◆ SpookStack

. v2 the subjects in 1 reiesslcz Tvom memory to thé wu bered Esragraphs. I kept pace only because I had spent a whole morn- ing Jenrning the document by heart. Bedell-Smith, I had an uneasy feel- ing, would be apt to think that two and two made four rather than five. The next few days dragged. I ex- perienced some mild social embar- rassment when the news broke with all the carefree embellishment of the popular press. One of the snootier of the Embassy wives gave me a glacial stare at one of the Ambas- sador’s garden parties. But London remained ominously silent. One tele- gram arrived from London saying that “it was understood” that I. knew Burgess personally; could I throw any light on his behaviour? But the one I was expecting was a. Most Immediate, personal, decypher yourself telegram from the Chief summoning’me home. At last the summons came, but it took a most curious, thought-provoking form, An intelligence official specialising in the fabrication of deception ma- terial few into Washington on rou- tine business. He paid me a courtesy call during which he handed me a letter from Jack Easton. The letter was in Easton’s own handwriting, and informed me that I would short- ly be receiving a telegram recalling me to London in connection with the ‘Burgess-Maclean case. It was very * ‘important that I should obey the call promptly. While the sense of the communication was clear enough, ‘its form baffled me. ‘Why | should Easton warn me of the im- pending summons and why in his own handwriting if the order was © to reach me through the normal telegraphic channels anyway? There is often a good reason for eccentric behaviour in the Secret Service, - and there may have been one in this case. My reflection at the time was. that, if I had not already rejected the idea of escape, Easton’s letter “would bave given me the signal to get moving with all deliberate speed. After a few days the telegram _ came. I booked niy passage for the following day and prepared to say ‘goodbye to Washington forever. 1 met Angleton fora pleasant hour in a bar, He did not seem to appreciate the gravity of my personal position, and asked me to take up certain matters of mutual concern when I got to London. I did not even take the trouble to memorise them. Then TI called on Dulles who bade me fare- well and wished me the best of luck. Boyd was next an my list and we spent some of the evening together. He seemed to be genuinely ‘preoc- cupied with, my predicament and kindly offered some words of advice ~* ow to keep out of trouble in i. Adlon. Part of his concern may have been due to his sense of per- . sonal involvement in the Burgess affair; but I also: detected some genuine feeling for which I was grateful. Ruthiess as he was, Boyd was a human being. I arrived in London about noon, and was immediately involved in a bizarre episode. I had boarded the . _ airport bus and taken a seat imme- diately next to the door. When the bus waa full, an agitated figure ap- peared on the running-board and frantically scrutinised the passen- gers. He looked over my left shoul- . - , . der, over my right shoulder, tried to look over my head and then looked straight at me. Dismay set- tled on his face and he vanished. - It was Bill Bremner, a fairly senior: - officer on the administrative side of SIS. I knew very well whom he was looking for. If I had been two yards away from him instead of two feet, he would certainly have spotted me. I had never been met officially — before. What with Jack Easton's Jetter and the designation of an offi- cer of Bremner'’s seniority to act as reception committee, I could not complain that I had not been warned. As the bus drove into Lon- - don, the red lights were flickering brightly. O This is the finsi installment of a two-part series 5 - 6 -“ a a (’ Vf \ \ | / a me ay Tr WLUW Y eke wed ay One writer who knew me in Beirut has stated that the iiberal opinions | expressed in the Middle East were “certainly” my true ones. Another comment from a per- sonal friend was that | could not have maintained such a consistently liberal intellectual framework unless | had really believed in it. Both remarks are very flattering. The first duty of an underground worker is to perfect not only his cover story but also his cover-personality. There ‘ Tabu pen perma) « is, of Course, some excuse for the misconceptions about my views which | have just mentioned. By the time | reached the Middle East, | had more than twenty years experience behind me, including some testing years. Furthermore, | was baptised the hard way, in Nazi Ger- many and Fascist Spain, where a slip might have had consequences only describable as dire. - om » sppear under pseidu. sat. 31