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_ Third. why did they keep th i im from ediate siert mi Burope, have hed an i throughout . We and at~at. lead would have hindered! any Comimiunia, escape BP “JT suppose the ensewer to your questions is that the British euthoritles were not certaln, that the men had in fact escaped,” I replied. “J do not believe that,” gaid the Frenchman. ‘Even the most nalve policeman would at least have suspected an accident, and case is not being handled. - by the most naive policeman.” «+ “What do you suggest?” 1 asked. ~ : “Tm not in @ position to. suggest anything." hesaid, “ But 1 know that in common larceny Ww the thief can get inte. the house and out of the house while there ara people inside we always have the suspicion that it's an inside job.” “You are jumping at conclu- sions," I said. “ What reason nave you to think that the two ynen were helng watched 7” “oparently they thought ‘hey were under . suspicion. Their getaway has the appear- ance of & Very hurried job." ESCAPE ROUTE WN the next few days the British and French investigators on the spot pieced together the escape route which was publi- cised to the world—the excursion ship, the tax! io the station at Rennes, the train to Paris and then nothing, T reoeived the impression that the chief investigators did not seriously believe in this route. From. what I have learned since Lam convinced that. Burgess and Maclean never were on the train io Paris, but that someone who was in on the escape plot did travel on that train in order to throw a false scent. One clumsy misstep by that agent persuades me that he was an amateur, called in as an accessory at the last moment. ‘His mistake, which has not hitherto been divulged, was to leave a snapshot, as if by accl-'}! dent, 6f Mrs. Melinda Maclean on the seat of his carriage. THE QUESTION ' PPARENTLY ‘ he intended this ‘ establish without doubt that the two men bad taken the train. 2 This enapsnot. retrieved by the train, conductor, ‘Was only dis- covered in the train. refuse days Inter and convinced at least. one key investigator that the escape route of the two-diplomats led not through Paris but to one of the abandoned airstrips not far trom Rennes. A Seeing man, with Maclean's Teputation for meticuious detail, does not carelessly ieave his wife's photo , pete as a guide to h . : therefore necessary, t0 Co -_ Te Ae ca PRE OE a ~ _ e Rasta a alae ee eaadd So cma On OE ah, wi ae © pate ae ; eet ee ., f See eee Nal oy, YN . P ad ee ggg ee aye" a e meant bs Pee) ee at PL atime a r TN a RE 4 oe Pare aera at arma Meats ““ wate ' ton, was regarded as the a A O —the man who first broke tha news ef the vanishing diplomats in 1851 — writes the second Inatalment ot his Secret History of the hunt for the two man. welgh the question: If the escape goemed a hasty, nearly bungled job (an inquisitive Customs official might have been an embarragsment}, why did the two men have io lear in such a hurry? Who alerted them and for what reason ? The answer js that American PBI. men had arrived in Britain. in April 1951 and were in. consultation with the British authorities om problems of mutual security. while. fully protected by diplomatic immunit Maclean's contacts in Washington and New York had nevertheless aroused suspicions and these were communicated to the British. : HIS FRIENDS NE of Maclean's assoolates was said ta be Willem Reming- now serving & prison sentence for perjury before & Congressional Committee. Years before, while at the British Embassy in Cairo, Maclean had been known for his caustic antisAmericanism. While this was considered as no- more than vigorous frankness by an. noticed. that became bitter aclean’s mood following an alied diplomat, it was incident involving an American. irk. After en all-night drinking party, Maclean Was cha with injuring the girl, and but for the intercession of American friends this incident might have ended Maclean's career. Maclean, brilliant ard person- able, had friends in high places in both Washington and London. It is mo éxaggeration fo say that among the British he was regarded by the Americans as the best -Informed-on Anglo- American policy. By his British colleagues he beat rienammerttt prea? it iney had waned “they “ou eG, L. SOLON alert NEXT: The secrets they |~ et sagt ey. MES. MACLEAN As she was two years ago. with the equipped td desi Americans on issues where differences had arisen. , Did one of Maclean's’ friends fell him, at the cructal moment, that he was suspect ? "The facié are that enough, was -gnown about Maclean's Com- munist leanings by April 1951 ta arouse the gravest doubts: about his loyalty, His superiors did not take the obvious step we ensure that he would. be avall- able for the inquiry that had peen requested. What makes the situation even mor: amazing is that hai “Burgess and Mactean failed to keep their rendezvous with their. Communist guides in France they could have returned to Britain with a ™ migsed-boat:" story and none would have. been the. wiser. Behind thls apparent inepti- tude there seems to be some- thing more deliberate and more sinister. Burgess and Maclean are irretrievably behind the Tron ‘Curtain serving their Communist masters. But where ig the man, or the men, who helped the two diplomats we escape 7 WORLD COPYRIGHT RESERVED eae, s se possessed . pega Bae net aid ee * 7 en tu’, €