Fire Below (4 page)

I, therefore, gave my attention to the back of the house, for though Madame Dresden might be gone, her servants knew me by sight and I was depending on finding some one of them there. Indeed, if the house was empty I did not know what we should do, for I knew no other source of which we could make inquiry with any hope of success.

The heavy shutters were closed and this had an ominous look, but since the weather was hot and the rooms faced south, I hoped very hard that the windows they hid were open and the shutters themselves but fastened against the heat of the day.

Desiring to learn the truth, I bade Bell stay under cover and crossed the lawn, for the garden was very private and not at all overlooked.

I had left the grass and the gravel surrounding the house and was halfway up the steps which led to the terrace, when, as though by magic, the shutters of the salon were parted, and a man stepped on to the terrace, duster in hand.

It was the Countess’ butler.

For a moment we stared at each other. Then—

‘Good morning, Carol,’ I said. ‘Where is Madame?’

‘Madame is abed, sir.’

I thought very fast.

‘Is the salon empty?’ I said. ‘I’d like to write her a note, but I must not be seen.’

He found me paper and pencil and stood to the door.

I wrote as fast as I could.

Dear Marya,

Carol knows I am here, but no one else. Walk in the garden before breakfast – as soon as you can.

Richard Chandos.

As I sealed the envelope—

‘Madame must have this at once, Carol.’

‘Immediately, sir. I shall tell her maid that I found it beneath the front door.’

‘That’s right.’

As I stepped on to the terrace, he left the room.

I was upon the edge of descending the steps when the clack of shutters thrown open came to my ears.

I shrank back instantly. I had put my faith in Carol, but I had no mind to put it in anyone else.

As I stood waiting, I heard more shutters opened and then the flick of a duster being emptied into the air.

The servants were about their business, and my retreat was cut off.

I stood back in the salon, chafing.

Then I heard a sudden rustle, and there was Marya Dresden beside me, with a dressing-gown over her nightdress and her small feet in slippers and fright in her eyes.

‘What is it, Richard?’ she breathed. ‘Why are you here? Don’t say Leonie–’

‘She wanted to come,’ said I. ‘But I couldn’t risk that. But you didn’t think we’d sit still and watch you drown?’

Marya stared and stared.

‘“Watch me drown”?’ she repeated. ‘My dear, what on earth do you mean?’

I took out her telegram and gave it into her hand. As she read it, a hand went up to her head. Then – ‘I never sent this,’ she said.

Madame Dresden’s words were so confounding and had unmasked so abruptly such a flood of sinister light that it took me a moment or two to focus the new situation and generally marshal my wits.

‘You never sent this?’ I repeated.

She shook her head.

‘Did you send any wire?’

She nodded, twisting her hands.

‘On Monday. I said
Expect me Wednesday as arranged
.’

‘That’s right,’ I said slowly. ‘And that telegram was taken, but this was sent. I must say Prince Paul is well served.’

Madame Dresden had me by the arm.

‘It was sent to bring you,’ she breathed. ‘He–’

‘It was sent to bring us both, Marya. It was sent to bring Leonie and me. Thank God I had the sense to spoil that.’

‘But it’s brought you, Richard. It’s brought you into his power.’ She clapped her hands to her face. ‘Oh, my God, why on earth did I send that wire? Everyone knows he’s rabid at Leonie’s loss. He won’t have her Regiment at the palace, and–’

‘You can’t blame yourself,’ said I. ‘If one can’t trust the Post Office – well… If I were you, Marya, I should leave Vigil for good. And Riechtenburg. I mean, the fellow’s not safe.’

‘I know,’ she said. ‘I never see him now, but I hear a good deal. It doesn’t affect the country – Sully sees to that. He’s really afraid of Sully–’

‘Who is away just now.’

Marya caught her breath.

‘You must go,’ she cried. ‘You must go. With Sully out of the country, and Grieg–’

‘Grieg?’ I cried sharply. ‘What of Grieg?’

The man was our implacable enemy – had nearly been the death of George Hanbury and would have killed me.

‘Three days after Sully was gone, the Prince took Grieg back. Not into the Army: he’s been given some job in the police.’

There was a little silence. Then—

‘You’re right,’ said I. ‘We must go.’

‘“We”?’ says she. ‘I thought–’

‘George Hanbury is with me. And Bell.’

‘But how can you go, Richard?’

‘As we came,’ said I. ‘By night. Till then we must lie up somewhere, and–’

‘Here, of course,’ cried the Countess. ‘And then I can drive you–’

‘Not on your life,’ said I. ‘You’re deep enough in. I take it you’re ready to go this afternoon.’

‘My big baggage has gone,’ she said.

‘Then today you must leave for Salzburg, and leave by train. We’ll come and get you there as soon as we can.’

‘I can’t go till I know you’re safe.’

‘You must,’ said I. ‘Don’t you see you must keep to what you said in your wire? If you don’t they’ll know in an instant that we’ve been in touch with you.’

‘How can they know that you haven’t telephoned?’

‘We did,’ said I. ‘And were told there was no reply. And we sent you two wires.’

The Countess stifled a cry.

‘It shows the lengths,’ I continued, ‘our friends are prepared to go. Happily they don’t know we’re here. And if you don’t alter your plans, there’s no reason why they should. I assume they don’t know that you were to travel by road.’

‘The servants know, Richard. I have told the chauffeur that he is to take me to Bariche and then return.’

I bit my lip.

‘Then you must go by road. You mustn’t alter one jot of the arrangements you’ve made. Once you’re out of the country, that’s different. You must take in petrol at Bariche and drive straight on. Don’t go to the lodge – stop at Littai. Leonie’s gone to the farm.’

‘But you and George,’ cried the Countess. ‘I can’t leave you here. I mean, I’m in no danger, but you…’

‘You certainly are,’ said I. ‘And you’ll go in up to the neck, if they can establish liaison between you and us. Can you trust your servants, Marya? I mean, you’re most certainly watched.’

‘I trust Carol,’ she said, ‘and my maid.’

‘What of your gardeners?’

‘I have only one, and he is gone to some flower-show and will not be here today.’

‘Then we will stay in the garden until you are up. Can you have the shutters shut? Because then I can cross the lawn.’

‘At once,’ said she. ‘You promise you will wait till I come?’

‘I promise,’ said I. ‘And don’t worry. We’ll give them a run for their money – but nothing else.’

‘Please God,’ says she softly.

Then she smiled her old, charming smile, slipped through the salon, and stood with her ear to the door. For a moment she waited, listening. Then she waved a slim hand and disappeared.

Two minutes later I heard the shutters closed.

I found Bell where I had left him under the trees.

Now George was not yet due, for, though what had passed since we parted has taken some time to tell, I could hardly expect him till five minutes more had gone by. But what I had learned from the Countess had made me very uneasy on his account, and when twenty minutes had passed, but he had not appeared, I was ready to swear that he had been laid by the heels.

Then there was a sudden scramble, and he came over the wall.

When he had heard me out, he told me his tale.

‘I drove the car into the forecourt, parked her bung in the middle, stuck the note back on the windscreen and then got out. Then I strolled to the guard-room and walked inside. When I told the sergeant, he said that it wasn’t his business and that I must speak to the porter at the head of some entrance steps. Well, that didn’t suit me at all, so I picked up the telephone and asked to speak to the mews. The sergeant began to bristle, but I said that I’d travelled all night to deliver that car and that any sort of obstruction I should report to the Prince. That fixed him, and though he looked pretty surly, he let me be. I don’t know who spoke from the mews, but I said that the car was in the forecourt and advised them to come round and get her and wash her face. Then I stalked out of the guardroom and out of the palace gates. Very childish, you know, but my respiration was better the moment I got outside.

‘Well, the riverside wasn’t crowded. I only met six people and a couple of vans. Nor was the Lessing Strasse. Not crowded. But it wasn’t empty, my son. Two fellows were standing talking at Marya’s door. One was a red-headed footman, and the other – well, he had a broom and barrow and should have been sweeping the street. I couldn’t get over the wall while they were there, so I casually crossed the Strasse and walked straight on. I meant to stroll round the block and then see if they’d gone. But I got an idea and went further…
The Lessing Strasse is the only Street that’s been watered
. If you remember, we saw the watering-cart. More. It’s also the cleanest street of the five I took the trouble to try. The others aren’t foul, but there’s not a loose leaf in this.
And the wallah with the broom is still sweeping
. When I last saw him he was brushing the trunks of the trees.’

‘Observation and collusion,’ said I.

‘That’s right,’ said George. ‘We’re obviously expected. And I’ll lay you a bank to a biscuit that Marya won’t be permitted to leave the country today.’

‘Why not?’ said I.

‘Because she’s the decoy. Once she’s gone, there’s nothing to bring us. So we haven’t lost our labour. They damned well meant to keep her until we came. They may let her go if they get us, but I guess they want Leonie, too.’

‘You’re not very cheerful,’ said I.

‘I don’t feel very cheerful,’ said George. ‘Ever since you said “Grieg”, I’ve had that sinking feeling you read of in books. I can bear the police – with an effort: provided he stands well back, I can even stomach Prince Paul: but Grieg as Chief Constable makes my blood run cold. Never mind. Let’s clean the outside of the platter. What’s the matter with that tap?’

There was a tap in the bushes to serve the gardener’s needs, and, thanks to the gear Bell had carried, we were able to make a rough toilet which did us a world of good.

Then we ate some food and began to discuss the position, which, perhaps because the flesh had been served, proved to be less depressing than it had seemed. Indeed, comparing it with that which we had expected to find, we counted ourselves well off, for we were in touch with the Countess, and though she was under surveillance, she was under no sort of arrest. Provided, therefore, that our presence was not suspected, we had, all four, a good chance of leaving the country that night, for she had a car and we knew the way to go, and though some women would have jibbed at passing beneath the fall, Marya Dresden’s courage was of another sort.

Now she had told her chauffeur that we should meet her at Bariche at three o’clock. At two o’clock then, or soon after, she must drive out of Vigil and take the Austrian road. If George was right, she would be stopped at Elsa, the principal frontier-post. Once stopped, it was all-important that she should waste time – for leave before dark we could not – yet give no cause for suspicion by what she did. She must, therefore, protest and argue and endeavour to telephone, and, after that, she must drive to another post and seek to go by. When it was dusk, she could return to Vigil, as though disheartened by her failures to pass the guards, and then we could all leave together and drive for the bridle-path.

We were going over this plan and debating its weaker points, when we saw my lady coming with a posy of flowers she had picked.

She was very good to look at, and the plain black dress she was wearing suited her very well. Her fine short hair was golden, and her skin like that of a child, and when we rose out of the bushes I shall always remember how pretty a picture she made.

She stood very still, with her delicate lips parted and the bright flowers caught up to her breast, and her head half-turned to the house, as though she were fearful that one of the servants would come. The trees were thick with foliage, but little shafts of sunshine that had found their way past the leaves were striking her slim figure and playing with the silk of her stockings and the lights in her beautiful hair.

George stepped to where she was standing and put her hand up to his lips.

‘It’s as well we came,’ he said quietly. ‘I may be wrong, but I don’t think Pharaoh is going to let Israel go. Your house is watched, Marya.’

‘That’s because they expect you,’ she said.

‘No doubt,’ said George. ‘But until they’ve seen us roll up, they won’t let you go. And I don’t like your red-haired footman. He may be all right, but half an hour ago he was having a word with the police.’

Marya caught her breath. Then—

‘That’s the chauffeur,’ she said. ‘He’s the only one with red hair.’

George and I looked at each other.

Our precious plan was crumbling. We dared not trust the Countess to a man in the enemy’s pay.

‘Bell must drive her,’ said I. ‘It’s the only way.’

‘And you?’ said Marya, quietly.

When we told her what we proposed, she shook her head.

‘I will not go without you,’ she said. ‘I am in no danger – on that we are all agreed.’

‘You’re in very grave danger,’ said I. ‘You are harbouring misdemeanants, for that’s what they’ll make us out.’

‘The car is closed,’ said the Countess. ‘If Bell is to drive, you two can sit inside and you will not be seen.’

‘At what time is it ordered?’ said George.

‘At half past one.’

‘It’s out of the question,’ said I. ‘Do as we say, and–’

‘One moment,’ said George. ‘If she doesn’t use her own chauffeur, there’ll be the devil to pay. The chauffeur will report it and the man in the street will report it, and they’ll telephone to Elsa and tell them to see who’s driving and what it means.’

‘Then they mustn’t go to Elsa,’ said I. ‘They’ll have to lie up in the country until it’s dark.’

George shook his head.

‘When they don’t fetch up at Elsa, the hunt will be up.’

This was true. The Countess must play out her part. She had only to take one step which was not consistent with an effort to get to Bariche to be suspected at once.

Staring before me, I could not think what to do. If only we could put on the clock…

‘There is Carol,’ said Marya, suddenly.

She made her way to the lawn, and the butler came towards her across the turf.

For some moments they spoke together. Then he returned to the house, and she strolled up to a border and added some blooms to her posy before she came back. At last she strayed to the bushes behind which we stood.

‘They have telephoned from the palace, to say that his Royal Highness will give himself the pleasure of calling upon me at tea time this afternoon.’

‘The devil he will,’ said George. ‘What does that mean?’

Marya shrugged her shoulders.

‘It’s one way of stopping my going. Because I am in mourning, I cannot be commanded to Court, but that he should pay me a visit is natural enough. Of course, I can make no excuse.’

‘That’s right,’ said I. ‘You can’t refuse to receive him, and, rather than stop you at Elsa, he’s chosen this way.’

‘Prince Charming as ever,’ said George and sucked in his breath. ‘Afraid to declare himself, he uses his damned precedence to cramp his hostess’ style. Ask us to meet him, Marya. And then watch him toy with his shrimps.’

‘Hush,’ said I, laughing. ‘He’s playing clean into our hands. All she’s got to do now is to cancel the car and send a wire to Littai saying “Expect me tomorrow instead of today”. Then she entertains his lordship, and we all clear out together as soon as it’s dark.’

‘And till then?’ said Madame Dresden. ‘You must have food and–’

‘We have food with us,’ said I. ‘Whatever you do, don’t try to bring any out. That would give us away in an instant. Go and forget all about us, till after the sweep has gone.’

‘Promise me you will stay here,’ she said. ‘I could not bear to think that you were not within my gates.’

We gave her our word, partly because she would have it and partly because we knew not where else to go.

‘That’s right,’ she said quietly.

The next moment she was gone.

The day did not pass so slowly, for we were all very tired, and two of us slept at a time while the third kept watch. It follows that when it struck four we had each had some five hours’ sleep, and, though we were sick of tap-water and would have sold our birthrights to be able to smoke, we felt refreshed and heartened and ready to ‘force the game’.