The Secret Pilgrim
“Everyone was laughing until this sudden reflective silence, while Smiley’s troubled gaze fixed itself upon some point outside the room.
“And just occasionally we meet the reality we’ve been playing with,” he said quietly. “Until it happens, we’re spectators. The joes live out our dreams for us, and we case officers sit safe and snug behind our one-way mirrors, telling ourselves that seeing is feeling. But when the moment of truth strikes—if ever it does for you— well, from then on we become a l...ittle more humble about what we ask people to do for us.”
He never once glanced at me as he said this. He gave no hint of who was in his mind. But I knew, and he knew. And each knew the other knew that it was Colonel Jerzy.
I saw him and I said nothing to Mabel. Perhaps I was too surprised. Or perhaps the old habits of dissembling die so hard that even today my first response at any unexpected event is to suppress the spontaneous reaction. We were watching the nine-o’clock news on television, which for Mabel and myself has become a kind of Evensong these days, don’t ask me why.MoreLess
“And just occasionally we meet the reality we’ve been playing with,” he said quietly. “Until it happens, we’re spectators. The joes live out our dreams for us, and we case officers sit safe and snug behind our one-way mirrors, telling ourselves that seeing is feeling. But when the moment of truth strikes—if ever it does for you— well, from then on we become a l...ittle more humble about what we ask people to do for us.”
He never once glanced at me as he said this. He gave no hint of who was in his mind. But I knew, and he knew. And each knew the other knew that it was Colonel Jerzy.
I saw him and I said nothing to Mabel. Perhaps I was too surprised. Or perhaps the old habits of dissembling die so hard that even today my first response at any unexpected event is to suppress the spontaneous reaction. We were watching the nine-o’clock news on television, which for Mabel and myself has become a kind of Evensong these days, don’t ask me why.MoreLess
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