plenty to engage him in his room. He carried the air of a fanatic and reminded me in many ways of his neurotic Fuhrer. Gaynor seemed almost deferential to him.
Klosterheim agreed to take a small glass of Benedictine. As I handed him his drink he spoke to Gaynor over my shoulder. 'Have you made the proposition yet, Captain von Minct?'
Gaynor laughed. A little strained. I turned to ask him a question and he raised his hand.
'A small matter, cousin, which can be discussed at any time. Lieutenant Klosterheim is very direct and efficient, but he sometimes lacks the subtler graces.'
'We are not very gentlemanly at Klosterheim, ' said the lieutenant severely. 'We have no time to cultivate fine manners, for life is hard and constantly threatened. We've defended your borders since time began. All we have are our ancient traditions. Our craggy fortresses. Our pride and our privacy.'
I suggested that modern tourism might consequently be welcomed by his family and bring them some relief. Some ease, at last. A busload of Bavarians round the old place and one could put one's feet up for a week. I'd do the same, only all I had was a glorified farmhouse. I don't know what encouraged such levity in me. Perhaps it was a response to his unremitting sobriety. Something unpleasant glinted from his eye sockets and then dulled again.
'Perhaps so, ' he said. 'Yes. It would give us the easy life, eh?' He consumed his Benedictine and made an awkward attempt at grace. 'But Captain von Minct came here, I believe, to ease one of your burdens, Herr Count?'
'I have none that need easing, ' I said.
'Of responsibility. Of stewardship.'
Gaynor was now cultivating a rather overhearty manner. Klosterheim had no trouble sounding threatening but Gaynor wanted my approval as well as whatever it was he had come for.
'You know I place little value on our remaining heirlooms, ' I said, 'except where they pertain to personal, family matters. Is there something you want?'
'You remember the old sword you used to play with before you went to the War? Black with age? Must have rusted through eventually. Rather like von Asch himself, your tutor. What did you do with that old sword in the end? Give it away? Sell it? Or did you place a more sentimental value on it?'
'Presumably, cousin, you speak of the sword Ravenbrand.'
'Just so, cousin. Ravenbrand. I had forgotten you christened it with a nickname.'
'It has never had a different name. It is as old as our family. It has all sorts of legendary nonsense attached to it, of course, but no evidence. Just the usual stories we invent to make generations of farmers seem more interesting. Ghosts and old treasure. No antiquarian or genuine historian would give credence to those legends. They are as familiar as they are unlikely.'
I became a little alarmed. Surely he had not come here to loot us of our oldest treasures, our responsibilities, our heritage?
'But it has little commercial value, I understand. Uncle Rudy tried to sell it once. Took it all the way to Mirenburg to get it valued. He was very disappointed.'
'It is more valuable as a pair. When matched to its twin, ' said Klosterheim, almost humorously. His mouth twisted in a peculiar rictus. Perhaps a smile. 'Its counterweight.'
I had begun to suspect that Klosterheim was not, as they say in Vienna, the full pfennig. His remarks seemed to bear only the barest connection to the conversation, as if his mind was operating on some other, colder plane altogether. It was easier to ignore him than ask him for explanations. How on earth could a sword be a 'counterweight'? He was probably one of those mystical Nazis. It's an odd phenomenon I've noticed more than once, that fascination with the numinous and the supernatural and a preference for extremist right-wing politics. I have never been able to understand it, but many of the Nazis, including Hitler and Hess, were immersed in such stuff. As rational, no doubt, as their racialism. Dark abstractions which, when applied to real life, produce the most banal evils.
'Don't minimize your family's achievements, either.' Gaynor recalled our ancient victories. 'You've given Germany some famous soldiers.'
'And rogues. And radicals.'
'And some who were all three, ' said Gaynor, still hearty as a highwayman on the scaffold. All face.
'Your namesake, for instance, ' murmured Klosterheim. Even the act of speaking seemed to add a chill to the night air.
'Eh?'
Klosterheim's voice seemed to echo in his mouth.
'He who sought and found-the Grail. Who gave your family its antique motto.'
I shrugged at this and suggested we return inside. There was a fire going in the hearth and I had an unlikely frisson of nostalgia as I remembered the great family Christmases we had enjoyed, as only Saxons can enjoy their Yuletide festival, when my father and mother and brothers were all alive and friends came from Castle Auchy in Scotland and Mirenburg and France and America, together with more distant relatives, to enjoy that unchallenged fantasy of comfort and good will. War had destroyed all that. And now I stood by blackened oak and slate watching the smoke rise from out of a guttering, unhappy fire and did my best to remember 1 my manners as I entertained the two gentlemen in black and silver who had come, I was now certain, to take away my sword.
'Do you the devil's work.' Klosterheim read the coat of arms which was imbedded above the hearth. I thought the thing was vulgar and would have removed it if it had not entailed ripping down the entire wall. A piece of Gothic nonsense, with its almost alchemical motifs and its dark admonishment which, according to my reading, had once meant something rather different than it seemed. 'Do you still follow that motto, Herr Count?'
'There are more stories attached to the motto than to the sword. Unfortunately, as you know, our family curse of albinism was not always tolerated and some generations came to see it as a matter of shame, destroying much that had been recorded where it pertained to albinos like myself or, I suspect, anything which seemed a little strange to the kind of mentality which believes burning books to be burning unpalatable truths. Something we seem prone to, in Germany. So little record remains of any sense. But I understand the motto to be ironic in some way.'
'Perhaps.' Klosterheim looked capable of carrying only the heaviest of ironies. 'But you lost the goblet, I understand. The Grail.'
'My dear Herr Lieutenant, there isn't an old family in Germany that doesn't have at least one Grail legend attached to it and usually some cup or other which is supposed to represent the Grail. The same is true in England. Arthur had more Camelots than Mussolini has titles. They're all nineteenth-century inventions. Part of the Gothic revival. The Romantic movement. A nation reinventing herself. You must know of half-a-dozen such family legends. Wolfram von Eschenbach claimed it was granite. Few can be traced much past 1750. I can imagine, too, that with your recruitment of Wagner to the Nazi cause, your Leader has need of such symbols, but if we did have an old goblet it has long since gone from here.'
'I agree these associations are ridiculous.' Gaynor took himself closer to the fire. 'But my father remembers your grandfather showing him a golden bowl that had the properties of glass and metals combined. Warm to the touch, he said, and vibrant.'
'If there is such a family secret, cousin, then it has not been passed on to me. My grandfather died soon after the armistice. I was never in his confidence.' Klosterheim frowned, clearly unsure if he should believe me. Gaynor was openly incredulous. 'You of all the von Beks would know of such things. Your father died because of his studies. You've read everything in the library. Von Asch passed what he knew on to you. Why, you yourself, cousin, are almost part of the museum. No doubt a better prospect than the circus.'
'Very true, ' I said. I glanced at the hideous old 'huntsman's clock' over the mantel and asked him if he would excuse me. It was time I turned in.
Gaynor began to try to charm his way out of what he now understood to be an insult, but his remark about me was no more offensive than most of his and Klosterheim's conversation. There was a certain coarseness about him I hadn't noticed in the past. No doubt he had the scent of his new pack on him. It was how he intended to survive.
'But we still have business, ' said Klosterheim.
Gaynor turned towards the fire.
'Business? You're here on business?' I pretended to be surprised. Gaynor said quietly, not turning to look at
