Owl Post

Mr Hopkins,

I hope you don’t mind, I took the liberty of making some inquiries as to your name and address. I am eager to continue the conversation we began on Saturday night. I think there’s a lot I could learn from you, and I’m confident that an exchange of information would be mutually rewarding.

Conversely, I foresee that a failure to seize this opportunity would serve us both ill in the long term.

I hope we are now agreed as to the importance of further developing our relationship. Perhaps we could meet tomorrow at 6 pm, at Higher Grounds, to discuss further? I would be very disappointed not to see you there.

Warmest regards,
X. Orpington

Mr Orpington,

I’m sorry, but I told you, I don’t know what you thought you heard but I really don’t think I know anything useful. It’s all like boring theory stuff, and it’s still being worked out, and anyway I’m really not supposed to talk about any of this. But, I mean, even if I could, I promise it’s not stuff you could use probably.

So I don’t mean to be rude but I really can’t meet up with you. It could look pretty bad, if my office found out.

Please stop

Warmest regards,
W. Hopkins

With all due respect, Mr Hopkins, I believe I would be the best judge of whether your information would be of use to me or not. And I’m sure that once we meet, it won’t take long at all for me to ascertain just what how much your contributions could be worth.

That said, I understand your concerns about the authorities being alerted as to your lapse in judgment. I would also hate to see it come to that. I can assure you that if we were to meet, I would keep our discussion in the closest confidence. But that’s not a promise I can make without a gesture of good faith on your part. After all, from what I have observed, the Ministry may well have good reason to be concerned about your lack of discretion.

Do let me know if you’ve changed your mind about meeting to discuss these matters further. If not, I will hope to see you around town.

I remain
your servant,
X. Orpington