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he house and Sradually Tv ore and more time in Lefr ank caiés, where writers and pits writers fathered to talk and ing. Givi! War, & focus of prerest as Vietnam ere nO doubt that she enjoyed their Stories, whether teal or imagined, They extension of her Teading : she Hved their adventures vicariously and without danger or dis. comfort, Melinda wag pretty, with a good figure. a small oval face and large dark eyes. She had & aby habit of repeat, herself, wh some found ¢ arming anc ingenucus, and Others an irritation, a lew months with the eh family, she moved gue altogether &® room in € Hotel Montana, near the Café de Flore, | Why ? . Ld Miter the war, when ‘tha Stentlalist cult blossomed, bar in this hotel, with the Caté de Flore and the Café des as Lett-wing ls today. much Pux Magots, became very popular = with tourists, But when Melinda moved there first, this narrow, alx-storeyed hotel with shabby lino and powdered paint, c¢ arging the equivalent of & night for Seemed a strange choice for an American heiress. other hotels that Were almost equally cheap and far more Dieasant, Did Melinda deliberately choose the Montana because it wat so close to the Café de Flore, wher had seen Maclean spend so many Was anrious to meet him > Only Melinda ean may. But outwardly there was nothing furDrising in her affair with Maclean. - . Tall, debonair, sophisticated Maclean jooked tha part of sthe best type ‘of young En waQiadl, © His father, 8ir Donald. a former Cabinet tnister, haq died @ few year, earlier, ‘The boy had been brought up in a house of atrict have all grown Purltan atmosphere, educated at, Gresham's School, Holt, and later, at Cambridge, where he took first. » class honours tn ®rench and German, He joined the Forelgn Office and = wppeared marked for @ great career, Two flaws marred his charac G. ter, Neither were immediately Apparent; and, judzing from his promotion, Beemingly not immediately Important. ‘One. he Was & latent homosexal, two, he drank i ame abusive break things, to hit people. ‘The two Saws were not unconnected, At school nh which he walked, Said cruelly: “He's like a girl." Like many another at war with his genes Donald Maclean losing battie release in wild parties and Punch-ups, But at io the next morning, Scented, bathed. shaved, his long hair immaculately brushed, he desk, tn every oulward inch a diplomat—or an actor playing « diplomat's part, Melinda, wh in understand onald’s behaviour, She had never met anyone like him before. Donald Maclean with « friend's child. His own three child up in Moscow, | Marling returned te the United in Parte Melinda étayed on n Pa Where, apart from blackout "and some shortages and restrictions, life remained much the same, én suddeniy, after montha of stalemate and stagnation, the erman advance accelerated, and every day the war surged nearer ¢o the capital. All Ameri- can citizens were urred return to the States, This Was When metaclean roposed to Melinda Mar ne. P She felt flattered, fut sha Tealised that Maclean was really two men—and was she genuinely jn love with either ? She wanted time to make up her mind, and also her mother’s advice. She therefore told Donald that she could not marry phim, but perhaps she cau! think i¢ over back in New York and Je lm know 7 Maclean pointed out thet th: Would be impossible. Once Burope she cou Provably not return until 1 War Was ovet, and no one could even guess when that might be. The Sritish Embassy was sone ating fo Tours, and June 10, 1940, was the last day when the safety of foreigners could be guaranteed, Maclean Organised a sar with diplomat:e humber plates far Culme- Seymour to drive some Ameri Cans to Bordeaux, while he Arranged to drive Melinda himself, Bul in the exciting urgency of disclotine and When war fame. Harriet this time, with the enemy at the VeLoacn Mohr Bishop Casper Callahan Conrad — Feit Gale Rosen — Sullivan Tavel Trotter Tele. Room Holmes PVA S Gandy ae The Washington Post Times Herald The Washington Daily News The Evening Star (Washington) The Sunday Star (Washington) Daily News (New York) Sunday News (New York) New York Post The New York Times The Sun (Baltimore) The Daily World, The New Leader The Wall Street Journal The National Observer People's World Examiner (Washington) THE SUNDAY EXPRESS LANDON, ENGLAND i Date _ January 12, 196 ——