Read Online The Naive and Sentimental Lover by John le Carré - Free Book Online Page A

lover? Truth?”
    â€œTruth,” Cassidy confesses, blushing very deeply. “I was pretending too.”
    Â 
    Moved by a single instinct they turned to look for Helen but she had gone, taking her wireless with her. Its far strains just reached them through the doorway.
    â€œPoor kid,” said Shamus suddenly. “She really thought she owned the place.”
    â€œI expect she’s getting her shoes,” said Cassidy.
    â€œCome on. Let’s give her a ride in the Bentley.”
    â€œYes,” said Cassidy. “She’d like that, wouldn’t she?”

5
    S etting off for London early next morning in the euphoria of a painless hangover, Cassidy recalled each incident of that miraculous night.
    First, to overcome a certain common shyness they drank more whisky. God alone knew where Shamus had it from. He seemed to have bottles in every pocket and to produce them like a conjuror whenever the action flagged. Hesitantly at first but with growing enthusiasm they re-enacted the brighter moments of what Cassidy called their little misunderstanding, and they made Shamus talk some more Irish for them, which he did very willingly, and Helen said it was amazing, he’d never even been to Ireland but he could just put on accents like clothes, he had the gift.
    Next they made Cassidy take off his braces and they all played billiards by candlelight. There was one cue, which they shared, and one ball and one candle, so Shamus invented a game called Moth. Cassidy liked games and they agreed it was very clever of Shamus to make one up on the spot. Shamus pronounced the rules in a sergeant major’s voice which Cassidy (who was by way of being a mimic himself) could still perfectly remember:
    â€œTo play Moth, you puts the candle on the centre spot, ’ere. You then ’its the ball round the candle in a clockwise direction, and I mean clockwise. Scoring will take place in the following manner. One point for each complete circuit of the candle, five points penalty for each hinfringement of the natural borders of the table. ’Elen, kick orf.”
    There was a men’s tee for Shamus and Cassidy and a ladies’ tee for Helen. Helen won by six points, but secretly Cassidy reckoned himself the victor, because Helen twice hit the ball off the table and they hadn’t counted it; but he didn’t mind because it was only fun. Besides, it was a men’s game; a female victory was only chivalrous.
    After Moth, Shamus went and changed, and Helen and Cassidy sat alone on the Chesterfield finishing their whisky. She was wearing a black dress and black leather boots and Cassidy thought she looked like Anna Karenina in the film.
    â€œI think you’re a wonderful gallant man,” Helen told him. “And Shamus was absolutely awful. ”
    â€œI’ve never met anyone like either of you,” Cassidy assured Helen truthfully. “If you’d told me you were the Queen of England I wouldn’t even have been faintly surprised.”
    Then Shamus returned looking very spruce indeed and said “ Take your hands off ma girl ” in a Wild West voice and they all got into the Bentley and drove to the Bird and Baby, which was Shamus’ name for the Eagle and Child. The plan was to eat there, but Helen explained privately to Cassidy that they probably wouldn’t eat there because Shamus didn’t hold with first places.
    â€œHe likes to work his way into an evening,” she said.
    Shamus wanted to drive but Cassidy said unfortunately the car was only insured for him, which wasn’t quite true but a sensible precaution, so Shamus sat in front with Cassidy and when Cassidy changed gear Shamus put his foot on the clutch for him so that Shamus could be copilot. “Wife-swapping” Shamus called it. The first time this happened they went into reverse at fifteen miles an hour but Cassidy managed to get his own foot on the clutch and no damage was done to the