ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Mike Slade is sitting in the lobby of Normand Lodge in Switzerland when a new guest arrives. Slade could tell he was a fellow American, and probably a member of the diplomatic mission at Berne. At the front desk, the guest asks "You have a reservation for me?" The clerk asks "The name, monsieur?" He says "Frederick Haywood". The clerk says "One moment, monsieur". Slade was sitting in the lobby close to the front desk so that he could hear the names of the new arrivals. Haywood asks the clerk "Well, do you have the reservation or not?" The clerk says "Yes, here it is, monsieur. The reservation was made yesterday from Berne. The room is being prepared now, sir". Haywood says "Let me know when it's ready. I'll be in the bar". Slade followed him into the bar, and found him at a table by the window looking out over the mountains and down into the green valley where Switzerland became France, Nazi occupied France. Slade says "Welcome to Normand, Mr. Haywood". He asks "Who are you?" Slade says "My name is Mike Slade. I couldn't help overhearing your name at the front desk". Haywood asks "You're an American?" Slade says "That's right. You mind if I sit down? Thanks. Up here to do a little skiing, I suppose?" Haywood says "Perhaps". Slade asks "Planning to stay long?" Haywood says "That depends on a number of things, none of which are your business". Slade says "Relax, Mr. Haywood. I'm not on the enemy's side. In fact, I'm not on anybody's side. I'm just a plain, ordinary, private citizen". Haywood says "Oh, and what are you doing in Switzerland?" Slade told him the whole sad story of how he shipped out of San Francisco when he was 15, how he'd jumped ship in Shanghai, how he'd spent the next 25 years gambling his way around the world until he hit it big on a roulette wheel in Paris for a million francs. Slade says "However, a week after I won it, the Germans marched into Paris and my money wasn't worth a thin dime. I got away and landed up here at Normand and have been waiting ever since". Haywood asks "Waiting for what?" Slade says "Why, for someone to win this war, of course".
