◆ SpookStack

e position of Gussia as an aiiy BE nade thingsfasier for Com- “Enists. who at Fst were able erve their own ir ado} guntry _withot @ conflict. Waverers returned to thelr allegi- ree and those who had never vavered were suddenly respected. tgess now had a friend. 6 foreign ‘iplomat. whom he considered the host Interesting man he had ever net and with whom he carried on w Verbal crusade in favour of Com- nunism, each taking & different The with the potential convert, one ti gugh. one smooth. ‘We may distinguish 6 certain Burgess's relationships. romantic friendship he liked to ominate. but tls intellectual fmiration was usually kept for iose who were older than himself here were also cromes with whom e preferred to drink and argue. Tm June. 1944. he had been trans” srred to the News Department of ue Foreign Office. in 1946 to the fice of the Minister of State. Mr. woctor McNeil, in 1947 to B branch Foreign Office), and in 1948 to the 2 stern Depariment of the vreign Office. In 1944, the year that Guy Bur- “ss went from the B.B.C. to the oreign Uffice Oonald Maclean wax | ittern in. costed to Washington as act- ug First Secretary. On Lis vturn in 1948 he gave # inner-party to his friends. | It ‘As a delightful evening. he had ecome a good host, his charm was on. vanity but on heerity. and he would discuss wreign affairs as 8 student, not expert, He enjoyed the maga that T then edited, which was ig to Burgess. a weak injec- culture into a society ready dead ‘On his return from, Washington ve was appointed Counsellor in fino. “2p Donald Maciean 4 see & courage and a love of justice; Tsee & wut that could not be deflected | vom the straight course: and I see nit that deep affection for his tiends which he always mant- sted." The words of Atanlev es about the father seemed to coming true of the son. A ve, ne junsetior at thirt; ipa iair way to Ustinction, 4 A Breakdown in Cairo T" 1950 word an to reach Us that all was not so well. “It was said that Donald, whose nigh Liberal principles had recelved full scope in enlightened Washington.. had been so disheartened by the verty and corruption of the ‘iddle East that he had had some ,; ind of breakdown, It seems that he adopted a theory that sufficient alecho! could release in one & second perponality which, though it might simulate the destructive element, worked only good by help- ing people to acknowledge the truth about themselves and reveal thelr jatent affinities. Donald ente into the spirit of the investigation and took as his alter ego the name of “Gordon” from an export gin with a tusky wild boar on the label. When night tell his new self took pessssen. He stampeded one or wo parties, but got into more serious trouble when. in the cam- pany of a friend, he broke into the first apariment to hand im a block of flats and sharpened his tusks on the furniture. ‘Then on a@ boating trip on the Nile, with some twenty people in the party, he seized a rifle from an otficious sentry and began to imperu the safety of those nearest him by swinging it wildly, A Secretary at the Embassy intervened, and in the scuffie received a broken leg. The two men returned home on sick leave, while Mrs. Maclean who ws on the boating trip, went to Spain for a rest with her two sons. es ture of Donald's outburst? It was not just over- work, but over-strain; the effort of being “Sir Donald.” the whole paraphernalia of “OHMS.” had en too much for him and he had reverted to his adolescence. or to his ideal of Paris days, the free and | solitary young sculptor working all x Months’ Leave for? Maclean BS in London he had six months’ leave to get well and to jake up his mind about the future. He was still drinking and was now ‘undergoing treatment, | from a his serenity, tremble, his face was usually @ livid yellow and he looked as if he had spent the night sitting in Though he remained detached and amiable as ever. it was clear that he was miserable and in @ very way, In con- fersation a kind of shutter would fall ag if he had returned some basic and incommunicable anxiety. ‘Some of his friends urged him to resign, pointing out that since he disliked the life and disagreed with the policy he could not go back without it all happening again, Others assured him that he would soon it enough to return to work, wh! best thing for himself and his family, The Foreign Office had to weigh his years of hard work against the outburst, which they put down to the strain of long hours and formal social éuties in Cairo and Washington. His reputation for a penetrating mind, sound judgment. Bnd quiet industry turned the scale. "Phe psyemiatnist’s reports became more encouraging. and the Butumn the decision was taken. On November 6, alter a particularly heavy night, Donald went back to the Foreign Office as head of the American Division (& position less onerous than it sounds al which involved no social duties), and he bought a houpe near Westerham for his wife and chitdren, Lo which he hoped to return almost every evening, avoiding the temptations ‘of the city. night in his attic. The return of i the repressed 's familiar to psvcho- [To be continued] analysts, and there was also now Word right: reproduction i brief return to his early 5€: enol or part forbidden, ambivalence. “ Gordon” had given _—-—— “Sir Donald” the sack. The es enraged junior partner would no longer put up with |