Dennis Wheatley - Traitors' Gate

'Surely you remember me?' Sabine smiled up at him.

'Why, bless my soul!' He stretched out a leg-of-mutton hand to her. 'You're my old friend Szenty's gel. Got mixed up with that scoundrel Gavin Fortescue in 1936, and Gregory, here, pulled you out. Of course I remember you.'

'I'm afraid I deceived you in my wire,' Gregory intervened quickly, with the object of tipping Sir Pellinore off that he did not wish to discuss his mission in front of Sabine. 'My reason for bringing Sabine with me was not the one that I gave. It's quite another story. Incidentally she has been married since you last met her, and is now the Baroness Tuzolto.'

'Well, well! No matter! I'm delighted to see you both. We'll have a glass of wine then you must tell me all about it.' Turning, Sir Pellinore took a stride towards the table on which drinks were always kept, but halted and added with a frown, 'Drat that new parlour woman! As soon as Davis telephoned me to say that you were on your way I told her to have a magnum on the ice in here by half past twelve. Suppose she is gettin' it now; but I'd best ring for her in case she's forgotten altogether.'

Returning to his desk, he pressed a bell on it, then resumed his seat and waved them to two elbow chairs facing him.

'Please sit down.' He smiled appreciatively at Sabine, and with a gallant gesture swept up one side of his fine cavalry moustache. 'So you're married, eh? Well, your husband's a mighty lucky feller. At least, he would be if he were here. Slipped by me for the moment that now you are in England you won't be able to get back to him until the war is over. And I fear that won't be for a year or two yet.'

With a wicked twinkle in her dark eyes, Sabine returned his smile. 'I lost my husband two years ago. for a time that made me very sad; but I decided it was just as well when Gregory turned up in Budapest again. As you know, we were in love with one another before the war. When we met again it was as though we had never parted. That was just as well too; as pretending to be married made it much easier for us to get away, and we had a lovely honeymoon on a barge all the way down the Danube.'

She had only just begun to speak when Gregory heard a faint noise behind them. A half glance over his shoulder showed him that it was the parlour maid coming in as quietly as a well trained servant should, carrying the magnum of champagne in an ice bucket. Not having heard her, Sabine was continuing her gay revelation; and, as Gregory could hardly stop her, he could only hope that the woman would not take in the full significance of what she was saying.

Next moment he saw Sir Pellinore's face suddenly become frozen. For a second he thought that he, too, was concerned about the maid's overhearing this wanton admission. The old man coughed loudly in a vain endeavour to drown Sabine's last sentence, then he half rose to his feet, his face a picture of consternation.

Swinging round, Gregory took in a tableau that made him gasp with dismay. The maid had her back turned. She had just set the heavy ice bucket down on the table. Owing to its weight she had needed both hands to carry it, so had left the door open behind her. Framed in the doorway stood Erika. Her face showed that she had heard all that Sabine had said.

Hell on the Home Front

Chapter 21

Erika, white to the lips, remained standing in the doorway, as rigid as if she had suddenly been turned to stone. Gregory, his eyes wide and his mouth a little open, sat staring at her, his mind temporarily paralysed. Sabine looked from one to the other, guessed with a woman's swift intuition that she had unexpectedly been confronted with a rival, then riveted on Gregory a gaze in which surprise was mingled with anger. Sir Pellinore was the first to recover and he stepped into the breach.

With the bluff jovial manner that had tided over many an awkward situation, he boomed at Erika, 'Come in, my dear, come in. Done your shopping, eh? Here's Gregory, just back from Hungary; and the Baroness Tuposo. Daughter of a very old friend of mine. Baroness, allow me to introduce you to the Countess von Osterberg. Erika, we were just about to have a glass of wine. Glad you're in time to join us.'

In a hard voice that Gregory scarcely recognized, Erika replied, 'Thank you, but I'd rather not. I… I came up only to let you know that I shall not be in for lunch.' Then she turned on her heel and walked swiftly away. The parlour maid, sensing that something was wrong, hurried out in her wake, closing the door behind her.

'Well, that's too bad! But a bigger share in the magnum for each of us, eh?' Sir Pellinore's determination to ride out the storm never faltered. Striding over to the table, he vented on the big bottle the intense annoyance he was concealing, by seizing it in a strangler's grip and wrenching out the cork in a single movement. As he poured the wine, Gregory joined him and took the first half full silver tankard over to Sabine.

When the Baronet had filled his own tankard he lifted it and cried, 'Bottoms up! Come on, first round straight down the hatch! Just what you both need after your tiring journey!'

Automatically they obeyed him, and swallowing the long draught of fine wine almost immediately relaxed the tension they were feeling. Having refilled their tankards he again sat down at his desk and said, 'Now then; let's hear all about your adventures.'

Suppressing all mention of his secret negotiations, Gregory, aided from time to time by Sabine, gave an account of their meeting in Budapest, and all that had followed as a result of his running into Grauber. Lunch was announced when barely a third of the story had been told and they were sitting over coffee and liqueurs by the time it was finished. When they had done, Sir Pellinore looked across at Sabine, and said:

'Gregory owes his life to you. Not a doubt about that! And as I'm fool enough to be fond of the feller, I'm grateful. Shocking luck your being kicked out, though. No remedy for it, either. Now you're goin' to be stuck here in England for the duration have you formed any views yet of what you'd, like to do with yourself?'

'I gathered from Gregory that there was some danger of my being interned,' she replied with a little grimace.

'No, no!' he hastened to assure her. 'You assisted a British agent to escape from the Nazis. That's quite sufficient to enable me to save you from any unpleasantness of that kind. But there's not much social life in Britain these days.'

She thanked him, and went on. 'Naturally, then, I should like to find some occupation. I am fluent in several languages' so perhaps I could get work as a translator. It is only the prospect of the first few weeks that troubles me. I know no one in London but yourself and Gregory and, er…' she shot a meaning glance at Gregory '… he has already told me that his duties will keep him too busy to look after me. I'm afraid that quite on my own I shall find everything very strange and difficult.'

'Perish the thought, m'dear!' exclaimed Sir Pellinore gallantly. 'To cast you adrift would be no way to show our gratitude. Plenty of rooms in this great barrack of a house of mine. You're welcome to stay here until you can find a nice little place of your own. No hurry about that either. And don't worry your pretty head about money. I've more than I could spend in a dozen life times.'

Sabine gave a heavy sigh accompanied by a pale smile. 'Oh, if I might do that! You have no idea what a relief it would be to feel that I need not start life all alone for a while. I shall never be able to repay you.'

'Nonsense! The debt will still be all on our side. And now after that frightful journey of yours, you must be dead beat. I'll get my housekeeper to take you up to the room she got ready for, er… Gregory's Hungarian friend. Bed's the place for you, m'dear, and twenty-four hours of it. Have a good sleep this afternoon. Dinner will be sent up to you. Then after you've had a good long night we'll talk again tomorrow. As a refugee you're entitled to some clothin' coupons. I'll have my secretary get them for you in the morning, and in the afternoon we'll go out together. Long time since I've had the fun of taking a pretty woman shoppin'.'