"H. Beam Piper - The Edge of the Knife" - читать интересную книгу автора (Piper H Beam)

"You're willing to go into open court, covered by reporters from papers you can't control as you do this
student sheet here, and testify that for the past twelve years you've had an insane professor on your
faculty?"

"You're.... You're trying to blackmail me?" Whitburn demanded, half rising.

"It isn't blackmail to tell a man that a bomb he's going to throw will blow up in his hand." Chalmers
glanced quickly at his watch. "Now, Doctor Whitburn, if you have nothing further to discuss, I have a
class in a few minutes. If you'll excuse me...."

He rose. For a moment, he stood facing Whitburn; when the college president said nothing, he inclined
his head politely and turned, going out.

Whitburn's secretary gave the impression of having seated herself hastily at her desk the second before
he opened the door. She watched him, round-eyed, as he went out into the hall.

He reached his own office ten minutes before time for the next class. Marjorie was typing something for
Pottgeiter; he merely nodded to her, and picked up the phone. The call would have to go through the
school exchange, and he had a suspicion that Whitburn kept a check on outside calls. That might not hurt
any, he thought, dialing a number.

"Attorney Weill's office," the girl who answered said.

"Edward Chalmers. Is Mr. Weill in?"

She'd find out. He was; he answered in a few seconds.

"Hello, Stanly; Ed Chalmers. I think I'm going to need a little help. I'm having some trouble with President
Whitburn, here at the college. A matter involving the validity of my tenure-contract. I don't want to go
into it over this line. Have you anything on for lunch?"

"No, I haven't. When and where?" the lawyer asked.

He thought for a moment. Nowhere too close the campus, but not too far away.

"How about the Continental; Fontainbleu Room? Say twelve-fifteen."

"That'll be all right. Be seeing you."
Marjorie looked at him curiously as he gathered up the things he needed for the next class.




Stanly Weill had a thin dark-eyed face. He was frowning as he set down his coffee-cup.

"Ed, you ought to know better than to try to kid your lawyer," he said. "You say Whitburn's trying to
force you to resign. With your contract, he can't do that, not without good and sufficient cause, and under
the Faculty Tenure Law, that means something just an inch short of murder in the first degree. Now,
what's Whitburn got on you?"