he felt it feather-bedded him a little , allowed him to give or take an hour or two in his communications with m. he knew that this was probably a fallacy , that probably there was another member of the service at royale-les-eaux who was reporting independently , but it did give the illusion that he was n't only 150 miles across the channel from that deadly office building near regent 's park , being watched and judged by those few cold brains that made the whole show work .