After a moment Gregory replied, 'Stefan, knowing your courage so well, I don't doubt that you feel that you have good founds for your fears. But even if you are right about Malacou Being a Satanist I cannot believe that he has the power to harm us. By that I mean harm us spiritually. At least, not as long as we retain our own faith and convictions in what is right; and foresee no difficulty in doing that. For the rest, whether he is good or evil he is on our side against the Nazis and his help may prove invaluable. Situated as we are, we cannot afford o forgo help from any quarter, so-'
`There might be something in your argument if we could trust him,' Kuporovitch broke in. `But we cannot. And you need no telling how dangerous it can be in our game to collaborate with a person who deceives you.'
`Why should you suppose that he is doing that?
'Because he has already done so by leading us to believe im to be a Turk. When he learned the truth about us he should have told us the truth about himself, but he did not. While I was a young Czarist officer my regiment was stationed for two years down in Georgia, on the Turkish frontier. On two occasions I spent my leave in Constantinople, as we used to all it then. I never learned to speak Turkish but I picked up enough of it to know it still when I hear it spoken. He may have lived in Turkey, but he is not a Turk. When he spoke to that hunchback servant of his he used Yiddish:
`You think he is a Jew, then?
'I do not think; I am certain of it. The moment I saw his daughter my suspicions were aroused. Her red hair and the shape of her nose would lead any Russian to put her down as Polish Jewess. I gave them the benefit of the doubt until he spoke to his servant: That clinched it. I'd bet my last kopec that he's simply adopted a Turkish ending to his name and that it
is not Ibrahim Malacou, but Abraham Malacchi. For Jews to be still free in Germany is now unheard of. Of course, it's possible that the Nazis may believe these people to be Turks. But if the truth about them is known they can only have been left free as stool pigeons. Their having failed to come clean with us points to that; so it's my belief that we've fallen into a trap. Holding us up was just a clever act to win our confidence, and when they've got all they can out of us they'll turn us over to the Gestapo.'
5
Of Good and Evil in their Stars
For half a minute Gregory's brain worked overtime, assessing the degree of danger with which Kuporovitch's discovery might menace them; then he said:
`I don't doubt you're right about his being a Jew by birth, Stefan; and at my first sight of her I scared myself stiff by getting just the sort of idea you have in mind. But we do know 'that von Altern was Military Attach in Turkey, so there are good grounds for believing that he met and married Khurrem while he was there. Jews have no country of their own and are migratory people; so if Malacchi, as you say his real name probably is, as born a Polish Jew and emigrated to Turkey there would be nothing surprising about that; or that he should have changed his name to Malacou and taken Turkish nationality. If he did he's got a Turkish passport and the Germans won't go out of their way to upset neutrals by throwing their subjects into the bin. As for Khurrem, she's in the clear because it would be on the record as a Turkish woman who married quite high-up pro-Nazi. If I'm right I see no reason at all why the Gestapo should have put tabs on them.'
`But the Gestapo might get wise at any time to the fact that they are really Jews,' Kuporovitch argued. `If that happened they wouldn't give a damn about Malacchi having a Turkish passport but come here and carry them off to a concentration camp. Then we too, as their guests, would indirectly become aspect. I maintain that he ought to have come clean and warned us of that risk.'
`I think you are making a mountain out of a molehill, Stefan. Remember, the Nazis' persecution of the Jews has been going on for ten years now, and it's six months since Frau von Altern was deprived of any protection her husband could have afforded her. If the Gestapo had found out about these people they would have pulled them in months ago, so the risk that they may do so now is negligible. I think, too, that it's quite understandable that Malacou should have concealed from us the fact that he is a Jew. After all, as far as he's concerned the fewer people who know about that the better; and he must have taken into account the possibility of our being caught. He would be certain to reason that if we were, and had our thumbs screwed off, we' should betray him.'
The Russian sighed. `Perhaps I have made too much of the danger entailed by his having deceived us about being a Jew. But there remains what is, to my mind, the far greater risk to us in remaining here.'
`About that I have already told you my view,' Gregory replied firmly. `The very fact that these people are Jews makes it much more certain that they honestly intend to give us their help in getting the better of the Nazis. And we need their help in whatever way they can give it.'
`Even if they are in league with the Devil?' Kuporovitch asked dubiously.
`Yes. If Malacou communes, as you believe, with evil spirits, that is his affair, not ours. We have secured what I believe to be a safe base here, from which to proceed with our mission, and if we left it we have no other we could make for. Besides, you seem to have forgotten that he has our wireless. Without it any information we may secure would be useless, as we should be unable to transmit it to London.
'Mon Dieu, yes! When he revealed that he had tricked us out of that I was surprised that you made no protest.'
`I refrained because I was convinced that it would have been useless. You can hardly blame him, either, for having taken steps to make certain that we should not use it. As a matter of fact I had intended to let Erika and Madeleine know, via S.O.E. and Sir Pellinore that we had landed without accident and found safe harborage. Malacou guessed I'd do something of the kind and he was not to know that I'd have sent only a single prearranged code signal, which it's certain, would have passed unnoticed in the general traffic.'
`Then you refuse to take my advice and leave this place that Malacchi has made a focus for evil.'
'Stefan, in the interests of our mission I must. But I'll not try to keep you here against your will. Since you feel so strongly about this I'll not reproach you if you decide to clear out. By morning I will have thought up some plausible reason to account for your disappearance.'
`No, dear friend, no,' said Kuporovitch heavily. `As you are determined to stay, I will stay too. You know very well that not even fear of the Devil would induce me to desert you. But from now on I shall pray constantly to St. Nicholas to protect is from the dark powers that will seek to ensnare us.'
`Thanks, Stefan.' Gregory laid his hand on the Russian's, shoulder and pressed it. `I'd rather have you with me than any dozen other men, and between us we'll cheat the Devil, if need be, as well as the Nazis. Now let's try to put this business out of our minds and get some sleep, so that we'll be able to face up to any unexpected turn events may take tomorrow.'
The morrow brought no new fears or excitements. Gregory pent a good part of the day going round the home farm with Khurrem, while Kuporovitch loitered about, gossiping in his Broken German with the house servants and the farm labourers. In the evening he paid a visit to the village inn and, in spite of the limitations of language, his genial personality secured him a good reception by the yokels. Although conversation was necessarily stilted he gathered the impression that, while everyone was aware that Frau von Altern had taken to the bottle since her husband's death, she still knew what she was up to as far as the estate was concerned; and that on account of the free clinic that her father held twice a week he was regarded with respect as a local benefactor.