Sell smiled. It became cheerful.
«If you want, the signor, I will mentally sing to you a song:
If the grief gnaws heart,
Drain a glass of wine!
The old friend – it will help,
The leu is fuller, bottoms up!.»
He mentally sang, and under words of a cheerful song is imperceptible for him as the black snake among flowers, crawled a dangerous thought…
«The bullet passed on only one finger over the prime minister’s head… She got to a show-window of shop and made a round hole in glass. Any crack… The prime minister leaned back on a back of the car and, having turned pale, looked at the fat secretary… Someone’s hands seized me by shoulders…»
Sell suddenly grew cold with horror when noticed this black snake of forbidden memoirs. He wanted to lull a song attention of the enemy, but lulled own into a false sense of security. For the first time for all life he noticed that in a brain several whole trains of ideas can proceed at the same time. One of them as the ships lit with the sun floating on a smooth surface of the sea proceed in the light of our consciousness. And others, like deep-water fishes, slide imperceptibly in depth and a gloom of subconscious life. Instead of one enemy, there was several their one whole train of ideas – thousands of chains of thoughts which it is impossible to follow … «That if everything them can be overheard this devilish device?.»
Sell grew cold. He gritted the teeth and could not constrain groan. Its nervous tension was ready to pass into a fit of hysteria. He already wanted to shout: «It is enough! I am guilty!» – it is to stop this torture rather.
And, as soon as he thought of it, hum of the induction coil suddenly stopped.
– Well, well, it is enough! – he heard the voice of Berichi which became suddenly dry and official.
– Unfortunately, you were not so innocent… During this time, as I listened to your thoughts, you more than once, not two and not three gave yourself, though tried to distract the thoughts from dangerous reminiscence… Desire to sign the application that you plead guilty to attempt!
Sell, wandering eyes, made the signature the shivering hand and, being unsteady, left an office.
Minetg rushed to Berichi and embraced it.
– Ingeniously! Amazingly! You rendered me and justice extraordinary service. I am infinitely grateful to you though, of course, my gratitude is insignificant in comparison with the fact that it expects you… I admit, I very much doubted, but now…
Did not allow it to finish speaking Berich. All its humour and cheerfulness returned to the inventor of «idiophone». With dexterity of a monkey he slipped out embraces of Minetgi and, having squinted cunning left eye, asked:
– And now you trust in my invention?
And again, without having allowed to finish speaking to the investigator, he began to chatter:
– And it is vain! Absolutely in vain! My secret is invented not by me. It is invented very long time ago by that which the first shouted: «On the villain the cap burns!» Unless this proverb, in different options, does not exist at all people hundreds of years?. And so, I, on fashion of the twentieth century, embellished a cap which on the villain burns only electric finishing!
Minetti was struck and disappointed.
– Means, there is no invention?
– Well, not absolutely so. We nevertheless managed to achieve consciousness by means of this «invention». But it is only a game on psychology! Try to become in a corner not to think of a leopard. You will not manage it. Well, and for the Sell such «leopard» is his crime. He could not but think of him. Sure that all his thoughts are recognized, the criminal considered themselves caught what he undersigned for. Simply?.
