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.‘Things went very well, sir,’ he said.‘A little sombre occasionally, but very necessary topics.They have to be dealt with.’‘What we have to ask, Andreas, haven’t we, is whether it’s all total bollocks?’‘Whether what is, sir?’‘You like to think things are as they seem, don’t you?’‘Which things?’‘Luckily, I’ve happened to get sight lately of a confidential memo from von Ribbentrop to the Führer,’ Knecht replied.‘I don’t understand.You came by a private message from the Foreign Minister to Hitler? How could that be? What kind of luck, exactly?’‘It’s not a comfortable or comforting document.’‘In which respect, sir?’‘This is what I mean when I say you like to think things are as they seem.’‘Well, up to a point.’‘“Up to a point, Lord Copper.” There’s a new English novel where an underling tactfully questions something said by His Lordship, but really means: “That’s out-and-out rubbish.’”‘Scoop.Evelyn Waugh.Amusing, as is his earlier work.Decline and Fall.The British sense of humour.Mostly based on class.Terse.“Brevity is the soul of wit.’”‘There is a girl at a club I go to sometimes who is familiar with that book,’ Knecht said.‘The memo gives Ribbentrop’s view of the British.’‘He’s always been keen on friendship with them, hasn’t he?’‘We sit here chewing over details about transport, street protests, tall buildings, hospitals, energy drinks for the London pilgrimage, but to what purpose, Andreas?’‘For contingencies.Perhaps none of the safety provisions will be needed.They must be in place, though.This is a rule one learned at the front.’‘Ah, the front,’ Knecht said.‘One learned rules at the front, did one?’ His voice assumed false awe and diffidence.From behind the lumpy spectacles, he stared pseudo-respectfully at Valk.It was like a child asking its grandfather to describe his war feats.The blubber rolls between his jaw bones and neck seemed to glow with excitement as he waited for the answer.‘If one meant to stay alive, one learned the rules,’ Valk said.‘Which in your case, one did?’‘One meant to stay alive and, yes, one did,’ Valk said.‘Thanks to the rules?’‘That’s to say, rules we made for ourselves.Not the brass’s rules.They would get you killed.Remember that pair of troops in an English poem? They speak quite fondly of their general.But.Yes, but.“But he did for them both with his plan of attack.”‘‘The British will fight,’ Knecht said.‘Certainly.As we discovered at the front, the British will fight, did fight.’‘Will fight and win?’‘They fought and won then, yes - with American help.’‘That help might be on offer again.’‘Some would say the United States has become much more isolationist, uninterested in Europe, sir.Times are different.’‘Maybe.But, regardless of the American position, Ribbentrop thinks Britain will fight again.It’s evident from his memorandum that he regrets having to write this.As you say, he’s fond of the British.So, his view about their readiness to oppose us seems more believable.He’s tried to think otherwise, but observation and logic will not allow it.He refers to threatening speeches by Winston Churchill, former holder of many government offices, and similar from Lionel Paterin, a member of the Cabinet and Defence Cabinet.’ Knecht swung his gaze slowly around the big conference room, like a searchlight seeking enemy aircraft to pinpoint for the guns.‘Why are we wasting our time here, then, making preparations for a state visit that might never happen?’‘Might never happen, yes.Surely, sir, we have always recognized that.But it also might happen.’‘Ribbentrop believes that if Britain and her friends come to consider themselves stronger than Germany, they will strike.He says - regretfully, very regretfully - that Britain must always be regarded as Germany’s prime enemy.’‘But Munich.I don’t believe world war two will—’‘What I said: you like to believe things are as they seem, Munich included.’‘The winter is coming.Countries don’t start wars in the winter.’‘Countries start wars when they think they can win,’ Knecht said.‘We have people in our Ministries telling the British on the quiet that, really, Germany is weak at present - that the supposed arms build-up here doesn’t amount to much, but it might do in a year’s time.So, don’t wait.Attack now.That’s their message to Britain.They detest the Führer and all he stands for, especially the urgent requirements of Lebensraum.‘You’ve heard of the Kordt brothers, Erich and Theodor? It sounds like a music-hall act.But both are considerable diplomatic figures.A mystery how they hold their jobs.In fact, I don’t know how they are still free and, or alive.They talk to London, saying Germany’s readiness for war is a sham, and saying also that the Soviet-German agreement is imminent, so Britain should act, before we and Russia are an unstoppable force.’‘Eisen, back from Moscow, will have views on the possibility of an agreement.’‘Oh, yes, of course, and from Eisen, or whatever they know him as - some clockmaking alias, I expect - the report will go to Mount.And from Mount to Bilson and the British government via, as ever, Mr Passport Control at the British embassy.’‘Bernard Kale-Walker.’‘Part of the scenery.But, incidentally, not, at the moment, part of the Berlin scenery.He’s in Dresden with a team.’‘To what purpose?’‘A mapping purpose.A bombing purpose.’‘Dresden?’‘Symbolic.All that pretty architecture.Wipe it out and think of the damage to morale.Also, lots of converging railway lines
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