At first they were almost too puzzled to discuss the situation. All of them felt that Gregory would never have acted as he had done without good reason; yet whether he had acted wisely was quite another matter. They had no doubt at all that, having escaped, his first concern would be to try to secure their release, but he would have to travel many hundreds of miles as a fugitive himself before he could get in touch with anybody who could possibly assist them, and by the end of the week they might all find themselves on their way to Moscow; after which they would very soon be beyond the aid of Gregory or anyone else.
Later in the morning they were taken upstairs again and questioned by the General in front of a small, fair, ferret faced man who asked innumerable questions, for which the General acted as translator; but after an hour of this it was found that they were merely going over the same old ground in circles, so they were sent downstairs again.
When they were back in their sitting room cell they discussed the situation further and decided that they did not at all like the look of it. From their long examination they gathered that the Political Commissar was greatly intrigued that such unusual fish as themselves should have swum into his isolated net and the General's attitude puzzled them greatly. His questions had shown little intelligence, and during the interrogation he had frequently glowered or shouted at them, all of which was in surprising contrast to his behaviour the night before, when he had been extremely courteous and quite clearly a man of considerable astuteness.
Freddie put the change down to the General's annoyance at Gregory's escape, but Erika said she felt that there was more to it than that; otherwise, why should he have gone out of his way first thing that morning to warn them to stick to their original story and say as little as possible in front of his Political Commissar?
Angela agreed with her. She also had felt that Kuporovitch had been pretending to be thick witted, when they knew him to be nothing of the kind, and that he was therefore hiding some secret of his own which might later prove to be to their advantage. In consequence they hoped that he might come down to see them, or send for them again when he was alone, so that they might talk to him without restraint and perhaps get a clearer view of his true feelings towards them. But the day passed without their seeing any more of him.
On the Sunday morning one of the jailers, who had now taken charge of them, indicated that they should put on their furs and led them out into one of the inner courtyards of the castle for an hour's exercise; after which they were brought back and locked up again. The same thing happened on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. This single hour a day was all the respite they had from boredom, which after the first day or two began to outweigh their anxieties. The General neither sent for them nor came to see them; so they decided that a hangover had been responsible for the sudden deterioration in his wits and manners. They had no books, papers or games and, unlike the long spell of voluntary confinement which they had spent in the trapper's house where they had had all sorts of jobs to occupy them, here they had not a stroke of work to do, apart from cleaning out their own cells which occupied only a few moments each morning.
They talked of this and that, but owing to the many weeks they had spent constantly in each other's company each of them already knew the other's views upon practically every subject, so they were reduced to useless speculation as to what had become of Gregory and their own possible fate.
It was on the Friday afternoon that Angela announced: "We shall have been here a week to night, you know, so our time of grace is. nearly up; and if you ask me, we've been counting without any justification at all on the idea that having got away himself Gregory will find some means of helping us."
"I'm quite sure he would if he could," said Erika swiftly.
"Naturally you feel that way, darling," Angela replied, not unkindly, "because you love him; but you know the old saying, 'Love in. a man's life is a thing apart; 'tis woman's whole existence'. I believe that applies in this case. If you had escaped, the only thing you'd give a damn about would be trying to save Gregory; although, of course, I'm sure you'd try and get Freddie and me out too, if you could. But Gregory probably views things differently not because he doesn't love you, but because he's a man; and so would put what he considers his duty before his personal feelings."
Freddie nodded. "Yes. I know what you're driving at. I didn't want to depress either of you by saying so, but I've been thinking on those lines myself from the very beginning."
"On account of the typescript he got from Goering's safe?" said Erika.
"That's it," Angela agreed. "You know how immensely important he considered it was; so much so that he readily risked all our lives in an attempt to get it back to London. We should never have left our refuge in the forest until the spring if it hadn't been for that. Well, the fact that we were arrested hasn't made it less important. Gregory saw a chance to get out so he took it. He may have felt like hell at having to leave us in the lurch but the typescript was the thing that was uppermost in his mind. He's probably resigned himself by now to the fact that we're all as good as dead and is trying to console himself as well as he can with the knowledge that he couldn't have helped us if he had remained a prisoner, whereas, once he was free, it was his definite duty to try to get through with those vitally important papers."
Erika smiled. "I didn't say anything about it either, but I made up my mind long ago that having once escaped that is just what he would have done; and I don't think any of us can blame him."
"Not a bit," Freddie said quickly. "The only thing I don't understand is why lie should have given it away to the General that we're wanted by the Gestapo."
"You two are not," replied Erika quietly "at least, Freddie may be, for that affair in Helsinki, but even that is doubtful; and Angela certainly isn't."
"No," Angela admitted uneasily. "It's you and Gregory they are really after, darling."
"Yes; I realize that, and, of course. once we get to Moscow there is no one to whom I can appeal, whereas both of you can demand the protection of the British Ambassador."
Freddie laughed, a little uncertainly. "I've been keeping that up my sleeve, because I didn't want Angela to count on it. You know what these Bolshies are they may not allow us to appeal to anybody. I'm afraid all we can do for the moment is to stick together and hope for the best."
That conversation was the last which they were fated to hold on the subject of Gregory's escape and their own gloomy prospects but, afterwards. Erika was glad that they had had it. In the past six days, she had been gradually veering towards the opinion that Gregory would not return, and this talk fully confirmed her in it.
For some inexplicable reason he had given away to General Kuporovitch the fact that they were wanted by the Gestapo, so sooner or later she would be handed over to the Nazis and taken back to Berlin to be executed. They were well guarded in the castle and, even if they could have escaped, their inability to speak Russian and the climatic conditions would have made it utterly impossible for them to get away from the Arctic town. She had never shirked facing anything except poverty and dirt in her brilliant but hazardous career. Whatever hopes Freddie and Angela might pin on being allowed to communicate with their own Embassy when they reached Moscow it was better that she should no longer buoy herself up with day dreams of Gregory's accomplishing her rescue by some brilliant trick or great feat of daring; but make up her mind to endure, with as much dignity and courage as she could muster, the ignominy and death which were in store for her.
It was as well that she made this resolution on the Friday night, because in the middle of Saturday morning two guards came and beckoned to Freddie and Angela; but when Erika made to follow them the soldiers pushed her back and relocking the door left her alone in the cell. Half an hour later the furs and few belongings of the other two, which they had brought from the trapper's house, were collected. Afternoon drew into evening and as they did not come back Erika slowly began to realize that in all probability the
y had been separated from her for good.
No message was brought to her from them, so evidently they had not been allowed to communicate with her, and she had no means of asking the guards what had happened to them. When breakfast time came on Sunday morning and they still had not returned, she made up her mind that she must nerve herself to even greater courage, as she would now have to face future eventualities quite alone.
By Wednesday four days' solitary confinement had begun to tell upon her, as with nothing to occupy her the hours in the silent, gloomy fortress seemed to crawl by; but she knew that the period the General had mentioned was already up. At any time now instructions about her might be arriving from Moscow, and on the Thursday, just after she had eaten her midday meal she was sent for.
With the General, upstairs in his room, were the little ferret faced Political Commissar and two black uniformed S.S. men. Erika's footsteps faltered as she saw them. She had expected at least the further respite of the journey to Moscow and, although she had tried very hard to put it away from her, there had lingered in her mind the small but persistent hope that even if Gregory could not get her out of the castle he might Be planning some attempt to rescue her on her way south. Now, she felt, that hope, too, was shattered. She knew the methods of the Gestapo. They never wasted time or put themselves to unnecessary expense in eliminating their enemies. Evidently, as these two Nazis had come all the way to Kandalaksha, permission had been obtained from their Russian friends for them to execute her there; so her life could now be measured in hours or perhaps minutes.
One of the S.S. men, a big, fleshy, red faced young brute, stepped forward and looked at her curiously. "So you're the celebrated Erika von Epp? I've often heard of you."
It was pointless for her to deny it as he was holding her passport, which the General had given him, in his hand. Inclining her head she walked, with that regal carriage which Gregory loved so much, to a chair and calmly sat down.
The General, the Commissar and the S.S. men had a short discussion in Russian. The Germans signed some papers, the General bowed politely and said to her in French:
"The courage which you show in such a situation has all my admiration, Countess. I deeply regret that my duty prevents my being of any assistance to you, but I must hand you over to these gentlemen"; and, having thanked him courteously, she was led from the room.
Down in the main hall her furs were brought to her and she was taken out to a large sleigh in which the Gestapo men placed themselves on either side of her. The sleigh drove through the gates and down into the little square of the town, but the driver did not turn towards the railway station. Instead, he took the opposite direction and after a quarter of an hour, when they had passed beyond the last scattered buildings, it pulled up on a long, flat expanse of snow where a black German plane was waiting.
Erika sighed. When she had found that they did not mean to execute her at once her hopes had risen again, but if she was to be taken back direct to Berlin in a plane, that once more eliminated any lingering possibility that Gregory might succeed in rescuing her on the journey. But she admitted to herself that she had never really thought he would. That typescript he was carrying was of such immense importance. He had been gone twelve days now; with his wit and courage he had probably succeeded in getting out of Russia by this time and was no doubt in Sweden or Norway or, if he had succeeded in getting a plane, perhaps he had even reached London.
Owing to newly fallen snow they had great difficulty in getting off the ground but after three unsuccessful attempts the pilot made them all crowd themselves into the tail of the machine and managed to get into the air. It was 'Molotov weather' again, and as the plane roared southwards they could see the frozen lakes and vast forests spread below them. For the first two thirds of the tourney they were well to the east of the Finnish border but the country was very much the same as Eastern Finland.
As Erika watched the countless millions of trees sliding away below them she remembered how Gregory had said that unless the Allies and the Scandinavian countries came to Finland's assistance, making an advance into Russia possible and giving the Finns air superiority, the war must be over by the spring. All Finland's wealth lay in such endless forests, and newly planted trees took forty years to reach maturity. Once the snow which was protecting them through the long winter had melted, the Russians would be able to start huge forest fires by scattering incendiary bombs. The Finns might hold the Mannerheim Line but they would have to surrender if faced with the destruction of the entire potential wealth of their country for two generations to come.
At last the forests ended and just when dusk was falling a great, white expanse lay before them which Erika knew must be the Gulf of Finland. Far away in the distance there was a streak of colour. It was March the 7th and further south the thaw had already set in; the ice in the Baltic was breaking up and giving place to blue green water.
Before they reached the coast line the plane circled and came down on a big military airfield where many Soviet planes were in evidence. At first Erika thought that they had descended only to refuel, butt she was told to get out, and was led between the hangars to a car; so she guessed that they were to break their journey here for the night…
The car took them a few miles through the area where the battles of January had raged, until it entered a deep wood in which there were many hutments; to pull up before a block that had bars across each of its long line of windows and a Russian sentry on guard outside it. The Gestapo men got out and shepherded Erika across some duck boards to the entrance, an N.C.O. was summoned and she was taken inside to one of the row of rooms. It had a stove to warm it but only a palliasse and, blankets on the floor. Leaving her there they locked her in.
Twenty minutes later a Russian soldier brought her a meal of stew, rye bread and coffee substitute. It was still quite early only a little after seven o'clock but she felt so tired and dispirited that, after eating what she could; she tried to settle down for the night.
She had not been lying still for long before she discovered, to her horror, that the straw of the mattress was alive with bedbugs and that the blankets held a colony of lice. Abandoning the palliasse in disgust she curled up on the floor, near the stove, but its hardness, together with the irritation of the vermin which had now got under her clothes and were biting her in a score of places, made sleep impossible; all through the long hours of the night she tossed and squirmed in abject misery.
In the morning she attempted to delouse herself but the vermin were so numerous that her slaughter of them seemed hardly to decrease their numbers and. after a time, the job made her physically sick. She expected the Nazis to come for her to continue their journey but, to her surprise, they did not appear, and except for the soldier, who brought her more food, she was left alone until the afternoon.
She had just switched on the electric light when the door was unlocked and Grauber came in. It was a moment before she recognized him. One bandage swathed his head, covering his empty eye socket, another covered his chin and the whole of the lower portion of his face, but his remaining eye glinted at her with evil satisfaction.
"Guten Tag, Frau Gräfin," he said in his thin, piping voice. "So we have run you to earth at last."
Erika did not reply, so he went on with evident enjoyment: "Jawohl; we've got you now, and I had you brought here because long ago I promised myself the pleasure of breaking that aristocratic pride of yours. It will be fun to see you scream and whimper before all that I intend to leave of you is dragged out to the execution yard. And don't imagine that your English boy friend, Mr. Gregory Sallust, will be able to come to your assistance. We've got him too."
At that Erika was stunned into retort. "You swine you filthy swine " she whispered between closed teeth.
"That makes you sit up, doesn't it?" he laughed in his high falsetto. "He was here two nights ago, posing as von Lutz again, and he had succeeded in wangling an order for your release with which he left for Kandalaksha; but I g
ot on to his game in time and the men whom I sent to fetch you in the plane also took an order to the Governor there to arrest him directly he turns up."
Erika's heart was thudding. Dear Gregory dear Gregory. So he had risked everything to try to save her, after all; but he was caught this time and worse those all important papers would never get to England now.
"I shall proceed about your extermination slowly, 'Frau Gräfin," Grauber went on with studied malice. "We have none of the usual aids to questioning prisoners or even an-er examination room, but I don't need accessories to make little traitors like you go on their knees and beg for death."
Suddenly he struck her a violent blow in the face with his clenched fist. Reeling backwards she fell upon the filthy palliasse, with her mouth cut and bleeding. Having watched her for a moment as she lay there moaning he kicked her twice and, turning away, left the room.
The Russian soldier who brought her evening meal looked at her with round, pitying eyes when he saw the blood on her face and brought her a little lukewarm water with which to bathe her mouth; but that night it seemed to her that she had, descended into the depths of hell.
In attempting to save her Gregory had been caught himself. At the very moment of his triumph, after heaven knew what superhuman scheming and endeavour during the last twelve days, he had walked straight into a trap; and been re arrested the instant he produced the order which was to free her. They would make very certain, too, that he did not escape again. It was the end for him, and the end for her. In a torment of misery she sobbed herself into an exhausted doze which was constantly broken by the biting of the vermin and nightmare thoughts of Grauber.
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