Soon after tea had been brought in Wuolijoki arrived. He was a small, dark man, only a few years older than Gregory; his eyes were black and quick with a humorous twinkle in them and as he spoke he used his hands all the time to gesture, like a Frenchman.
Erika introduced Gregory as Oberst-Baron von Lutz. Gregory clicked his heels and bowed in the approved manner; he then presented his letter of introduction from Goering.
Wuolijoki read it through carefully and handed it back. "May I see your passport, Herr Oberst-Baron?" he inquired blandly.
"Certainly." Gregory produced the German one that had been made out for him.
Wuolijoki flicked through it and returned it as he said: "That is all in order. Welcome to Finland, Baron. How did you leave our good friend the Marshal?"
"Well but worried," Gregory replied. "He is entirely satisfied as to the progress that Germany’s war effort is making but he is gravely concerned for Finland."
"Ah," Wuolijoki shot out his hands, "our dilemma is a terrible one indeed but it is good to know that we have the sympathy of the Marshal and all those sound elements which he represents in the new Germany. Where is this document, mentioned in the letter, which he states will be of such great assistance to us?"
"At the moment I believe that it's in the safe at the Helsinki Gestapo headquarters."
"But was it wise to leave it there? Unfortunately all Germans are not as yourselves and it is in the interests of the von Ribbentrop party that we should give way to Russia."
"I didn't leave it there," Gregory confessed. "I meant to bring it to you personally this afternoon but it was stolen from me at about two o'clock. It's for that reason we asked you to come here. I wanted to ask you outside the Foreign Office if you could give me your assistance to get it back."
Wuolijoki gasped; bowed to Erika as she handed him a glass of milk less tea with lemon and sugar, sat down and said: "What a blow This is a major calamity. Do you know what was in the document?"
"Yes. It's quite impossible for me to remember all the details with which it is packed, because it. took Marshal Goering nearly six hours to dictate, but I was with him the whole time so I can give you a general resume of its contents." Gregory then proceeded to describe Goering's Herculean effort and ended up by relating how the package had been stolen from him by Grauber that morning.
"Why should a Gestapo agent steal a German officer's papers?" asked Wuolijoki; and Gregory knew that he was on difficult ground. It had been essential to use his fake British passport at the air-port, otherwise he would have been faced with all sorts of awkward questions as to why he had arrived in the company of an R.A.F. pilot; and, in case of a check-up by the police, to use it again at the hotel afterwards. But on no account must Wuolijoki be allowed to suspect that the Colonel Baron was really an Englishman, for the Finnish diplomat would then never believe that he had come from Goering and, owing to his extreme pro-German feelings, would change at once from a potential friend to a dangerous enemy. But Gregory was prepared for such a question and replied calmly:
"Because he knows that I was one of the officers concerned in the recent Army Putsch. It was for that reason Marshal Goering chose me as his messenger. I have been in hiding on my estate in Brandenburg for the past three weeks so I'm no longer on the Army register and am presumed either to be dead or to have escaped abroad. Therefore the Marshal was able to send me out of the country without arousing the suspicion which would
have attached to the sudden disappearance of one of his own staff.'
The Finnish diplomat appeared satisfied as he said: "I suppose this man, Grauber, got on to you when you checked in it the air-port? The Gestapo would almost certainly have one of their spies among our officials there."
"No. We thought of that, and to evade such a possibility the Marshal gave me a faked British passport and a British prisoner-of-war pilot, who agreed, as the price of his liberty, to bring me over. He also provided us with a Belgian plane. Grauber got on to me at the Hotel Kamp because I am posing here as a British subject."
Gregory lit a cigarette and puffed it with considerable satisfaction. He felt that he had very neatly circumvented a nasty snag which might have arisen at any time if Wuolijoki had happened to hear that a man answering the description of colonel-Baron von Lutz had arrived in Finland on a British passport and accompanied by a British flying-officer.
"The Cabinet are sitting now," said Wuolijoki suddenly. 'They have been in almost perpetual session for the last three lays but they will take their final decision to-night. Our great patriot, Marshal Mannerheim, is urging them to fight and the people are behind him; but the Government still hesitate. They are afraid not for themselves but of the terrible responsibility that will rest upon their shoulders if our women and children are massacred and our towns and villages devastated by Russian combs. I fear that the Red Air-Force demonstration over Helsinki an hour ago will seriously have weakened the moderates among them, who may now go over to the 'peace at-any-price' party."
It's by no means certain that there will be air-raids in the event of war," Gregory argued. "We Germans have so far refrained from bombing London."
"That is true. And I think that in any case the Cabinet would decide to fight if only they could be certain that the Red army will not overrun the country in the course of a few days. Marshal Mannerheim declares that he can hold his line, but if he's wrong it would be pointless for us to call upon our people to sacrifice their lives."
"You agree, though, that you would be justified in doing so if the line could be held?"
"Certainly. If we could prevent a Russian break-through for a month there would be a real hope of saving our country.
Norway and Sweden know that we shall be fighting their battle as well as our own and even if they do not openly declare against Russia they will send us munitions, planes and volunteers. Every country in the world will recognize that we are championing the ideals of Christian civilization against the evils of atheistic tyranny and they will send us aid of some kind or other. But meanwhile we shall be as David before Goliath, with only the courage of our own little army to throw into the scale against the enormous weight of the Russian masses."
"Marshal Goering's report on the state of the Red Army will convince even your most pessimistic Ministers that Finland can hold out for a month on her own; I'm certain of it," Gregory said swiftly.
"In that case it is vital that we should get it back; but how do you propose that I should help you?"
"Could you find some pretext for your police to raid the Gestapo Headquarters?"
"Wuolijoki shook his head. This is a free country, my friend-not Russia; we do not use such methods here."
"But if the fate of Finland depends upon it," urged Erika. "After all, it is not like asking you to raid the German Legation, which might create an international incident."
The little man turned quickly towards her. "True,Frau Gräfin
. We have no official knowledge that the Gestapo have a Headquarters here at all; it is a private house out in the suburbs, leased by a German citizen. But that does not alter the position. Private property here is sacred whether owned by a Finn or a foreigner."
"If I attempted to burgle the place on my own," Gregory said, "I shouldn't stand a dog's chance; and even if I could get as far as the safe, I have only the most rudimentary knowledge of safe-breaking. That's why our only hope is a raid which will keep the occupants of the place busy while somebody who understands such things tackles the safe. I take it that unofficially you would raise no objection if I organized such a raid privately?"