David Lingslay pushed back his armchair with a scrape.
“I see this conversation is pointless. Please do forgive me, but I can devote no more time, I’m already late for my meeting.”
Both men got up and hastened toward the exit. At the door the man in eyeglasses stopped and said with a kindly smile:
“There’s no rush. You’re in a hurry. We won’t take your time. Think about it, weigh the options. We’ll come tomorrow for your answer.”
David Lingslay wanted to cut in, to tell these people categorically not to return, that they needn’t waste their breaths any further, that his decision was final, but there was no longer anyone in the room.
Lingslay crushed his cigarette between his fingers, rifled through his pockets, noted that he’d forgotten his watch, returned to his bedroom, slipped the watch on the tabletop into his vest with anxious revulsion, mechanically stuffed a small steel object into his pants pocket and, pressing his hat down over his forehead, quickly ran down the stairs.
At the landing of the staircase he bumped into two hospital orderlies carrying down a stretcher veiled in black. Lingslay swiftly made way for them and, foregoing his morning coffee, hurried toward the American Express building.
A bellhop was already waiting for Mr. Lingslay at the entrance to the American Express building, ready to take him by elevator to the second floor (confidential meeting, office No. 7).
In the office Lingslay was slow to discern the shapes of his five American colleagues through the blue fog of cigar smoke and from the embrace of their comfortable club armchairs. He was struck by the absence of his British colleagues.
Lingslay sat himself in a waiting armchair, selected a fat cigar from the box obligingly presented to him, and fell into a quizzical silence.
The distinguished, rumbling voice of Ramsay Marlington came to him through the plumes of blue smoke as if through a muffler:
“I do believe, gentlemen, that as we have all arrived, and the purpose of today’s meeting is known to one and all, we can proceed to discuss the details of the affair without any further ado. I should first like to hear the opinion of my worthy colleague Mr. David Lingslay on this matter, however, as it might serve as the basis for our discussion.”
“I beg your pardon, gentlemen,” responded Lingslay lackadaisically from the depths of his armchair. The silky-blue atmosphere of the room was having a narcotic effect. “I must, however, confess that I received nothing on the subject of today’s meeting, and before I can say something, I’ll have to be informed on the matter at hand.”
All the heads leaned out from their cavernous armchairs and turned toward him, as if on command.
“Can it be?” spluttered Marlington, his voice astonished. “Weren’t you visited by a delegation from the Jewish town this morning?”
Lingslay’s armchair gave the stifled shriek of tortured springs.
Mr. Marlington, invisible in the clouds of smoke enfolding him, like a massive, two-hundred-pound Pythia, calmly continued:
“As we’ve just established, at the very same hour – more or less nine o’clock in the morning – each of us five received a visit from two delegates of the Jewish town with one and the same proposal. The delegates informed us that two of them had also approached you, as the deciding vote in this case. Did you not let them in?”
Playful wisps of smoke drifted over the armchairs to form five question marks.
Lingslay’s armchair emitted a calm, bland voice:
“Indeed, I was visited by a delegation. But they didn’t tell me they were going around to the other principal American members of our territory. I took it as something of an individual proposal and did not expect today’s meeting to be devoted to this matter.”
“Excellent,” Marlington bleated out from his armchair, “so now that we have established the true state of affairs, could my colleagues and I please learn your reply to the Jewish delegation?”
“Of course,” responded Lingslay phlegmatically. “I declined the offer.”
Here each of the five armchairs produced a strangled scream. Silence reigned.
Then a kindly chortle rang out from one of the armchairs:
“Our colleague is pulling our legs! Ha ha! That was a good one!”
“I’m afraid you’re mistaken, my friend,” Lingslay dryly cut in. “I’m not joking in the slightest. I’m not sure if you all know the conditions the Jews have placed on the service they were offering us. The Jewish delegates told me that they were prepared to take us along only if, for our sakes, America admits the three thousand Jews who will be leaving plague-infested Paris with us – in other words, if America admits the plague. I didn’t think I could take such a responsibility upon my shoulders.”
“Well, of course,” Mr. Marlington replied after a long moment had passed. “The import of three thousand Jews to America is undoubtedly the least enticing part of this proposal. But in this respect it would be hard to make any reservations. We mustn’t forget that, when it comes down to it, it is not we who are taking three thousand Jews with us to America, but they who are taking us. We know full well that all of our efforts to get across the cordon have come to nothing. Rejecting this offer would be a kind of insanity. Be that as it may, the moment we find ourselves on the other side of the cordon our roles will change dramatically. After we hit the shores of America there should be nothing simpler than preventing the Jews from coming ashore, under the pretense of some medical commission. When we find ourselves safe on dry land we shall proceed as we deem correct and proper for the good of our dear homeland. Am I right, gentlemen?”
The heads in the armchairs nodded their approval.
Mr. Marlington continued in the pause between two puffs of fragrant smoke:
“In the interests of avoiding unnecessary rumors and assuming that this matter concerns only us Americans, we’ve decided to leave our British friends out of it, and have not, as you can see, invited them to today’s confidential meeting. Let them try to get to their island on their own two feet. They’re a lot closer than we are, and anyway, going with us would be out of their way. In all honesty, I confess that I see no reason to burden ourselves, so to speak, with a people who for the past few decades have been incessantly sticking a wrench into our global endeavors. Appeals to the kinship of our peoples are abstract and unpersuasive. I believe I am only expressing the opinions of all those gathered here today when I recall an old motto: America for Americans.”
The armchairs nodded their heads in silence.
Mr. Marlington leaned confidentially over his armrest toward David Lingslay.
“I see that in this respect we’re of the same mind. The matter is almost entirely in your hands, Mr. Lingslay. You have the whole of the United States naval fleet in the palm of your hand. All it would take from you is a quick dispatch for the patrol boats on a given part of our shoreline to steam off on some maneuvers. You gave the Jewish delegation a hasty response, without considering all the angles. All of us here are true American patriots. But it’s not enough to be a patriot in one’s heart. One must also be a rational patriot. Our return to America would no doubt be to our homeland’s advantage, while our pointless death here would be an inestimable loss. In choosing our compatriots to take back to America from Paris, we shall not be thinking in terms of quantity, of course, but quality. Only those people whose means would place them among our great country’s leading citizens and who provide sturdy support to its social order will be departing with us. My secretary will have a list prepared by this evening. I believe this matter should in no way be delayed, and that you should inform the Jewish town council of your consent as soon as possible.”