“He’ll have to endorse you. That’s what happens when you move to another department. You have to get put up again for promotion by your new chief.”

“It’s a formality,” Mordie said. “They’ll bring it to his attention. Don’t worry.”

A week or two later, Miss Shamsee whispered to Swoboda that Rodriguez had dictated to her the recommendation for promotion. Smiling, she showed Swoboda a page of cryptograms. “One of the best recommendations he’s ever given,” she said. “It’s marvelous.”

Swoboda thanked her, warmly but calmly, and walked away. Nevertheless, in that moment, he was as close as he had ever been to exultation. He went down to the cafeteria and had a cup of coffee. There, leaning on the Formica tabletop, absently stirring the sugar round in his thick cup and crumbling his Danish, Swoboda reflected on the goodness and ultimate meaning of things. How right he had been to stand up to Mr. Bekkus. There was much in life that one must let pass, much that did not merit the taking of positions or the agitating of one’s breast; much, in fact, that it would be demeaning to take issue with. On the other hand, certain matters were not to be ignored unless one were to cast oneself away entirely, and here Swoboda had vindicated himself. He had repudiated Mr. Bekkus’s treatment of him; he had demanded a more suitable standing in the world, and he had got it. He had, through his own fortitude, come forth into a new life of comradeship and esteem. He would receive a little more money, he would stand a little higher in the lowly lists of the Subsidiary Category. Swoboda was content. (It may be felt that he was easily content, but he is not the less to be envied for that reason.)

In a sense, too—or so it seemed to him—the Organization itself stood to profit from this development. Having dedicated itself to the rights of man, the Organization was, in some subtly heartening manner, only as good as the way it treated Swoboda. One could not completely believe in any enterprise that required one’s own diminution.

Thus Swoboda, as he lingered over his coffee in the cafeteria. Not since the departure from the cherry factory had his heart been so light.