The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-01-14
AER. DUNBAR DIMES OUT
CHAPTER x

It was not, somehow, complete ly successful dinner party. Vaughan Dunbar was very subdued indeed. HeNgpent the better part of the tirfe Eat the table with his near sigh$ed eyes peering through their rirnlSss spectacles at the plate and the glasses before him, and al- though he was pleasant enough he seemed, as the horsey folk them selves might have expressed it, a lit off the pace of the conversa- tionsT He obviously sensed the ef- feet that this was having upon the others, and he felt constrained to apo.ogize.
 Y heard the late news before leaving the city," he said. "It was a discouraging, So if I appear to Ate :"
 cs hia and Anne hastened to TeaSSure him, saying that of course they understood, and Colonel Mer- riwether asked what the news had bean
 Ene Balkan situation" said Vaughan Dunbar. Nothing con- elusive yet, but it looks grave. Very grave"
 This served, as might be expected, to cool spirits generally. In defer enee to their guest, it hardly seemed appropriate to pursue the unhappy subject. And, likewise in deference, it seemed rather im- proper to stir up such trivialities ase the new play, Fred Vests ad- imitation of certain Argentine pony or the latest tackroom tales freail Broken Hill
 With the dessert. however, Vaughan Dunbar's mood frightened perceptibly. Making a gesture as if to- say, Come now. It is absurd to worry ever events half a world aWAy.." he told an amusing anec- dote about Hermann Goering. It appeared that he had once known the Held marshal rather well, and had found him a likeable scoun- drel, the arch -Teutonic type of en- gazing childishness and unpre- dietable cruelty.
 Good humor was quite restored when Cynthia rose and led Anne into the drawing room. Colone! MerTiwether showed Dunbar and Fred West into his library. It was customary, at Stone House, for Mitchell Grace to dine with the rest, but the Colonel explained that on this evening his secretary had bee nheld by unexpectedly impor- tant work.
 When the three men were com f0ktably seated and supplied with coffee and cigars and brandy. Colonel Merriwether regarded his guest with his usual degree of care ful attention before he spoke.
 y1 hope you will not mind" he said in his distinct, even tones, If iconfess that I had reasons for asking you to join us this evening. '
 @ouIte the contrary" said Vaughan Dunbar.
 exn the first place, you remind ne quite distinctly of someone have known. Did your father, ol an older brother, ever visit Cali fQEnis or the northwest-liye there ueFhaps?"
 Vaughan Dunbar pondered fol several moments before replying Tllen he said. slowly, No. My ia, theF certainly did not, and I have no older brother. I was thinking Oi an uneIe-lny fathers brother-Whc knocked about the world quite 5 hlt Ne was killed in South Al. rIfa, oh several years ago, Cant sey whether he ever visited the west coast, I never met him after q came down from Cambridge"
 H1hank you. It was. I suppose af mistaken impression after all Now for the second thing. have s9lne properties iH Sweden. Car ybu tell me anything of the posi- ton theFe7 Do you know the atti- tade of British investors toward tl|eIF Swedish holdings? And what la nltler's state Of mind in the mat teF9s
 Naughan Dunbar leaned back and Taf bis coffee cup on the table be- ade hlm, and regarded the tip of hh cigar
 ( am surely no expert in such aNRslB myself" he said. But it chances that ! had a catch with sir Peter Towle just before I left Ionden, Are you acquainted with ainf"
 kioa
 sfIe has invested somewhat ex- apfiFely in swsdish @ min, mines ana c