The dark clouds of war were gathering over Europe. Conrad’s sojourn as an artist was soon to come to an end. For a man such as Conrad there was work to be done. But there was another aspect of in his life which was to change before he was to rejoin the intelligence service. He was to find himself a wife. After his London exhibition he went to Venice, Rome and visited Corsica enjoying a holiday and sketching. During his time in Rome with his father He met Maud a young Swedish girl, there was a brief romance they became engaged and subsequently married in a registry office in Paris. A whirlwind affair, but Conrad had decided at 37 he was ready to find a wife. He took his young wife to Vienna where they lived for a short while. After his conversations about Hitler and the Nazi party with Baron von Oppenheim Conrad had seen to it he kept himself informed of their progress. Austria was to play a decisive role in the progress to war. Conrad foresaw this and hatched a plan where he could be a resident in Austria and establish an intelligence ring to keep an eye on things. He formed what was one of the first ever package holiday providers “Tyrolese Tours.” He based himself in Kitzbühel and created a network of hotels and pensions throughout Austria which his clients could use. Thus giving himself freedom to roam far and wide over Austria without raising suspicion. Stuart Menzies was involved in his plans and it was he who stopped Conrad from involving Maud in the subterfuge. But Menzies helped create support another aspect of his cover. Conrad was heir to a title. His father was a celebrity and was treated as such, even in Jamaica.  Conrad was provided with a fictitious millions from inherited estates in Ireland. Conrad was made the errant lord, a dashing moneyed and lavish playboy persona was created for him. Conrad of course had all the accruements for the job. The history the connections the style; but for the money, Conrad was the part. The cover was perfect and he became the International Playboy and spy, but on shoestring wages.  Luckily the holiday business was good and a growing number of tourists from England began to use his services, many of his friends and acquaintances and intelligence contacts also were his customers. He lists some of his intimates in his book. Frau Poland, Graf Schlick, Graf Rudi Lambert, Captain ‘pop’ Stokes, RN, Count de Renville, Graf ‘Chappy’ Silern, Prince Ferdinand Liechenstein, and his most fruitful contact Baron Rudolfo von Gerlach,  Peter Fleming and his wife Celia Johnson, were also friends to Conrad. There seems to be evidence too that Peter was also involved actively in espionage under the auspices of Conrad. Hess’s secret service was of great interest to Conrad and Peter appears to have been involved in an abortive attempt to infiltrate their ranks. Conrad’s local agents were spread far and wide and provided a stream of information which was sent to London. At this time the mainstream British intelligence organisation had been radically compromised. The Nazi’s had been watching and photographing all the contacts and agents passing through safe houses in Holland and had a very good idea of the European spy network. To counteract this situation another network of spies was created entirely separate from and unknown by the ‘official’ network. The new network the “Z” network was under the control of Claude Dansey,. Dansey was one of Britain’s most experienced spymasters. He was second in command to Stuart Menzies when he became ‘C’ and almost had top post himself. The USA owes Dansey a debt of gratitude; it was his influence and help which created the foundation of their modern intelligence services. He was decorated by them in recognition of his help. It was into this alternative network that Conrad’s own spy network was absorbed. It was Claude Dansey not Stuart Menzies who became Conrad’s contact with London. This was not a match made in heaven. He insulted Conrad by slipping him a fiver on their first meeting. “As if he were hooking a common informer.” Conrad was not impressed. There followed quibbles about travel expenses in subsequent meetings, blaming him for the loss of documents which he had never passed over to Conrad. Then later Conrad discovered that his reports were being passed on anonymously. He felt disillusioned and very alone. He was the Austrian spymaster, during this period he described himself as “M’s number 3”*, he did not feel so valued at the time though. But the work went on regardless and his organisation grew and prospered. It was a meeting with another Englishman which hammered home the absolute solitude of the spymaster to Conrad.  A young Reuters reporter just back from the Vickers spy trial in Russia, Peter Flemings younger brother Ian.