خاتمه

EPILOGUE

The Friendship Formula in Practice

And as every spy knows, common enemies are how allies always begin.

—ALLY CARTER, DON’T JUDGE A GIRL BY HER COVER

Here is one final spy story. This one didn’t involve my time at the FBI; in fact, it is more than a hundred years old.I The story begins at the turn of the last century, when a German prince had a romantic rendezvous with a woman of royalty from England. The sexual nature of the rendezvous was not that disturbing to the German government; however, they were extremely unhappy when they discovered the prince had written his paramour love letters filled with state secrets. They turned to “Dr. Graves,” a talented German spy, and gave him his marching orders: “Get those letters back!”

And so he did. He traveled to England to meet this woman and reclaim the prince’s love letters for his homeland. Printed on the following pages are excerpts from Dr. Graves’s diary explaining how he accomplished his mission. As you read the material, see if you can identify the Like Switch strategies Dr. Graves utilized to successfully retrieve the letters.

I quartered myself at first at the Russell Square Hotel, in a few days transferring to the patrician Langham. I began by making tentative inquiries. I purchased all society papers which I read from cover to cover, and then carefully feeling my way put further questions that would locate the set in which my lady was a central figure. From acquaintances I made around the hotel, from the society reporters of newspapers, I began to get little scraps of information. Fortunately, it was the season in London and everybody was coming into town. I soon knew who the Lady’s intimates were and their favorite rendezvous. The next step was to become familiar with the personality of the lady and to gain some idea as to her habits and her likes and dislikes. I heard that the lady was in the habit of going horseback riding in Hyde Park. Every day I made it my business to take a two hour canter along the bridle path. My patience was rewarded on the fifth morning for I saw her galloping by with a party of friends.

The next morning I was on the bridle path at the same hour. Finally, she came galloping along with the same group, and after they had almost gone from sight, I galloped after them. I found out where they kept their horses and after they had dismounted, I sauntered up to the stable and made inquiries. I learned that they always went out at the same time of day. Thereafter, I made it my business to pass the lady on the bridle path day after day. I pride myself on few things, but my horsemanship is one of them. Many a hard tussle and bleeding nose I got riding Brumbies (wild horses) across the wild tracks of Australia. I also learned a trick or two among my Tuareg friends, which I exhibited for the lady’s benefit on various occasions. I did not hope to gain an introduction, but only to attract attention and familiarize her party with my appearance, applying one of the test points of human psychology. I employed the theory of the subconscious attraction of an oft seen though unknown face.

I soon ascertained that my lady and her friends followed all the whims of London society. One in particular interested me. They were in the habit of frequenting Carlton Terrace between three and four every afternoon and eating strawberries. I also went to eat straw­berries.

Carlton Terrace during the strawberry season is an exquisitely colored fashion plate of life’s butterflies and drones. This throng of fashion and beauty, marked with its air of distinction carelessly abandoned to pleasure, ever murmuring pleasant nothings and tossing light persiflage from table to table, is truly an interesting study of the lighter sides of life. One sits on a magnificent marquee-covered glass enclosed terrace overlooking the Thames with its ever changing scenes of fussy tugs and squat barges.

At Carlton Terrace one pays well for the subtleties of eating. By courteous consideration of the waitresses, I managed to secure a much coveted outside corner table near to the one reserved for the lady and her party. I always made it a point to withhold my entrance until the lady was in the terrace; then I would stroll in alone, take a seat alone, and show a desire to be alone. They have a very clever way of serving strawberries at the Carlton. A vine growing from ten to twelve large luscious berries is brought on in a silver pot. It is the acme of luxury. You pick the fresh berries from the vine on your table, the Terrace supplies quantities of cream, and you pay half a sovereign—$2.50—for a dish of strawberries. One dish is enough for the average customer. Every afternoon I ordered five.

Day after day, I consumed in strawberries two sovereigns and a half—$12.50—of the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerein’s money. Always tipping the girl a half sovereign which made my daily strawberry bill come up to three sovereigns ($15). For about ten days, I did this always at the same time; always being careful to make my entrance after the lady’s party was seated, always ordering the same number of portions, always giving the girl the same tip. It wasn’t long before I began to be observed. I soon saw that not only the attendants but also the patrons of the Terrace were becoming interested in my foible. One day as I passed, I heard someone say, “Here comes the strawberry fiend.”

I was satisfied. I knew it would be easy now to effect an entrance to the lady’s set. I had been marked as something out of the usual in the restaurant that from three to four in the afternoon at that time of the year is the most fashionable in London. Now, a woman like my lady does not flirt. If you glance at her under favorable conditions such as my strawberry “stunt” had created for me she will return the glance. You both half smile and do not look at each other again that afternoon. That is not flirting. Splitting hairs, we shall call it psychic interest.

I continued my strawberry festival and one day a manager of Carlton Terrace told me that people were making inquiries about me. Several men had wanted to know who I was. Under questioning, he told me that one of the men was a member of the lady’s set. It was easy to put together two and two. Obviously, the inquiry had been inspired by her.

Meanwhile I had sent several communications to the Grand Duke, insisting that pressure be brought to bear upon his nephew and to keep him away from London; not even permitting him under penalty of stopping his allowance, to write the lady in the case until the Grand Duke gave his permission. By now, London had gradually filled and the season was at its height. I went the rounds of the theaters from Drury Lane to the Empire and I visited the clubs. I found here men whom I had met previously and presently I rounded up two or three fellows with whom I had been fairly intimate at one time or another on hunting expeditions and at continental watering places. I made them introduce me to different sets. Dexterous maneuvering obtained me invitations to afternoon teas and at-homes in the same circle frequented by my lady.

I was introduced to her at an afternoon reception. She was a typical outdoor Englishwoman. Not particularly handsome, but possessing to the full the clearness of skin and eyes and strong virile health, that is the hereditary lien of Albion’s daughters. Tall, willowy, and strong, of free and independent manners and habits, she was the direct antithesis of the usual German woman. I reasoned that this was probably the reason of the young Duke’s infatuation.

“How do you do you wild Colonial boy. Still as fond of straw­berries as ever?”

We both burst out laughing.

“So your ladyship observed and classified my little maneuvers.”

“Of course,” she said with a toss of her head.

Unforced and pleasant chatting followed. I could more and more understand the Grand Duke’s infatuation; in fact, considered him quite a “deuced, lucky beggar.”

From that day on, I made it a point to be present whenever she attended public places, such as the theater, concerts, or restaurants. Gradually and imperceptibly by little services here and there I won her confidence. There was an after-theater supper in the Indian room of the Windsor, and I was invited. By this time, people had come to know something about me. I was a globe-trotter, a man of leisure, interested as a hobby in research work in medicine. I discovered that her affair with the young Grand Duke was a fairly open secret in her set; also, that she was expecting him in London almost daily. Gradually I hinted that I knew the young Grand Duke. As I gained her confidence further, I invented amorous affairs for him and hinted to her about them. In this way, I finally managed to induce her to talk. Subtly I instilled a vague resentment against him, which was accentuated by his non-appearance in London society up to now. His Highness having been kept away by his Serene Uncle, the serene one having been cautioned to do so by me.

Two months passed before I was invited to the lady’s home in Mayfair and by that time partly because I pretended to know the young Grand Duke, I was on a more intimate footing. I had learned that she had met him at a hunting party at the Earl of Crewes’ shooting box in Shropshire. Later, she intimated that this was but their official meeting and that their acquaintance actually dated from a mountain trip she had taken to Switzerland, the universal playground of royalty traveling incog. I learned too that her heavy bridge gambling had cost her a lot of money.

The information that the lady was in debt did not come easily. To obtain it, I had to work on her maid. Whenever the occasion arose, I made it my business to tip the maid liberally. I contrived to do a number of little things for her. Knowing the lady to be out, I called at the house one day and while pretending to be waiting for my hostess, I put some leading questions to the maid. I learned that her mistress was pressed for money. That was an opening worth working on.

Thereafter, I contrived to be present whenever there was a bridge party at the lady’s. They are pretty high gamblers, those English society women, and I came to see that the lady was generally a heavy loser. It was my good fortune for her to lose to me one night. Now, it is the custom at these gatherings not to hand over cash; instead, the unlucky one pays with what corresponds to an “on demand note.” I took her note that night and with others—the whereabouts of which I learned from the maid and which I indirectly purchased from the holders—I took all these to a notorious money-lender and made a deal with him. He was to take the notes and press the lady for payment, of course keeping my name out of it. It is obvious that, trying, as I was to win her confidence, I could not go myself and hold these obligations over her head. That same day the money-lender paid the lady a call. He paid her a good many other calls, harassing her, threatening legal action and driving her until she was almost to a state of nervous collapse. Well-placed sympathies soon made her talk and she burst out pettishly that she was in debt and that most of her acquaintances were in debt—nothing unusual in that set.

This was an opportune chance to be of material benefit to the lady. Seriously, we talked over her affairs. I found them pretty well entangled. We discussed the young Grand Duke. I gradually persuaded her that there was no hope of a legitimate marriage with the house of Mecklenburg-Schwerein, but because of her association with the young Grand Duke and the fact that she had been betrothed to him, it was only right that the Duchy provide her with some means of assistance. The ice was perilously thin, for the lady is a high-spirited woman of ideals and I had to be careful to word my language so that it would not appear as though she were blackmailing. In justice to her, I believe that if she had taken that view of it she would have dropped the entire matter and retired from society for the season rather than go through with my plan. Finally, I said, “Have you any means by which you could compel the ducal house to make adequate acknowledgments and redresses to you?”

After a long hesitation, she jumped up, swept from the room, and returned presently with a handful of letters. I saw on some of them the Grand Duke’s coat of arms. The young fool had been careless enough for that! She shook the letters in a temper and cried, “I wonder what Franz’s uncle would say to these? Why I could compel him to marry me.”

Here was the chance. The iron—in this case my lady’s ­temper—was hot. I suggested that we sit down and talk it over. As an introductory attack, to create the impression that I knew what I was talking about, I hinted that I was connected with a leading family in Germany and that I was in London incog. I approached the situation from the viewpoint that I was her friend, not a friend of the house of Mecklenburg-Schwerein, but that, by knowing them and their ways, I could be of great assistance to her.

“It is regrettable,” I consoled; “but you have no chance for a legitimate, even a morganatic alliance with the young Grand Duke. I consider their entire attitude toward you utterly unfair. In view of your understanding with him, you are most certainly entitled to adequate recompense from his house. If you went into court you could obtain this on grounds of breach of promise, but I can understand your feelings. Such a step would only cast odium upon an old and noble family such as yours.”

That seemed to her liking.

“But what can I do?” she said.

“In view of my friendship for you,” I told her, “I would consider it an honor if you would permit me to act on your behalf. I think I can negotiate with the young Grand Duke’s uncle and I promise that he will regard the matter in a fair light. I appreciate the extreme delicacy of the situation and you must observe the necessity of a man handling this affair.”

She shook her head and tapped the letters nervously.

“No. It is intolerable,” she said. “Not to be thought of.”

I saw that I had to make it stronger. I thereupon invented the most ingenious lie it has ever been given me to tell. In about five minutes I had painted the young Grand Duke in such colors that the adventures of Don Juan were saintly compared to the escapades of his ducal highness.

“Why consider it yourself,” I said. “He was to be over here with you during the season. He has not come. You told me yourself that he has not even answered your letters. Well that’s all there is to it. Your ladyship, he and his house deserve any punishment that you can visit upon them.”

The idea of punishment appealed where the other had failed. The outraged pride of a woman, especially an Englishwoman, is a terrible thing. Soon after that I made haste to take my leave. At my quarters I wrote two letters to myself and signed the Grand Duke’s name to them. In these I offered to pay her ladyship’s debts. They were addressed to me and after allowing a reasonable time to elapse, I again went out to Mayfair and read them to her. She was now cold and hard and gave me full permission to go ahead and make any arrangements I deemed advisable. I thereupon went to the Grand Duke’s bank in London and notified them that I must have 15,000 pounds ($75,000). In four days I had the money. The rest of the transaction was commonplace. She handed over all the letters and documents and I gave her the 15,000 pounds. I know today that her ladyship travels extensively in a very comfortable manner on the yearly appanage allowed her by the old Grand Duke. I do not know whether she still goes to Carlton Terrace to eat strawberries, but I flatter myself that her present good fortune is partially due to the fact that she once went there.

HOW DR. GRAVES ACCOMPLISHED HIS MISSION

It is truly remarkable, when reading Dr. Graves’s diary, to realize this man was a full century ahead of his time in using behavioral analysis and psychological techniques to achieve his objective. If you take the time to reread the portion of Chapter 1 detailing how the Friendship Formula was used to entice “Seagull” to betray his country and become a spy for the United States, you will be amazed at the parallels between the strategies employed by the FBI and Dr. Graves in their work. Consider them:

1. In both cases, recruiting their targets was a well-choreographed plan that was executed over an extended period of time. Both agents used the techniques presented in this book to predispose their targets to like them prior to their first meetings.

2. Dr. Graves, like the FBI agent Charles, used the Friendship Formula to establish a relationship with the English lady. First they established proximity with their targets followed by an increase in frequency and duration, and gradually introduced intensity, curiosity hooks, and increasingly more intense nonverbal cues.

3. In both cases, the principle of proximity was used to establish nonthreatening contact between the agent and the target (Chapter 1). In Seagull’s case, the FBI agent took pains to place himself in public places where Seagull walked and would be aware of his presence. In Dr. Graves’s case, he did the same by establishing proximity with his target on the riding trails and seating himself at a table close to the one where his target routinely sat in the restaurant.

4. In both cases, the principles of frequency and duration were also utilized. With Seagull that involved the FBI agent positioning himself on Seagull’s shopping route in a manner that increased the number of instances (frequency), where the foreign diplomat saw him and adding duration by following Seagull into the grocery store, extending the contact time between the two men. With the English Lady, Dr. Graves increased frequency by the number of times he passed the woman on the riding trails and saw her in the restaurant. Dr. Graves even pointed out the power of frequency when he wrote, “I employed the theory of the subconscious attraction of an oft seen though unknown face.” To achieve duration, he extended contact time by being around the woman at additional public places, like the theater and concerts. The more time (duration) you spend with people, the more you are able to influence their decision-making process and thought patterns.

5. In both cases intensity was achieved through the use of nonverbal cues and a “curiosity hook.” The constant presence of a stranger being around Seagull and the English lady aroused their curiosity. In the case of Dr. Graves, the “Strawberry Stunt” served as a curiosity hook. What type of man eats five servings of strawberries in one sitting and gives the waitstaff such a large a tip? Who was this person? What did he want? This curiosity motivated both Seagull and the English lady to make an effort to discover who Charles (the FBI agent) and Graves (the German spy) were and what they wanted. Dr. Graves noted, “If you glance at her under favorable conditions such as my strawberry ‘stunt’ had created for me [increased intensity], she will return the glance. You both half smile and do not look at each other again that afternoon.” When Dr. Graves first met the lady, she displayed a “hair flip” (the toss of her head), which is a friend signal indicating that Dr. Graves established some degree of rapport before their first words were spoken. Both Charles and Graves had confidence in the psychological principles they employed and allowed time for them to work. They did not rush the development of the relationship. Instead, they let the relationships develop naturally over time, as “normal” relationships would.

6. In both cases, Dr. Graves and the Special Agent used friend signals to present themselves as nonthreatening (see Chapter 1), thus preventing their targets from going shields up when the first meetings took place. The Special Agent did not approach Seagull until he was comfortable with the agent’s presence. Dr. Graves sat alone in the restaurant and showed no desire to meet anyone, giving the illusion that he was not a threat. Dr. Graves also ensured that he was noticed by walking in after the lady and her friends were already seated.

7. In both cases, information was gathered about their targets from various sources. In the Seagull case, the agent received information from FBI analysts. In the case of Dr. Graves, he read local newspapers, society pages, spoke with reporters, and later the groomsmen at the stables to obtain information about his target. In both cases, vital information was gathered surreptitiously to discover the things that motivate the targets to act as they do, to assess their personalities, and to learn about the things that could be used to establish common ground. Dr. Graves used elicitation techniques (see Chapter 6) to obtain sensitive information about his target without alerting the elicitation sources to the fact that they were providing sensitive information.

8. Dr. Graves went to the Carlton Terrace not only to be close to his target but also to establish common ground by eating strawberries every day like his target did.

9. Dr. Graves took advantage of the psychological principle of misattribution (see Chapter 4) to predispose the lady to like him. Horseback riding, like other exercises, triggers an endorphin release, which makes people feel good about themselves. If there is no apparent reason for that good feeling, people tend to attribute their good feeling to the people nearest to them. According the Golden Rule of Friendship, if you want people to like you, make them feel good about themselves. Dr. Graves was fostering rapport before he even said a word to his target.

10. In the end, Dr. Graves made it appear that it was the lady’s idea to exchange the letters for her accrued debt, not Dr. Graves’s idea. In Seagull’s case, he watered and fertilized the seed of treason planted by the FBI agent. This is the true sign of a successful operation.

The two spy stories, separated by a century, remind us that human nature is a constant and that friends can be made if you are willing to use the tools presented in this book to flip the Like Switch and turn people on to you.