"Ludlum, Robert - The Parcifal Mosaic" - читать интересную книгу автора (Ludlum Robert)

It was Harry Lewis's tam to smile. "Then Ive got another idea."
A week later Havelock bad flown to Boston and driven from there to the
brick-and-ivy-and-white-birch campus on the outskirts of Concord, New
Hampshire. He spent four days with Harry Lewis and his wife, wandering
around, attending various lectures and seminars, and meeting those of the
faculty and administration whose support Harry thought might be helpful.
Michael's opinions had been sought "casually' over coffee, drinks and
dinners; men and women had looked at him as if they considered him a
promising candidate. Lewis had done his missionary work well At the end of
the fourth day Harry announced at lunch:
Mey like youl"
"Why not?' his wife said. "He's damned likable."
"They're quite excited, actually. Ifs what I said the other day, M.H.
You~ve been there. Sixteen years with the State Department kind of makes
you special."
"And?'
"There!s the annual administration-trustees conference coming up in eight
weeks. Thafs when the supply-and-de-
 14 ROBERT LuDLum

mand quotients are studied. Horseflesh. I think youll be offered a job.
Where can I reach you?'
"IT be traveling. ru call you."
He had called Harry from London two days ago. The conference was still in
progress, but Lewis thought there would be an answer momentarily.
"Cable me AX, Amsterdam," Michael had said. "And thanks, Harry."
He saw the glass doors of the American Express office swing open just
ahead. A couple emerged, the man awkwardly balancing the shoulder straps of
two cameras while counting money. Havelock stopped, wondering for a moment
if he really wanted to go inside. If the cable was there, it would contain
either a rejection or an offer. If a rejection, he would simply go on
wandering-and there was a certain comfort in that; the floating passivity
of not planning had become something of value to him. If an offer, what
then? Was he ready for it? Was he prepared to make a decision? Not the kind
of decision one made in the field, where it had to be instinctive if . one
was to survive, but, rather, a decision to commit oneself. Was he capable
of a commitment? Where were yesterday's commitments?
He took a deep breath, consciously putting one foot in front of the other,
and approached the glass doors.

POSITION AVAIL"LE VISITING PROFESSOR OF GOVERNMENT FOR PERIOD OF TWO YEARS.
ASSOCIATE STATUS PENDING MUTUAL ACCEPTANCE AT THE END OF THIS TIME. INITIAL
SALARY TWENTY-SEVEN-FIVE. WILL NEED YOUR REPLY WITHIN TEN DAYS. DON'T KEEP
ME HOLDING MY BREATEL
EVER, HARRY.

Michael folded the cable and put It in his jacket pocket; he did not go
back to the counter to write out his own cable to Harry Lewis, Concord, New
Hampshire, U.S.A. It would come later. It was enough for the moment to be
wanted, to know there was a beginning. It would take several days to absorb