figures such as Lord Daniels, Professor Maynard Keynes, and Mr H. G. Wells, the

renowned author, as well as others who, because they came 'off the record', I

should not name here - and they and his lordship were often to be found locked

in discussion for hours on end. ·

 

Some of the visitors were, in fact, so 'off the record' that I was instructed to

make sure the staff did not learn their identities, or in some cases, even

glimpse them.

 

However - and I say this with some pride and gratitude - Lord Darlington never

made any efforts to conceal things from my own eyes and ears; I can recall on

numerous occasions, some personage breaking off in mid-sentence to glance warily

towards my person, only for his lordship to say: 'Oh, that's all right. You can

say anything in front of Stevens, I can assure' you.'

 

Steadily, then, over the two years or so following Herr Bremann's death, his

lordship, together with Sir David Cardinal, who became his closest ally during

that time, succeeded in gathering together a broad alliance of figures who

shared the conviction that the situation in Germany should not be allowed to

persist. These were not only Britons and Germans, but also Belgians, French,

Italians, Swiss; they were diplomats and political persons of high rank;

distinguished clergymen; retired military gentlemen; writers and thinkers. Some

were gentlemen who felt strongly, like his lordship himself, that fair play had

not been done at Versailles and that it was immoral to go on punishing a nation

for a war that was now over.