Last Fling

Taciturn Louis St. Laurent acted as if nothing had happened. At his regular hour of 9:20 each morning last week, the man who had just been picked as national leader of the Liberal Party and who would take over as Prime Minister in a few months, showed up for work in the almost deserted Parliament Building. He read briefs from his External Affairs staff, conferred with colleagues, dictated answers to some of the 1,500 wires of congratulations he had received. There were few interruptions and few visitors. One evening Madame St. Laurent dropped by, and they strolled across the street to dine in the stuffy Rideau Club.

During the week Louis St. Laurent had sessions with Prime Minister Mackenzie King, and one night they drove out to the Country Club to dine with Sir Norman Brook, Secretary to the British Cabinet. This week St. Laurent was going home to Quebec City for a reception worthy of a Prime Minister-to-be.

Mr. King, meanwhile, packed his bags for a week in Maine. In mid-September he would be on the Canadian delegation to the U.N. General Assembly in Paris, would go from there to a Commonwealth Prime Ministers' meeting in London. Then he wanted to visit Italy and Greece. But the chances were good that long before he had done all these things, he would have named the date for his retirement. The temptation to pick a date that would take the press play off the Sept. 30 National Conservative convention would be almost irresistible.

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