Those in Peril Read Online Free Page B

France.’
    The sentry looked him over uncertainly. ‘From France you say, sir? Do you mind showing me your passport?’
    He handed it over, waiting while it was scrutinized carefully and doubtful comparison made between his photograph and himself after two days at sea.
    â€˜I’ll have to keep hold of this, sir – for the time being. And I’m afraid I’ll have to ask you to step inside, if you don’t mind.’
    He was shown into a room with a table and two chairs and a small window. Not quite a cell, but almost. Somebody brought him a cup of tea the colour of old leather and, to him, undrinkable. He could see faces outside peering through the window and fists rubbing at the grimy glass to see him better. He realized that they thought he was a spy – though what sort of a spy would make no effort whatever to conceal his arrival in broad daylight? Or perhaps they were simply suspicious of all Frenchmen, in the same way that most French were suspicious of the English. He finished the cigarette and lit another, and was halfway through a third before the door opened and a naval officer entered the room – a short, stocky man, many years younger than himself and with a crushing handshake. He had the clear, keen eyes of an intrepid explorer – typically set on a distant horizon or raised to some snowy peak.
    â€˜How do you do, Monsieur Duval. I’m Lieutenant Reeves, Royal Navy. So sorry to have kept you waiting. Just a few questions to ask you, if you don’t mind. It won’t take very long.’ He sat down at the table and took out a silver case. ‘Cigarette? Ah, you already have one on the go, I see. More tea?’
    The politeness of the English gentleman was legendary, Duval knew, but it was a fatal mistake to believe that it meant he was on your side. ‘No, thank you.’
    The lieutenant leant forward to peer into the full cup. ‘Not too keen on tea, perhaps? I’d offer you something stronger, but the bar’s not open yet.’
    â€˜The bar?’
    â€˜This was a hotel before us naval chaps took it over. We let them keep the public bar going in the basement. Rather handy.’ He lit a cigarette. ‘Lovely weather we’re having.’
    â€˜Yes, indeed.’ It was unbelievable how they always brought up the subject. ‘Very agreeable.’
    â€˜You’ve just come across from France, I gather?’
    â€˜That is correct.’
    â€˜Alone?’
    â€˜Yes, alone.’
    â€˜Is that your boat – the Gannet ?’ He pronounced the seabird in the English way, sounding the t firmly at the end.
    â€˜Yes. I am the owner.’
    â€˜Jolly small for crossing the Channel.’
    â€˜There are not many bigger boats leaving from France for England these days,’ he said drily. ‘And those there are are completely full. Otherwise, I might have chosen a more comfortable means of arriving here.’
    â€˜Quite. Where exactly did you leave from in France?’
    â€˜Pont-Aven on the south coast of Brittany. It’s not far from Lorient. Perhaps you know it? It’s very charming.’
    â€˜Not personally, I’m afraid. Pretty long haul, though.’
    â€˜Haul?’
    â€˜A long way. You must be a fairly experienced sailor.’
    He shook his head. ‘Not at all. In general I keep close to land. It is the first time I have undertaken such a voyage.’
    â€˜May I ask why you did?’
    â€˜Why? Perhaps you do not know how things are in France . . .’
    â€˜Actually, we have a pretty fair idea – our chaps have been over there quite a bit. But it doesn’t really answer my question.’
    Duval drew hard on his cigarette. ‘My country is on the point of surrendering to the Germans, as you will know, Lieutenant. In the first place, I have no desire to remain in a France occupied and controlled by Nazis, and, in the second, I thought I might perhaps be of some