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But if Fink had been really angered by Gottlieb's inquiries, he would tell Gottlieb, "They're coming down when your Irvine comes down. On exactly the same train, that's when they're coming down."
"My Irvine?" Gottlieb could see no connection between his Irvine and the questions he had been asking. Haughtily he asked, "My Irvine? He's very well. He's learning hard to be a specialist."

"And when he's finished he's coming to practice in Lyndhurst?"

"Perhaps," Gottlieb would lie uneasily; and Fink would reply with a pitying shrug of his shoulders:
"Perhaps is as good as a feast."9

(From The Price of Diamonds, 1957)