4 1984Winston explained about the room over Mr Char-
rington’s shop.
‘That will do for the moment. Later we will arrange
something else for you. It is important to change one’s hid-
ing-place frequently. Meanwhile I shall send you a copy of
THE BOOK’—even O’Brien, Winston noticed, seemed to
pronounce the words as though they were in italics—’Gold-
stein’s book, you understand, as soon as possible. It may
be some days before I can get hold of one. There are not
many in existence, as you can imagine. The Thought Police
hunt them down and destroy them almost as fast as we can
produce them. It makes very little difference. The book is
indestructible. If the last copy were gone, we could repro-
duce it almost word for word. Do you carry a brief-case to
work with you?’ he added.
‘As a rule, yes.’
‘What is it like?’
‘Black, very shabby. With two straps.’
‘Black, two straps, very shabby—good. One day in the
fairly near future—I cannot give a date—one of the messag-
es among your morning’s work will contain a misprinted
word, and you will have to ask for a repeat. On the following
day you will go to work without your brief-case. At some
time during the day, in the street, a man will touch you on
the arm and say ‘I think you have dropped your brief-case.’
The one he gives you will contain a copy of Goldstein’s book.
You will return it within fourteen days.’
They were silent for a moment.
‘There are a couple of minutes before you need go,’ said