accommodate the 'off the record' nature of many of the attendances. In fact, to

my eyes, the appearance of informality had been taken to a faintly ludicrous

degree. It was odd enough to see that rather feminine room crammed full with so

many stern, dark-jacketed gentlemen, sometimes sitting three or four abreast

upon a sofa; but such was the determination on the part of some persons to

maintain the appearance that this was nothing more than a social event that they

had actually gone to the lengths of having journals and newspapers open on their

knees.

 

I was obliged during the course of that first morning to go constantly in and

out of the room, and so was unable to follow the proceedings at all fully. But I

recall Lord Darlington opening the discussions by formally welcoming the guests,

before going on to outline the strong moral case for a relaxing of various

aspects of the Versailles treaty, emphasizing the great suffering he had himself

witnessed in Germany. Of course, I had heard these same sentiments expressed by

his lordship on many occasions before, but such was the depth of conviction with

which he spoke in this august setting that I could not help but be moved afresh.

Sir David Cardinal spoke next, and though I missed much of his speech, it seemed

to be more technical in substance, and quite frankly, rather above my head. But

his general gist seemed to be close to his lordship's, concluding with a call

for a freezing of German reparation payments and the withdrawal of French troops

from the Ruhr region. The German countess then began to speak, but I was at this

point, for some reason I do not recollect, obliged to leave the drawing room for

an extended period. By the time I re-entered, the guests were in open debate,

and the discussion - with much talk of commerce and interest rates - was quite