Читать книгу An Affair of State онлайн
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"It's always the patriots' blood. The tyrants never seem to bleed," Nicholas said.
"Well, that may be because most of us are patriots, really. So there are more of us to get hurt."
"Do you think so, honestly?"
"Yes, I do. The world is getting better. It must."
"Perhaps. We're due, and overdue."
[3]
Nicholas Baker spent his lunch hour at the hospital, and washed down a cheese sandwich with a glass of milk at the drug store on the way back to the Department. Mabel had assured him that she was perfectly happy, and so he did not ask for the afternoon off. Just before he left the office at six he drew up a chair to Mr. Locke's desk and announced: "Well, I've decided on a name, Mr. Locke. Do you know what I'm going to name him? I'm going to name him Jefferson Wilson Baker."
"That's a very ambitious name," said Horace Locke.
"For my son," said Nicholas Baker, "I'm a very ambitious man."
As he left the Department he was already considering where little Jefferson should go to school, and what he should be taught at home.