Codeword Golden Fleece (8 page)

For a few moments they stood in silence, each striving to think of a pretext which would be even remotely plausible; but the problem seemed entirely beyond them, as who, in their senses, would undertake a ten-hour train journey followed by an eight-hour car drive for the purpose of joining a country house-party, and then, having arrived at six o’clock in the evening, evince a desire to rush off again early the following morning?

Suddenly Richard snapped his fingers. ‘I’ve got it—at least, I think I have.’

‘Go on,’ said the Duke.

‘It’s Fleur’s birthday on the 5th of September, that’s Monday week. We could say it’s this Monday and we simply must get back for it—our only child and all that.’

‘But you’d have known about that before you left Vienna.’

‘Of course, and if we had left Vienna by plane today, as we can say we had planned to do, we should have been back in ample time for it.’

‘True. Yet, if you had meant to get back anyhow, you would hardly have agreed to come all this far out of your way to Lubieszow, for the sake of spending a single evening here.’

‘Wait a minute,’ Richard parried. ‘How were we to know that Lubieszow was right out here in Eastern Poland? All you said on the telephone was to get on the night train for Warsaw, and you’d have a car to meet us at the station. Marie Lou and I might quite well have assumed that Lubieszow was only half an hour’s drive from the capital. If it had been we would have had the best part of the day here today and all tomorrow as well, and still have been able to catch the train out of Warsaw that we hope to take tomorrow night. Two days and a night is not an unreasonable visit to people one has never met before, particularly when one’s visit is proposed by a third party solely on account of the place being considered something of a beauty spot.’

De Richleau nodded. ‘I believe you’ve hit it, Richard. Anyhow, we might rack our brains all night and not think of anything better. You can say, too, that the line to Vienna was bad
last night, and when I said that I meant to leave here on Monday you
thought
I said that I meant to get home by Monday, so you were under the impression that we should all be travelling together.’

‘That’s it; and naturally I thought that if you could make it we could too, without curtailing our visit to a point that must now seem almost rudeness. It’s just an unfortunate mix-up which we couldn’t regret more, but we’re sure our monkey-faced hostess will understand how impossible it is for us to disappoint Fleur by not being home in time to spend her birthday evening with her.’

‘Exactly,’ purred the Duke. ‘And the sooner you get hold of Marie Lou the better. She can tell the Baroness that she knew there must have been some mistake directly she realised this morning that she was in for a full day’s car run, but she didn’t like to say anything immediately on her arrival or make you both look foolish by mentioning it at dinner. Directly she has made her excuses, I will arrange with the Baron’s man for a car to be ready to take you back to Warsaw tomorrow morning. You must see our Ambassador there and tell him the whole story, then he will pass it on to London by high-grade cipher. He may be able to arrange seats on a plane for you, too, which will get you home via Stockholm or Copenhagen. It’s too late to risk going via Germany, but, in any case, once you have handed in your stuff to our Embassy there will be no violent hurry, and, if you like to wait in Warsaw till Monday evening, Lucretia and I will join you there.’

‘That’s what we’ll do then, Richard agreed, as they turned to walk back to the house.

Returning to the lounge through the French windows which gave on to the terrace, de Richleau mixed himself a drink and walked over to show a feigned interest in the card-players, while Richard went in search of Marie Lou.

He found her in the company of the tall, fair Pole, Jaljusz, and young Stanislas; and it took all his tact plus half an hour of playful badinage before he succeeded in getting his wife to admit that she was really tired after her long day and ought to go to bed. With obvious reluctance the two Poles accepted their dismissal and Richard led Marie Lou off into another room, where he explained as swiftly as he could that it was necessary for them to leave Lubieszow early next morning, and the excuse he was proposing to make for doing so.

Marie Lou asked no questions. She had already sensed that something abnormal was going on, and guessed that the Duke was behind this sudden decision that they should leave earlier than they had planned. She agreed at once, and they went to look for their hostess.

A quarter of an hour later they joined de Richleau in the lounge. He moved away from the card tables at their approach, and his grey ‘devil’s’ eyebrows lifted slightly in interrogation.

Richard gave an almost indiscernible nod, and Marie Lou said softly: ‘It’s all right, Greyeyes. The Baroness was naturally surprised at first, but when I explained about Fleur’s birthday she couldn’t have been more charming.’

‘It went off better than I expected,’ Richard confessed. That fellow Ignac gave us rather a suspicious look, but she sent him away to fetch something for her, so he wasn’t in on the latter part of the conversation and had no chance to ask awkward questions.’

‘Quiet!’ breathed the Duke through unmoving lips. ‘Here he comes.’

Next moment Count Ignac joined them. A pale smile lit up his thin face as he addressed the Duke:

‘General Mack has sent me to ask you if you would be kind enough to join him for a few moments in the library.’

‘Certainly.’ The Duke smiled back, and leaving his friends he followed the Count out of the lounge through a curtained entrance that gave on to a square, booklined room. In one corner of it there was a large, ornate porcelain stove, and in front of this General Mack was standing, his hands clasped behind his back. As soon as the curtains had fallen into place he began in his suave, slightly high-pitched voice:

‘I am told, Duke, that your friends, Mr. and Mrs. Eaton, are thinking of leaving Lubieszow tomorrow morning?’

‘That is so,’ de Richleau agreed aminably.

Mack nodded his high, semi-bald head, which, with his long nose, gave him a faint resemblance to a bird of prey. ‘I see. Well, much as I regret to inconvenience them, I fear that I cannot agree to their departure.’

The Duke drew himself up. ‘Really, General! Even from our host such a statement would border on impertinence. By what right—’

Raising a hand, Mack cut him short. ‘This is no question of
hosts or guests, and it is best we should not mince matters any further. I have no intention of permitting either you or your friends to leave this house; and to ensure that I am placing all three of you under arrest.’

‘But this is fantastic!’ exclaimed the Duke.

‘It is nothing of the kind,’ snapped Mack. ‘It is an elementary precaution.’

‘Against what?’

‘Against you or your friends prejudicing the safety of the State.’

‘Indeed!’ De Richleau’s eyebrows lifted. ‘I had always believed that Poland was a properly constituted democracy in which it was illegal for army officers arbitrarily to arrest law-abiding citizens.’

Mack’s sallow face paled a little. ‘That is true; but you must know perfectly well that my authority far exceeds that of any ordinary army officer.’

The Duke had realised within a minute of entering the room that the game was up, and that nothing he could say would persuade or intimidate Mack into letting the Eatons go; but the best policy to allay suspicion was obviously to continue the pretence that he had no idea what lay behind the General’s apparently strange behaviour. Accordingly, he now burst out in well-simulated anger:

‘A general naturally has more authority than a lieutenant, but that still does not entitle him to override the civil law. In any case, how can the Eatons’ departure prejudice the safety of the State? Either you are under some complete misapprehension regarding us or you have been drinking. This talk of “authority” and “arrests” does not make sense, and I demand a proper explanation.’

‘D’you mean …?’ Mack hesitated and frowned slightly. ‘Can it possibly be that you don’t know who I am?’

‘Since you were introduced to me as General Mack,’ the Duke began with some asperity, ‘I naturally assumed …’ His voice suddenly tailed off, his eyes widened, and he exclaimed: ‘Good heavens! When we first met I had a feeling that I had seen you somewhere before, but as your name was not familiar I dismissed it. Of course, it was your photograph I had seen in the newspapers. You are——’

‘My dear Duke!’ Mack interrupted. He was smiling now. ‘I fear I have been very stupid, and I can hardly wonder at your resenting my apparently arbitrary conduct.’

‘Well, frankly,’ the Duke smiled back, ‘I am still most puzzled about that. I can’t for the life of me think what I or my friends have done to incur your Excellency’s displeasure.’

‘I would much prefer to continue to be known as “General” while I’m at Lubieszow,’ said Mack hurriedly; then, taking out his cigarette-case and offering it, he went on: ‘But sit down, Duke, sit down, and I will explain matters.’

‘Thanks.’ De Richleau accepted one of the thin, gold-tipped cigarettes and made himself comfortable in an arm-chair as the Polish statesman continued, with a slightly self-conscious laugh:

‘You see, it’s like this. I’m afraid I flattered myself by assuming that you would know my face at once; then when the Germans arrived here I felt you might begin to get ideas. When one sees only half a picture it is so easy to jump to wrong conclusions.’

‘Actually, I hardly gave the matter a thought,’ lied the Duke blandly. ‘The Baron requested me not to mention in any letters I might write that he was entertaining a party of high Polish officers and two Germans here; but it was none of my business, so I dismissed the whole thing from my mind.’

‘Of course, Duke, of course. But you realise, I am sure, how disastrous it might be for Poland if it became known that I had been conferring in secret with von Geisenheim?’

‘No, to be absolutely frank, I don’t,’ replied the Duke with assumed innocence. ‘Surely it is your job to save your country from being plunged into war if you possibly can, without loss of honour, and your best chance of achieving that was obviously by having a quiet off-the-record talk with the Germans.’

‘True! Absolutely true!’ Mack exclaimed, with evident relief. ‘But some people might not take that view. You pay me the compliment of assuming my integrity to be as impeccable as
your own, and I am happy to think that your confidence is not misplaced; but others … well? Few statesmen are without enemies who are only too eager to put a malicious interpretation on their actions, and I am no exception. That is why I dare not risk its becoming known that von Geisenheim and I have been staying here together.’

‘Richard Eaton would not dream of mentioning the matter to the press, or to anyone else who is likely to do so, once I have had a word with him. I will go guarantor for that.’

It’s not only the press,’ replied Mack, swiftly evading the Duke’s pretty little trap. ‘He is a politician, and directly he gets back to England he will come in contact with his fellow M.P.s. With Poland so much in the news it is almost certain that the Foreign Secretary will send for him to learn his impressions of the state of feeling in the country. How can he be expected to refrain from any mention of the people whom he met here in Lubieszow?’

De Richleau smiled a little ruefully, realising that, through having falsely represented Richard as an M.P., he had quite unexpectedly hoisted himself with his own petard. But he also realised that he must keep up his rôle of the transparently honest dilettante, so he said:

‘But since Poland and Britain are allies, surely you would have no objection to our Foreign Secretary’s knowing about these talks?’

‘No, no, of course not. At least, not if he could be told the whole story. But that is just the trouble. As I have not yet reported the result of these conversations to my colleagues in the Government, I cannot possibly take either you or Mr. Eaton into my confidence concerning the way they have progressed. I am very sorry, Duke, but I really see no alternative but for you and your friends to remain at Lubieszow for the time being.’

‘I see,’ said the Duke gravely, standing up. ‘I appreciate the difficulty of the position in which you find yourself, but it is only fair to warn you that Richard Eaton may not accept your decision so calmly; and you must know yourself that there will be extremely strong reactions from the British Foreign Office if you persist in your intention to arrest a Member of Parliament without the faintest legal grounds for such an act.’

Mack spread out his hands deprecatingly. ‘Let us not use the unpleasant word “arrest”. You will all continue entirely free to go and come in the house and grounds as you wish; but I
must ask you not to go beyond them and to send no more letters or telegrams while you are here.’

‘A thorn by any other name is still a thorn,’ remarked the Duke with his cynical smile. ‘And for how long, may I ask, do you propose to detain us?’

‘A few days only. Von Geisenheim is returning to Germany tomorrow for fresh instructions. He should be back by Monday, or Tuesday at the latest. One final talk should settle matters. I shall then return to Warsaw, and, if you and your friends care to accompany me, I will gladly do what I can to make up for the inconvenience I have caused you, by seeing that you get the highest priorities to expedite your journey home.’

‘Thank you—General. May I assume that you will let our hostess know the reason why the Eatons will not be departing, after all, tomorrow morning?’

‘Certainly, my dear Duke, and please convey to them my sincerest apologies.’

‘By all means,’ agreed de Richleau, slightly inclining his handsome head, as he moved towards the door.

He found Richard and Marie Lou where he had left them. They had felt at once that the summoning of the Duke boded no good for their plans, and now, as he approached, they both shot him a swift glance of interrogation.

‘We’re stymied,’ he told them in a low voice. ‘Mack believed that we were already on to his little game. I think I managed to bluff him that we hadn’t even guessed who he was. But, all the same, he is taking no chances. All three of us are more or less under house arrest.’