“That’s up to Walter,” said Maugham. “He and Robin are the only ones who’ve met this fellow Hebel.”

“The roads being what they are, the exchange is to take place on a boat,” I told Reilly. “In Menton. It’s my guess he’s planning to make a quick getaway as soon as he’s counted the money. I’ll drive straight to Menton from Nice.”

“Why Menton?” asked Reilly.

“Because it’s on the Italian border,” said Maugham. “He can be at one of those joke banks in Ventimiglia within an hour of receiving the money.”

“Of course,” said Reilly, “there’s no real guarantee that we’re going to put a stop to any of this by paying up. Once we’ve bought one job lot of tapes featuring the Cambridge Two, there’s potentially no end to it. This is how blackmail works, of course. In no time at all, we could find ourselves obliged to buy more compromising material. In fact, I should go so far as to say it’s a cast-iron certainty. Donald Maclean was based in Washington for four years, from nineteen forty-four to nineteen forty-eight, after which he was a key official in our Cairo embassy. It goes without saying he can make things very difficult with the Americans. Right now, J. Edgar Hoover regards us as a very leaky ship indeed. He looks at Burgess and Maclean and the state of MI6 and asks, what’s the point of sharing any more secrets with the Brits? But the trouble Maclean could make for us with the gyppos while this Suez business is going on doesn’t bear thinking of. I mean, he could really put the cat among the pigeons. We’ve been propping up King Farouk and allowing U.S. planes to land and refuel in the Canal Zone on their way to practice bombing missions over the Soviet Union. All of which makes General Nasser’s demands look pretty damn reasonable. So you see we really do have to buy what they’re selling or risk enormous embarrassment.”

“Yes, I do see,” said Maugham. “As soon as I listened to the tape I knew how damaging it was. Not just for me, but also for Her Majesty’s Government. To my mind it’s not just the English laws against homosexuality that provide a blackmailer’s charter; it’s the Official Secrets Act, as well. With anything where one places a premium on privacy there’s always the possibility that people are going to take financial advantage of that.”

“You know, this might even get you your knighthood,” Reilly told Maugham.

“Do you really think so?”

“Why not? I shall certainly say as much to Selwyn Lloyd when next I see him.”

“The British foreign secretary,” said Maugham, in my direction. “And, as it happens, a bit of a fan of mine.”