Codeword Golden Fleece Read Online Free PDF

obvious embarrassment, began to talk about his guests.
    ‘I do hope,’ he said anxiously, ‘that the arrival of all these people will not spoil the pleasure of your visit to Lubieszow.’
    De Richleau raised his grey devil’s eyebrows in feigned surprise. ‘But of course not, my dear fellow. Why should it?’
    ‘Well, only that we are such a crowd, and Ignac Krasinski said he felt sure you had come here for peace and quiet, so would hate that. As a matter of fact, he suggested that I should find an excuse to terminate your visit before these people arrived, but naturally I would, not hear of such a thing.’
    ‘But please!’ exclaimed the Duke. ‘I understand perfectly and should have thought of it myself this morning. Your generous hospitality has led you to overcrowd your house. Lucretia and I will go this afternoon.’
    Actually, he had no intention whatever of leaving for the present and knew quite well that to the simple-minded landowner the laws of hospitality would forbid the acceptance of his glib offer. The Baron reacted even more quickly than he expected.
    ‘No, no. Now that they have arrived and you have met them you must stay, of course. Besides, the house is not overcrowded in the least. For weddings and family celebrations here we have often put up double the number of people.’
    ‘In that case …’ murmured the Duke.
    ‘Say no more,’ begged the Baron. ‘I am sorry now that I even mentioned the matter. I would not have done so but for the fact that I have a request to make of you.’
    ‘Go ahead, my dear fellow, go ahead.’
    ‘You will have realised, of course, that Mack and his friends are not—er—just ordinary guests who have come for the shooting.’
    ‘Indeed!’ De Richleau’s grey eyes opened a little, conveying mild interest.
    ‘Well, yes. They are people of some consequence; friends ofIgnac’s, not of my own, and they wanted to meet these damned Germans, who arrived this morning, at some place where there would be no risk of any newspaper men getting wind of the meeting. Clotilde, as you may have gathered, is greatly interested in politics, and it was to please her that I agreed to place Lubieszow at their disposal as a meeting-place.’
    ‘I see, I see,’ muttered the Duke, who had ‘seen’ the situation perfectly clearly all along. ‘And this request that you wished to make of me?’
    ‘It’s only that, should you decide to leave Lubieszow before the meeting has concluded, Mack has asked me to request you not to mention this meeting to anyone whatsoever, and not to mention it in the letters that you may write while you are here.’
    ‘But of course, I would not dream of doing so,’ de Richleau assured him blandly.
    ‘Good! That’s settled then!’ the Baron exclaimed, with obvious relief at having got this unpleasant duty of infringing the freedom of his guest off his mind. ‘I’m very grateful. You’ll forgive me if I leave you now. I’ve got to see my bailiff about some new cowsheds I’m having built.’
    Left on his own, the Duke sauntered on along the terrace, enjoying the fragrance of his after-lunch cigar. Lucretia, Stanislas and Jan had gone off riding, and General Mack’s party was evidently holding its first conference, as it had shut itself up in the big drawing-room on the first floor.
    The room was at the back of the house, overlooking the terrace, and its windows were open. As the Duke strolled slowly up and down, the sound of voices came faintly to him, although, to his regret, not loud enough for him to make any sense of the conversation that was proceeding above. He noted, however, with considerable interest that after a little time the discussion began to grow heated. The voices were raised, and Major Bauer’s guttural tones could be heard with particular distinctness, as he endeavoured to ram home some point with true German assertiveness. At a little after four o’clock the meeting broke up, and when the men who had attended it trooped