The Washington times., 1938-04-21

French military attache with S
Not a bad idea at that the
latter answered quite seriously
''you must remember that railway
cars have ears and that she has
managed to solve a GOOD many
puzzles that way -"
Like a good many of our war
time political riddles, this one wa
once more a Polish one and hinged
on the age.long hatred OF POLAND
for Russia. Even the genuinely
pro-Ally Polish faction had al
vavs differentiated between Rus
STA and the other Allies and now
that Russia, after the BolsheVlk
coup, had practically ceased to eX'
list in so far as joint action against
Germany was concerned, there
we're diSquieting indications that
Poland would turn wholesale to
the latter.
HAVE RIDDLE TO SOLVE
The Warsaw government had
lost no time, but a delegate mao
been sent to Switzerland, his task
being to sound the pro-Ally Polish
faction, whose headquarters were
In Lausanne, put certain German
proposals before them and engl'
neer a rapprochement which
would have been very detrimental
to the Allies cause.
Who this mysterious delegate
was and what exactly were the
proposals, was the riddle we had
to solve.
When I boarded the Berne-
Lausanne train that morning, it
was ostensibly to spend the week
end with my relatives in Ouchy
and attend a fencing "tournoi" at
the Lausanne Stadium on the NOR
row. AS usual, I had provided my
self with a screen" and COM
panion-a Swiss officer whom I
had invited tc lunch at my uncle's
house, and who was take part in
the fencing display.
The two men who entered the
first-claSS compartment where my
Swiss officer and I had eStab-
lished ourselves, were strangers to
me. The elder of the two looked
in. then turned to his companion.
This will do, Count he said in
Polish. "A Swiss officer and a lady
no fear of eavesdroppers :"
They settled in and, surrepti-
tiously. I surveyed them from be-
hind the pages of an American
magazine. The younger man-tall,
aristocratic looking, in the early
forties-was utterly unknown to
me, though something in the cast
of his features seemed vaguely
familiar.
His companion, some 10 years
older, almost foppishly dressed. ]
suddenly remembered: Without
ever having met him, knew who
he was, as my uncle was &C
quainted with him. The man wa
a rich Pole who lived in Vevey anC
who lowered on the edge of both
Polish factions without belonging
to any. After listening for a mo
ment to the frivolous conversation
I had started with my Swiss of
ficer, he remarked contemptu
ously:
AWAITS SWEET REVENGE
"Quite safe, Count-we coulc
not have chosen our travelling
companions better! Behold ont
more of these brainless war-doll5
who trail after any and every uni
form they can find :"
I was on the point of an angry
retort but instinctively checked
myself, as I remembered that m!
uncle would be on the Lausanne
Station to meet me. that Mr.. P
could not fail seeing him ami
speaking to him and that Their,
would be sweet revenge in tn,
mans confusion when he realized
TOO late, that I spoke Polish a.
well as he did :.
I had decided that my rising
temper would have the better O.
my discretion, when Mr.. P. said
well, Count, think we had bet
ter go all over our plans. There
must be no hitch and we shall
have to fence cleverly if we wan
satisfactory results. I am no
quite sure of General R. and thert
are several ticklish points which
1t will be well to talk over before
we put them before him :"
I pricked up my ears and in
stinctively sank back on the cush
ions and raised my magazine be
fore my face so as to hide my eX
Cited expression: General R. wa
the "key man" in the Polish pre-
Ally faction.
Absorbed seemingly in my mag
azine, I listened intently to tn
two unSuSpecting men. In m,
lHll'.-- q