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“Where did you

eventually take hiame

“I offered him a shepherd’s pie at the Green Man, but the bloody fellow beca to Harrods to bewith him, of course, but my boss wanted his wastepaper basket emptied, so I missed out on the Harrods deal as well”

“So what are you up to today?”

“I shouldn’t let you in on this,” said Lawrence, peering at the photograph of Ted Dexter, the defeated English cricket captain, “but the governor of the Bank of England wants my views on whether we should devalue the pound from 280 to 240”

“And what are your views?”

“I’ve already explained to the fellow that the only two-forty I know is the bus that runs between Golders Green and Edgware, and if I don’t get ahis watch Adahed as he watched his friend slam his briefcase shut and disappear out of the door

Lawrence had changed considerably over the years since he had left Wellington Perhaps it was that Ada with the top classics scholarship to Balliol He had seereater things No one would have thought it possible he would end up as an investment analyst at Barclays District and Commonwealth Office At Oxford conte a cabinet minister Was it possible that one always expected too much of those idols ere only a couple of years older than oneself? On leaving school their friendship had grown, and when Adam was posted to Malaya, Lawrence never accepted the ar, presu the army, Lawrence asked for no explanation and couldn’t have been kinder about his uneiven the chance to repay such friendship

Ada and a couple of rashers of bacon, as there wasn’t h he did find ti a check for fifty pounds

At nine-thirty he made a phone call Mr Holbrooke—Adam wondered if he actually had a Christian na Mr Scott Now that my father is dead, I must be old Mr Scott, Adam wanted to tell him And Holbrooke sounded even more surprised by his request “No doubt connected in soreed to put a copy of his father’s will in the post that afternoon

Adam’s other requirements could not be carried out over the phone, so he locked up the flat and ju’s Road He left the doubledecker at Hyde Park Corner and made his way to Lloyds Bank on Pall Mall, where he joined a line at the foreign exchange counter

“May I help you?” asked a polite assistant when he finally reached the front

“Yes,” said Adam “I would like fifty pounds in Swiss francs, fifty pounds in cash, and a hundred pounds in traveler’s checks”

“What is your name?” she inquired

“Adam Scott”