3.

The Bentley dropped Anatol at the curb and went in search of a parking space while Ivanov’s manservant carried Anatbl’s overnight bag into the house.

The diminutive Baron was in a rage because shrapnel from a five-hundred-pounder had chipped a corner off his house. It had razed the house two doors away but that wasn’t what angered him. “You simply can’t get that sort of cornice work done any more for any price. It can never be restored. It’s time to put a stop to this Hitlerian nonsense.”

“Yes well I suppose we are all doing our bit about that.”

But Ivanov went on with his invective until he recognized how silly it was; finally he dragged a palm across the bald peak of his skull and went in search of a cigar. When he returned he had restored his composure. “I know it is petty. But one resents such a thing as if it were a personal affront. War should be a matter for soldiers and battlefields.”

Anatol selected a chair. “What have you to tell me?”

“Nothing good. I have not been able to persuade Zurich to support us.”

Anatol kept his face straight but his words were bitten off. “They are fools.”

“Perhaps. Perhaps they are only apolitical men doing their duty. It is their responsibility to safeguard the Romanov fortunes regardless of what happens, regardless of who wins wars. If they were to back the Devenko plan it would require that the Romanov capital be depleted by vast sums. They have measured the risks and found them too dangerous. They are prudent men.”

“Then we have no alternative but to support Alex Danilov.”

“Yes—because he’s acceptable to the Allies. We have no other source of funds but the Allies now.”

“I detest being beholden to them.”

“If we succeed in Moscow we can repudiate them at our leisure,” Ivanov murmured.

“Perhaps. But what’s to prevent them from withdrawing their support at any moment?”

“One can only be optimistic about that.” Ivanov stared bitterly at a great jagged crack in the plaster ceiling. “The American Colonel has been in London for ten days. He finally obtained an interview with Churchill. Now I understand he is on his way to Scotland to be with General Danilov. Does that sound like the behavior of a man who is about to withdraw support?”

“Buckner is a nervous man. He jumps at shadows.”

“Then all we can do is try to keep him calm.”

“I don’t like it,” Anatol said.