◆ SpookStack

i , Wanted ment _ All Britain ~ 1" was shocked % when the Daily Express broke ~, the story of __ their defection across St. James's “Ww Leconfleld House, I braced myself for a sticky ordeal. I Was stl confident that could survive an examination, however robust, on the basis of the evidence known to me But I could not be sure that new evidence had not come to hand for Milmo to shoot at me; On _arrivat at Lecon- field House I was intro- duced to the head of the legal branch of M15 and then ushered into the presence of Milmo, We was a burly fellow with a florid. round face, matching his nickname “ Buster," On his lef, sat Arthur Martin, & quiet youn man who had been one of the principal in- vestipators of the Maclean case. He remained silent throughout, watching my movements. When I looked out of the window. he made a note; when I twiddied my thumbs. he made another ote. After sketchy greetings, Milmo adopted a formal manner, ask- ing me to refrain from smoking as this was a “ judicial inquiry.’ _ . It was all fummery, of course, It crossed my mind to ask Milmo for his credentials or to suggest - that the headquarters of M.15 i Se stte coed “ EE we in Koreas, * — ahuard the Pefutlandis, which -. id Berran pert merits. Much of the ground that : CONTAQLAING EHMOREN OE ORM JMORD BEAYEARAQOOK PERSIA 1p "@ THE DAILY RNPRERA offers a reweed’ st T1wm tor information that will exteblish the whereabauls pf ihe- o . imapecaring Hiplomata Tenald Duart Macleun and tauy Francie de obs Meacy Burges. This reward well Be pad to any gerana whe rene a a _ " 1 ult quacentees: | Ber hat nett 6 mevting my tepieeentelve fo ' meer youn fe rvuld take plate } 7 ‘at Labour ~ MMe eh Th OE Mirage Syne Malt Prerboa our baal parla in Ett bg hus woesd psaider eh 7 = apt, peed pests Fremelh ip Teen fron ee were an odd venue for a judicial inqury. But that would have been out of character for the part which [ had decided to play: that of @ co-operative ex- member of the Secret Lntelli- fence Service. as keen as Milmo imself to establish the truth about Burgess and Maclean, So, for the best part of three hours. I answered or parried questions meekiy enough, only bermitting myself a note of anger when my character was directly attacked. It was useless, I knew, to try to convince the ex-Intelligence officer in Milmo; my job was . Simply. .to deny him the confes- sion which he required as a lawyer. . i was too closely involved In Milmo’s interrogation to form an objective opinion on its . te the lisily Exprem definite evidence that will bead Je [he setation af the mas! puzeling mystery in rocent pear vege ALL. BUCH INFORMATION will be cenrefutly wilted’ and pared of te the Seeurily snthariiies—OL15, Bentlagd Yard Special Breach, and: Ferrign . Office. police fer investigation: —- aise wages AL aid chit ‘a, PMANKPRO oer gat kor he covered was familiar, and my answers, excogilated long before, left him little to do but shout. Early in the interview, he betrayed the weakness of his position by accusing me of en- usting to Burgess “intimate personal papers.” The charge was so obviously ‘nonsensical that I did not even have to feign bewilderment. Tt appeared that my Cam- bridge degree had been found in Burgess'’s flat during the search which followed his de- parture, Years before, I had folded that useless document and put it in a book. Burgess, as anyone would have told Milmo, was an in- ‘- -yeterate borrower of books with and without the permission of their owners. The a of the accusation was to show that I had - of .information reached Ia Wi Fora start You can sit dow All you dois wash, item by item, 2 pedal and feed in TheKenwoodR f deliberately underplayed degree my intimacy ° Burgess. It was flimsy : and went far to strengthen confidence in the outcome But Milmo produced at ! . two rabbits out .of the which I had not foreseen. which showed that the cl circumstantial = evids against me Li even lor an 1 had. feared, ; Two days after the Vol Ts there had been a spectac rise in the volume of N.K.’ radio traffic between Lor and Moscow, followed bi similar rise the tr between Moscow and {Volkov, a Russian Eimb ofictal in Istanbul, had trie efect to the West with infc ation that might have inc inated Philby, Burgess, — Maclean. Aaa resuil of Phi intervention, Volkov spirited away by the Russic Purthermore, sbortly aft had. been officially briefed al the embassy leakage in W ington, there had © been similar jump NE. traffic. - Taken in conjunction | the other evidence, these {tems were vetty damr But to me, sit Ing in the fr fogation chalr, ¥ posed problem. When asked in Milmo’s : thunderous tones “to acc for these occurrences, I re: ‘ quite simply that I-cowd n¢ I was beginning to tire & suddenly Milmo gave Martin asked me to stay for a few minutes. When I invited int the next or Milmo had disappeared anc -M.L5 legal officer was in chi He asked me to Surrender passport, saying that they c get i anyway but that v tary action on my part 4 obviate publicity, I re. agreed as my escape plan tainly did not envisage the “of my own identity papers. offer to send the document night by registered post rejected because it was Skardon fof M.7 5) was ce! te accompany me back i home and receive tt frov On the way, Skardon w his breath sermonising o1 Advisability of. Co-oper with the Authorities. Tow: relieved to listen, thou relief was tempered by knowledge that I was ne out of the wood—not by a chalk, NEXT: WAS THI A FOURTH MA aii the ac 1 to the joh, « For your husband, you get a knife-e ¢ © Of trousers, A crease a5 good iad when the trousers were bought! * h ; commended retell cling pie hearg. 64. Or eazy terms, earning: