The Last Samurai

It was 7:15. I thought I would just divide by three the number of problems you were supposed to do and then it would probably be all right if I went in at 8:15.

The problems on the pages were rather miscellaneous, whereas the girls were each doing all one kind of problem. So I got four problems about Fourier analysis off different pages. They were a bit more complicated than the ones in my book. It was about 8:30 by the time I finished.

I went into the dining room. He was sitting at the head of the table pouring out a glass of wine for the other man. He was saying

There’s absolutely no question, Ken, about the importance of this proposal— Yes, what is it?

I said I had finished my problems.

He said: Have you now?

I said: Do you want to check them?

He said: I’m afraid it’ll have to wait—

I said: Then you’ll have to take my word for it.

He laughed. He said: Firoza, would you mind setting another place?

His wife set a place for me, and she gave me a big serving of curry. She told me Dr. Miller had something quite important to discuss but her husband would go through his diary with me later. Sorabji kept talking impetuously and filling Dr. Miller’s glass with wine, and Dr. Miller kept saying To get back to what I was saying earlier. This went on for about two hours but the girls never came in with their problems.

After dinner Sorabji said: We’ll have coffee in my study.

I was going to have to do it soon.

I followed them out of the room with my pieces of paper. We passed the room I had left; the three girls were still sitting at the table watching TV and working on their problems. They had plates of curry beside them.

Dr. Miller followed him into the study and when I followed too he looked at me and said with a smile: I’m afraid we’ve some business to discuss.

But Sorabji said: Oh that’s all right, it’s really only the finer details that need thrashing out— the main thing is that we understand each other

Miller said: I’d like to think so

Sorabji said: You can be sure of it

and he said Coffee or something stronger

Miller looked at his watch and said I really should be going, it’s a bit of a trek

Sorabji said: Sure I can’t tempt you

Miller said: No, better not— now where did I leave my coat?—Ah!

He picked up an old raincoat that was hanging over a chair and put it on, and he picked up an old briefcase that was standing by the chair. He said: Anyway I think we’ve cleared up the main issues.

Sorabji said: Absolutely. I think we’ve really covered a lot of ground

Miller said: Well I hope you’ve got a clearer picture of what we’re hoping to accomplish

Sorabji said: It’s been tremendously helpful, thank you for coming

Miller said: Not at all, and he said I’ll try to get you something in writing by the end of the week.

Sorabji said: I’ll see you to the door.

I heard the door close and he came back down the corridor whistling softly.

He came into the room and saw me. He said: You’re not exactly the soul of tact, are you?

I said: What do you mean?

He said: Never mind. I owe you one. Let’s have a look at these problems.

I gave him the pages. I said: I did some different problems instead because the others would take too long.

He looked down smiling. Then he looked up at me quickly and looked back; he said: Where did you get these?

I said I got them out of the folder.

He said: The folder? You mean the past papers?

He flipped through the pages quickly to see if they were all the same kind of problem and then he looked through them slowly to see if there were mistakes. At one point he picked up a pencil and crossed something out and wrote something underneath it. Finally he put the pages down on the desk. He was laughing.

He said: Good for you!

He said: I’ve seen first-year undergraduates who couldn’t—I’ve seen finalists that this puts to shame.

He said: It almost restores one’s faith in the educational system of this—but then I suppose you’ve had private tuition.

I said my mother helped me.

He said: Well I take my hat off to her!

He was grinning. He said: Make my day. Tell me you want to be an astronomer.

I said I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do.

He said: But you wouldn’t be here if you weren’t interested in the subject. I suppose you’d be open to persuasion!

He said: I’m afraid I was rather preoccupied when you turned up, I can’t quite remember exactly what it was you came for. Did you want a signed book?

I thought: I can’t stop now.

He raises his bamboo sword. He draws it back with a slow sweeping motion.

I said—

I said it so quietly he couldn’t hear.

He said: Sorry, what was that?

I said: I wanted to see you because I’m your son.

He drew in his breath sharply. Then he looked at me quickly, and then he picked up the pages again and looked down at them without speaking. He looked at one page, and then at another, and then he turned his head away.

He said: She told me she—

He said: She never told me—

He looked down at the pages of Fourier analysis again.

He said softly: The son I never had.

He looked up at me. His eyes were wet.