Dennis Wheatley - Traitors' Gate

Levianski came for them at eight and took them along to a lounge which was overfull of modern furniture showing the same flamboyant taste that his wife displayed in clothes. There he introduced them to his mother-in-law, a Mrs. Klitzberg.

She was a very fat woman of about sixty with a sallow wrinkled face and, although she was almost cringingly polite to Sabine, they could see that she did not at all approve of their presence. For that, Gregory did not blame her in the least, as it was very understandable that she should fear they would bring trouble on her daughter's family. In the hope of reassuring her a little, he remarked that now they had clothes they must not abuse the hospitality which had been so generously extended to them for a moment longer than was absolutely necessary.

Their host was pouring glasses of Baratsch for them. Looking up quickly, he said, 'I think you will have to remain here a few days yet; but it would be better if we put off discussing plans for you until after dinner.'

It was not an altogether happy meal. Huldah's anxiety to do her guests well had led her to give them too many courses and, as she and Leon refused to allow them to wait upon themselves, this resulted in the constant break up of conversation. Moreover, Mrs. Klitzberg remained covertly hostile, and Huldah persisted in calling Sabine 'gracious lady Baroness' although Sabine protested that she was now Madam Tavenier, and that she would prefer such friends as the Levianskis had proved themselves to be to call her by her Christian name., Leon alone of the three behaved naturally, and they wished that it had been possible for them to have dined with him without his womenfolk.

Soon after dinner Mrs. Klitzberg relieved them of her presence, and they tackled the subject which was uppermost in all their minds. Gregory opened the matter by asking Leon if he could buy them a reliable second-hand car.

'I could,' he replied 'but I am doubtful if you would be wise to stick to your idea of trying to reach the frontier that way. In the first place, our one serious shortage here is petrol; and it is not easy to obtain even on the black market.'

'Oh, we'd be all right for that,' Sabine assured him. 'I was given a special allowance, and have more than enough coupons.'

He shrugged his broad shoulders. 'That is not the only thing. Owing to the petrol shortage there are far fewer cars on the roads these days, and they are hardly ever used for long journeys. It seems to me that you would run a great risk of being pulled up and questioned about where you obtained your petrol. Then, if your description has been circulated, it would be all up with you.

Gregory pulled a long face. 'That hadn’t occurred to me; but I'm afraid you are right.'

'How do you propose to get across the frontier if you can get to it?' his host asked.

'We have passports; but of course we wouldn't dare to use them now. I had intended to abandon the car in a wood and that in the middle of the night we should make our way across by stealth.'

Leon shook his dark, curly head. I feared as much, and the dangers you will encounter there are a lot greater than these others I have mentioned. Have you considered, too, the terrible demands that such a journey would make on a lady. I am told by friends of mine who know about such matters that the patrols not only keep watch on the frontier but also range for several miles in depth behind it. That means that from a long way back you would have to avoid all tracks, and so be faced with a most exhausting tramp through woods or across marshes. You would not dare to use a torch and might easily lose your way. Even if you succeeded in evading the Hungarian patrols, you might run into the Yugoslavs on the other side and be turned back.'

Gregory had crossed frontiers clandestinely before; so he knew, only too well, that Leon was not exaggerating the difficulties. Had he been on his own he would have backed himself to get through; but he realized now that during the past twenty-four hours his thoughts had been too distracted by more pleasant matters for him to give due weight to the handicap that having Sabine with him must prove. The abrupt awareness of what it would entail came as a very nasty shock. Now he was seized with a sudden fear that to do as he had planned would prove next to impossible.

Journey into Trouble

Chapter 20

With a sinking feeling Gregory faced up to the gulf that lay between crossing the frontier on foot and, as they had originally intended, in a car. It would mean a whole night of desperate strain and endeavour; perhaps more, as dawn might catch them before they were across, and that would mean having to lie up for the day. For hours they would have to crawl flat on their stomachs through scrub and along ditches; and if they were spotted they would have to run for their lives to the nearest cover. Sabine had plenty of courage, but she was just not the sort of girl that Girl Guide Captains are made from. Physically she was incapable of standing up to such a gruelling ordeal. Uneasily, he admitted:

'You're right. The dice will be loaded against us. But it seems there is no alternative.'

Leon leaned forward. 'You remember our first talk at the cafe? I mentioned to you then that Eichmann had already set up an office for so called 'Jewish Emigration' in Budapest. For us Jews that is the red light. We still pray that Hungary will protect us and that there will be no great persecution here. Most of us feel this to be so much our home that we prefer to take a chance on that, rather than give up everything and face a new life abroad almost penniless. But some, who have money or relatives in foreign countries, are already leaving from fear that the Nazis will force Admiral Horthy to abandon us to them. For those who wish to go it is not easy; because in wartime the Government will grant no exit permits, except in very special cases. In consequence, those who are leaving have to do so in secret. Some of them are doing as you suggest and attempting to cross the frontier at night. But for those who are rich enough there is an easier way. They are smuggled out in the big barges that go down the Danube to Turkey.'

'By Jove!' Gregory's eyes lit up. 'Do you mean that you could arrange for us to get out like that?'

'These barge masters are rapacious. It would cost you two thousand five hundred pengoes each.'

'That is not much more than we should have to pay for a car.'

'No. If you agree then, I will see what I can do. But it will probably be several days before the people I approach would be able to find a barge that will take you, and is due to leave.'

'In that case, unless you know of anywhere else we can go, it will mean our continuing to accept your hospitality, and I feel that we have already trespassed…'

Holding up a plump hand, Leon cut him short. 'Please don't let that worry you. Huldah and I are glad to help. My mother-in-law may prove a little tiresome, but for our sakes she will not breathe a word about your being here.'

'No, no!' Huldah put in. 'I am sorry that she was not more cordial to you at dinner. But you need not have the least fear that she will be indiscreet. From tomorrow, I have arranged for my little boys to stay for some days with my sister; so it is only of my woman, Rosa, that you will still have to be careful. If it were not for her you would be able to move freely about the apartment all the time. As it is you will have to spend the days in your bedroom, and keep very quiet there; but if you can put up with that…'

They 'put up with that' without any grief or pain at all. In fact they greatly preferred it to having to sit in the lounge with' Mrs. Klitzberg, or even the kind but gushing Huldah; and, as Gregory remarked, it was almost as if they were having the Spanish peasants' honeymoon of which they had talked although it transpired that instead of a full week it lasted only five days.