◆ SpookStack

: the subjects in 1 yz Yvom memory to thé ..u1 “agraphs. I kept pace only because I had spent a whole morn- ing lexrning 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 @ 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 flew 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- Jy 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. sbould 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 Rave 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. I met Angleton for-a 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 T called on Dulles who bade me fare- well and wished me the best of luck. Boyd was next on 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 4 Alon. 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. Ruthless 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- _ 7 , 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 Bil! 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 letter 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. oa This is the finai in-tallment of a two-part series r ° — is, of course, some excuse for the misconceptions about my views which | have just mentioned. By the time I 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. 7 om | Tey a i Phtit bycninis Dowie Lite. One writer who knew me in Beirut has stated that the iideral 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 duly of an underground worker is to perfect not only his cover story but also his cover-personality. There ‘ pear winder pavudu.