It was not until Thursday that he saw Sabine again. In accordance with their arrangement, she had used the pills he had left with her to keep herself in a state of low fever for the past five days, but was now reported well again. With him he took to the Tower some warmer clothes for her, which included a black turtleneck sweater, black slacks and a black coat, and three bottles of port wine.
He unpacked the suitcase in which he had brought these items in front of Mrs. Sutton, gave the wine into her charge and said, 'I have had to pay for this myself, but I'm hoping that it may help to loosen up our prisoner's tongue. What I want you to do is to give her a bottle each evening after she has had her meal and let her drink as much as she likes. At the end of the week I mean to pay her some evenings visits, and if she has been knocking back the port for an hour or two before I put in an appearance I may get something really worth while out of her.'
'Very good, sir.' Mrs. Sutton accepted his instructions and remarked: 'I bet the Nazis would find a less expensive way to make her talk.' Then she added with a laugh, 'A drop of anything good is so hard to come by these days, it almost makes me wish 1 were in her shoes.'
Gregory laughed too, and, taking the clothes, went in to see Sabine. He told her nothing about his talk with Kasdar and only, to keep her spirits up, that although he had as yet not been able to formulate any definite plan for getting her out, he had various ideas on the subject and was determined to make the attempt when he had decided which offered the best prospect of success.
First thing next morning he went to the M.I.5 office and made his report, disclosing some more of the information that he had received from Sabine on his first visit, and adding that he felt almost certain now that Nichoulic had been her contact at the Moldavian Embassy.
'You are doing very well,' said Colonel 'Himmler' briskly. 'Stick to it. Try to get us confirmation about Nichoulic; so that we can ask the F.O. to require his removal. I have a lot to do. You must excuse me now. I'll be seeing you.'
As Gregory was on afternoon duty in the War Room, he went straight down to the Tower, and he spent the best part of two hours with Sabine. He told her that in order to prolong the interrogation it was necessary to break new ground, and suggested that although she had refused to tell him about her visits to Berchtesgaden when they were in Budapest, she should do so now.
At first she showed reluctance, but Gregory told her that her only chance of freedom lay in providing him with material for feeding M.I.5; so that no arrangements to bring her to trial would be made for at least another week and that, as it would be checked up, should she tell a lot of lies the interrogation would be called off and her trial brought forward. He added that, since she was convinced that Hitler would win the war, nothing she could say about him and his entourage was really going to cut very much ice.
Persuaded by these arguments she gave him some most intriguing data about Hitler's private life and those of the people round him. By twelve o'clock they were through, so Gregory was in time to catch Colonel 'Himmler' in St. James's Street before he went out to lunch.
He reported that Sabine had now definitely admitted Nichoulic to be her contact, upon which the Colonel beamed through his bifocals and said, 'Well done, you've been a great help to us. Now I can tell the Provost Marshal’s people to go ahead and arrange about her trial. You'll be wanted as a witness, of course.'
'I wonder if it wouldn't be worth while to postpone her trial for a bit,' Gregory suggested tentatively. 'It is nothing to do with me, but this morning I got her talking about the top Nazis. As Ribbentrop's mistress she knew them all personally, you know. I found the low-down she was giving me fascinating, and I'm sure I could get a lot more out of her. Still, perhaps that sort of thing isn't of much value?'
It was a critical moment. If his proposal were rejected he would have to fall back on Sabine's taking more of the temperature raising pills he had given her as a means of postponing her trial and, far worse, he might find it difficult to pay more than another one or two visits to her on the excuse of tying up loose ends. However, he felt on fairly safe ground and almost at once the Colonel gave the sort of answer he had expected.
'That kind of material is of no value to me, but it would be of great interest to the branch of the firm that operates abroad. I'll have a word with them and one of their people will get in touch with you at the Cabinet Offices.'
Greatly relieved, Gregory walked across the Park to lunch in the basement mess at the end of the corridor in which the War Room lay, then went on duty. That evening one of the Royal Marine orderlies came in to say that there was an officer outside who wished to see him. Out in the corridor he found a small grey-haired Major who introduced himself and said in a naturally low voice, 'I've come to talk to you about the prisoner in the Tower.'
As there was no waiting room Gregory took him down a side passage and into one of the emergency bedrooms always kept in readiness for members of the War Cabinet it happened to be Mr. Attlee's. It was furnished simply with an iron bed, washstand, small table for use as a desk, scrambler telephone and two hard chairs. They sat on the bed talking for a few minutes then the Major moved to the table and took notes of Sabine's disclosures. When they had finished, he said:
'This stuff may come in very handy some time or other. Please get from her all you can; particularly about any of the top Generals she happens to know, but even the names and peculiarities of Hitler's servants might prove useful. The Chief of my branch is rather against people coming to our office; so I'll come to see you here again, if you don't mind. What times suit you best?'
'My duty hours vary,'. Gregory replied. 'But I am supplying her with drink, as I find that she is much more forthcoming when she has had a few; and to take the best advantage of that I mean to arrange my shifts for some days now so that I can see her after dinner in the evening. That means I'll be here all day, most days; but it would be best if you ring me up just to make certain I am here.'
'All right. I'll do that. There is no point in my coming to see you every day. I'll give you a ring on Monday, and come in to collect all the dope you have managed to get by then.'
After dinner that night Gregory went to see Sir Pellinore. The meeting was not a happy one. Gregory reported the progress he had made to date, then flatly refused the Baronet's pleas that he should give up his plan. Seeing that nothing would move him, Sir Pellinore, being a man of his word, divulged, albeit with great reluctance and misgiving, the 'Most Secret' information that he had secured for him.
On Saturday afternoon good news came through from the Western Desert. For the past week the Eighth Army and the Afrika Corps had been engaged in a tremendous slogging match at El Alamein. Many tanks had been destroyed on both sides and the British had taken a considerable number of prisoners; but so far General Montgomery had failed to dislodge Rommel from his main positions. Now it was reported that another all-out attack had been launched that morning and definite breaches had been made in the German defences.
At six o'clock Gregory went down to the Tower and spent an hour with Sabine, questioning her about Hitler's principal Military advisers, their habits, vices and personal backgrounds. At seven Mrs. Sutton brought in her evening meal; so he left her. Out in the hall he said to the wardress: her a late visit. How is the supply of port going?'
The wardress' went to the cupboard and showed him that there was one bottle left. He said with a smile, 'I could do with a drink, although it is hardly the hour for port. Let's open it and have one. I'll bring some more down tomorrow. You'll join me, won't you?'