bruiselike pouches left by old anxiety under his eyes. For many years his creative work hadn’t gone well enough, according to the standards he set himself. Then at last that had come right. In his fifties he became more serene than most men. To those who first met him at that time, it might have seemed that he was happy by nature. To me, who had known him since we were very young, it seemed like a gift of grace. His home in Cambridge, his laboratory, where, since he was a born father, the research students loved him as his children did, his own work – what could anyone want more? He just wished to continue in the flow of life. Yes, in the flow there were the concerns of anyone who felt at all: his friends’ troubles, illnesses, deaths, his children’s lives. His eldest son, more gifted than Francis himself, was eating his heart out for a woman who couldn’t love him; his favourite daughter, in America, was threatening a divorce. He took those concerns more deeply just because he felt so lucky and thus had energy to spare. That was the flow, all he wanted was for it to stretch ahead: he wasn’t going to break out of it now.
So he had refused. Some blamed him, thinking him overproud or even lacking in duty. The job had gone to an old wheel-horse of the party, who was given it for services rendered. ‘He won’t last long,’ said Francis that night, ruminating on politics after the departure of Josh. ‘There’s talk that they may want to rope you in. Well, you’ve always had to do the dirty work, haven’t you?’
He grinned. He had spoken quite lightly, and I didn’t pay much attention. I should have asked a question, but we were interrupted by acquaintances of Francis enquiring if they might join us, and bringing up their chairs. Two of them were new members on his own side, the other a bright youngish Tory. They were all eager to listen to him, I noticed. He was relaxed and willing to oblige. But what they listened to would have puzzled those who had known him only in his stiffer form, fair-minded and reticent in the college combination room.
For Francis was giving his opinions about the people who had worked on the atomic bomb. His opinions weren’t at all muffled, he wasn’t bending over backwards to be just: he had an eye for human frailty and it was sparkling now. ‘Anyone who thinks that Robert Oppenheimer was a liberal hero might as well think that I’m a pillar of the Christian faith.’
‘ X (an Englishman) never had an idea in his head. That’s why he gave everyone so much confidence.’
‘ Y (an
But that wasn’t all. He had been an influence for so long. He had been criticised, at times in disfavour, privately defamed – but always, like other eminent scientists called in to give advice, covered by a kind of mantle of respect. That closed and secret politics was different from politics in the open. Francis hadn’t been brought up in open politics. At sixty-one (he was two years older than I was) his imagination and thin skin told him what it would be like. Francis had plenty of courage, but it was courage of the will.
But that was not all either, or even most of it. His major reason for saying no, almost without a thought, was much simpler. It was just that he had become very happy. This hadn’t always been so. His marriage – that had been good from the beginning. If he hadn’t been lucky there, if he hadn’t had the refuge of his wife and children, I had sometimes thought, he would have broken down. Even now, though his face looked younger than his age, his hair still dark, carefully trimmed on the forehead, by a streak of vanity, to conceal that he hadn’t much dome on the top of his fine El Greco features, he bore lines of strain and effort, bruiselike pouches left by old anxiety under his eyes. For many years his creative work hadn’t gone well enough, according to the standards he set himself. Then at last that had come right. In his fifties he became more serene than most men. To those who first met him at that time, it might have seemed that he was happy by nature. To me, who had known him since we were very young, it seemed like a gift of grace. His home in Cambridge, his laboratory, where, since he was a born father, the research students loved him as his children did, his own work – what could anyone want more? He just wished to continue in the flow of life. Yes, in the flow there were the concerns of anyone who felt at all: his friends’ troubles, illnesses, deaths, his children’s lives. His eldest son, more gifted than Francis himself, was eating his heart out for a woman who couldn’t love him; his favourite daughter, in America, was threatening a divorce. He took those concerns more deeply just because he felt so lucky and thus had energy to spare. That was the flow, all he wanted was for it to stretch ahead: he wasn’t going to break out of it now.
So he had refused. Some blamed him, thinking him overproud or even lacking in duty. The job had gone to an old wheel-horse of the party, who was given it for services rendered. ‘He won’t last long,’ said Francis that night, ruminating on politics after the departure of Josh. ‘There’s talk that they may want to rope you in. Well, you’ve always had to do the dirty work, haven’t you?’
He grinned. He had spoken quite lightly, and I didn’t pay much attention. I should have asked a question, but we were interrupted by acquaintances of Francis enquiring if they might join us, and bringing up their chairs. Two of them were new members on his own side, the other a bright youngish Tory. They were all eager to listen to him, I noticed. He was relaxed and willing to oblige. But what they listened to would have puzzled those who had known him only in his stiffer form, fair-minded and reticent in the college combination room.
For Francis was giving his opinions about the people who had worked on the atomic bomb. His opinions weren’t at all muffled, he wasn’t bending over backwards to be just: he had an eye for human frailty and it was sparkling now. ‘Anyone who thinks that Robert Oppenheimer was a liberal hero might as well think that I’m a pillar of the Christian faith.’
‘ X (an Englishman) never had an idea in his head. That’s why he gave everyone so much confidence.’
‘ Y (an
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