The Lady Vanishes
Mrs. Donald Maclean vanished as suddenly and completely as her husband before her. From Geneva to Buchs on the Austrian border—so far she was tracked, no further. But Buchs points towards Vienna, the Communist satellites, Russia itself; and since one guess is as good as another, it may be guessed that Donald Maclean is alive and that his wife, with their three children, has gone to join him. If this is what in fact has happened, and if it is what Mrs. Maclean wished, then the decent thing is to hope that she will find peace and happiness wherever she is. In the past two years she has been sorely tried by those on the trail of one of the most spectacular " human interest " stories ever to tantalise Fleet Street. There is the possibility that she may have been kidnapped or blackmailed or hoodwinked into her journey, but this, even on the available evidence, is doubtful, and has served mainly to give an air of respectability to the pursuit of " human interest." Some outraged people have been declaring that she should have been kept u0er constant sur- veillance by British agents, and it has even been put about that the Russians contrived her disappearance in order to demonstrate to the Americans the untrustworthiness of British security. But Mrs. Maclean is guilty of no crime; she is as free as any other British citizen to go where she pleases. So for that matter is her husband, against whom no cliarge has been brought, and who may yet return from obscurity -and give his solicitors enough work for a lifetime. It is not yet illegal to " disappear," not even for a member of the Foreign Service.
Previous page
