‘It’s not the letter, Mr Smiley, that I’m thinking of. It’s what he said to me.’ ‘How do you mean?’ ‘He was deeply upset by the interview, he told me so. When he came back on Monday night he was desperate, almost incoherent. He collapsed in a chair and I persuaded him to go to bed. I gave him a sedative which lasted him half the night. He was still talking about it the next morning. It occupied his whole mind until his death.’
