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he waved her silent.
    Customers were looking and he concentrated on his plate. Valerie’s fish had turned into a skeleton. A trip? What kind of a trip? Something good? If they were sending her back to the Ferry Pool, they could forget it! The customers were making their way to the door. Hamilton watched them go, thinking how best to phrase it. “Lieutenant Carrington will be out for the rest of the afternoon. This being the case, I have planned to meet with you in his office after lunch. Think we can arrange that?”
    â€œI’ll be there,” she said.
    The Commander ordered tea. Waiting for it to arrive, he gave her orders, work to do. Finally, he put his cup down, and smiled. “Tell me, Wren Sinclair,” Hamilton said at last. “If your country asked you to do a very special thing, something that nobody else had ever been able to do, and you found out—from me, for example—that you could get an officer’s commission in the Royal Navy, just by doing this thing, would you?”
    â€œI don’t think so,” she said.
    â€œMy thoughts exactly,” observed Hamilton, trying to recover. “Why, indeed, should one give one’s life to one’s country, unless one’s country is willing to give something to one’s life?”
    â€œYes, sir. My thoughts exactly, too,” said Sinclair.
    â€œWell, now,” said Hamilton, “we seem to be getting somewhere. Let me tell you what I have in mind...” As the meal progressed, he lowered the boom...
    Oh, blimey!
    â€œWhat I mean is,” Hamilton said, “is that you certainly wouldn’t want to do it...without the glory, would you?”
    Sinclair was chomping on a bone. The bait he had offered at the end of his hook was suddenly missing.
    â€œI wouldn’t think so,” she said.
    Seymour had her right!
    She had doubts? He would defuse them. “The reason we sent you to Northwest England,” he stated, “was to acquaint you with basic military procedure.” As Gilbert’s secretary, half her time had been spent polishing her nails. “Also, because what we initially had in mind for you, and still do, is of such import and has taken such an inordinate amount of planning that it became essential, early on, to keep you out of harm’s way”—he glanced over his shoulder, lowering his voice—“until we were ready, you see, to bring you into it.” Churchill had made him wait. In the British view of war, where the means justified the ends, Hamilton was earning his pay.
    She was staring at him, her lips partially open.
    â€œMore tea?”
    Double whiskey?
    â€œNo? Of course, one would still be called upon to volunteer. For security reasons”—she was coming—“we were not able to tell you until now. Naturally, there will be battle pay in it for you. We’re terribly sorry, you understand, about that little matter with the Ferry Pilots, but—”
    â€œSay no more, sir!” All was forgiven. Gilbert, forgotten.
    Hamilton arched an eyebrow. “Are you all right, Sinclair?”
    â€œYes, sir. I’m sorry I shouted, sir.”
    â€œTut.”
    They needed her!
    â€œGlad to hear it,’ said Hamilton, and he tied his fish to the boat. “Well then, just to bring you up to date, your safety and well-being, as I said, have become of the utmost importance to us. Should you have any problems, any problems at all, you see, I want you to feel absolutely free to share them with me.” He was thinking of Loot.
    â€œThank you,” she replied. “I will.”
    She looked at him. There was something clean about him, something decent. What is more, he had the power to help her. This above all, he had just made clear. From this day forward, she would take him at his word.
    â€œWell, now that I think about it, there is something that’s been bothering me, sir.” Suspicious, it sprang to the top of her