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rest of his family had been got out of the country.

Lanny had no way to hold Goring to his bargain if he didn't choose to keep it, and as half a

loaf is better than no bread, so four-fifths of a Jewish family would be better than none of them—

unless you took the Nazi view of Jewish families!

However, it might be the part of wisdom to prepare for the future, so Lanny invited the

Oberleutnant to lunch; the officer was pleased to come, and to bring his wife, a tall sturdy girl

from the country, obviously very much flustered at being the guest of a fashionable pair who

talked freely about Paris and London and New York, and knew all the important people. The

Nazis might be ever so nationalistic, but the great world capitals still commanded prestige.

Seeking to cover up his evil past, Lanny referred to his former Pinkness, and said that one

outgrew such things as one grew older; what really concerned him was to find out how the

problem of unemployment could be solved and the products of modern machinery distributed; he

intended to come back to Germany and see if the Führer was able to carry out his promises.

A young devotee could ask no more, and the Oberleutnant warmed to his host and hostess.

Afterward Irma said: "They really do believe in their doctrine with all their hearts!" Lanny saw

that she found it much easier to credit the good things about the Hitler system than the evil.

She accepted at face value the idea current among her leisure-class friends, that Mussolini had

saved Italy from Bolshevism and that Hitler was now doing the same for Germany. "What good

would it do to upset everything," she wished to know, "and get in a set of men who are just as

bad as the Nazis or worse?"

One little hint Lanny had dropped to the officer: "I'm keeping away from the Robin family

and all their friends, because I don't want to involve myself in any way in political affairs. I am

hoping that nothing of an unhappy nature will happen to the Robins while we are waiting. If

anything of the sort should come up I will count upon Seine Exzellenz to have it corrected."

"Ja, gewiss!" replied the officer. "Seine Exzellenz would not permit harm to come to them—in

fact, I assure you that no harm is coming to any Jewish persons, unless they themselves are

making some sort of trouble."

The latter half of this statement rather tended to cancel the former half; it was a part of the

Nazi propaganda. That was what made it so difficult to deal with them; you had to pick every

sentence apart and figure out which portions they might mean and which were bait for suckers.

The Oberleutnant was cordial, and seemed to admire Lanny and his wife greatly; but would

this keep him from lying blandly, if, for example, his chief was holding Freddi Robin as a

hostage and wished to conceal the fact? Would it keep him from committing any other act of

treachery which might appear necessary to the cause of National Socialism? Lanny had to keep

reminding himself that these young men had been reared on Mein Kampf; he had to keep

reminding his wife, who had never read that book, but instead had heard Lord Wickthorpe cite

passages from Lenin, proclaiming doctrines of political cynicism which sounded embarrassingly

like Hitler's.

VII

Heinrich Jung also had earned a right to hospitality, so he and his devoted little blue-eyed

Hausfrau were invited to a dinner which was an outstanding event in her life. She had

presented the Fatherland with three little Aryans, so she didn't get out very often, she confessed.

She exclaimed with naive delight over the wonders of the Hotel Adlon, and had to have Irma

assure her that her home-made dress was adequate for such a grand occasion. Heinrich talked

N.S.D.A.P. politics, and incidentally fished around to find out what had happened in the case

of Johannes Robin, about which there was no end of curiosity in party circles, he reported.

Lanny could only say that he had orders not to talk. A little later he asked: "Have you seen Frau

Reichsminister Goebbels since our meeting?"

Yes, Heinrich had been invited to tea at her home; so Lanny didn't have to ask who had

manifested the curiosity in party circles. Presently Heinrich said that Magda had wished to

know whether Mr. and Mrs. Budd would care to be invited to one of her receptions. Irma

hastened to say that she would be pleased, and Heinrich undertook to communicate this

attitude. So it is that one advances in die grosse Welt; if one has money, plus the right clothes

and manners, one can go from drawing-room to drawing-room, filling one's stomach with choice

food and drink and one's ears with choice gossip.

Hugo Behr, the Gausportführer, had expressed his desire to meet Lanny again. Heinrich,

reporting this, said: "I think I ought to warn you, Lanny. Hugo and I are still friends, but there

are differences of opinion developing between us." Lanny asked questions and learned that some

among the Nazis were impatient because the Führer was not carrying out the radical economic

planks upon which he had founded the party. He seemed to be growing conservative, allying

himself with Goring's friends, the great industrialists, and forgetting the promises he had

made to the common man. Heinrich said it was easy to find fault, but it was the duty of good

party members to realize what heavy burdens had been heaped upon the Führer's shoulders, and

to trust him and give him time. He had to reorganize the government, and the new men he put

in power had to learn their jobs before they could start on any fundamental changes. However,

there were people who were naturally impatient, and perhaps jealous, unwilling to give the

Führer the trust he deserved; if they could have their way, the party would be destroyed by

factional strife before it got fairly started.

Heinrich talked at length, and with great seriousness, as always, and his devoted little wife

listened as if it were the Führer himself speaking. From the discourse Lanny gathered that the

dissension was really serious; the right wing had won all along the line, and the left was in

confusion. Gregor Strasser, who had taken such a dressing down from Hitler in Lanny's

presence, had resigned his high party posts and retired to the country in disgust. Ernst Rohm,

Chief of Staff of the S.A. and one of Hitler's oldest friends, was active in protest and reported to

be in touch with Schleicher, the "labor general," whom Hitler had ousted from the

chancellorship. A most dangerous situation, and Hugo was making a tragic mistake in letting

himself be drawn into it.

"But you know how it is," Heinrich explained. "Hugo was a Social-Democrat, and when the

Marxist poison has once got into your veins it's hard to get it out."

Lanny said yes, he could understand; he had been in that camp a while himself; but there

was no use expecting everything to be changed in a few months. "You have two elements in your

party, Nationalism and Socialism, and I suppose it isn't always easy to preserve the balance

between them."

"It will be easy if only they trust the Führer. He knows that our Socialism must be German

and fitted to the understanding of the German people. He will give it to them as rapidly as they

can adjust themselves to it."

After their guests had left, Lanny said to his wife: "If we want to collect the dirt, Hugo's the

boy to give it to us."

VIII

Mama had agreed with Lanny and Irma that there was nothing to be gained by telling the