Sentence The Fivehundredandninetythird

"You can't murder him, sir," she cried, and Prufrock grinned: "why, no, my dear lady, just keep him quiet, you will find some rope under the bath – they use it for hauling large items up from the street, bring it here, hurry, I've no time for a hedge sermon, he won't be out for long," and as Gertie quickly fetched the rope, Prufrock improvised a gag from some items he found in the doctor's bag and swiftly tied it round the unconscious man's head; he then stripped the man of his ostentatious uniform, revealing grubby underwear, which he also removed and then, with the rope, bound up his arms and

legs until he looked like a trussed pig; then all three together, they lifted, carried and deposited him in the large bath-tub, "Happy Festschrift, dear old chap," said Prufrock irreverently, and offered Pan and Gertie a glass of whisky from the bottle on his bedside table: "this will give us the fillip we need, for we have a dangerous job ahead, my dears: Miss Palestrina, you have not forgot the message I gave you last night?" and Pal laughed: "not I sir, my memory is perfect," and Prufrock clapped his hands: "well said, for I am afraid that knock on my head has clouded my own, shall we make haste and depart, for if that message is not promptly conveyed to my Masters. we shall be too late – the Generals have set a deadline for a reply from London, they must know that Britain and France will declare War on Germany, to authorise their removal of Hitler; this is the most dangerous game afoot and may be the only way to avoid a ruinous war which they believe will not only destroy Germany, but all of Europe, leaving it easy for the Russian Bear to walk in and sweep everything into his maw!" and he swiftly dressed himself in the Major Domo's uniform, put the luger into a holster and

strapped it to his side, quickly scanned the room and nodded: "we must, my dears, abandon our own luggage, but I have sufficient money to provide for us all – go quick and dress for a journey and take all the papers you will require for travel, leave nothing which will identify you," and the two girls ran back to their room and in ten minutes met him outside his own room; the Hotel was quiet as they descended the staff staircase to the ground floor, where, rather than risk being seen in passing the Reception and Concierge desks, they left by a small staff entrance at the back and emerged into a rain-swept morning, with little pedestrian traffic at that early hour and only occasional delivery vans

and small lorries: "this way," said Prufrock, leading the way towards what Pal and Gertie discovered only once they were inside was Reuters Berlin Bureau; addressing a man seated at his desk just inside the door, Prufrock introduced himself and his companions: "good morning, Chilcot," he read the name from a small card placed at the edge of the desk, "I am General Rudetski of Hungary and my companions are Miss Palestrina MacFarlane of Country Life magazine, London, and Miss Gertrude Mountcastle of Women's Wear Daily, New York, if you look at your list you will see that we have an appointment with your Bureau Chief, Albert Spangler, and as he spoke he slid a banknote across the desk, saying: "please take my business card," which the man pocketed and he then led them to the lift and accompanied them up to the third floor and along a carpeted hallway to a door identified as Mr Spangler's office; he knocked, opened the door and said, rather loudly, with a Brooklyn twang: "Hey Bass, there's a Ruritanian Prince wid a coupla broads dat wants a woid wid ya," then when they heard another voice saying, "send them in," he turned and somewhat superfluously said "de Boss soys 'send em in,' so in ya go," and returned to his desk at the street door.