“A little reddish tinge for a minute. It went right away. Just overtired, I think. It startled me, though, which is why I showed it, I guess.”
“Well, take it easy,” Orrin Knox said. “That’s orders.”
“You’re very thoughtful. I will, as much as one can around this place.”
“I don’t want the acting chief delegate dropping by the wayside now that the permanent Ambassador is incapacitated too.”
“How’s he doing?”
“So-so. I was by Harkness Pavilion this morning. Still oxygen tent.”
“Hearts are occupational in the public business, I guess,” Senator Fry said with a sigh. “How’s yours?”
“I’m too ornery to die,” Orrin Knox said, turning back to the others. “Everybody knows that. Well, gentlemen, I expect the committees are beginning, and we should probably all run along. Take care of the interests of the United States in Fifth Committee, K.K. I know we can count on you.”
“M. Raoul Barre, s’il vous plait,” the young lady said politely to the enormous room, now emptying slowly as the delegates headed for committees. “M. l’Ambassadeur de France, s’il vous plait.”
“Always joking, Orrin,” the Indian Ambassador said. “It is a side that has developed in you since your new responsibilities.”
“Since Geneva, I’d say,” Lord Maudulayne remarked. “Nothing like tasting the joys of defiance, eh, old chap?”
“Defiance, nothing,” Secretary Knox said. “We had no choice.”
“Does it ever seem like a dream?” the M’Bulu asked, and for a long moment the Secretary appraised him with a steady glance. Then he tossed off, “A bad one,” tersely, and started to turn away.
“But I wanted to talk to you for a moment,” Terrible Terry said, holding out a restraining hand.
“Very well,” Orrin Knox said, dropping onto a sofa. “I’ll talk. See you later, Hal. Claude, do you want to stay—or is that forbidden, Your Highness?”
“Why,” the M’Bulu said with a charming smile, “nothing would please me more.” He too sat on the sofa and arranged his brilliant robes. “Mr. Secretary, I want to visit your country and be entertained at the White House. I think it would enhance my cause.”
“Well!” Orrin Knox said. “There’s nothing bashful about that. I should think it would, indeed.”
“And diminish ours,” Lord Maudulayne said, too surprised and annoyed to be polite about it.
“Possibly,” Terrible Terry agreed placidly. “But I think it would be nice.”
“Is this a formal request?” the Secretary inquired in a thoughtful tone that showed he was giving it serious consideration.
“It is,” the M’Bulu said with equal gravity.
“Oh, I say,” Claude Maudulayne said. “Now, really—”
“ You could always give a reception for me at the Embassy,” Terry said blandly, “prior to the White House dinner.”
“Oh, dinner?” Orrin Knox said. “Is that all you want? Isn’t there anything more we can do for you?”
“I think that will be sufficient,” the M’Bulu said with a jolly laugh.
“What an extraordinary thing,” the Secretary said. “If I were still in the Senate, I’d tell you that it was nonsense and forget it. Now I’m at State, I have to be more diplomatic. Do you mind if I consult with the President? He might have different ideas, you know. It’s just possible he won’t want to rearrange everything for a—a rather minor African prince.”
“Now,” Terry said with a sudden anger in his enormous eyes, “you go too far, Mr. Secretary. Really too far.”
“That was just as though I were still in the Senate,” Orrin Knox said nonchalantly, waving to the Secretary-General, who had paused across the room to talk to two members of the Soviet delegation. “I don’t mean it, really. But really, now—”
“You entertain distinguished foreign visitors all the time,” the M’Bulu pointed out in a reasonable tone. “Surely I’m no different.”
“Well, except as you’re still fighting your