Page 355 of Edge of Eternity (The Century 3)

They went to a pay phone and Cam called. "I need two hundred people just to make the event look like a success," he confessed.

"I'll see what I can do," the man said.

"Tell them not to speak to reporters, though. We don't want the press finding out that Berkeley Students for Nixon consists mainly of people who aren't students."

After Cam hung up, Jamie said: "Isn't this kind of dishonest?"

"What do you mean?" Cam knew exactly what he meant, but he was not going to admit it. He was not willing to jeopardize his big chance with Ehrlichman just for the sake of a petty lie.

Jamie said: "Well, we're telling people that Berkeley students support Nixon, but we're faking it."

"But we can't back out now!" Cameron was scared that Jamie would want to cancel the whole thing.

"I guess not," Jamie said dubiously.

Cam was in suspense all the next morning. At half past twelve there were only seven people in the hall. When the speakers arrived Cam took them to a side room and offered them coffee and cookies baked by Jamie's mother. At a quarter to one the place was still almost deserted. But then at ten to one, people started to trickle in. By one the room was almost full, and Cam breathed a little easier.

He invited Ehrlichman to chair the meeting. "No," said Ehrlichman. "It looks better if a student does it."

Cam introduced the speakers but hardly heard what they said. His meeting was a success, and Ehrlichman was impressed--but it could still go wrong.

At the end he summed up and said that the popularity of the meeting was a sign of a student backlash against demonstrations, liberalism, and drugs. He got an enthusiastic round of applause.

When it was over he could hardly wait to get them all out the door.

The reporter Sharon McIsaac was there. She had a crusading look, reminding him of Evie Williams, who had spurned his adolescent love. Sharon was approaching students. A couple declined to speak to her; then, to Cam's relief, she buttonholed one of the few genuine Berkeley Republicans. By the time the interview was over, everyone else had left.

At two thirty Cam and Ehrlichman stood in an empty room. "Well done," said Ehrlichman. "Are you sure all those people were students?"

Cam hesitated. "Are we on the record?"

Ehrlichman laughed. "Listen," he said. "When the semester ends, do you want to come and work on Dick's presidential election campaign? We could use a guy like you."

Cam's heart leaped. "I'd love to," he said.

*

Dave was in London, staying with his parents in Great Peter Street, when Fitz knocked on the door.

The family were in the kitchen: Lloyd, Daisy, and Dave--Evie was in Los Angeles. It was six, the hour at which the children had used to eat their evening meal, which they called "tea," when they were small. In those days the parents would sit with them for a while and talk about the day, before going out for the evening, usually to some political meeting. Daisy would smoke and Lloyd would sometimes make cocktails. The habit of meeting in the kitchen to chat at that hour had persisted long after the children grew too old to have "tea."

Dave was talking to his parents about his breakup with Beep when the maid came in and said: "It's Earl Fitzherbert."

Dave saw his father tense up.

Daisy put her hand on Lloyd's arm and said: "It will be all right."

Dave was consumed with curiosity. He knew, now, that the earl had seduced Ethel when she was his housekeeper, and that Lloyd was the illegitimate child of their affair. He knew, too, that Fitz had angrily refused to acknowledge Lloyd as his son for more than half a century. So what was the earl doing here tonight?

Fitz walked into the room using two canes and said: "My sister, Maud, has died."

Daisy sprang up. "I'm so sorry to hear that, Fitz," she said. "Come and sit down." She took his arm.

But Fitz hesitated and looked at Lloyd. "I have no right to sit down in this house," he said.

Dave could tell that humility did not come naturally to Fitz.

Lloyd was controlling intense emotion. This was the father who had rejected him all his life. "Please sit down," Lloyd said stiffly.

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