times out of a hundred, they do the sensible thing without hesitation. The hundredth time they do the other with the same enthusiasm.'

John said curiously: 'You seem cheerful tonight, Rodge.'

'Who wouldn't be, after a reprieve like that? That second grenade came within a couple of feet of pitching in at my window.'

'And you won't be sorry if Pirrie has bought it, either from Jane or the grenade merchants.'

'Not particularly. Not at all, in fact. I think I'll be rather pleased, I told you - there's been no need for me to get myself fixated on Pirrie. I haven't had to run things.'

'Is that what you would call it - fixated?'

'You don't find many Pirries about. The pearl in the oyster - hard and shining and, as far as the oyster is concerned, a disease.'

'And the oyster?' John offered ironically: 'The world as we know it?'

'The analogy's too complicated. I'm tired as well. But you know what I mean about Pirrie. In abnormal conditions, invaluable; but I hope to God we aren't going to live in those conditions for ever.'

'He was a peaceable enough citizen before. There's no reason to think he wouldn't have been one again.'

'Isn't there? You can't put a pearl back inside the oyster. I wasn't looking forward to life in the valley with Pirrie standing just behind you, ready to jog your elbow.'

'In the valley, David's boss, if anyone has to be. Not me, not Pirrie. You know that.'

'I've never met your brother,' Roger said. 'I know very little about him. But he hasn't had to bring his family and hangers-on through a world that breaks up as you touch it.'

'That doesn't make any difference.*