Normally Robbie was not a heavy smoker, but as he paced up and down the parched lawn, keeping a watchful eye on the gate beside the garage, he lit cigarette after cigarette. At a quarter to twelve, he noticed the lights of the garage go on, and soon afterward heard the purr of the Rolls as Tompkins drove it off to bring home his master. Another ten minutes went by then, to his heartfelt relief, he saw beyond the iron grille of the side gate a dark figure, that caught the eye more readily owing to the starlight glinting on its white shirt front.
As he let in his visitor, Luke said: 'So you've returned to the fold, Robbie. Your having taken a job with the Czechs is the talk of Athens. I must say I give you full marks for having pulled it off; but a little bird told me that your uncle was so angry that he threw you out.'
'He didn't quite do that,' Robbie replied, leading the way over to the summer house. 'To get the job, I had to pretend I was pro-Communist, and my staying on here wouldn't have fitted in. I meant to move out for a while, anyway, but when I told H.E. what was on, he got terribly shirty and told me that he wouldn't have me back.'
'One can hardly wonder. You have caused him a shocking loss of face. But, as you are back, I assume you've managed to patch things up with him.'
'No.' Robbie gave a heavy sigh as they sat down. 'I'm only here now because this evening I was chased by the police.'
'Good Lord! D'you mean you took sanctuary here, and your uncle doesn't know about it?'
'That's it. If I hadn't, I'd be spending the night in a prison cell.'
'My hat, Robbie! You have got yourself into a mess.'
'I know. I desperately need your advice. That's why I asked you to come over.'
Luke took out a cigar and said: 'All right. Tell me alclass="underline" ' Then he lit the cigar and sat back to listen.
It took Robbie a good ten minutes to give an account of all that had happened to him since last they had met, and he ended up: 'So you see, I've either got to come clean with my uncle and risk his handing me over to stand my trial, or swear I'm innocent and risk the Czechs and the police proving me to be a liar.'
For a moment Luke pulled thoughtfully on his cigar, then said: 'While you were being chased the first time, when you had the brief-case, do you think you were seen by anyone who knows you, and would talk about having seen you chased?'
'Not as far as I know. It's hardly likely. The chase could not nave lasted more than a couple of minutes while I ran less than half the length of Stadium Street. But why do you ask?' i;fl?e°ause' ^ *s so' Czechs are going to find it devilish difficult to prove that you ever stole the brief-case.'
The first policeman whose attention they attracted may have seen me holding it.'
'This happened after dark. In the uncertain light, he might have been mistaken. The fact that you had not got it when you emerged from the building site would throw doubt on his evidence.'
Robbie was hanging on Luke's words. 'Do you ... do you really think, then, there's a chance that the Czechs may not bring a charge? There is the one they meant to trump up about my stealing money, too.'
'About that they haven't got a shred of evidence, so you can count it out. And I think the odds are against their bringing one about the brief-case unless they feel confident they can prove it. You see, it is already assumed in diplomatic circles that you've been ass enough to let them make propaganda out of you. If they do bring a case, it is certain to be thought that, having got you into their toils, this is a plot they have hatched to bring discredit on the British.'
'Then you think my fears about a police chief turning up here in the morning are groundless?'
'One can't say for certain; but there are times when one may save one's bacon by adopting a masterly policy of inactivity, and I'm inclined to think that this is one of them.'
Closing his eyes, Robbie gave a sigh of relief. 'What a marvellous chap you are, Luke. It would never have occurred to me that if I didn't tell my uncle, he might never know anything about it.'
'Of course, there's no guaranteeing that it won't somehow come out later,' Luke felt compelled to warn him.
Robbie nodded. 'That's true; and it makes it all the more rotten luck that I had to abandon the brief-case. If I still had it, I could have afforded to come clean and put myself in the clear once and for all. Being able to hand to my uncle that wad of secret papers would have justified what I've done.' Suddenly struck by an idea, he added: 'I say, though! If you think the police are not likely to grab me, I could go round to that building site tomorrow and collect the brief-case from the place where I hid it.'
Luke shook his head. 'No, Robbie, you mustn't do that. You would be crazy to leave the precincts of the Embassy during the next forty-eight hours. By then, if the Czechs have laid a charge, the police will have had to take some action, and you'll know about it in no uncertain manner from your uncle. But you must give them a chance to come and ask him to hand you over. If they have not shown up by Tuesday, I think you will be able to count yourself in the clear. But if you go out before that, you might land right in the soup.'
'I see. In that case, I'll have to wait till later to collect the briefcase.'
Luke did not speak for a moment, then he said gently: 'If you do manage to retrieve it, Robbie, I don't think it would be a good idea to hand it over to H.E.'
'Why ever not? It would show that, for once, I've done something really worthwhile, and make him take quite a different view of me.'
'I know how you must feel about it, old chap. But I'm afraid you don't understand how careful people in your uncle's position have to be. It is an accepted thing that no diplomat should undertake any form of espionage* while he is en poste abroad. That applies even to Naval, Military and Air Attaches. Of course, there is nothing against their reporting any developments they may be wily enough to worm out of their opposite numbers or obtain by other normal means, but snooping is definitely against the rules. After all, their job is to get on the best possible terms they can with the Government to which they are accredited, and they wouldn't get very far in that if they were constantly under suspicion of spying. Anyhow, that's the way it is, and as you are a member of the Ambassador's household, all that I've said applies, at least technically, to you.'
'But I haven't been spying on the Greeks,' Robbie protested, 'only on the Czechs. And that's quite different.'
'It's not, as far as this matter of principle is concerned. Any diplomat who was caught out using criminal means to secure the secrets of another would be automatically disgraced. So you see how terribly embarrasing it would be for H.E. if you made him privy to the fact that you stole some documents belonging to a foreign Government.'
Robbie's face fell. 'If that's the case, I'm glad you warned me. But if I can get hold of those papers again, it seems an awful waste to do nothing about them.'
After a moment, Luke said: 'As there is nothing to identify the agents that sent them in, I think you may be overestimating their value, although, of course, our "I" people would certainly like to have the names of the crew members that are mentioned as being pro-Communist.' Raising the hand that held the cigar to emphasize his next words, he went on:
'Now this you must keep under your hat. And I mean that. As it happens I know a chap to whom I could pass them on with no questions asked about how I came by them. So if you do escape exposure during these next few days, and later manage to retrieve them, bring them along to me.'