Taking off his still sticky jacket, collar and tie, and shoes, Gregory spread out the blankets and lay down on the bed. As the bottle of hair-oil had struck him neither on the temple nor the base of the skull, but a little to one side of the top of his head, it had caused him no serious injury. His head still ached but now only slightly, and not sufficiently to prevent his continuing to think coherently without undue effort, although there was no longer any desperate necessity for him to do so.
He began to wonder about Sabine, and if she had learned that he had fallen foul of a Gestapo man, or knew only that he had been run in for participating in a brawl. In any case, his arrest was tough luck on her, because his efforts, during their long day together, to restrain her from wrecking his mission had succeeded only through their appeal to her emotions. There had been setbacks from time to time, but by evening she was clearly thinking of him again as a lover whose presence filled her with ardent desire; and when they had been together for those few minutes in her bedroom, she had made it plain that she was longing for the night of passion that she then believed lay before her.
She was going to be bitterly disappointed and so, for that matter, was he; although the loss of a night’s pleasure with her was a microscopic infliction compared with what he had to expect from the cause of their enforced separation. With Grauber’s threats in the forefront of his mind he was too much of a realist to take any comfort from the thought that the Gruppenführer had preserved his moral rectitude by forcing him to remain faithful to Erika. She, he knew, would have preferred that he should sleep with a dozen other women rather than that he should pass one night at the mercy of Grauber.
For some time he thought of her with that deep abiding warmth of affection which is the essence of real love. Then his thoughts turned again to Sabine. He hoped that she was not going to become involved in his disaster, and thought it unlikely that she would be. It was not as though they had been carrying on a long intrigue, as it was barely twenty-four hours since they had recognised one another at the Piccadilly. Her association with Ribbentrop would protect her from any prolonged cross-questioning about him; and if the worst came to the worst she could always explain having spent the day with him by saying that she had known all the time that he was an Englishman, and had decided to do a little counterespionage work herself by trying to get out of him what he was up to in Budapest.
About Count Lászlo, Colonel János the others he felt there was much more cause for worry. Fortunately, his reply to Grauber about the people he had met while in Budapest had been only a slight exaggeration of the truth. In the past fortnight he had made many new acquaintances; so no investigation of his activities would pin-point the conspirators. Since the formation of the Committee he had, too, constantly impressed on its members the necessity for secrecy, and they had taken serious notice of his warnings. But there remained the danger to them from that first conference at the Nobles Club to which Count Zapolya had indiscreetly invited such a large number of his friends. It must have been through either someone who had been present at that meeting, or one of the Club servants, that Grauber had got wind of the affair, and if the former then that person, having witnessed the election of the Committee, might also give away the names of its members.
As there was no way in which Gregory could send them a warning, he could only hope that when Count Lászlo called at Sabine’s as arranged, at nine o’clock next morning, on hearing of his arrest he would take fright, then swiftly warn the others, so that they could all go into hiding until the danger was past. But that they would do so on the bare information that he had been pulled in on account of a row in a night-club seemed unlikely, and by the time they learned more of the matter it might be too late.
Gregory was still speculating on the point when he heard a jingle of keys out in the corridor, the door of his cell was unlocked, and the warder signed to him to get up.
With an inward groan he obeyed. After Grauber’s departure he had thought himself safe at least until after he had been taken before a magistrate, but only about an hour had elapsed since he had been brought to the station. There could be only one reason for rousing him up while the night was still young. Grauber must have gone straight to some higher authority and had now returned with an authorisation to collect him. He might have known that his old enemy was not the man tamely to accept defeat, or let the grass grow under his feet in rectifying a temporary setback. At the thought of what he might now have to suffer before morning, Gregory’s hands grew damp, his mouth dry, and as he followed the warder down the corridor his feet seemed as though made of lead.
To his utter astonishment and boundless relief, as he stepped through the door of the waiting-room he saw that beside the Police Captain stood, not Grauber, but Sabine.
The chunky-faced Captain looked from him to her and asked, ‘Baroness, do you definitely identify this man as Commandant Etienne Tavenier?’
‘I do,’ she replied with a smile at Gregory.
The Captain smiled at him too, and said, ‘My friend, your luck is in after all. This lady with whom you went to the Arizona has taken steps to secure your release. Please sign this declaration that nothing has been taken from you while in custody, and you are free to go.’
Almost in a daze, Gregory signed the paper, thanked the Captain, and followed Sabine out to the main office. A policeman politely opened the front door of the station for them and they stepped from the bright light into semi-darkness, nearly colliding with another officer who was about to enter. He stood aside then turned to stare after them for a moment before going in. Sabine’s Mercedes was standing at the kerb in the narrow street, and as Gregory sank into the seat beside her he let out a great sigh of thankfulness.
Before driving off she lit a cigarette, then turned to him and said, ‘You are looking terribly groggy, darling. Did you get badly hurt?’
‘No,’ he murmured. ‘No. I’ll be all right in a minute. I was hit over the head with a bottle of hair-oil; but I’ve got a thick enough skull to stand much worse things than that. I was unconscious for only a few minutes, and I’ve hardly a trace of a headache left. If I look queer it is from the pleasantest shock I’ve ever had. You can have no idea what you have saved me from. I’ll be in your debt till my dying day.’
As she slipped in the clutch and the car moved off, she replied, ‘I was right, then, in my surmise that you were arrested as a spy, and not just taken up, as they said at the Arizona, for getting mixed up in some silly fight.’
‘Yes and no. I haven’t been spying here. I told you the truth about that. And I was only charged with a breach of the peace. But I had the accursed ill-luck to run into one of the top boys of the Gestapo who knows me to be an Englishman. In the morning, when I was taken to court, he meant to charge me with espionage and secure my extradition to Germany.’
‘Thank God I got you out then! Tomorrow morning would have been too late, and I wouldn’t have been able to.’
‘I marvel that they let me go tonight. That Captain was a decent chap; he protected me from the Germans and kept an open mind. But he knew they believed me to be an English agent named Sallust; so it really is surprising that he should have released me simply because you said that you knew me as Commandant Tavenier.’
‘He didn’t; and I don’t suppose for a moment that he would have in the ordinary way. He was only verifying that I was satisfied that you were the person referred to in the paper I had brought.’
‘What paper?’
Sabine laughed. ‘I told you this morning that I could get most things I wanted done for me in any of the Government Departments because, like it or not, they have to play along with the Germans. When I heard you had been run in, as the Ministry of Justice was closed I went to the house of Erdélyi, the Minister. He wasn’t too pleased at being dragged from a game of bridge; but I told him what had happened, declared that it was not your fault because, being a foreigner, you had misunderstood some remark that was passed about me, and that I was determined yo
u should not spend a night in jug through acting as my champion; so he must give me an order for your release. As a further inducement to make him play, I added that we were expecting Ribb to join us for supper and he would be terribly annoyed if you weren’t there, as it was his last chance to see you before returning to Germany. Of course, I’ve known old Butyi Erdélyi for years, and there was no reason for him to suspect that there might be more behind your being detained than just a fist fight; so he wrote me out a note to take to the Police Station.’
‘Bless you, my dear.’ Gregory laid a hand on her knee. ‘But I’m afraid you may get into bad trouble for having done this.’
‘Why should I? No one can prove that I knew all the time that you were an Englishman. I gave the impression of being just a spoilt young woman who was furious because she had been deprived of the man who was taking her out to dinner, and meant to make trouble in high places if he was not restored to her. There is nothing criminal about that.’
‘No; I suppose not. All the same I …’ The car had turned out of the Zrinyi Utcza and was heading for the Swing Bridge. Gregory broke off to ask quickly, ‘Where are you taking me?’
‘Home, of course,’ Sabine replied lightly.
‘You mustn’t!’ he exclaimed. ‘Please stop here so that I can get out.’
‘What! And leave you to go off on your own in that state! Is it likely?’
‘All right. But don’t cross the river yet. Turn along the Corso and pull up under the trees. If we don’t handle this thing carefully we will both land in the soup. We simply must talk things over before you commit yourself any further.’
With evident reluctance, she did as he suggested. Meanwhile his thoughts were running swiftly. ‘She has been marvellous. What a fool I was ever to think that she might hand me over to the police. It looks as if she has managed to keep herself in the clear, and for me to involve her now would be the height of ingratitude. I must leave her, and the sooner the better. That Jewish furrier, Leon Levianski, said he would hide me if I was hard pressed. Best thing I can do is to take advantage of his sporting offer, anyhow for the night.’
As Sabine pulled the car up, he took her hand, kissed it and said, ‘Listen, my sweet. I hate to say it, and more than ever after what you’ve done for me; but this is good-bye. I’m red-hot now. Or anyway I will be once the Germans hear that I’m a free man again. You’ll have quite enough to answer for tomorrow, without having me still on your hands. This day with you has been wonderful, but it has to end like Cinderella’s at the ball. My fairy trappings as Commandant Etienne Tavenier are already falling in rags about me, so I’ve got to run out on you.’
‘Say I agree, what will you do?’ she asked quickly.
‘I think I told you that I had one contact here, a Jewish merchant. He offered to conceal me for a bit if I got into trouble, and could reach his place without being followed. There should be no difficulty about my doing that. Fortunately I’ve plenty of money on me. I’ll get him to buy me some peasant clothes, and leave the city on foot after dark tomorrow.’
‘You seem to forget that you can’t speak Hungarian.’
‘Yes; that is a snag. Still, lots of the better class country people speak German.’
‘True, but they speak Hungarian as well, and you don’t. You will come under suspicion in the first village you stop at for the night.’
‘Then I’ll have to sleep in hay-stacks until the hue and cry dies down. After a few days it should be safe for me to board a train going towards the frontier.’
‘What about a passport? You can’t use the one you’ve got.’
‘No; I’ll have to leave the train before it reaches the border, and get across in some lonely spot at night.’
‘Darling, it’s no good!’ she cried in desperate protest. ‘You’ll never make it! Living like a vagabond, yet without a word of Hungarian and no passport to produce if you’re questioned, you are bound to run into trouble. Long before you reach the frontier you’ll find yourself in some village lock-up. It is certain that a description of you will be issued to all police stations. Someone will recognise you from it. Then you’ll be hauled back to Budapest and handed over to the Germans.’
That is taking the blackest view. I have been in worse spots before. I’ll manage somehow.’
‘But why inflict such hardship on yourself and take such a prolonged risk when there is an easy and quick way out?’
‘If you know one, tell me of it.’
‘It’s quite simple. I planned it while on my way to the police station. I have an Italian chauffeur who is fairly near your age and colouring. He has been with me ever since I married Kelemen, and I am sure he will let me have his passport. You can dress up in his uniform and we’ll make an early start on Sunday morning—just as if I was setting off for Berlin three days earlier than I originally intended. We’ll have ample time to reach a town on the Yugoslav frontier before nightfall, and you can drive me straight over it. Once you are safe you can put off the chauffeur’s uniform and we can spend a little honeymoon together. Then … well, then I’ll recross the frontier on my own at a different place and drive straight to Berlin.’
‘Oh, my sweet!’ he kissed her hand again. ‘It is terribly gallant of you, and terribly tempting. It is a perfect plan, too; but I simply can’t let you take such a risk.’
‘Don’t be silly. The risk is negligible. Ribb got me a diplomatic laissez-passer, so that I should never be put to any inconvenience when crossing frontiers. That frees us from having to fill up any forms, customs’ examinations, and formalities about currency. No official would dream of holding us up and questioning us once I’ve shown him that; so we won’t even have to worry about my chauffeur’s passport photograph not being very like you.’
‘I suppose you are right.’ All against his instinct Gregory weakened. After the hour of dread he had just been through, he would not have been human had he rejected outright this alluring prospect of escaping all sorts of difficulties and dangers by driving straight out of the country.
‘Of course I’m right,’ Sabine insisted, and leaned forward to press the self-starter.
‘No; wait!’ he caught her hand. ‘What is to happen in the meantime?’
‘You are coming home with me. You’ll be perfectly safe there.’
‘I shan’t, and neither would you be. As it was you who secured my release and I drove off with you in your car, your house is the first place they’ll come to when the balloon goes up in the morning.’
‘Really, darling! I think that whack on the head must have temporarily deprived you of your wits. Is it likely that I shouldn’t have realised that? I shall say that I was driving you back to the house to change your clothes when you said that having been knocked out had made you feel sick. So I stopped the car for you to get out. Then, to my amazement, instead of being sick, you ran off down a side-turning; and I haven’t the faintest idea what became of you afterwards. That is entirely in keeping with what would probably have happened if I had really believed you to be Tavenier.’
He nodded. ‘Yes; that is just about what I should have done. Knowing that the Germans had got on to me, once you had got me out of prison I should have left you as quickly as I could. In fact, just as I meant to.’
‘Exactly. And the very last place you would have let me take you to would have been my house; because they are certain to make enquiries there.’
‘Yes, they probably would even if I had got out of prison by some other means. The odds are that they will find out that after I left the Vadászkürt this afternoon the driver of the carriage took me and my luggage to your palace. That is the sort of thing that worries me. What reason are you going to give them for having done that?’
‘A perfectly straightforward one. I greeted you in front of a tableful of people last night as an old friend, and mentioned that I had stayed with your aunt in Paris. I wished to return her hospitality, so asked you to stay for a few days, and you accepted. There is nothing wrong about that.�
��
Gregory had a feeling that there was somewhere, but another thought struck him and he asked, ‘What about Ribb? Won’t he kick up rough when he hears that you invited your ex-boy friend, without his aunt, or a wife or chaperone of any kind, to come and stay with you?’
‘No. That is one of Ribb’s good points. At times he fools around rather half-heartedly with little film-starlets and I never make scenes. But in return I assert my right to go about with whom I like, and he stands for that, because he enjoys my companionship more than anyone else’s. Providing I am always on hand when he either wants to talk or show me off to his friends, and I don’t let other men make up to me while he is present, he doesn’t seem to mind much what I do when he is otherwise engaged.’
‘You are a clever girl, and I give you full marks,’ Gregory said with a smile. But he at once became serious again, and added, ‘All the same, I can’t possibly let you run any further risks on my account. At least, not as far as coming back to your house is concerned. I’ll lie low in the city tonight and tomorrow; then, if you are really confident that you can get away with it, we’ll do our trip to the frontier on Sunday.’
‘No, Gregory; no!’ She hit the wheel angrily with the palm of her hand. ‘You are being stupid again. My whole plan hangs on your taking my chauffeur’s place, and driving me off as though we were setting out for Berlin. How on earth can we do that if I have to pick you up somewhere? And if you came to the house early Sunday morning, you might be spotted entering it. All sorts of complications might crop up. The only certain way for us to pull it off is for you to come back with me to the house now.’
He sighed. ‘There is an awful lot in what you say. But I’m so scared that something may go wrong when the police come along to question you about me in the morning. If you tell them that I bolted from you tonight, and after that they find that you are concealing me, you won’t have a leg to stand on. You’ll be in it up to the neck.’
Traitors' Gate Page 21