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jumped-up cousins across the seas. Now their world strategy was based upon it, and when

anyone tried to argue with them it was as if they all burst into song: "Britannia needs no

bulwarks, no towers along the steep!"

Irma listened to the discussions, and afterward, as they drove back to London, they talked

about it, and Lanny discovered that she agreed with her host rather than with her husband.

She was irresistibly impressed by the dignity, stability, and self-confidence of this island

nation; also by Lord Wickthorpe as the perfect type of English gentleman and statesman.

Lanny didn't mind, for he was used to having people disagree with him, especially his own

family. But when he happened to mention the matter to his mother, she minded it gravely, and

said: "Doesn't it ever occur to you that you're taking an awful lot for granted?"

"How do you mean, old darling?"

"Take my advice and think seriously about Irma. You're making her a lot unhappier than

you've any idea."

"You mean, by the company I keep?"

"By that, and by the ideas you express to your company, and to your wife's."

"Well, dear, she surely can't expect me to give up my political convictions as the price of her

happiness."

"I don't know why she shouldn't—considering how we're all more or less dependent upon her

bounty."

"Bless your heart!" said Lanny. "I can always go back to selling pictures again."

"Oh, Lanny, you say horrid things!"

He thought that she had started the horridness, but it would do no good to say so. "Cheer up,

old dear—I'm taking my wife off to New York right away."

"Don't count on that too much. Don't ever forget that you've got a treasure, and it calls for

a lot of attention and some guarding."

BOOK FIVE

This Is the Way the World Ends

21

In Friendship's Name

I

IRMA and Lanny guessed that the feelings of Fanny Barnes were going to be hurt because

they weren't bringing her namesake to see her; to make up for it they had cabled that they

would come first to Shore Acres. The Queen Mother was at the steamer to meet them with a

big car. She wanted the news about her darling grandchild, and then, what on earth had they

been doing all that time in Germany? Everybody was full of questions about Hitlerland, they

discovered; at a distance of three thousand miles it sounded like Hollywood, and few could

bring themselves to believe that it was real. The newspapers were determined to find out what

had happened to a leading German-Jewish financier. They met him at the pier, and when he

wouldn't talk they tried everyone who knew him; but in vain.

At Shore Acres, things were going along much as usual. The employees of the estate were

doing the same work for no wages; but with seventeen million unemployed in the country,

they were thankful to be kept alive. As for Irma's friends, they were planning the customary

round of visits to seashore and mountains; those who still had dividends would play host to

those who hadn't, and everybody would get along. There was general agreement that business

was picking up at last, and credit for the boom was given to Roosevelt. Only a few diehards like

Robbie Budd talked about the debts being incurred, and when and how were they going to

be paid. Most people didn't want to pay any debts; they said that was what had got the country

into trouble. The way to get out was to borrow and spend as fast as possible; and one of the

things to spend for was beer. Roosevelt was letting the people buy it instead of having to make

it in their bathtubs.

Robbie came into the city by appointment, and in the office of the Barnes estate, he and Irma

and Lanny sat down to a conference with Uncle Joseph Barnes and the other two trustees.

Robbie had a briefcase full of figures setting forth the condition of Budd Gun makers, a list of

directors pledged to him, the voting shares which he controlled, and those which he could

purchase, with their prices. The trustees presented a list of their poorest-paying shares, and

weighed them in the balance. Under the will the trustees had the right to say no; but they

realized that this was a family matter, and that it would be a distinguished thing to have Irma's

father-in-law become president of a great manufacturing concern. Also, Irma had developed

into a young lady who knew what she wanted, and said it in the style of the days before

parliamentary control of the purse had been established.

"There's no use going into it unless you go heavily enough to win," cautioned Uncle Joseph.

"Of course not," said Irma, promptly. "We have no idea of not winning." L'état, c'est moi!

"If you pay more than the market for Budd stocks, it will mean that you are reducing the

principal of your estate; for we shall have to list them at market value."

"List them any way you please," said Irma. "I want Robbie to be elected."

"Of course," said Mr. Barnes, timidly, "you might make up the principal by reducing your

expenditures for a while."

"All right," assented Her Majesty—"but it will be time enough to do that when you get me a

bit more income."

II

Johannes went to Newcastle to visit the Robbie Budds. The firm of R and R had many

problems to talk out, and when Irma and Lanny arrived the pair were deeply buried in business.

Robbie considered Johannes the best salesman he had ever known, bar none, and was

determined to make a place for him with Budd's. If Robbie won out, Johannes would become

European representative; if Robbie lost, Johannes would become Robbie's assistant on some sort

of share basis. Robbie had a contract with the company which still had nearly three years to

run and entitled him to commissions on all sales made in his territory. These matters Robbie

put before his friend without reserve; he did it for medico-psychological reasons as well as

financial—he wanted to get Johannes out of his depression, and the way to do it was to put him

to work.

Robbie added: "Of course, provided there's anything left of business." America was in the

throes of an extraordinary convulsion known as "the New Deal," which Robbie described as

"government by college professors and their graduate students." They were turning the

country upside down under a scheme called "N.R.A." You had to put a "blue eagle" up in your

window and operate under a "code," bossed by an army general who swore like a trooper

and drank like the trooper's horse. New markets for goods were being provided by the simple

process of borrowing money from those who had it and giving it to those who hadn't. One lot

of the unemployed were put to work draining swamps to plant crops, while another lot were

making new swamps for wild ducks. And so on, for as long as Robbie Budd could find anybody to

listen to him.

Everybody in Newcastle was glad to see the young couple again; excepting possibly Uncle

Lawford, who wasn't going to see them. The only place they had met was in church, and Irma

and Lanny were going to play golf or tennis on Sunday mornings—Grandfather being out of

the way. Or was he really out of the way? Apparently he could only get at them if they went to

a medium! Lanny remarked: "I'd like to try the experiment of sleeping in his bed one night and

see if I hear any raps." Irma said: "Oh, what a horrid thought!" She had come to believe in the

spirits about half way. Subtleties about the subconscious mind didn't impress her very much,

because she wasn't sure if she had one.