Chapter 29 Summary

Smiley mulls over a letter to Fanshawe by Bill Haydon recommending Jim Prideaux for a job in British intelligence. Haydon tells how they met in a bar and talked to a Russian academician named Khlebnikov and then went back to Haydon's room to drink. That was the only known contact that Jim Prideaux ever had with Communists. Jim had belonged to various college clubs, including the Populars but had no known left wing contacts.

Chapter 29 Analysis

Smiley is drawn to a letter written by Haydon to Fanshawe recommending Jim for work in the Circus. There is a reference to their meeting a Russian academician in a bar. Smiley doesn't know why he is drawn to the letter but he keeps rereading it looking for information in it. Who is Khlebnikov and what does he have to do with anything?