“The trouble, of course,” went on Bekkus, “is to find capable people on the existing staff. You know what the plan is, Swoboda. The D.-G. wants us to comb the Organization, to comb it thoroughly”—Bekkus made a gesture of grooming some immense shaggy animal—“for staff members of real ability in both categories who’ve been passed over, keep an eye open for initiative, that kind of thing. These people—these staff members, that is—have resources which have not been fully utilized, and which can be utilized, Swoboda…” Mr. Bekkus paused, for Swoboda was looking at him with more interest and feeling than usual, then pulled himself together and added, “within the existing framework.” The feeling and interest passed from Swoboda’s expression and left no trace.

Bekkus handed back the tables. “If you’ll get Germaine to stick this in at the foot of the memo, I think we’re all set. And then bring me the file on Wyatt, will you? That’s A. Wyatt, in the Translation Section. I have to take it to the Board. It’s a case for compulsory retirement.”

“Got one.” Algie Wyatt underlined a phrase on the page before him.

“What?” asked Lidia Korabetski, looking up from the passage she was translating.

“Contradiction in terms.” Algie was collecting contradictions in terms: to a nucleus of “military intelligence” and “competent authorities” he had added such discoveries as the soul of efficiency, easy virtue, enlightened self-interest, Bankers Trust, and Christian Scientist.

“What?” Lidia asked again.

“Cultural mission,” replied Algie, turning the page and looking encouraged, as if he studied the document solely for such rewards as this.

Lidia and Algie were translators at the Organization. That is to say that they sat all day—with an hour off for lunch and breaks for tea—at their desks translating Organization documents out of one of the five official languages and into another. Lidia, who had been brought up in France of Russian and English parentage, translated into French from English and Russian; Algie, who was British and had lived much abroad, translated into English from French and Spanish. They made written translations only, the greater drama of the oral interpretation of debates being reserved for the Organization’s simultaneous interpreters. The documents Algie and Lidia translated contained the records of meetings, the recommendations of councils, the reports of committees, the minutes of working groups, and were not at all noted for economy or felicity of phrase. However, both Algie and Lidia were resourceful with words and sought to convey the purport of these documents in a faithful and unpretentious manner.