Codeword Golden Fleece Read Online Free PDF Page B

downstairs to drink their afternoon coffee, de Richleau observed that there was a definite atmosphere of strain between the Poles and the two Germans.
    That evening, having changed for dinner a little earlier than usual, the Duke quietly walked along to Lucretia’s room. She was dressed but still smoothing and coiling her golden hair onthe top of her small, beautifully shaped head. Perching himself on the bed just behind her, so that he could see her face in the mirror, he said:
    ‘What do you make of all this?’
    ‘You mean the arrival of the two Germans?’
    ‘Yes. Mack and Co. came here specially to meet them.’
    ‘I guessed as much. Von Geisenheim is nice. In a way he reminds me of you; but the Major is just a nasty, common tough.’
    The Duke smiled a trifle sardonically. ‘Permit me to undeceive you, darling. Von Geisenheim is a cultured aristocrat, long trained in military diplomacy, and therefore easily capable of disguising his true feelings.’
    Lucretia laughed into her mirror. ‘Didn’t I just say that in a way he reminds me of you?’
    ‘
Touché!
’ de Richleau laughed back. ‘However, I meant that he is more dangerous than fifty Major Bauers, and that I am much perturbed to find that he has been sent on a secret mission to the Poles. Bauer is posing as von Geisenheim’s adjutant, but I haven’t a doubt that he is something much more than that. He’s a Hitler man: one of those guttersnipe Nazis who have climbed to power by sheer unscrupulous brutality; he’s been sent to keep an eye on his General and see that he does his stuff. But the Prussian nobility, who become members of the German General Staff almost by hereditary right, have never bent the knee to Hitler. He has been useful to them, and they will give him their support as long as it suits their book to do so. Von Geisenheim represents the real power behind the throne’ in Germany, and Bauer represents the throne itself. Together they form a damnably dangerous combination, and I’ve no doubt at all that they are working hand in glove.’
    Turning slowly, Lucretia looked at him. ‘D’you think the Poles are being tempted to sell out?’
    ‘That’s about it,’ the Duke assented. ‘Mind you, Mack and his cronies are not representative of the Polish nation, but they have the power to do a deal.’
    ‘How would that affect Britain?’
    ‘Very well. If the Poles give way war will be averted and Britain will not be called on to honour her guarantee. That would give her a few more months’ grace to rush on her rearmament programme before Hitler makes another of his positively last demands.’
    ‘You consider that he is absolutely insatiable?’
    ‘Absolutely. If the Poles give him Danzig he will discover that some Germans are being ill-treated in the Corridor; and, before the autumn is out, he will threaten to march in unless they give him that.’
    ‘Is there nothing that can be done to stop it?’
    ‘Nothing, I’m afraid. We can only hope for a postponement, provided the price is not too high.’
    Lucretia’s tapering eyebrows drew together in a puzzled frown. ‘What do you mean by that?’
    ‘Simply that, if Hitler will be content with Danzig, well and good; but he may be asking for a rectification of Poland’s western frontier as well. If Mack agrees to that, the Poles will lose their forward defence lines, thus making themselves much more vulnerable to invasion later on.’
    ‘Just as the Czechs were deprived of their Sudeten line before they had even a chance to strike a blow?’
    ‘Exactly. And, in consequence, Britain lost a staunch and powerful ally. She will need all the help she can get when the great showdown does come, and I don’t want to see the Polish Eagle shorn of her talons before she has dipped them deep in German blood.’
    ‘Surely the object lesson of Czechoslovakia is far too recent for the Poles to allow themselves to be tricked into a situation where they may wake up one morning to find their