The old servant smiled.
“No, sir, just long training.”
He went to a sideboard in a corner and fetched out a bottle of Jaegermeister. Soon its mellow fire was coursing through their veins. Anton provided them with a meal of the ubiquitous leberwurst, ham, cheese and black bread, but there was also some marvellously fresh butter and a cold game pie with a glazed golden crust to turn the occasion into a feast. They ate in silence, concentrating their whole attention on what they were doing in the manner of starving people. Anton tactfully withdrew into the kitchen and left them to themselves and their repast.
Finally Leopold gave a sigh and pushed back his chair.
“That,” he said, stretching out his legs, “was the most beautiful meal I have ever had. It was almost worth the whole adventure.”
Frankie looked at him affectionately.
“You are still a child, Leopold. Your stomach means everything to you.”
The youth showed a rare gleam of humour.
“Not everything,” he said with a grin.
She laughed.
“I love you, Leopold — when you are not being serious.”
“I am only serious about you, Frankie,” he said directly.
“Well, you shouldn’t be.” She seemed anxious to change the subject but feminine enough not to let it go too easily.
“Serious, I mean. People who are serious are usually dull. Is that not so, Simon?”
“No,” answered the Saint, expanding his sinewy frame in a sudden cat-like movement, his arms behind his head. “I don’t find them dull at all. The ones I meet are usually quite seriously out to get me. They may be a nuisance but they are not dull.”
Frankie gave him a quizzical look. “I think you are trying to be tactful. But if we must be serious, what do we do now?”
Simon smiled at her. When he was in the right mood, the Saint’s smile could be quite an experience for ladies on the receiving end. Frankie blushed, as the personality of this strange man seemed physically to envelop her. Watching them, Leopold fidgeted and did not attempt to conceal his jealousy.
“I’ll find out from Anton when he expects to hear from Max,” replied the Saint. “But first, tell us how you came to be captured by the Gestapo.” His tone and manner brooked no argument. “No more holding out. We’ve waited for it too long already.”
She met his challenging gaze with bland composure.
“I arranged it.”
Leopold sat straight up in his chair.
“You did what?”
“I wanted them to capture me. In fact, I wasn’t really captured at all. I just walked up to the guards at the outer gate and told them who I was. They telephoned the Castle and they were kind enough to send a whole squad of soldiers to escort me. The Germans are always very respectful when it comes to dealing with people of title.”
The Saint nodded approvingly.
“That was a very good touch. What better way of getting into the Castle than to get your enemies actually to compel you to go in.”
“That’s what I thought.”
“But what good did you think that was going to do?” protested Leopold. “Surely you couldn’t have imagined that they would let you wander about unguarded? You must have known they would put you straight into a dungeon.”
Her smile mocked him.
“I did — and they did just that.”
He flushed angrily.
“Then you are a complete idiot — eine dumme Gans! It is typical of you. You go through life thinking people will always come along and pull you out of whatever mess you get into.”
“Which is just what you both did,” Frankie said sweetly.
Leopold stuttered with rage.
“You... you... are totally irresponsible! You don’t mind what trouble you cause to others just as long as you get your way. We might have been captured or even killed!”
Frankie wafted a smile in the Saint’s direction. “Do you agree?”
Simon nodded.
“He’s dead right, but you’re pretty enough to get away with it.”
She was obviously pleased with the compliment, especially as it came from him. In spite of that, she shook her head.
“But I am not so irresponsible as you both think.”
“No?” The Saint’s eyebrows were raised satirically.
“No, no!” she reiterated, her eyes wide with excitement that she was finding it harder and harder to suppress.
“Oh no?” sneered Leopold. “All you’ve done is to put the Germans in Schloss Este on their guard, nearly get us killed, and turn us into fugitives. I tell you, I am not used to this sort of thing and I don’t like it unless there is a good reason for it. What you hoped to achieve I can’t imagine.”
“This!” she said proudly, flinging back the shawl from her neck and shoulders.
The jewels in the Hapsburg Necklace flashed and glinted on her bosom with a brilliance that made them seem alive.
3
Leopold could only gape at her.
The Saint exhaled a breath of utter joy and delight.
“Very neat,” he remarked. “And very dramatic too. You’d make a sensational actress and an even better producer. Your sense of timing is perfect.”
“But... but...” stammered Leopold. “Where... how... how did you get it?”
Her smile was wicked.
“I just went straight to the place where it was.”
“You couldn’t have. They put you into a dungeon. You told us so yourself! ”
“Exactly.”
“All right then, how did you get out?”
She was like a cat playing with an irritated mouse, Simon thought. He was amused by the quaintness of his simile. He gave Frankie a conspiratorial wink.
“I got her out,” he told the frustrated young man.
“I know that!” exploded Leopold. “I mean how did she get out before you came along?”
“I didn’t,” Frankie said demurely.
Leopold stamped his foot furiously.
“Stop playing games! This is a serious business, and you have caused enough trouble already without trying to turn it all into a joke.”
“I think,” murmured Simon, “that you’d better come clean, Frankie, before your cousin has a seizure.”
The girl’s smile made a bond between them.
“He really should be intelligent enough to guess. You have, haven’t you, Simon?”
He nodded.
“But I’m an old rogue, much versed in the ways of the wicked, even when they are beautiful girls.”
She turned to Leopold.
“You really are a stupid idiot,” she said unkindly but without malice. “Do you mean to tell me that you’ve no idea?”
“I am no longer playing your game,” he said sullenly.
“Leopold, stop behaving like a spoilt child.”
“I think,” interjected the Saint, “that he wouldn’t mind if you were to thank him for all the trouble he went to to get you out of the Castle.”
Frankie jumped up and flung her arms around Leopold and kissed him.
“Thank you, thank you, mein Schatz! I am very naughty, but I am truly grateful, and you were very brave.”
Leopold went a brick red, but he could not help being honest.
“It was not all me,” he said, glancing over at Simon.
Frankie triumphantly took up a position in front of the fire.
“All right then, I’ll tell you.”
“You do just that,” the Saint pursued her sardonically.
Frankie was enjoying her moment of glory, which she had been looking forward to.
“It’s really so simple if you just think about it. As I have already told you, I got into the Castle by letting myself be captured — quite deliberately. To do something that dangerous I must have had a really important objective. In fact, I must have known not only where the Necklace was hidden but also that I should be able to get at it from where I was certain to finish up.”