Codeword Golden Fleece by Dennis Wheatley Read Free Book Online

General Mack’s entourage. Have you discovered a stack of dynamite all ready to be detonated in the cellar?’
    He acknowledged her jest with no more than a faint smile and silently handed her the letter, which simply said:
    I’m sorry to tell you that Uncle has taken a turn for the worse, and I doubt if he’ll last over the weekend. If you want to see him while there is still time you had better return to England immediately.
    I hope that you have been enjoying a pleasant holiday, and I’m sorry to drag you back, but I feel sure you would like to be with us when poor Uncle finally expires.
    ‘What does it mean?’ Lucretia asked, with a puzzled frown.
    ‘It is from a friend of mine in Whitehall who promised to give me the tip when the time came,’ replied the Duke. ‘By “Uncle” he means the Peace of Europe.’

4
A Traitor’s Price
    ‘Hell!’ exclaimed Lucretia.
    ‘Yes, it will be hell indeed,’ de Richleau agreed soberly.
    She shook her head impatiently. ‘I wasn’t thinking of the war.’
    ‘Indeed!’ he remarked with an asperity which he rarely used towards her. ‘At the moment when one learns pretty definitely that no more can be done to stop several million innocent people from being murdered or maimed by high explosives, I find it difficult to think of anything else.’
    ‘I was thinking of Jan.’
    The Duke’s face softened. ‘Yes, Poland will need every man she has who can fly a plane; so Jan will be in it. Tell me—have you fallen in love with him?’
    ‘I—I don’t really know.’
    He laid his hand gently on her arm. ‘Had things been otherwise I could wish that you had. You’re still young yet, darling, and incredibly lovely. I’ve prayed for years that you wouldn’t let that tragic affair in Spain ruin your whole life. Jan’s a good fellow with a lot more in him than appears at first sight. But, as things are, perhaps it’s just as well that you’re still uncertain.’
    ‘But I
want
to be certain,’ she burst out suddenly. ‘I thought I’d never love again. Cristoval’s face always seemed to come between mine and that of every man who attracted me. Yet, I wanted love. I’ve been so desperately lonely. And Jan is the first man who has ever succeeded in banishing my ghosts when I’m with him. The awful thing is that in a few more days I would have known one way or the other.’
    ‘Why should you think that?’
    ‘Because tonight I agreed to go off on a trip with him. He was going to fly me down to Wieliezka. It’s near Cracow, and there are wonderful salt mines there. Huge caves of glittering crystal that have been worked on ever since the twelfth century.’
    De Richleau nodded. ‘Yes, I was taken there several times as a boy. Twenty or thirty generations of miners have hewn ballrooms, chapels, altars and sanctuaries out of the rock salt, andthe caves are like a fairy palace hidden under a mountain. It is one of the show places of Poland. But why should a visit to Wieliezka provide you with the answer as to whether you love Jan or not?’
    ‘We were going to stay the weekend in Cracow, at the palace of one of his friends. I should have had him for three days almost entirely to myself; and I’m sure I would have known after that.’
    ‘All right,’ said the Duke, with sudden decision. ‘You had better go then.’
    Her face lit up, then quickly fell again. ‘But how about getting back to England? If war does break out over the weekend we might get caught here.’
    De Richleau had been doing some very swift thinking. He had no desire at all to find himself stranded at the other end of Europe once Hitler had unleashed his legions; but Lucretia’s happiness was of immense importance to him. Now that the icy hand which for so long had gripped her heart had at last begun to thaw he knew that he could not bring himself to deprive her of this chance to break the spell for good, even if she must be separated afterwards from the man who had wrought the miracle, by this