The Legion of the Lost, стр. 45
Palfrey liked nothing of what he heard.
There were other things which made a better impression. He learned something of the activities of the anti-Nazi faction in Berlin. Sabotage was increasing and a great deal of supplementary damage was done during the R.A.F. raids, when it was easier to get about the city. Palfrey said nothing about the courage of those who braved the perils of a raid to put even more apparent destructiveness into the bombing. The little man talked all the time without a vestige of humour, only an all-transcending hatred of the Nazis.
‘Yes, we do much,’ he told Palfrey, ‘and all the time we improve. We have a chemist amongst us who has been able to prepare a gas—oh, a harmless one!’ he added quickly when Palfrey began to speak. ‘It is a kind of ether, it induces sleep for a few minutes. One of our number goes into important offices and allows the gas to escape, then others follow wearing masks. Much damage has been done to important papers.’
Palfrey nodded. ‘I’d no idea!’ he admitted.
‘We do much,’ repeated his informant, ‘and we are prepared to do more, much more. One day, when an opportunity arises, we can create a great disturbance, for we have men in all positions—why, even in the high offices of what you call Civil Defence. Everywhere they are, waiting for some event of great importance to take action. You are here for such an event, perhaps?’
‘It could be,’ said Palfrey.
He was deep in thought as he walked back to the apartment house in the Kelstrasse, to pass on the information about von Otten and the other things.
They had been given a much better meal than when they had arrived, won out of the drab-looking Hausfrau by another twenty marks. She looked positively coy when Palfrey gave it to her and asked her what she could do in the way of food. There was, she said, a special permit for her to buy for the Swiss lady and gentlemen, but what she bought depended on what money she had. She was supposed to house and feed them for twenty marks a week each; it was all the Party were prepared to pay. She was second to none in her loyalty to the Party, but such payment did not make it easy – she was sure the Herr Professor would understand.
The Herr Professor told her that she need not fear being underpaid.
There was one bath, its enamel flaking and showing the tidemarks of countless visitors. Only cold water ran, but all of them bathed. A little later the Hausfrau came to tell them that their luggage had arrived. That was an event they had forgotten, and when they found five large suitcases waiting for them on the ground floor they were excited and eager. The cases were labelled with their new names—Professor Pienne for Palfrey, Fräulein Berg for Drusilla, Herren Aarlack, Cattorn and Dentz for Andromovitch, Conroy and Brian. They carried them up to the bedrooms; clothes and other necessities piled up on the beds—Drusilla used one side of Palfrey’s for that occasion. Stefan, expecting to find things much too small for him, widened his eyes when he saw a shirt of the size that would probably fit him. In silence they put on outer clothes; the fit was almost perfect. Palfrey scratched his head, and Stefan said softly: ‘Certainly the Marquis has done a good job, Sap.’
‘Er—yes,’ said Palfrey. ‘I suppose so.’
‘It couldn’t be a coincidence that the clothes of the others should fit us all,’ said Stefan, ‘obviously the Marquis arranged to get at the cases.’
‘A comforting thought!’ said Palfrey.
The clothes were serviceable, all marked with the names of well-known Swiss stores – nothing had been left to chance. In the bottom of the cases were boxes of tobacco and cigarettes, slab chocolate, some packets of coffee, tins of meat and soup powders. The Marquis, Conroy said with approval, had done them well. Obviously the Hausfrau, who introduced herself on her third visit as Frau Witt, thought so too. Palfrey did not trust her with all the coffee, but passed on one packet, together with a small slab of chocolate and two tins of meat.
‘For—for me?’ gasped Frau Witt.
‘It is all we can spare, I am afraid,’ said Palfrey, ‘but it will help you a little.’
‘Is Switzerland so well stocked with food?’ whispered the drab woman. Then she seemed to see Drusilla for the first time, because Drusilla was wearing a simple linen frock of navy blue. The woman stepped towards her and fingered the cloth, muttering what seemed to be an incantation under her breath. Then she backed away as if she were in the presence of royalty.
They changed their underclothes and felt as if they were fit to tackle any problem in the world. Palfrey had passed on the warning from von Lichner, but there had been few comments. Even the news that they were suspected to be in Berlin by others than the Baron’s particular faction seemed of little importance then.
Precisely at six o’clock Herr Stolte reappeared.
He declared that he was at their disposal; he had been told to guide them about Berlin and they could be assured that even in Berlin there was much gaiety and night-life – they must not believe all that they heard, for there were many places where tired Party men could rest and recuperate – as well as visitors, of course! And they need not be afraid – wherever he took them there would be good air-raid shelters. He looked nervous as he gave them that assurance. Later, when they were in the street amid the gathering shadows of the evening, which covered all traces of the dirt and drabness, they saw him looking towards the sky. When a bus in the Kurfuerstenstrasse changed gear and made a grating noise Stolte gasped and