Free Codeword Golden Fleece by Dennis Wheatley

know that Lubieszow was right out here in Eastern Poland? All you said on the telephone was to get on the night train for Warsaw, and you’d have a car to meet us at the station. Marie Lou and I might quite well have assumed that Lubieszow was only half an hour’s drive from the capital. If it had been we would have had the best part of the day here today and all tomorrow as well, and still have been able to catch the train out of Warsaw that we hope to take tomorrow night. Two days and a night is not an unreasonable visit to people one has never met before, particularly when one’s visit is proposed by a third party solely on account of the place being considered something of a beauty spot.’
    De Richleau nodded. ‘I believe you’ve hit it, Richard. Anyhow, we might rack our brains all night and not think of anything better. You can say, too, that the line to Vienna was badlast night, and when I said that I meant to leave here on Monday you
thought
I said that I meant to get home by Monday, so you were under the impression that we should all be travelling together.’
    ‘That’s it; and naturally I thought that if you could make it we could too, without curtailing our visit to a point that must now seem almost rudeness. It’s just an unfortunate mix-up which we couldn’t regret more, but we’re sure our monkey-faced hostess will understand how impossible it is for us to disappoint Fleur by not being home in time to spend her birthday evening with her.’
    ‘Exactly,’ purred the Duke. ‘And the sooner you get hold of Marie Lou the better. She can tell the Baroness that she knew there must have been some mistake directly she realised this morning that she was in for a full day’s car run, but she didn’t like to say anything immediately on her arrival or make you both look foolish by mentioning it at dinner. Directly she has made her excuses, I will arrange with the Baron’s man for a car to be ready to take you back to Warsaw tomorrow morning. You must see our Ambassador there and tell him the whole story, then he will pass it on to London by high-grade cipher. He may be able to arrange seats on a plane for you, too, which will get you home via Stockholm or Copenhagen. It’s too late to risk going via Germany, but, in any case, once you have handed in your stuff to our Embassy there will be no violent hurry, and, if you like to wait in Warsaw till Monday evening, Lucretia and I will join you there.’
    ‘That’s what we’ll do then, Richard agreed, as they turned to walk back to the house.
    Returning to the lounge through the French windows which gave on to the terrace, de Richleau mixed himself a drink and walked over to show a feigned interest in the card-players, while Richard went in search of Marie Lou.
    He found her in the company of the tall, fair Pole, Jaljusz, and young Stanislas; and it took all his tact plus half an hour of playful badinage before he succeeded in getting his wife to admit that she was really tired after her long day and ought to go to bed. With obvious reluctance the two Poles accepted their dismissal and Richard led Marie Lou off into another room, where he explained as swiftly as he could that it was necessary for them to leave Lubieszow early next morning, and the excuse he was proposing to make for doing so.
    Marie Lou asked no questions. She had already sensed that something abnormal was going on, and guessed that the Duke was behind this sudden decision that they should leave earlier than they had planned. She agreed at once, and they went to look for their hostess.
    A quarter of an hour later they joined de Richleau in the lounge. He moved away from the card tables at their approach, and his grey ‘devil’s’ eyebrows lifted slightly in interrogation.
    Richard gave an almost indiscernible nod, and Marie Lou said softly: ‘It’s all right, Greyeyes. The Baroness was naturally surprised at first, but when I explained about Fleur’s birthday she couldn’t have been