‘There’s no reason why they shouldn’t believe me.’
‘You never can tell. Some little thing may make them suspicious; then they might insist on searching the house.’
‘They wouldn’t dare!’
‘Wouldn’t they? You don’t know Herr Gruppenführer Grauber.’
‘Is he the man who recognised you?’
‘Yes; and he is the most ruthlessly efficient swine that ever wielded a rubber truncheon. What is more, he has personal reasons for wanting to take me into little pieces, so he’ll stick at nothing to ferret out where I’ve got to.’
‘Where did you come up against him before?’
‘Oh, in lots of places. The first time was in England and the last in Russia. But Fate seems to take a special delight in throwing us together, and during the past three years we have done our best to kill one another in half-a-dozen countries.’
‘You misled me, then, about your mission to Budapest being a special thing. From what you say, it’s clear now that all through the war you have been working against the Germans as a secret agent.’
‘No, I didn’t mislead you. I simply refrained from telling you about my previous wartime activities because I didn’t want to quarrel with you—and you had made it clear that you were on the Germans’ side.’
‘I am. Oh, Gregory!’ Her voice held a sob of acute distress. ‘Why are you English so blind? Can’t you see that the Russians are the real enemy? If we don’t destroy them now we have the chance, they’ll destroy us later. They are evil, utterly evil; and given time they will grow so powerful that either by peaceful penetration or by war they will become the masters of the whole world.’
He sighed. ‘You may be right. God knows. I’ve no illusions about Communism, and the way in which it turns all those who come under it into slaves. But first things must come first. Stalin is little worse than Hitler and …’
‘That is not true! I know Hitler is a fanatic about some things, and that his persecution of the Jews is unforgivable, but …’
‘No ruler who employs men like Grauber can be allowed to continue to enforce his will on millions of people. But this is not the time for us to wrangle about degrees of evil. What I was about to say was that Grauber is the head of the Gestapo Foreign Department; so, apart from Himmler, there is no German who has a bigger pull with your police, and they will stick at nothing to get me for him. That is why, if they have the least suspicion that you are lying, they will search your house.’
‘I tell you they will not. This is not Germany, you know. First they would have to go away and get a search warrant; so you would have plenty of time to make yourself scarce.’
‘They might bring one with them.’
‘I should refuse to allow them to execute it until I had telephoned to the Palace. I would get on to Ribb and have him speak to Admiral Horthy; and he would send an order that they were to leave me in peace.’
‘If they were hunting for an English spy at the request of the Germans I don’t see why Ribb should interfere.’
‘Then I’ll tell you. The top Nazis hate each other’s guts. All of them are always trying to get hold of some piece of dirt that will discredit one of the others with the Führer and Ribb and Himmler are at daggers drawn. Ribb would accept my version of what had happened and jump to the conclusion that one of Himmler’s boys was trying to pull a fast one on him by seizing this excuse to search my house in the hope of finding something among my papers that could be used against him later.’
‘If that is really so …’ Gregory murmured. ‘But wait a minute! Ribb is leaving tomorrow afternoon for Berlin and, according to your plan, we don’t leave for the frontier until Sunday morning. If the police come back with a search warrant on Saturday night Ribb will no longer be here for you to appeal to.’
For a moment she considered that, then she said, ‘I decided on Sunday morning because it is much more natural to set out on the first stage of a long journey with a whole day ahead of one; and anyway I couldn’t leave till fairly late on Saturday afternoon because Ribb and I will be lunching together and he will expect me to see him off from the airport afterwards. But, if you like, we will start as soon as we can after he has gone.’
The temptation to leave himself in her hands was overwhelming. She was so completely confident that no harm would come to her through his doing so; and, as far as he was concerned, the alternative held all sorts of dangerous uncertainties. Levianski might be away from Budapest or get cold feet and, after all, refuse to hide him. He was unarmed, hat-less and the clothes he was wearing were dirty and torn, showing that he had recently been involved in a fight. He had plenty of money but could not use it till the morning to buy other clothes, and a ruck-sack to carry essentials in for his journey. Even if he succeeded in getting safely out of Budapest, he would be faced with many hazards before he could reach the frontier; then he would have to run the gauntlet between two lots of guards in getting across it and, as Yugoslavia was controlled by the Germans, still be without a passport that he dared to show. Yet his instinctive caution against committing himself to an easy course made him continue to search his mind for possible holes in her alluring offer. After a moment, he said:
‘My clothes. When the police learn tomorrow that I was going to stay with you, they will ask you for them on the chance that I have left something among them which would help to trace me.’
‘Pipi, my butler, will pack them up and hand them over. I gave away most of Kelemen’s things after he died, but there are still enough of them in various cupboards to fit you out; and he was only an inch or so taller than you are.’
‘I gather, then, that Pipi is to be trusted. But what about your other servants? Surely there is a big risk that one of them might give away the fact that I am still in the house.’
‘Apart from Mario, my chauffeur, only Pipi and his wife, Magda, need know. She used to be my personal maid until she married Pipi and I made her housekeeper, so that she could remain with him while I am away. When I come to Budapest I leave my new girl Lili in Berlin, and Magda still maids me. All three of them are devoted to me. You will have to stay up in your room, of course; but Pipi and Magda between them will look after you and bring you anything you want. Stop havering, darling. It’s having been through such a horrid time that makes you so nervy. Really, you can leave everything to me.’
‘It’s only that I should never forgive myself if, through trying to save me, you found yourself charged with aiding and abetting an enemy agent.’
‘Most men wouldn’t give a damn if they saw a good chance of saving their own necks. Your scruples make me love you all the more. That’s settled, then. Let’s go!’
Gregory made no further effort to stop her. The car slid forward, along the Corso back to the bridge, crossed it and followed a zig-zag course up the slope of the Buda hill, until Sabine brought it to a halt in a dark, narrow street. On the right could be seen a row of small palaces; on the left only a stone wall sloping slightly inwards that reared up into the darkness. The section of wall alongside which Sabine pulled up was the great buttress in the hill-side which supported the east front of the row of palaces in which hers was one. Flush with it, like a ladder from the water to a ship’s deck, was a steep narrow flight of stone stairs. Pointing to them Sabine said:
‘That’s the way in that lovers of the Tozolto ladies have used for centuries. At the top you will find a gate leading on to the terrace. Wait there until I have taken the car round to the courtyard, then I’ll come and let you in.’
Five minutes later she unlocked the gate, led him across the terrace and through french windows into a dark salon. There she took his hand and guided him between the dimly seen furniture to a further door which opened into the vaulted hall. When they came out from under the broad staircase he saw the man-servant who had taken his things that evening standing by the outer door, and it was evident that Sabine had told him to wait there.
The butler was a middle-aged man, with a pleasant
open, rather round, face and slightly greying hair. As he bowed to his mistress she said with a smile, ‘Pipi, this is Herr Commandant Tavenier, who came this afternoon to stay with us. Unfortunately there was a row at the Arizona tonight and he got into trouble with the police. It was a stupid business and will all blow over in a day or two, but it would be embarrassing for him if he had to appear in court. You can tell Magda what I’ve told you, but I don’t want anyone else at all to know that the Herr Commandant is here. Is that understood?’
‘Yes, Lady Baroness,’ the man replied with a frankness and lack of servility that impressed Gregory very favourably.
‘Now,’ Sabine went on, ‘the police may call tomorrow morning to make enquiries and collect the Herr Commandant’s belongings. I want you to go up to his room, pack them all up and bring them downstairs ready to be handed over. Then take up to the room everything you can find of our Baron’s things for him to use until this silly affair is cleared up. When you have done, come down and let us know.’
With a murmur of assent the butler left them, and Sabine went over to a trolley of drinks. On its lower shelf, under transparent covers, reposed the usual plates of sandwiches, biscuits and cake, in case she came in late and felt like nibbling something with a nightcap before going to bed.
‘As we’ve had no dinner, we had better eat something,’ she said. ‘Although I’m not really hungry; I had such a large lunch. How about you? If you would like something more solid Pipi could get it for us.’
‘No, thanks; there is plenty here. A couple of sandwiches and a brandy and soda will suit me.’
‘Ought you to drink anything? Alcohol, I mean, after that blow on the head.’
He smiled. ‘Don’t worry. I’ve been knocked out too often not to know when I’m likely to get delayed concussion. All I need now to make me my own man again is a drink and a good hot bath to get this oily muck off my neck and chest.’
‘All the same, your poor head ought to be seen to,’ she said solicitously. ‘Mix me a brandy and soda too, while I get things to bathe it.’
Having left him for a few minutes she returned with a basin of hot water, lint and ointment. Her examination confirmed that the blow had had no serious effect. Only the skin of his scalp was broken and there was very little clotted blood about the place. After cleaning the wound she applied the ointment, and they settled down to their alfresco supper, eating considerably more than they had at first expected.
They had not long finished when Pipi came back to report that he had carried out his orders. Greatly to Gregory’s surprise Sabine stood up and said to him:
‘You must still be feeling very groggy after that fight you got mixed up in. What you need is a hot bath and a nice long sleep; so I won’t keep you up any longer.’ Then she turned to Pipi and added, ‘Please see the Herr Commandant up to his room.’
Hardly believing that she could mean it, Gregory thanked her and bowed over her hand. But she confirmed the impression that she really intended him to go to bed by saying, ‘Good night; I hope you will feel quite recovered in the morning. We’ll have lots of time to talk tomorrow.’
Pipi escorted him up to his room and having ascertained that there was nothing else he wanted, left him.
Immediately he was alone he went over to the bedside telephone. To his relief he found that it was connected direct with the exchange and, since all the operators spoke German, he had no difficulty in getting Count Lászlo’s number. As it was only just on eleven o’clock he feared that the Count might be out, but a moment later he came on the line.
Using French and phrases which would obscure his meaning to anyone who might be listening in, Gregory gave a swift résumé of the disaster that had overtaken him that evening, and warned the Count that he should get in touch with their other friends at once, so that on various pretexts they could all leave Budapest before the threatening investigation got properly under way. He then enquired anxiously about the result of that evening’s Committee meeting.
In equally round-about parlance the Count told him that everything had been settled. The Hungarian magnates were prepared to force their Government to break with Germany on the following conditions:—An Anglo-American undertaking to guarantee Hungary from Russian aggression; allocation to Hungary after the war of the territories already stipulated by the Committee, being the greater part of those of which she had been deprived by the Treaty of Trianon; and that the Anglo-Americans should land a force of not less than fifteen divisions on the Continent, on a date to be agreed, and before the Hungarian Government declared against Hitler.
It was the size of the expeditionary force, which the Hungarians would demand should engage the German forces in the West, that had been in debate, and Gregory felt that fifteen divisions was not unreasonable; so when he put down the receiver he smiled his satisfaction.
Abusing Sabine’s hospitality to get in touch with Count Lászlo on a matter that might lead to Germany’s defeat had given him a sharp twinge of conscience. But it had been imperative that he should somehow or other warn the Committee of its danger and, if he possibly could, fulfil his duty to his own country by bringing back definite terms upon which the Hungarians would act. To have succeeded in the one and have a good prospect of doing the other took such a load off his mind that he hardly gave Grauber another thought, and became again as full of good spirits as he had been when he had changed to go out some three hours earlier.
Throwing off his soiled clothes, he got into the bath that Pipi had already prepared for him. The warm scented water soon relieved from stiffness those of his muscles he had strained during the struggle, just as the telephone conversation with Count Lászlo had relieved his mind of all immediate worries.
He lay there for quite a long time, acutely conscious that, but for God, the Hungarian Police Captain, Sabine and his lucky stars, he might by now be suffering agonies with Grauber glaring at him, and rendered thanks for his preservation. Then he got out, dried himself, put out the lights and drew back one of the curtains of the bedroom windows.
The moon had risen over Pest, and it brought sharply back to him what Sabine had said when they were kissing in her bedroom before going out. As he got into bed he marvelled at her restraint. Since she had made her feelings for him so plain, he could only suppose that she thought he needed a full night’s sleep to recover from the ordeal he had been through, and had resigned herself to wait until the brief ‘honeymoon’ she had proposed that they should take when they were over the frontier.
Drowsily he wondered if that ‘honeymoon’ would come off, or if some unforeseen circumstance would arise to prevent it. Now, it almost seemed as if Fate had decreed that, whether he would or not, he should, after all, remain faithful to Erika. He could not make up his mind if he was sorry or not. Then, as thoughts of Sabine lying in bed in the room below him suddenly took possession of his mind, he knew that he was already regretting her having packed him off alone to bed.
It was at that moment that a slight sound made him turn his head. The door had opened and Sabine was closing it behind her. She had on a dressing gown, her face was pale as a magnolia blossom in the moonlight and her dark hair rippled down over her shoulders.
As she came towards him, and he quickly sat up, she said: ‘Why didn’t you come down to me? You know where my room is.’
‘I thought …’ he stammered. ‘You said … You led me to suppose … Damn it! You packed me off to bed as though I was not up to …’
She gave a low laugh. ‘You dear idiot! You told me you were feeling perfectly recovered, but I’ve always thought it only right to preserve the decencies as far as possible in front of the servants. I said good night to you like that simply to keep face with Pipi.’
Untying the belt of her dressing-gown, she let the garment slip from her shoulders. She had nothing on underneath it and for a moment stood there, her full beauty revealed in the moonlight. Then, with another low delighted laugh, she slipped into bed beside him.
Exactly ni
ne and a half minutes later the sound of a musical klaxon horn came up to them through the open window.
‘Holy Mary!’ exclaimed Sabine, wrenching herself from Gregory’s embrace. That’s Ribb. And he told me positively he didn’t mean to come here tonight. Oh, God! How utterly damnable!’
14
Battle of Wits
Sabine scrambled out of bed and Gregory after her. As he snatched up her dressing-gown from the floor and helped her on with it, he said, ‘If you are so positive that Ribb did not mean to come and spend the night with you, it must be about me that he’s come here.’
‘Do you really think so?’ She was nearly weeping with rage and frustration. ‘It is unlike him to change his mind; but he might have done.’
‘Perhaps; but I’ve a horrid feeling that Grauber has somehow found out that you secured my release, then got on to Ribb and asked him to come and question you.’
‘That … that might be the explanation,’ she sobbed. ‘But oh, God, why couldn’t the fool wait till morning!’
It was no laughing matter, but Gregory could not suppress a smile. ‘We must give him the benefit of not knowing that you would be otherwise engaged. At least, I hope to goodness we can; if not, we’ll both be for the high jump.’
She gave an angry shrug. ‘Oh, my story is watertight enough. You go back to bed. When I’ve given him a drink and heard what he has to say, I’ll get rid of him as soon as I can and come back to you.’
As she hurried towards the door, Gregory said quickly, ‘I daren’t stay here. It’s quite on the cards that Grauber has come with him. If so they may search the house. It would be the end of you if they find me in it. I mean to make the bed, then climb out of the window and down into the street.’
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