The Washington times., 1938-04-21

widest dreams had never hoped
/ for such an opportunity! Here,
from the very lips of the mystic
rious delegate-for such I took him
to be-did I hear of the plan in
it's minutest details! There was
much which THE Count" thought
it would be advisable to conceal
from the men he was going to ne
gotiate with-much that would
come out later, when the Polish
faction, still loyal to the Entente,
had committed itself irrevocably.
REMARK GIVES IDENTITY
The Count" closed the dispatch
case from which he had been
extracting and reading documents.
And that's that" he said COM
fortably, Il believe we have every
thing cut and dried. Now, We
have earned a good lunch at the
Beausejour and we'll be ready for
the General at three o'clock"
1t was at this moment that Mr..
P. made a remark which gave me
the secret of his companion S
identity.
And what about the little
BaroneSs?" he asked. is she still
in Warsaw. or has she been COM
PEELED to join her husband in Fin
land?"
The Count laughed fatuously
and launched forthwith into a
spirited account of a love affair
which I knew of but too we'll
for the little Baroness" was none
other than young and misguided
aunt of mine In flash, l knew
who the man waS-a Polish ariSto-
crat in the Austrian Diplomatic
Service.
The intimate gossip passed rap
idly the bounds of good taste and
I made a lightning decision; I
flung down my magazine, rose and
hurried out of the compartment
into the corridor; had to pass
the Count, who sat in the corner
near the door, his legs out
stretched.
managed to trip over those
legs, clutched frantically at him to
save myself from falling, gave him
one of my most innocent smiles
and exclaimed in perfect Polish,
oh, Count! Forgive me-so
clumsy of mel"
l was out in the corridor-be-
fore he had had time to reply.
TWO WORRIED MEN
Two very worried men Joined
me there and both made haste to
introduce themselves. That's I'M
necessary" I said airily. you,
Mr.. P, I know by sight quite
we'll you are acquainted with my
uncle-you, Count de S.-why ]
have seen your photograph scores
of times at my aunt'S :"
$780," the man said softly, "the
Baroness is your aunt. Well, you
have given me valuable lessor
in diplomacy, Madame: So Ions
as we talked politics which does
not interest you, you kept quiet
but the moment We started or
lndiscreet gossip you took pains tt
acquaint US with the fact thai
you too speak Polish. Very clever
80" he looked at me Searchingly
for politics does not interest you
does it?"
I shrugged my shoulders: IAN
I not a scatterbrained. flirting
doll?' I queried wickedly.
When We alighted at the Lau
same station few minutes later
my uncle was not little surprised
to see these two men dancing at
tendance on me and vaguely per
turbed when the Count introduced
himself and remarked with some
bitterness: Il congratulate you or
your niece. sir. She should be 6
man and in the Diplomatic Serv
ice. -" then turned to me and re
minded me that 1 had accepted ar
invitation to dinner for the same
evening. :.
I attended the tete-a-tete dinner
but before that there had taker
place the planned conference with
General R. who-duly warned
had raised unforeseen objection.
and vetoed all efforts for the
rapprochement of the Allie!
feared.
1t was not until some year,
after the end of the war that :
met Count de S. again-this TIM
at the Quai d'Orsay-and tina
we had a frank talk about tn
incident. He held by then a promi
nent position in his country's gov
eminent, but the memory of tina
minute in the Lausanne train
when he had suddenly realized
that he had so foolishly givel
: himself away, ranked still.