“It means a powerful patron,” said Chrysanthemum, grabbing at straws to keep her head above the water which threatened to drown her, “a rich and wealthy protector,” and Ludmilla laughed, “ah, you mean what we call in the Old Country a Berezovsky, like Marlon Brando in The Godfather, yes, now I understand, you believe True Thomas is inwolved in what I think you call 'monkey business', no? and some guy – a 'diamond geezer', yes? save him from the vicissitudes of life, no?” and Chrysanthemum's eyes rolled as she desperately fought to keep this conversation 'on message' which, if she was successful, would result in her spending the coming night wrapped in the jocund Ludmilla's strong arms and legs back at Aunty Crist's and she replied: “he may have become a Judas Goat, with someone using his prophecies to draw others from the shadows, malcontents, dissidents, as when he foretold the death of King Alexander III in a storm – he only told the Earl of Dunbar, and when he was proved correct, Dunbar was ready to become the Kingmaker and several potential heirs to Alexander were simply 'disappeared',” and Ludmilla laughed, a musical tinkle above the rumbling conversation in the bar, “so, it is not only in my country that people are 'disappeared' when they are a threat to the Leader, whether that is a Tsar or a Commissar, or a Pudenda – yes, I know exactly what you mean!”