Connie began her story like a fairy-tale: “Once upon a time there was a defector called Stanley, way back in… — John le Carré
Connie began her story like a fairy-tale: “Once upon a time there was a defector called Stanley, way back in sixty-three,” and she applied to it the same spurious logic, part inspiration, part intellectual opportunism, born of a wonderful mind which had never grown up.
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"If I couldn't get out, if there was any fumble after I'd met Stevcek, if I had to go underground, I must get the one word to him even if I had to go to Prague and chalk it on the Embassy door…Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor. Alleline was Tinker, Haydon was Tailor, Bland was Soldier and Toby Esterhase was Poorman. We dropped Sailor because it rhymed with Tailor. You were Beggarman," Jim said.
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