pregnant and shown all the symptoms, until a doctor has been called in and examination shown that their swollen tummies contained nothing but a bubble of air. One can’t laugh off the religious fanatics, either. There are numerous well-authenticated accounts of nuns who from intense concentration on our Lord’s crucifixion have developed stigmata – actual wounds in the palms of their hands and on their insteps, similar to those suffered by Jesus when he was nailed to the cross.’
‘Yes, I hadn’t thought of that; and, of course, you are right. That certainly makes Khune’s story more plausible. Anyhow, we must play for safety by assuming that his brother is trying to get at him, and that makes him a security risk. How do you suggest that I should handle the matter?’
‘I don’t see that there is much we can do at the moment.’
Forsby smiled. ‘Neither do I. That’s why I came to you. The work he is doing is too important for me to persuade the Director to take him off it without a much more down-to-earth case than this.’
‘I wouldn’t advise that, anyway, for the moment. “Satanstill finds evil work for idle hands”, etc. Much better to keep his mind occupied as much as possible. Naturally you’ll keep him under observation. If you think he is likely to give us real trouble you could use these dual personality fits of his as an excuse to have him vetted by the medicos, and get them to lay him off. But if he only continues to simmer, take no action except to try to get hold of the next chunk of this statement that he is writing. From it we might get a bit more data on this Nazi-cum-Bolshie twin of his, Lothar. He sounds a dangerous type, and if he really has come to England the odds are that he’s up to no good; so we must do our best to locate and keep an eye on him.’
‘Right-o!’ Forsby stood up. ‘I’ll be off now, then, C.B. I’ve made an early drinks date as well as a dinner date with old friends for this evening, as I so seldom get up from Wales.’
On the following afternoon Verney had a talk with Barney Sullivan. The latter had already put in three progress reports and C.B. had sent for him to discuss the latest. Together they went through it.
Provided as he had been by the office with Union cards and a suitable identity, Barney had met with no difficulty in attending a number of branch meetings, presenting himself in each case as having just moved into the district and wishing to make his number before actually taking a job; and the Communist Party ticket he carried had enabled him to get acquainted with several Union officials who were known Reds. Ample money to stand rounds of drinks to such gentry after the meetings, and his vital personality, were now leading them to treat this new Comrade from Ireland as one of themselves and to talk fairly freely about Party matters with him.
His principal discovery so far had been that the Communists were far from happy about the way their affairs were going. The savage suppression by the Russians of the Hungarian uprising had proved a serious blow to them and cost them several thousand members. During the many months that had since elapsed, although they had workedextremely hard, they had not yet succeeded in making up the loss. For this they, were able to take some consolation from the fact that they had engineered many unofficial strikes and that their plans for infiltrating into Union offices had gone better than might have been expected; but now, suddenly, this latter most important item on their programme had become subject to a serious threat.
For many years past the post of General Secretary to the great C.G.T. had been held by a Communist. In a month’s time he was due to stand for re-election and a vigorous labour leader named Tom Ruddy, who held strong anti-Communist views, had been nominated to stand against him. Ruddy was far from being a newcomer to labour politics of a nonentity. Although, in 1939 past his first youth,
‘Yes, I hadn’t thought of that; and, of course, you are right. That certainly makes Khune’s story more plausible. Anyhow, we must play for safety by assuming that his brother is trying to get at him, and that makes him a security risk. How do you suggest that I should handle the matter?’
‘I don’t see that there is much we can do at the moment.’
Forsby smiled. ‘Neither do I. That’s why I came to you. The work he is doing is too important for me to persuade the Director to take him off it without a much more down-to-earth case than this.’
‘I wouldn’t advise that, anyway, for the moment. “Satanstill finds evil work for idle hands”, etc. Much better to keep his mind occupied as much as possible. Naturally you’ll keep him under observation. If you think he is likely to give us real trouble you could use these dual personality fits of his as an excuse to have him vetted by the medicos, and get them to lay him off. But if he only continues to simmer, take no action except to try to get hold of the next chunk of this statement that he is writing. From it we might get a bit more data on this Nazi-cum-Bolshie twin of his, Lothar. He sounds a dangerous type, and if he really has come to England the odds are that he’s up to no good; so we must do our best to locate and keep an eye on him.’
‘Right-o!’ Forsby stood up. ‘I’ll be off now, then, C.B. I’ve made an early drinks date as well as a dinner date with old friends for this evening, as I so seldom get up from Wales.’
On the following afternoon Verney had a talk with Barney Sullivan. The latter had already put in three progress reports and C.B. had sent for him to discuss the latest. Together they went through it.
Provided as he had been by the office with Union cards and a suitable identity, Barney had met with no difficulty in attending a number of branch meetings, presenting himself in each case as having just moved into the district and wishing to make his number before actually taking a job; and the Communist Party ticket he carried had enabled him to get acquainted with several Union officials who were known Reds. Ample money to stand rounds of drinks to such gentry after the meetings, and his vital personality, were now leading them to treat this new Comrade from Ireland as one of themselves and to talk fairly freely about Party matters with him.
His principal discovery so far had been that the Communists were far from happy about the way their affairs were going. The savage suppression by the Russians of the Hungarian uprising had proved a serious blow to them and cost them several thousand members. During the many months that had since elapsed, although they had workedextremely hard, they had not yet succeeded in making up the loss. For this they, were able to take some consolation from the fact that they had engineered many unofficial strikes and that their plans for infiltrating into Union offices had gone better than might have been expected; but now, suddenly, this latter most important item on their programme had become subject to a serious threat.
For many years past the post of General Secretary to the great C.G.T. had been held by a Communist. In a month’s time he was due to stand for re-election and a vigorous labour leader named Tom Ruddy, who held strong anti-Communist views, had been nominated to stand against him. Ruddy was far from being a newcomer to labour politics of a nonentity. Although, in 1939 past his first youth,
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