◆ SpookStack

? asually for years; an in London, last month, ther renewed the acquaintanceship. There were some who — had beer wondering, this spring. whether McLean's recovery from his mental iliness was as comleteas it was supposed to be. He seemed low ir, sparit. On april 2; he made a sc ene in a Soho night clut when be became involved in arn &rgument with a newa- paperman. The maragemernt asxed him to leave. "Bul there was no hint, certainly, of what was te come. He hac bought a beautiful: old 12-room house at Hatsfielc, near London. He and his wife were Living there quietiy, she was expecting her third child. Tne two little boys had the measles. May 25 wes his birthday. He left the house as usual, but never f r + = showed up at. the office. fAssuming that Burgess and Mclean have gone; or are trying to go; behind the iron curtain, those who know the two men re- main baffled by the personality contradictions involved in the casé. Hurgess, for instance, is considerec much. the more likely of the two to have been somehow involved in an attenpt to aid Russia. He was disgusted with his life ~ he had no family tiee to bind him - and he might have had some sympathy for what he thought was the Krezlin's cause. His politics were leftish. McLean, on the other hand, never gave the siightest indication | of pro-Comminist tendencies. "Bul Burgess, it is felt, was a type of man wholly incapable of organizing and carrya ing through a disappearing act of the sort that has heer seromt 3isned here. tHe had,! Says & friend, Tconsiderable dif ficvlty in getting from Point A to Point B in the normal course of things. ' Melean, it is true, had the imagination and daring to effect the escape. His friends, how- ever, find it impossible te believe that he has been the leader in such e plot. "There is general agreement that if Mclean and Burgess really have gone over to the Communists, their aim is somehow to try to produce peace, rather than to help Russia against the West. As a British diplomat here sums it up: ‘At worst, this thing is certainly more Hess than diss "Last week, in a iondon hospitel, Mrs. McLean gave birth te an elght-pound daughter. Sne too will be called Melinda. The hope arose thet <- if Donald Veleon still is reaming the free world Bcmenhere =- the news would bring him to his senses, and back to England.” FF) 7 a Ot