'Of course, Colonel. You may rely on us.' Cochefert gave a quick bow. 'It may even prove that we can be of some assistance to you.'
'Yes, sir,' Puttony added quickly, 'If you want a watch kept on certain people, please don't hesitate to let me know. Apart from being an officer in the Security Police I am also the commander of an Arrow Cross Youth Section; and my lads will do just as I tell them without asking questions.'
Standing up, Gregory replied, 'I thank you both. Should an occasion arise when I need the help of either of you, I will certainly avail myself of it. Now, let us go downstairs and, without ostentation, drink a baratsch to the health of our glorious Führer.'
Taking their agreement for granted, he strode towards the door. But just inside it he turned suddenly and said to Puttony, 'By the by, you still have my pistol.' With a murmured apology, the Lieutenant handed it over. Hiding a smile, Gregory pocketed it and, with the arrogance in keeping with his new role, marched on, leaving his 'collaborators' to tag along behind him.
Down in the courtyard, at a small table across which the leafy branches above now cast long shadows, he became genial and talkative, while maintaining the sort of condescending charm suited to a lordly representative of the Herren volk who wished to make himself pleasant.
Over the drinks he learnt that he had got nearer to the mark than he knew when inventing a mission for Himmler to give him. Puttony disclosed that the Hungarian Nazis were worried and angry because their country was not pulling its weight in the war. They had already made representations to the Führer about it, with the recommendation that he should summon Regent Horthy to Berchtesgaden and insist on his purging both his Cabinet and Government offices of their lukewarm elements.
Gregory guessed that the move was an attempt by the Arrow Cross leaders to secure a number of the key jobs for themselves, with the hope that this would later enable them to get control of the country. But he thought it unlikely that it would come off. Whatever the Regent might be bullied into promising, the magnates were too firmly entrenched and the Hungarian Nazis still too few and lacking in influence for it to come to anything in practice. Nevertheless he regarded the information as a windfall, since it would make an excellent lever for exerting pressure on the Committee appointed to discuss terms with the Allies.
As soon as his visitors had gone he took stock of his situation. Upstairs in his room he had had to skate on the thinnest possible ice, and there had been several nasty moments when he had thought that nothing could save him from going through it. Even Einholtz's Gestapo card had been a doubtful asset as, although it was genuine after all that had gone before, and the fact that Heydrich had now been dead for three months, he had half expected it to be declared a forgery, or Cochefert to accuse him of stealing it. That it had instantly been accepted at its face value had saved his bacon. But, all the same, he was far from happy at having had to produce it.
On the credit side, doing so had completely cleared him in Cochefert's eyes, and Puttony could now be counted on to stall off tactfully any unwelcome interest that the State Security Police might begin to take in his activities. In addition, with the subtlety and swiftness which made him such a brilliant secret agent, he had improvised a reason for his imaginary orders from Himmler which would give him better cover for his own mission. Not only was he now free of any necessity to implement his old cover by calling on several foie gras merchants, but he could hobnob with the Hungarian aristocracy as often as he pleased without it being thought strange that a truffle farmer should do so.
But on the debit side Cochefert and Puttony now both believed him to be a fairly senior official of the Gestapo and that might prove his complete undoing. It was a sure thing that the Gestapo would have Liaison Officers in Budapest with their own headquarters, and that the normal drill would have been for him to report there on his arrival. Should Puttony, after all, prove indiscreet and a mention of 'Commandant Tavenier's' mission reach the ears of one of those Liaison Officers, the fat would be in the fire with a vengeance. The thought of such a possibility quite spoilt Gregory's dinner.
He was uncomfortably aware that his only really safe course was to leave Budapest next morning but, now that his mission showed such promise of developing from a tentative reconnaissance into a concrete hope of bringing Hungary over to the Allies in the comparatively near future, he felt that he could not possibly throw his hand in prematurely. He knew that opportunity did not often knock twice on the same door, and that some hazard of war might soon change the outlook of the Hungarian nobles. He had them well warmed up now, so must remain in Budapest until they had completed their 'Heads of Agreement' for him to take back to London. Then the Foreign Office would have the chance to strike while the iron was hot.
He endeavoured to comfort himself with the thought that Puttony must have had security training; so it was really very long odds against his gossiping. Anyhow, it was a risk that must be taken, and the only way to minimize it was to urge the Committee to complete their deliberations as swiftly as possible.
The Committee met the following afternoon in a small private room at the Nobles Club. Count Zsigmond Szegenyhaz, a tall thin man with the delicate features of a dilettante intellectual, was the second oldest member of it. He was also the head of a department in the Hungarian Foreign Office; so obviously the best choice for Chairman, and he was duly elected. After the preliminary of drafting their own 'Terms of Reference' had been completed, Gregory asked leave to speak and addressed the Committee at some length on the question of Security.
He pointed out that while the work the Committee was engaged upon' was inspired by the highest patriotism it could be classed as treason, and that if its activities came to the ears of pro Germans in the State Security Police the Government would be compelled to take notice of it. Should that happen, however anxious the Regent might be to protect friends and relations of his who were involved, Hitler would be certain to demand that drastic steps should be taken against them. Therefore, if for no other reason than to save the Regent from grave embarrassment, it was only right that they should take all possible precautions to keep their proceedings secret.
The sound sense of this was admitted and as a move in the right direction it was agreed that, instead of future meetings being held at the Club, they should take place at the home of each member in turn.
Gregory then went on to give an account of his narrow escape from arrest the preceding evening, and ended by repeating Lieutenant Puttony's statement to the effect that the leaders of the Arrow Cross Party had recently made representations to Hitler that he should summon the Regent to Berchtesgaden and insist that Hungarian affairs should be brought more into line with Nazi interests.
Count Zsigmond nodded. 'What he said is true. But the Regent has consistently refused to kowtow to Hitler, and I am glad to say that he has refused to go to Berchtesgaden. However, the Germans' case for Hungary's bearing a greater share of the war burden could not be ignored; so it has been agreed that Ribbentrop should come here for discussions. He is due to arrive early next week.'
'Do you know the form his demands will take?' enquired the Bishop.
'Only in general. It is certain that he will ask for further reinforcements for the Russian front, and for much greater supplies of food than we are sending to Germany at present. He will probably also ask us to receive considerable numbers of refugees from the bombed cities. They would be useless mouths, of course: old people and young children who cannot be employed in the German factories.'