days. He smiled at his own naïveté. The sky, he thought, was often serene over the bloodiest battlefields human hate could devise.
“God protect Austria.”
(At that very moment, half a world away from the untroubled skies above Vienna, a silver Clipper was taking off from the enameled blue waters of the Caribbean, at Kingston, Jamaica. With an exultant crescendo of its own sure power, the plane lifted into the thin light of earliest morning. Its starboard wing spread out toward the low hills and the tall mountain line beyond them to the east; its port wing spread out toward the incessant seas to the west; its four glinting, unseeable propellers cut their sure circles into the north.)
CHAPTER THREE
“S URE, A NN. You know I will.”
“That’s right. I was sure you would want to—even though you don’t know them,” she said. Her gruff voice had a matter-of-factness in it, but there was gratitude, too. So many people wriggled away from the strange responsibility of affidavits. She had been right to bank on Vee. “I think you won’t have much trouble over this one, anyway. This letter from Vederle, you keep it; it has all the dope, names and birthplaces and all.”
“I didn’t know they could take money out with them.”
“I don’t know about that part; but he writes here about the forty thousand Swiss francs he’s been piling up; I imagine that’s O.K., anyway, because it was never inside Austria.”
“You know—when your cable came,” Vee confessed, “I wondered for a minute whom you meant. I’d never seen their name spelled. I guess I expected it to be F-a-y-d-e-r-l-y, the way you say it.”
Ann had some notes and papers ready. It was the very day Vee had returned from her month’s holiday. Ann had driven out to the airport to meet her, suddenly a little guilty and uneasy at the days already lost. Vederle’s letter, written right after he had cabled, had arrived that morning. He had given it to a trusted friend of his to be mailed in London, so he had written freely. There was immediacy in every line of it. There might even be actual danger to him soon because he had always spoken out against the German Nazis. She hadn’t thought of actual physical danger.
At the airport, Ann was vaguely disappointed to see Vee descend from the plane, followed by Jasper Crown. They both looked so glowing dark, Vee’s a much deeper-laid tan, Jasper’s redder and newer. She wanted Vee to be alone; she felt a vague disapproval that she was not.
She drove them both back to town. The talk in the car was strange; Jasper kept pumping her as if she were his secretary.
“What about CBS and NBC?” he asked almost as soon as they were settled in the front seat. “They do a job on Vienna all week, or did they drop it after last Saturday?”
“A job on Vienna?” She was startled at the question.
“I heard some of it down there—but I wanted to get away from the whole thing—”
“Oh, it’s been terrific here all week, people hanging at their radios all day, news every hour or so, breaking into programs and—”
“Never mind,” he said brusquely. “I’ll get it all at the office. The day I left, I ordered them to keep a record of every word from Europe.”
He fell silent. For the rest of the trip, they fell into vacation talk, people, climate, generalities. Both Vee and Jas were vague about their being together and Ann asked nothing; it was even possible that they had been apart and met only in Miami on the way back. But she was too experienced to believe that, really.
At last they were alone, dropping Jasper at the hotel. She went along to Vee’s apartment, and over a midmorning breakfast, she explained about the Vederles. She was rewarded by Vee’s readiness—indeed, eagerness—to help, to become involved.
“Every time I ever heard of anybody doing affidavits,” Vee said, “I’ve thought there’s something I could do. Only I never was asked to do one.”
“This won’t be one of the
“God protect Austria.”
(At that very moment, half a world away from the untroubled skies above Vienna, a silver Clipper was taking off from the enameled blue waters of the Caribbean, at Kingston, Jamaica. With an exultant crescendo of its own sure power, the plane lifted into the thin light of earliest morning. Its starboard wing spread out toward the low hills and the tall mountain line beyond them to the east; its port wing spread out toward the incessant seas to the west; its four glinting, unseeable propellers cut their sure circles into the north.)
CHAPTER THREE
“S URE, A NN. You know I will.”
“That’s right. I was sure you would want to—even though you don’t know them,” she said. Her gruff voice had a matter-of-factness in it, but there was gratitude, too. So many people wriggled away from the strange responsibility of affidavits. She had been right to bank on Vee. “I think you won’t have much trouble over this one, anyway. This letter from Vederle, you keep it; it has all the dope, names and birthplaces and all.”
“I didn’t know they could take money out with them.”
“I don’t know about that part; but he writes here about the forty thousand Swiss francs he’s been piling up; I imagine that’s O.K., anyway, because it was never inside Austria.”
“You know—when your cable came,” Vee confessed, “I wondered for a minute whom you meant. I’d never seen their name spelled. I guess I expected it to be F-a-y-d-e-r-l-y, the way you say it.”
Ann had some notes and papers ready. It was the very day Vee had returned from her month’s holiday. Ann had driven out to the airport to meet her, suddenly a little guilty and uneasy at the days already lost. Vederle’s letter, written right after he had cabled, had arrived that morning. He had given it to a trusted friend of his to be mailed in London, so he had written freely. There was immediacy in every line of it. There might even be actual danger to him soon because he had always spoken out against the German Nazis. She hadn’t thought of actual physical danger.
At the airport, Ann was vaguely disappointed to see Vee descend from the plane, followed by Jasper Crown. They both looked so glowing dark, Vee’s a much deeper-laid tan, Jasper’s redder and newer. She wanted Vee to be alone; she felt a vague disapproval that she was not.
She drove them both back to town. The talk in the car was strange; Jasper kept pumping her as if she were his secretary.
“What about CBS and NBC?” he asked almost as soon as they were settled in the front seat. “They do a job on Vienna all week, or did they drop it after last Saturday?”
“A job on Vienna?” She was startled at the question.
“I heard some of it down there—but I wanted to get away from the whole thing—”
“Oh, it’s been terrific here all week, people hanging at their radios all day, news every hour or so, breaking into programs and—”
“Never mind,” he said brusquely. “I’ll get it all at the office. The day I left, I ordered them to keep a record of every word from Europe.”
He fell silent. For the rest of the trip, they fell into vacation talk, people, climate, generalities. Both Vee and Jas were vague about their being together and Ann asked nothing; it was even possible that they had been apart and met only in Miami on the way back. But she was too experienced to believe that, really.
At last they were alone, dropping Jasper at the hotel. She went along to Vee’s apartment, and over a midmorning breakfast, she explained about the Vederles. She was rewarded by Vee’s readiness—indeed, eagerness—to help, to become involved.
“Every time I ever heard of anybody doing affidavits,” Vee said, “I’ve thought there’s something I could do. Only I never was asked to do one.”
“This won’t be one of the
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