He would find the rabbi if he had to stay down here a year. If the box did get to Switzerland, they would think it safe. But he would track it even there if he had to.

He glanced out the window at the passing countryside. The train was nearly empty. The only people who traveled openly within the Reich these days were usually on some kind of official business.

He would be in München tomorrow, Salzburg the day after. He would get a car, establish contacts with the SS in the southern sector, and proceed to uncover the southern links of the underground network.

When he did, he had no doubt, the rabbi would be his!

73 The Dungeon

73

The Dungeon

Sabina and her mother were enjoying a few rare moments alone in the sitting room they shared between their bedrooms. They had been talking about Matthew.

“I have heard nothing in over a year, Mama,” Sabina was saying, the hurt of uncertainty obvious in her voice. “There’s nothing I can do. I can’t write… what if he’s forgotten?”

“He hasn’t forgotten, Sabina,” reassured Marion tenderly.

“But then why hasn’t he made any attempt to—”

Suddenly the baron burst in. He was covered with dirt and mud and, usually sensitive to such things, appeared altogether oblivious to the fact that his boots had tracked in a dreadful mess. His eyes glowed like two tiny round suns.

An expression neither his wife nor daughter had ever seen was on his face. Immediately both were stricken with terror. He looked as if the Gestapo had just raided the place, had discovered everything, and were about to send every one of them to a concentration camp!

“Marion, Sabina… guess what!” he exclaimed before they had a chance to give voice to their alarm. “I have discovered the dungeon!”

“You mean—”

“That’s right—old Eppie knew her legends! I only wish she were still alive. I’d have gone straight to her room, even before telling the two of you.”

“But how?” exclaimed Marion.

“It was under the ground! The key was there… the old movable brass works… stones hiding it all—then the door released and gave way! Some old ancestor must have been a genius with mechanical contrivances. Who knows what other wonders there might be about the place!”

Both women sat staring at him, incredulous.

“Well, come on—why are you just sitting there like a couple of statues? I want to show it to you!”

They rose in mounting excitement and followed him.