London, two in Paris and four in Madrid."

"In the embassies?"

"Yes, as an administrative assistant to the ambassadors." "How long since your recall from Spain?"

"Three months or so.

"And in what type of work are you now involved?"

Alan hesitated. "It's of a secret nature. I'm not able to tell you. I'm sorry."

Cournois looked up from the folder for the first time. "My error, of course... Cigarette?" He extended his pack.

"I have my own, thank you," Alan said, reaching into his pocket. He lighted one.

"I don't recognize the brand."

"English. Took them up in London and got accustomed to them. They're very mild. I've tried returning to American cigarettes, but I prefer these."

"Are they easy to get here in Washington?" Cournois asked, making a pencil notation in the folder.

Alan watched the movement of the pencil. "There's a tobacco shop on F Street that caters to the embassies. One can find many foreign cigarettes there."

"Your parents were divorced, Tisdale?"

"When I was twelve."

"Who did you and your brother live with after the divorce?"

"I lived with my mother. Tom went to live with my father." "Your brother is married and has four children?"

"Yes."

"You're not married?"

"No..." Alan fidgeted. "Most of this is in my dossier there, isn't it? Surely a preliminary check-up would have given you most of this basic information."

"Of course. I merely wanted to see if there were any additional facts which we might add..." Cournois studied the folder for a moment, reflecting more than reading.

"What magazines do you read, Tisdale, and which do you subscribe to?" "I subscribe to the New Yorker, The Saturday Review, Time, the Partisan Review. I read others. Many others. Some of a political nature, some not."

"Life? Saturday Evening Post? Sports Illustrated?”

"Sometimes. When I go to the barber shop."

Cournois made another notation. "What do you know about a place called Porto's?"

"It's a restaurant," Alan answered. "I sometimes go there if I work late at the Department. It's about the only decent restaurant in the neighborhood open after seven. I sometimes go to the Sea Shanty, too, but one can't eat fish every night. The food at Porto's is good and reasonable, and they serve cocktails."

"It's a queer hang-out, you know."

"No, I didn't know."

"The upper level of the place swarms with them after five."

"I usually have dinner in the backroom downstairs. I've never been in the upper level."

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