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frank with each other,” he admonished, still smiling. “Our predecessors fought and conquered the Bantu and, like conquered people everywhere, they became subject people. Subject people are never treated as equals, at least not until prevailing political and economic conditions dictate such a step. The Bantu outnumber us ten to one, at least, and we cannot now or in the foreseeable future allow them any conditions or circumstances which could precipitate armed conflict with us. We must protect ourselves against them. Outsiders don’t understand this. Actually, we live in fear of them.”
    â€œYou, in fear of them? In the few hours I’ve been here, I would guess that the shoe is on the other foot,” I said.
    â€œHe’s right, but for all the wrong reasons,” said Helen’s daughter. Her dark eyes flashed under a short crop of brown hair, everything about her explosively vital, in marked contrast to her calm, unflappable mother. “Of course we’re afraid, but we deliberately create and maintain the awful conditions under which the Blacks live, then we watch them for signs of revolt. If there’s no sign, we pressure them a little more. So it goes on. We’re afraid of their numbers, but, in our fear we seem to want to woo the very danger which threatens us. It’s a vicious cycle. I couldn’t function in such an atmosphere, so I cleared off.”
    â€œWe can’t all exercise such a happy choice,” the Englishman said. “Some of us must accept the responsibility for finding a formula which would allow—”
    â€œWhat formula?” I interrupted. “For more than a century, the Blacks have been completely disarmed, tribally dislocated, disenfranchised, and displaced. Given your economic power, your command of military personnel and weapons, the fear of them which you express seems to me at best dubious.”
    â€œIt’s not as easy as that,” the banker interposed. “I’m sure you appreciate that even the most sophisticated arms in the hands of a few cannot always resist the resolute pressure of an unarmed or primitively armed mob.” The smile was there, as if he already rejected the image his words conjured up. “However, we hope it will never come to such a bloody test. In spite of what you have certainly heard to the contrary, we are not completely against change. We welcome change, providing it is orderly. We welcome evolution, with everyone developing in his own way, at his own pace, with his own kind. It is revolution that we oppose.”
    Several others intervened now, as if triggered by the word revolution. One elderly gray-haired couple kept determinedly out of it. From the few words they spoke, I guessed that they were Afrikaners. They seemed ill at ease and I wondered why they were there. Maybe Helen had her reasons. Maybe they simply weren’t used to meeting Blacks, even one unarmed Black from overseas.
    â€œHow can you claim to favor the development of the Blacks in their own way, at their own pace and with their own kind if you reserve to yourself the right to control that way and that pace?”
    â€œFor the time being, my friend,” the banker insisted, “only for the time being. Our Bantu people are not like you, educated and sophisticated … ”
    â€œI met some in New York, petitioners against your policies. They seemed sophisticated enough for me to believe them highly educated,” I told him. “Some of them are products of your university system.”
    â€œAny glib dissident could sound off at the United Nations,” returned the banker, with a trace of heat. “Anyone who is against South Africa is sure of a hearing there. Our Bantu people need to be educated into the responsibilities of government. We have designed an educational system which will provide them with the necessary skills.”
    â€œWouldn’t they have acquired those skills in your