Evidently, now the Germans had overcome the last vestige of Polish resistance in the air, they had decided to step up their attacks on the doomed city by daylight raids as well as nightly ones. The Duke’s first reaction was to curse the Germans as he had done a hundred times in the past four weeks; but on second thoughts it entered his still dull brain that an air raid at this moment might prove to his advantage. During it Mack would certainly remain under cover, and that might give the time now so desperately needed to take precautions against him. The air raid, too, was an adequate excuse to any passerby for a priest to be seen running through the streets, and while carefully husbanding his renewed resources de Richleau broke into a gentle, loping trot.
The sirens ceased, the distant throbbing increased to a steady roar. Bombs began to crash somewhere across the river in the Praga district. De Richleau dropped back into a walk. The explosions grew nearer. An air-raid warden yelled at him to take cover, but he ignored the man’s shouts and began to run again. The bombs were now falling near the Zamek, and, fearing that one might fall on Jan’s mansion, the Duke reverted to his fluent cursing of the Nazis.
As he crossed the square he could see the Heinkels and Dorniers overhead. They were flying quite low, and some of them, having already unloaded their bombs, suddenly dived to machine-gun the roofs and streets.
The wicked rat-a-tat-tat was followed almost instantly by the sharp click of the bullets on stone and their whine as they ricocheted in all directions. A burst narrowly missed the Duke, sending up little puffs of dust and stony splinters all round him. his chest was hurting again, but he fought down the pain and ran on, until he reached the back entrance to the mansion’s courtyard, which he had been using since he had assumed a dual personality. Panting and grey-faced, he fumbled for a key to a little side door with which Borki had provided him.
As he got the door open another stick of bombs came whistling down near by, so that the whole house seemed to rock to its foundations; but it proved the last in this attack, and the roar of the raiders’ engines was already growing fainter in the distance.
Making for the back stairs, which he now always used on his nightly visits, the Duke floundered up them. They proved almost the last straw, and by the time he reached the landing he was choking for breath again.
Staggering to the door of Richard’s room, he threw it open just as the ‘All Clear’ sounded. Richard was sitting up in bed, and, as de Richleau had expected, Marie Lou was with him. Both of them stared in amazement at the dirty, haggard face and the priestly garments of the figure that had so suddenly burst in upon them; then Marie Lou jumped to her feet and cried:
‘Greyeyes! For a moment I didn’t know you. Why are you dressed like that? What on earth has happened?’
The Duke practically fell into a chair and lay there, panting. After three deep breaths he gasped:
‘Mack is after us! Now the air raid is over he may be here at any moment! We’ve got to get away from here immediately!’
11
Toujours L’ Audace
‘We can’t,’ replied Marie Lou promptly. ‘You know Richard can’t be moved yet.’
‘He’s got to be!’ panted the Duke, still sobbing for breath.
‘But it’s impossible.’
‘Nothing is impossible—if—if life depends on it.’
‘Yours may; so you must leave us again at once, darling; now you’ve warned us of this new danger. But his depends on his staying where he is.’
De Richleau feebly shook his head. ‘You don’t understand. The risk of moving him is nothing like as great as it was a fortnight, or even a week ago; and if Mack gets him God alone knows if he’ll ever again be a free man.’
‘But, dearest,’ Marie Lou protested, ‘we agreed ages ago that, even if the Germans captured the city, they were unlikely to interfere with a bed-ridden invalid and his wife who was looking after him. Your case is different, and you’ve already made all your arrangements for going to earth in Professor Kucharski’s flat—or has that cover been blown this afternoon?’
‘No, the Professor is not involved in this, thank God,’
‘Then what’s been the point of your spending all that time in the museum and only sneaking in here at nights, during the past week, if you can’t make use of your hide-out now you need it?’
‘You don’t understand,’ the Duke repeated with almost a wail; ‘it’s not the Germans we’re up against—yet; but Mack, who has turned up in Warsaw again and is out to revenge himself.’
‘Well, tell us what happened, darling, then we’ll be able to judge the situation better. Your face is in a mess.’
‘I don’t wonder, after what I’ve been through in the past hour. Mack spotted me on Marshal Boulevard and denounced me as a spy. I had to take to my heels, and before you could count ten there was a howling mob after me, thirsting for my innocent blood. They would have torn me into small pieces and cooked me for breakfast if I hadn’t managed to get away. As it is, I had to half kill myself in evading their clutches, and in the end only the heaven-sent chance of finding this priest’s rig-out in the robing-room of a bombed church saved me.’
‘How ghastly for you!’ said Richard sympathetically. ‘But, in spite of that, I don’t see what we’ve got to worry about at the moment. Hasn’t it occurred to you that Mack set the mob on you with the deliberate intention of getting you killed before you could be captured, so that he would never be called upon to formulate a definite and official charge against you? It seems to me that he’s the chap who has got to do the worrying now that his little scheme has failed to come off. He’ll find that he has landed himself in a pretty mess when you have copies of that document he signed sent in to President Moscicki and the rest of the Polish Government.’
‘Will he?’ The Duke’s brain was at last starting to work again. ‘I only wish you were right, but we’ve slipped up over that, my friend, and slipped up badly. As you know, the Polish Government left Warsaw a week ago tonight. With it there naturally departed all the foreign missions which were accredited to it, including, of course, the British Ambassador and his staff. Most, if not all of them, are now hundreds of miles away in Southern Poland, and we have no possible means of communicating with them.’
‘I see. So it’s now no longer possible for you to have copies of the document handed to the right people?’
‘No, I should have thought of that when the Government left Warsaw, but I naturally assumed that Mack had gone too, and that we should have no further bother with him.’
‘Have you any idea what he is doing in Warsaw?’
‘Not the faintest. Perhaps he is still prepared to act as a stooge for the Nazis and will attempt to form a puppet government under their direction when they capture the capital. He may have returned here to await their arrival. On the other hand, he may already have been sacked by his own people and come back to rescue what he can of his private property before the enemy completely encircles the city. In any case, he has little to fear from us now, and if he sets the police on to us as a gang of enemy agents, as he probably will, it will be his word against ours, and no sick-bed is going to save you. That’s why, if we sit here arguing much longer, we shall all be caught and clapped into prison.’
‘Yes, you’re absolutely right,’ Richard agreed, pushing back the bedclothes. ‘He may be on his way here now. We’ve got to get out, and be damn’ quick about it.’
‘But, darling!’ Marie Lou ran to him and put her hands on his shoulders to push him back. ‘You can’t! You know the doctors said that we must not even think of moving you for at least a month.’
‘I know all about that, my sweet,’ Richard grinned up at her. ‘But because I didn’t argue with them it doesn’t mean that I was a willing subscriber to their opinion. Get me my clothes, there’s a darling. I can get out of bed by myself.’
‘You can’t, Richard! You can’t! If you put your feet to the ground your fractured hip may give way again.’
‘That’s all yo
u know, light of my life. It’s nearly three weeks since my crash now, and these Polish medicos did a pretty good job on my unfortunate carcase. But don’t think that I’ve been gaga all this time just because I’ve had to stay in bed. That has given me plenty of opportunity to chew over all the less jolly bits of war news, and I made up my mind a long time ago that, when the Germans got to Warsaw, they weren’t going to find me in it. Ever since that little night nurse left us I’ve been testing out my rickety limbs and exercising the muscles a bit. These past four nights, while you two innocents have been sound asleep, I’ve made the tour of this nice large bedroom unaided.’
‘Richard! You haven’t!’ cried Marie Lou, aghast.
‘I certainly have, my poppet. Of course, I have to cling on to the furniture for support, but that makes it all the more exciting. It’s rather like a game we used to play as children, where you have to get all round the room without touching the floor; but in my case it was just a matter of getting from piece to piece.’
‘But you must have been crazy. If you’d fallen…’
‘I’m only crazy about you; and, in any case, I didn’t, darling. If we fall into Mack’s clutches we won’t stand much chance of getting out of Warsaw before the Nazis arrive; and then the moment I’m fit enough they’ll pop me into a concentration camp. That’s what I’ve been trying to take precautions against. In spite of the climate, I have a definite preference for wintering in England, now there’s a war on. When you’ve helped me on with my bags it will be interesting to see if I can get downstairs under my own steam.’
‘Oh, you’re crazy, but I love you!’ Marie Lou threw her arms round his neck and kissed him. The Duke, meanwhile, had hoisted himself out of his chair and was saying:
‘Well done, Richard! Well done! To hear you talk like that has been as good as a magnum to me, and, God knows, a few moments ago I needed one badly enough. What a relief, too, to have you back in the game, sane and determined as ever, even if you do have to lie up most of the time.’
‘It’s my reward for being a good boy and taking my nasty tonic,’ laughed Richard.
‘It’s Jan’s good red Burgundy that I’ve ordered for you every day. That’s the stuff to make new blood. It’s that and your own good British guts that have made a live man of you again so quickly.’
When they had helped Richard on with most of his clothes the Duke sponged his own face and hands in the fixed basin and, leaving Marie Lou to finish dressing her husband, hurried from the room, feeling much more his own man, to arrange about transport.
Downstairs he unearthed Borki, told him what had happened, and went into swift consultation with him.
‘To leave in our ex-prisoner’s car would surely add to the risk of capture,’ said the fat major-domo.
‘Yes. That’s one of the points that worries me,’ agreed the Duke. ‘But we’ve a long journey to make, and the military have already commandeered all the cars that were for sale in Warsaw.’
‘Why should you not take my master’s shooting-brake? He would wish it, I know. Normally, we keep it in the country, but it was brought up for a thorough overhaul a few weeks before war broke out. It’s in tiptop condition now and is a good, stout vehicle. Besides, we could remove some of the seats and put in a bed for Mr. Eaton. He would travel much more comfortably that way.’
‘Excellent! Nothing could suit us better.’ De Richleau clapped his rotund companion on the shoulder. ‘How soon can you get it ready?’
‘In ten minutes—a quarter of an hour, perhaps, if we must take out some of the seats to get mattresses inside.’
The Duke glanced anxiously at his watch. He had been in the house a quarter of an hour already. It was most unlikely that Mack would come to search it unaccompanied. He would go first to Police Headquarters and would have to make some sort of statement before they would give him a squad of men to raid the place. It would have taken him ten minutes or so to reach the headquarters after the ‘All Clear’ had sounded and another fifteen at least to find somebody in authority, to tell his story and collect a squad of police. If they succeeded in getting away at all it looked as though they would only do so by the skin of their teeth.
‘All right!’ he said. ‘But hurry. Every moment counts.’
As Borki called to his elderly henchman and hurried out into the courtyard, de Richleau made for the kitchen. Picking up two baskets, he strode past the astonished cook and entered the larder, merely remarking over his shoulder: ‘I’m sorry to have to raid you when supplies are so short, but we are leaving tonight and need some emergency rations.’
A swift glance round showed him that Borki had proved an excellent chef de commissariat in spite of the recent difficulties of procuring food. A half-cut ham, a joint of pork, the remains of a goose, some tins of sardines, three lettuces, a dozen tomatoes, as many apples and four loaves of bread all left their marble shelves to find places in the Duke’s baskets.
When he took them out to the courtyard he found the shooting-brake already facing the gate, and Borki puffing heavily as he helped the old groom to dismantle some of its seats.
Hurrying back to the house, the Duke slipped upstairs and thrust all his things pell-mell into his suitcase. By the time he got it out to the brake two good but narrow mattresses from the servants’ quarters were being thrust into the vehicle. The next thing was to get Richard down.
He found that two maids had just finished doing the Eatons’ packing for them, and while the girls carried the bags down, de Richleau and Marie Lou got Richard into a basket chair. Despite his protests they would not let him try to walk, and, thrusting two broomsticks through the basketwork of the chair to make a sedan of it, they carried him out to the yard.
The old butler had now appeared on the scene with a basket full of bottles. The Duke had thought of visiting the cellar himself, but, much as he loved good liquor, had decided against it on account of the shortage of time.
‘I sent him to get these,’ wheezed Borki. ‘I wouldn’t have you leave my master’s house and go thirsty on your journey.’
‘Borki, you’re a man in a million!’ cried the Duke, giving him another friendly pat on his huge back. ‘Jump in now, and we’ll be off.’
‘But, Excellance, I am not coming with you.’
‘You must. The rest of the staff have nothing to fear if they answer the questions of the police truthfully, but our recent visitor will not have forgotten the part you played in helping us to prolong his stay here. You must come.’
The others had already assisted Richard on to the makeshift bed. Marie Lou was seated beside him; the baskets of provisions and drink and the suitcases had also been stowed away, but Borki obstinately shook his head.
‘No, my master left me in charge of the house; whatever happens, I cannot leave Warsaw.’
‘That’s your affair,’ replied the Duke hastily. ‘But you must leave the house, anyhow for a few days. You would only deprive your master of your future service by remaining here now to be arrested. Quick! Get in.’
‘There’s sense in that,’ Borki agreed with an unhappy glance round, and he clambered into the seat next to the driver’s. As the Duke took the wheel there was a chorus of good-byes from the little group of servants, and shouts of thanks in return from the departing visitors. A minute later the brake was running smoothly out of the back entrance of the courtyard.
Having turned the car north towards the Jewish quarter, as the direction in which they were least likely to run into Mack if he were already on his way from Police Headquarters, the Duke said to Borki: ‘Do you intend to remain in Warsaw, even if the Germans occupy the city?’
‘Yes, Excellence. It is only by staying on that I can hope to protect my master’s property.’
‘Then I suggest that you should remain under cover for the next few days with relatives or friends. It is myself and Mr. and Mrs. Eaton that our late prisoner will be most anxious to catch. When he finds that you have gone I don’t think he will make any great effort to find yo
u, and the police are desperately overworked these days. It should not be difficult for you to contact some of the servants, and they will let you know when they think it safe for you to go back to the house. Have you anyone in mind with whom you could pass the next few nights?’
Borki pulled thoughtfully at his little pointed beard. ‘I think I will go to my sister’s. She has a house of her own out by the Gol station, on the other side of the river. My size makes me a conspicuous figure, but I can sit in the garden all day there, and there will be no gossiping concierges or apartment servants to talk of my presence.’
‘Good. Then I will take you there. Has your sister’s house, by any chance, a garage?’
‘Yes. My brother-in-law is a timber merchant and a prosperous man. His business adjoins the house, and he had a garage for three lorries as well as his own car.’
‘Would it be possible for us to leave the brake there for a few hours? I have some business still to attend to, so I do not mean to leave Warsaw until tonight.’
‘But yes, Excellence. There will be ample room, and you will be welcome, I am sure.’
‘Thank you, Borki. That’s a big help.’
Having run through a few streets, they now turned right towards the river, and, on reaching the embankment, turned right again until they came to the great Alexander Bridge, by which they crossed the Vistula. On its far side they headed north again. When they were opposite the Gol station, now a battered wreck from the German bombing, Borki began to give directions, and a few minutes later they pulled up in a quiet street at the entrance to a timber yard. Next to it there was a two-storeyed house, with shattered windows, but otherwise undamaged, that stood a little way back from the road in its own trim garden.
Borki hoisted himself out, and, on going up to the front door, learned from a plump maid that his sister, Madame Wojciechowski, was from home and not expected back until the evening; but, recognising him as her mistress’ brother, the girl said that he and his friends must make themselves at home until Madame’s return. An elderly foreman was found who opened the yard gates for the brake, and it was run into the garage. Richard remaining in it while the others went into the house.
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