'It is now quite a few years since I have seen Sir Pellinore, but I am always delighted to have news of him. I trust that he is well, and that even the war has not robbed him of his remarkable capacity for enjoying life?'
'When I left London ten days ago he was in excellent health and spirits,' Gregory smiled. 'And over our last dinner together he told me with tremendous zest of some of the marvellous times he had with you here in Hungary.'
'Ah, we were both younger then,' the Count smiled back, 'but such memories keep the heart young even in old age. So you have come from London, eh? May I ask your nationality?'
'I am an Englishman; but I came here from Switzerland on a French passport.'
'You are, then, a member of the British Secret Service?'
'No. If I were caught I should expect to be treated as a spy, and shot. But I give you my word that I have not come here to ferret out Hungary's military secrets. I am the personal emissary of Sir Pellinore, and my object is to find out if there is any chance of detaching Hungary from her alliance with Nazi Germany.'
Gregory expected the Count to shrug and shake his head; but instead, changing to English which he spoke as fluently as he did French, he said, 'This is most interesting. Nothing would please myself and most people of my class than to break with that horrible man Hitler, if it could be done with reliable safeguards for Hungary's future. Please tell me your proposals.'
For a moment Gregory remained silent. It would not do to show his surprise, or the sudden excitement which rose in him at the thought that, after all, he might succeed in sticking a knife in Hitler's back and reducing the pressure on the Russian front by a dozen divisions. Leaning a little forward he said earnestly:
'Your Excellency will appreciate that I am not authorised to enter into negotiations. I am here only on behalf of Sir Pellinore to explore possibilities. But, as you may know, Sir Pellinore is very close to His Majesty's Government; so you may take it that his ideas, as brought to you by me, would certainly receive very serious consideration and, probably, official endorsement. His suggestion is that Hungary should enter into a separate peace with the Allies and withdraw her Army from Russia. In return Russia, Britain and the United States would jointly guarantee Hungary's frontiers after the collapse of Hitler and thus she would save herself from occupation and imposition of a heavy war indemnity.'
'You speak with great confidence of the collapse of Hitler; but in all three years the war has lasted, he has never been in a stronger position, and the territory he controls is still increasing every day.'
'His new gains might well be compared to a swollen stomach,' Gregory smiled. 'It is my belief that the chunks of Russia that he is swallowing will give him a frightful bellyache before he is through.'
'Perhaps; but if he succeeds in biting the heart out of Russia it is she who must collapse.'
'That would not save him. He would have to leave half his army to occupy the vast areas of enemy territory, and he would still have Britain and America building up to leap upon his back. The Allied Air Forces are already pounding hell out of the German cities; and airpower is the dominant factor in modern war. As the months go by we shall be putting two, three, five, seven, ten aircraft into the air for every one of his. When the time is ripe the Allied armies will land in Europe and, with German industry in ruins, the Nazis will no longer be able to maintain their army in the field. That is why Hitler must ultimately be beaten.'
Zapolya nodded thoughtfully. 'Personally, I believe that with regard to the final outcome you are right; but Hitler is a very long way from being beaten yet. Germany might exact an extremely heavy penalty from Hungary should she attempt to insure her future with the Allies in the way you suggest.'
'That is a risk which must be run if Hungary is to sit among the victor nations at the Peace Table. She would find no seat there if she waited to act until Germany was on her last legs. Now is the time when Hungary's help would be of real value to the Allied cause, and so worth their agreeing to pay for in solemn undertakings which would ensure her future wellbeing.'
'You implied only that she would not be treated as a defeated enemy. That is not enough. You may recall what happened in the First World War, when Rumania decided to throw in her lot with the Allies. General Von Mackensen and his Germans overran her in a few weeks. The same thing might happen here.'
Gregory countered that suggestion with the arguments he had used to Levianski, but the Count waved a slender hand in a gesture of rebuttal. It is true that the Germans are heavily engaged in Russia, but they still have several armoured divisions in the West. I can hardly imagine that sufficient trained American troops have yet arrived in Britain for the Allies to be contemplating an assault on the Continent; so those armoured divisions could be used to subdue Hungary. Our people are brave and most of them hate the Germans, but nearly the whole of our army has been sent to the Russian front. It could not get back in time to defend our cities, and their garrisons of reservists would be practically helpless in the face of several hundred German tanks.'
After a moment's thought, Gregory said, 'Even if the Allies are not yet ready to attempt the liberation of the Continent, I think they are quite capable of making a landing in force strong enough to pin down the German armour in the West., Again, I speak only as a private individual; but Mr. Churchill has always used large maps. I think it quite possible that he would press the Americans to agree to such an Allied landing, if Hungary definitely undertook to break with Hitler, as Italy might then follow suit, and that would bring a complete Allied victory within measurable distance.'
'It would.' Zapolya drew slowly on his fine Havana. 'And if such a landing succeeded Hungary would have little to fear. But what if it failed? What if the Germans drove the Allies back into the sea? Their Panzers would then face about and come dashing across Europe to destroy us.'
'I have already agreed that some risk must be taken if Hungary is not to suffer the fate of a vanquished nation when the Allies finally defeat Hitler.'
'And I have already said that merely to be guaranteed her present frontiers is not enough. If she is to risk being overrun and forcibly held down, perhaps for several years, while many of her leading citizens are murdered by the Gestapo or thrown into concentration camps, her people must have something more than that to look forward to.'
'You mean a revision of the Treaty of Trianon?'
'Yes. By that iniquitous settlement forced on us after the last war, Hungary was robbed of over half her population and nearly two thirds of her ancient territories. The Allies would have to give a solemn undertaking to repair permanently this monstrous injustice.'
Gregory had known that if he could get any Hungarian to enter on a serious discussion of his mission that demand would be made, but he had deliberately refrained from leading off with any proposal smacking of bribery. Now he smiled, and said:
'Sir Pellinore raised that matter with me. Few English people realized the way in which Hungary was torn to pieces by the Allied statesmen who dictated the Peace Treaty; and those of us who have since considered the facts feel that she was greatly wronged. Proposals for revision would, Sir Pellinore assured me, be most sympathetically considered by His Majesty's Government if informal talks such as we are having now develop into actual negotiations. I think, too, we can look even further than that. Quite apart from the question of old wrongs being righted, there is another side to it. A few minutes ago you referred to Rumania's having been overrun in the First World War because she sided with the Allies. It was largely to compensate her for her sufferings in the Allied cause that she was given Transylvania at Hungary's expense. In this case the position would be reversed. General Antonescu brought Rumania in on the side of the Germans, so the Allies owe her nothing; whereas, if Hungary now exposes herself to the possibility of repression by the Nazis, she would be able to put forward claims at the Peace Conference which could not decently be rejected.'
'You are right! Yes; you are right,' Count Zapolya nodded, vigorously. 'B
ut we should need an undertaking signed by Churchill, the President and Stalin, so that we could proclaim it to the people. Given that I believe that the Hungarian nation to a man would favour defying the Nazis.'
This enthusiastic declaration swept away the last traces of the pessimism that had weighed on Gregory's spirits since his talk with Levianski. In fact, to arouse a united Hungary against Germany was far more than he had hoped to do when leaving London. Striving to suppress the excitement that had risen in him at the entirely unexpected change in his prospects of succeeding in his mission, he asked as calmly as he could:
'What does Your Excellency suggest should be my next step?'
'We must consult with certain of my friends. Like yourself, I am only a private individual and have no power to enter into actual negotiations. It would, in fact, be futile for anyone here to do so without having the approval of the Regent. But Admiral Horthy could not fail to be swayed by the opinion of a powerful group of his brother magnates. From frequent conversations I know the views of most of them are similar to my own; but we must get them together so that a committee of them can set about exploring the conditions on which Hungary might enter into a separate peace with the Allies.
The first, of course, would be that the Allies should make a landing and do their utmost to contain the German armoured divisions in France and the Low Countries. Everything else hangs upon your being able to obtain for us a firm understanding from the Allied Governments that they will do that.'
'In that case,' Gregory suggested, 'I think it would be best if I returned and reported to Sir Pellinore right away.'
'No, no; I wish you first to discuss the whole matter with some of my friends.'
'Surely that could come later? An Allied landing on the Continent in sufficient strength to be effective would, I imagine, necessitate drastic changes in Allied strategy. Given that Mr. Churchill and President Roosevelt both favoured it, they would still ask the advice of their Chiefs of Staff, and they in turn would not give an opinion until the question of forces available, and all sorts of other matters, had been thoroughly gone into. The decision is such a momentous one that they could not be expected to take it without prolonged discussion. Therefore, the sooner I set the ball rolling the better, and in the meantime you could be preparing the ground among your friends; so that there would be less delay on this side in the event of my coming back with a favourable answer.'
The Count shook his head. T appreciate your arguments ', but, all the same, I am opposed to your leaving Hungary for another week or so. I consider it important that you should first meet a few of the leading personalities in our Upper House, and talk to them as you have to me.'
Feeling that it would be tactless to oppose the Count's wishes, Gregory agreed. But all his instincts warned him against discussing these highly dangerous matters with a number of people; and, before he was very much older, he had cause to regret bitterly that he had allowed himself to be persuaded.
The Magnates of Hungary
Chapter 7
Barely a moment after it had been settled that Gregory should not yet return with his now promising report to London, the door was opened by a footman. Bowing to Count Zapolya, he uttered a short phrase in Magyar.
Standing up, the Count smiled at Gregory. 'Luncheon is about to be served. My wife and relatives will be most interested to hear news of London, and a firsthand account of the air raids which the Nazis claim caused such devastation.
As Gregory's freedom, and possibly his life, depended upon particulars about himself being kept secret, his host's casualness filled him with alarm. But he took some comfort from the thought that Etienne Tavenier had been in England between his evacuation from Dunkirk and the St. Nazaire raid as he said quickly:
'I will tell them about London with pleasure. However, Your Excellency will recall my mentioning that I entered Hungary on a French passport. I am sure all the members of your family are entirely trustworthy, but I feel that it might spare them grave embarrassment, should they meet me again later outside your family circle, if you introduce me to them now as Commandant Tavenier.'
'Tavenier, eh! Yes, that would be wise,' the Count agreed. Then he led Gregory down a wide corridor, the walls of which were hung with great dark oil paintings of male and female Zapolyas through the centuries, to a large bay windowed room the dominant motif of which was rich yellow brocade. There were nine or ten people in it and Gregory soon found that the pale amber liquid in the glasses most of them were holding was not baratsch, but Dry Martini.
He found, too, that, except for a Bishop and one walrus moustached old gentleman who was a Baron in his own right, they were all either Counts or Countesses, as the Magyars followed a widespread Continental custom that all children took the title of their parents, distinguishing themselves by the use of their Christian names. All of them spoke German, French, English and Italian with almost equal fluency and apparently, as the spirit moved them at the moment; so the conversation was a veritable Babel.
Zapolya's wife, the Countess Dorottya, was plump and grey-haired, but appeared to be still on the right side of fifty, so a good twenty years younger than himself. As she extended a beautifully kept hand to Gregory he remembered just in time not to kiss it, as a chance remark he had heard in the bar of the Zur Krone two nights before had informed him that the Hungarian aristocracy now regarded the custom as bourgeois. That she was the Count's second wife emerged a few minutes later when a tall man with Tartar features, also about fifty, was introduced to him as the Count's eldest son, Count Rudolph.
There was a beautiful black-haired Italian, the Countess Marcella, who was the wife of a much younger son, not present, and a bronze haired Countess Erzsebet, who was a daughter of the house; a handsome young man named Count Istvan, and a hunchback with a clever, amusing face named Count Laszlo. But before Gregory could gather more than a vague idea of their relationships they all went in to lunch.
They were using, as Gregory learned later, the smaller dining room; but it could easily have seated twenty. Standing in it near the far end of the table were a sandy haired young man with thickened glasses, whom Gregory thought looked suspiciously like a German, a mousey looking woman in a white blouse and black skirt, a boy of about nine and a pretty little dark girl of about eleven. The children, Count Sityi and Countess Teresa, belonged to the Countess Marcella, and the grownups were their Austrian tutor and French governess.
Throughout the meal a major-domo stood behind Count Zapolya's chair while elderly footmen handed dishes that had nothing Hungarian about their cooking, but were obviously the productions of an excellent French chef. Nevertheless, it proved a jolly, informal, family party with everyone laughing and talking at once. But for the medley of tongues it might have been a luncheon in one of the stately homes of England for, like the English, and unlike the Germans, Austrians and French, these Magyar aristocrats regarded the fact that they had been born noble as so natural that they made no effort whatever to impress, or to protect their dignity behind a cold, formal manner.
In the role of the French major who had got away from
Dunkirk, Gregory gave an account of wartime life in England, and described the blitz. Most of them knew London well, and while the burning of a large part of the City meant little to them, they pressed him for further details when he spoke of the great raid on the West End.
On that Saturday night he had been dining with friends at Hatchett's when a stick of bombs crashed along Piccadilly and scores more fell in the neighbourhood. An hour or so later, when they left the restaurant, fires along the wide thoroughfare had made it as bright as day from the Circus to the Ritz, and from pavement to roof every window in 'Burtons the Tailors' building was belching great tongues of flame.
Most of the men among Gregory's listeners had pleasant memories of being entertained at the famous clubs in Pall Mall and St. James's Street, so were distressed to hear that many of them had been severely damaged; yet, having no experience of air raids, it was the a
fter effects which struck them most forcibly. No doubt they would have faced the dangers of the blitz with commendable bravery, but they were quite shocked when Gregory told them that, after he had made a tour of the area the following morning to see the worst for himself, owing to the electric and gas mains having been wrecked the Berkeley could provide him only with a cold lunch.
With fruit and dessert wines the luncheon continued in leisurely fashion till past three o'clock, then the Count told Gregory that it was the custom of the house party to go for a drive in the afternoon. Thereupon Gregory remarked that his poor driver must be wondering how much longer he meant to stay, and that in any case it was time for him to be starting back for Budapest; but Zapolya would not hear of his doing so.
'Nonsense, my dear fellow,' he declared. 'My people will have seen to it that the man was given a meal then paid off. If you must return to Budapest tonight, I'll have you driven to the station at any hour, and the Station Master will flag the first train that comes along to stop and pick you up. But unless you have engagements that you cannot possibly cancel by telephone, I suggest that you should spend the next few days here. We shall then have an opportunity to discuss matters in more detail.'
Gregory said that he would have been, delighted to accept but had not with him even a toothbrush, let alone a change of clothes. The Count waved the objection aside. He would send his valet in on the next train to collect Gregory's things from the Vadaszkürt, and the man would be back by nightfall. He would also arrange with the management that Gregory's room at the hotel should be reserved so that he could return to it whenever he wished.
In consequence, Gregory drove out with the family, and on his return was equipped for dinner, by the charming Countess Elizabeth, with an Hungarian costume, selected from the great store of finery kept in the house for amateur theatricals and dressing up. To put him at his ease several of the other men also wore the national dress that night and the women all congratulated him on the fine figure he cut. When, at two o'clock in the morning, he eventually went up to bed he found that all his own things had been arranged in his room as though he had already occupied it for a week.
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