I burst out. “The fact that I changed my name is not a crime. Besides, in that old business there was not one atom of proof against me.” “Indeed!” he said coldly. “On the other hand there was not one atom of proof to show that you were not in league with your country’s enemies at that time. The verdict of the Foreign Office was ‘Not Proven’. You were given the benefit of the doubt because there was not sufficient evidence to bring you to trial, but they dismissed you with ignominy from the Diplomatic Service.” “So it’s simply a case of ‘give a dog a bad name and hang him’,” I cried bitterly. “And hang him,” the saturnine Major repeated softly. “I congratulate you upon your apt choice of phrase.” “You can’t use anything that happened in the past against me,” I blustered. “And you’ve no right to let it influence you. It’s not fair. It’s not just.” “I don’t need to,” he shrugged. “I have all the proof I require in the present instance to frame charges against you which you’ll find it extremely difficult to answer.”
