B. MALLON

Mr Bertram Mallon was such a god-damned imbecile that at the
the age of 57 he had not discovered the difference between
usury and interest; he had not discovered that power springs
from being in a position to issue money, whether the King's
or anyone else's, and he was greatly surprised that having
received as much a two thousand ( 2000 ) pounds sterling
per annum, when his disreputable government wanted a man
for a particular job, in which he had served with great
candour and still greater naivete, he was unable, that job
being ended to get hold of another as seven quid weekly,
having tried for all other intermediate stipends.

It was not that he had not served his country in warfare
and risen to flight command, on having laid aside his earlier
pacifist scruples; it was not that he was unprovided with
a generous tolerance for the unethical acts of his superiors
, if that term may be applied to second and fourth rate
individuals in government office. He had proved his
worth as a journalist, but had drawn the line at lies
which seemed to him positively prejudicial to his country's
welfare. He had seen his *SECRET* reports suppressed by
his overlords without the suppression having profited his
own government, and seen the suppressors move on to higher
and still higher positions. He had, though this may be
irrelevant, *SECRET* written some poetry, a small amount
of which was esteemed by *SECRET* various cognoscenti
the small number of
who were aware of this vagary, but whose knowledge was so
private that it cannot have contributed to official neglect

2/ Mallon

of his welfare. He had, in his uHHH youth prtested
against the ruin of agriculture in his home district.
He was able to hold his liquor, if not like a gentleman
at any rate like a chief, and no amount of it had
ever clouded his judgement. And he was out of a job.

It is curious to what extremity the lack of
curiosity can bring a man.

That he spoke Urdu and three soudanese dialects
netted him:

"But mye deah fellowe, we are not interested
in the Sudan at the moment, and India is, ah, as you may
be aware, no longer part of ouah Empah."

The bloke in the Employment agency wouldn't be
bothered to look up his rэсрорт/ record, it couldn't be
true that having risen so high both in these/ service
of public and private burocracies he had got down to
just one suit of clothes.
"We had had no experience in
business organization.

B. MALLON

Mr Bertrem Mallon was such a god-damned imbecile that at the
the age of 57 he had not discovered the difference between
usury and interest; he had not discovered that power springs
from being in a position to issue money, whether the King's
or anyone else's; and he was greatly surprised that having
received as much as two thousand (2000) pounds sterling
per annum, when his disreputable government wanted a man
for a particular job, in which he had served with great
candour and still greater naivete, he was unable, that job
being ended to get hold of another as seven quid weekly,
having tried for all other intermediate stipends.

It was not that he had not served his country in warfare
and risen to flight command, on having laid aside his earlier
pacifist scruples; it was not that he was unprovided with
a generous tolerance for the unethical acts of his superiors,
if that term may be applied to second and fourth rate
individuals in government office. He had proved his
worth as a journalist, but had drawn the line at lies
which seemed to him positively prejudicial to his country's
welfare. He had seen his shabitish reports suppressed by
his overlords without the suppression having profited his
own government, and seen the suppressors move on to higher
and still higher positions. He had, though this may be
irrelevant, written some poetry, a small amount
of which was esteemed by a small number of various cognoscenti
the small number of
who were aware of this vagary, but whose knowledge was so
private that it cannot have contributed to official neglect

2/ Mallon

of his welfare. He had, in his URBH youth prtested
against the ruin of agriculture in his home district.
He was able to hold his liquor, if not like a gentleman
at any rate like a chief, and no amount of it had
ever clouded his judgement. And he was out of a job.

That he spoke Urdu and three Soudanese dialects
netted him :

" But mye deah fellowe, we are not interested
in the Sudan at the moment, and India is, ah, as you may
be aware, no longer part of ouah Empah. "

The bloke in the Employment agency wouldn't be
bothered to look up his r*** record, it couldn't be
true that having risen so high both in this service
of public and private bureaucracies he had got down to
just one suit of clothes.

"e had had no experience in
business organization.