The Prisoner Page #3

when you sent for me.

- At 9 in the morning?

- It started at 2 a.m.

Resistance is at its lowest

about that time.

Resistance would appear

to be still pretty high.

You've had him for nearly three

months without any result.

I'm not criticizing your methods.

They've been successful

in the past.

But I must know how long

they're going to take.

But I've told you, general,

it's impossible to say.

In this case, we're dealing...

...with a particularly brilliant

and subtle mind.

His spirit was proved indestructible

by the Gestapo in the war.

Your progress reports

tell me nothing.

I'm prepared to report that

I am wasting hours, days, weeks...

...finding out what we can't

use against him.

But I'm probing his mind for the one

weakness that we can use.

To find that out, I've got to become

his doctor, his confessor.

I've had to get to know him better

than I know myself.

One casual phrase, one tiny slip

may give us a clue.

Very well.

But remember this:

We took a very grave risk

in arresting him.

There's unrest throughout

the country over it.

The press keeps asking

why there's no trial.

We cannot afford to fail

with the cardinal.

I shan't fail, general.

You've had a hard life.

A hard life, the aristocrat

to the priest.

Before dawn in the fish market

at the age of 9.

But warm in school by 9:00

with the fat fruits of my scholarship.

Did your clothes smell of fish?

Heavens, that it should rile me still.

"Cod guts and mackerel blood, look.

There are squashed fish eyes

sticking to his boots."

Dear little boys.

I used to go to the fish market

with just my overalls on over my skin.

Even when the snow

was up to our ankles.

And I bought every brand of soap

I saw advertised.

I took the skin off my hands

with disinfectant.

And then, "Sir, must I sit next to him?

He stinks of fish."

Happy school days.

- Blast you, you flaming little pest.

- General.

"School days," after weeks wasted.

You've no fixed date for the trial.

- This is a difficult case.

- I can see that.

The time has come

for other methods.

General, that's the stuff

that martyrs are made of.

The only chink we'll find

in that armour is in the mind.

- I shan't give you much longer to try.

- Supposing you could break him...

...would a confession

from a broken body...

...do you much good

in an open court?

We've got to have a confession...

...if it has to be from a corpse.

What is the policy of the Vatican

towards our government?

Thank you.

Very refreshing.

What were we talking about?

Oh, yes.

I meant to ask you...

I see here that you never

took up a scholarship...

...you won to the university at a

fantastically early age. Why was that?

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