Dennis Wheatley - Duke de Richleau 06 by Codeword-Golden Fleece

Author:Codeword-Golden Fleece [Fleece, Codeword-Golden]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

13 - Midnight Visitors

The Duke lay very still and waited. Someone was climbing in at the window now. He caught the faint scrape of a boot as it was drawn across the sill, and wondered who his stealthy visitor by night would prove to be. That it was a hotel thief or burglar was the most probable explanation, and before his memory had been revived by sleep de Richleau would have accepted that.

But now the thought of von Geisenheim had become like a nagging pain of which he could not rid himself. Had the German General recognised him from some trick of gesture such as that by which he had betrayed himself? Would he associate the three men he had seen getting into the car outside Teleuescu’s house with the barge deal? Not in the ordinary way, perhaps, because Teleuescu might have been transacting any one of a score of different business projects with them, or they might have been making a social call, perhaps not even on the Rumanian magnate himself but on some member of his family. Yet, if von Geisenheim had recognised the man who had held him up at Lubieszow, that quick brain of his was capable of forming some very swift conclusions.

There was a faint whisper at the window now, as a second uninvited visitor climbed inside. De Richleau raised his gun a little, and the thoughts racing through his mind about von Geisenheim sped on. The Germans knew that Teleuescu was thinking of disposing of his majority holdings in the barge combine to someone, and who could that someone be if not the British? And, if the British did not wish their Legation to appear openly in the matter what better agent could they select to act for them than that widely travelled and most knowledgeable man, Monseigneur le Duc de Richleau, whose personal prestige all over Europe was such that even kings would speak with him on the same terms as they would to a properly accredited plenipotentiary extraordinaire?

Yes, that was it, de Richleau decided. Von Geisenheim had spotted him and lost no time in acting on his shrewd assessment of the situation. That one of the men now stealthily fumbling with the curtain was the General himself the Duke did not think likely for a moment. Von Geisenheim would never undertake such a mission in person. But there were his agents whom von Geisenheim, no doubt believing that the Duke already had the signed option in his possession, had sent to procure the deed. ‘Well, they will be disappointed,’ thought de Richleau. ‘What is more, they will look extremely foolish in a few minutes’ time when-I hand them over to the hotel detective at the point of my gun.’

One—or both—of them was through the curtains and now advancing cautiously towards the Duke’s bed. He had been waiting for that in order to be able to cover them before they could get away, and, in any case, make certain of seeing their faces.

Suddenly sitting up in bed, he stretched out his left hand and switched on the bedside light.

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