Evening star., 1939-01-11

initiative Of Reedly who, with an
air Of subordination that hardly
pretended to conceal his growing
insolence, had demanded "instruc-
tions" from his colleagues. The
war, he said, was approaching its
final decision.
Offers = rrotest.
He had long since abandoned
his place at the middle of the table
and shifted to the end, so ths.
he faced Rud, ard he was speaking
now with the air of a reasonable
man who exercises self control in
spite of much pyovocation Il pro.
test" he said.
He had evidently come charged
with that word.
Chiffan's mind went wandering
in search of a quotation. Meth
inks'-how did 1t go-was it-"doth
protest too much. ;"
Reedly was speaking, and Rud
was regarding him with brow
knitted attention. Bodisham, at
the middle of the table, said very
little, but looked occasionally at
Rud. Once or twice Rud and he
exchanged glances. breed and Nor
vel, the men responsible for educa-
ton and public information, Thirp
for the police liaison everywhere.
Steenhold, Irwell. Roots and Hol-
bank, for production, and Bella
court, the director of air communi-
cations, were all, 1t appeared, treat.
ing Reedly unreasonably and un-
fairly. He wanted the situation
cleared up and demand and a
menace In all he had to say.
His position was a peculiar one.
The necessity of unified allied
command had been forced upon the
democratic powers by a series of
military defeats in the European
area. But the bitterness of willful
mutual sabotage had made the di-
rect subordination of the acutely
nationalist national forces to the di-
rection of any single commander
among them impossible. The British
premier's idea of liaison minister,
who might develop insensibly into
an allied commander I'm chief, was
felt to be a brilliant one. It was
also the prime minister's idea to look
to the left for this liaison minister.
Far Less Revolutionary.
The revolutionary strikes of great
sections of the munition workers and
the refusal of the unified air forces,
offor tho A,,t|o,}f = q rione hol A....
virtually driven from the air, to
continue to take orders from any
source except their representative
Bellacourt, had turned the allied
governments to Reedly as the most
hopeful intermediary for a restora-
ton of their internal as we'll as their
international solidarity. Reedly was
manifestly far less red" and revolu-
tionary in spirit than his associates;
essentially he was a good soldier,
and nevertheless he was In contact,
or he professed to be in contact, with
the entire group, and he became in
rapid succession liaison minister and
then world marshal" of the allied
armies. His commission was vague
and he interpreted it as conferring
upon him the supreme command
over all the forces of the democratic
powers. There was little resistance
to his aggressions. On the whole the
allied commanders were not averse
to shifting their responsibility to a
man who might be set aside at the
general settlement. So in q couple
of years this disgruntled military ex-
pert, this detractor with a grievance,
had become an arrogant and ag-
gressive soldier again.
(copyrisht, 1889. by the North American
Newspaper Alliance. Inc)
Tomorrow: Reedly and the
Counter Revolution Exposed.