Marathe & Steeply, the outcropping — "now pretending only to M. Fortier…"

The structural core of the whole theme, stated once plainly and then never simple again. Marathe has committed not to pretend to betray the A.F.R. but to actually betray it — and so he must now pretend to Fortier that he is only pretending to betray to the B.S.S. (n.40 anatomizes the stack). The real act, true betrayal, is hidden inside a shell of performed betrayal, which is itself the cover story he feeds his own side. Espionage as recursive concealment, where sincerity is the innermost and least visible layer and every man is running a pretense whose object is another pretense. 031 will push this to "pretended to pretend to pretend"; here it is laid down as the load-bearing beam.