Chapter 5 Fives

It didn't take me long to find the slinking stranger on the upper deck.He was lying on the couch reading a book.I took advantage of this opportunity to take a good look at him before I walked over.He lay with his pointed head on his back on the pillow, looking tired.Once again, I was surprised to find that his still young face was unusually pale, and his temples were all white.I don't know why, but I have the impression that he must have aged suddenly.As soon as I approached him, he politely stood up and introduced himself.The surname he mentioned was familiar to me at first, and it belonged to an old and famous Austrian family.I remember that one member of this family was a close friend of Schubert, and the other was the old emperor's physician.When I told this Dr. B that we asked him to accept Czentovic's challenge, he was visibly shocked.It turned out that he never thought that he was playing chess with the world champion just now, and he played quite successfully.I don't know why this news made a strong impression on him.He asked me over and over again if I was sure that his opponent was really a famous international champion.I soon learned that this fact greatly lightened my task.However, I felt that I was dealing with a very thoughtful and well-bred man, and I decided not to mention the fact that McConnor would bear the material loss if he lost. Dr. B hesitated for a while, and finally agreed to enter the competition, but he asked me to make it clear to my friends beforehand that they should not expect too much from his talents.

① Schubert (1797-1828), a famous Austrian composer. "Because," he added with a dreamy smile, "I really don't know if I can play chess according to all the rules. Please believe me, I said last time that I have been playing chess since my middle school days, that is, more than twenty years ago. I didn't move a chess piece, and I don't say that with false humility. And even then, I was nothing more than a mediocre chess player." He spoke so naturally that I never doubted his sincerity.But he remembered all the chess games played by the masters clearly and accurately, and I couldn't help expressing my surprise.I said, anyway, he must have done a lot of research on chess at least in theory.

Another strange, dreamy smile flitted across Dr. B's face. "Lots of research? God knows! That's the way to go. I've done a lot of research in chess. But it happened under very special, arguably unique circumstances. It's a pretty intricate one. Tale, it will serve as a little episode, if you can bear half an hour, to illustrate this wonderful and great age of ours." As he spoke, he pointed to a reclining chair next to him.I gladly accepted his invitation.There was no one around. Dr. B took off his reading glasses, put them aside, and began to say: "You mention politely that as a Viennese you remember our family name. But I guess you have not necessarily heard of the law firm first run by my father and I, and then by myself. Because we don't take newspapers at all. The public discussion of cases, and in principle to avoid the commission of new clients. In fact, we have since ceased to practice general lawyers at all, but limited to acting as legal advisers and managing the property of some large monasteries. My father used to be Members of the Catholic political party are very close to these monasteries. In addition, in this day when the monarchy has become a thing of the past, we may as well talk about the following matters publicly-we are also entrusted with the management of the assets of certain members of the royal family. Our family and the emperor and ecclesiastical connections (one of my uncles was the emperor's physician and the other was abbot of Zhaiten Hetterton Abbey), going back two generations, we just need to maintain these connections. The trust placed in us by the client handed down from the older generation, and with their trust comes to us the quiet, so to speak, silent jobs which ask nothing of us but strict secrecy and loyalty Reliable, the late father possessed both qualities in full. It was only through prudence that he managed to preserve a considerable fortune for our client through inflationary years and regime changes. Later, Hitler came to power in Germany and began to embezzle the church and The property of the monastery was then passed into our hands by some negotiations and transactions with foreign countries, in order to save at least some chattels from confiscation. Concerning certain secret political transactions carried out by the royal family and the Holy See, both of us I know far more than the outside world. But because our office is so inconspicuous, we don't even have a sign on our door, and we are cautious, my father and I deliberately avoid associations with the Royalists, This saves us from multiple inquiries by meddling people. In fact, the Austrian authorities never suspected in these years that the royal family's secret courier was always in our inconspicuous office on the fifth floor. Deliver or pick up particularly important letters here.

"You know that long before the National Socialists armed their armies to attack the world, they began to build up in all the countries adjoining Germany an army of injured, despised and humiliated people, An army as well trained and extremely dangerous as their army. Every office, every business has what they call a cell, and their spies and spies are everywhere, including Dolphus and Schushnig Even in our humble office there sat their spy, too late for me to know. Of course he was only a poor and incompetent clerk, introduced by a priest, and we He was hired only to make our firm look like a normal office to the outside world; in fact we did nothing more than insignificant errands for him. Answering the phone, sorting out papers, which of course were insignificant, No problem. He was never allowed to open the mail. All important letters were typed out by me on the typewriter, and only one copy was typed. No copies were kept. I personally took every important document home , and secret negotiations were only held in the abbot's or my uncle's physician's office. Because of these precautions, the scout sent to us could see nothing of substance. But, unfortunately An accident opened the eyes of this ambitious and vain fellow, who noticed that we mistrusted him and were doing something very interesting behind his back. Probably, while I was away, a courier accidentally Said 'Your Majesty' instead of 'Baron Bain' as we agreed, or this rogue opened our mail illegally - he was under surveillance from Munich or Berlin anyway before I suspected him Our orders. It was not until much later, when I was in prison, that I remembered how he worked sluggishly at first, and then, in the last months, suddenly became very hard, and several times he was too obsequious and insisted on Take my letter to the post office. I can't say I'm free from negligence, but then again, aren't the most eminent diplomats and soldiers of our time also despicably murdered by these Hitlerites? The Gestapo has long since This preoccupied focus on me is most concretely confirmed by the fact that I was arrested by the SS on the night Schuschnigg announced his resignation, the day before Hitler entered Vienna Thankfully, I just heard Schuschnigg's resignation speech on the radio, and was able to burn all the most important documents in time, and the rest, including some monasteries and the properties of the two grand dukes stored abroad I hid in a basket of dirty laundry and brought to my uncle's house by my old and faithful housekeeper. All this was really done at the last minute before the Hitlerites broke into my house of."

Dr. B paused and lit a cigar.As soon as the match was lit, I saw the corner of his right mouth twitch nervously.I've noticed this before.I found that this spasm was repeated every few minutes.It was just a slight twitch, fleeting and almost imperceptible, but it made his face look peculiarly disturbed.