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because it would make them conspicuous. He said: "Let me carry that bundle."

"No, no," she replied. "It's all right."

But he knew that it wasn't, and in the land of his forefathers men did not let women carry the

loads. He said: "I insist," and thought that he was being polite when he took it out of her arms.

Then right away he saw why she hadn't wanted him to have it. It was wrapped like a bundle

of clothing, and was soft like such a bundle, but its weight was beyond that of any clothing ever

made. He tried to guess: did the bundle contain arms of some sort, or was it what the comrades

called "literature"? The latter was more in accord with Trudi's nature, but Irma had pointed

out that one couldn't count upon that. A small quantity of weapons might weigh the same as a

larger quantity of printed matter. Both would be equally dangerous in these times; and here

was Lanny with an armful of either or both!

VIII

They must keep on walking and keep on talking. He asked: "How far do you have to go?"

"Many blocks."

"I have a car, and I could get it and drive you."

"A car must not stop there, nor can I let you go to the place."

"But we ought to have a talk. Will you let Irma and me meet you somewhere and take you for

a drive? That way we can talk safely."

She walked for a space without speaking. Then she said: "Your wife is not sympathetic to our

ideas, Genosse Budd."

"She does not agree with us altogether," he admitted; "but she is loyal to me and to the

Robins."

"Nobody will be loyal in a time like this except those who believe in the class struggle." They

walked again in silence; then the young artist continued: "It is hard for me to say, but it is not

only my life that is at stake, but that of others to whom I am pledged. I would be bound to tell

them the situation, and I know they would not consent for me to meet your wife, or to let her

know about our affairs.' He was a bit shocked to discover what the comrades had been thinking

about his marriage; but he couldn't deny Trudi's right to decide this matter. "All right," he

said. "I won't mention you, and don't you mention me. There might be a spy among your

group, I suppose."

"It's not very likely, because our enemies don't wait long when they get information. They are

efficient, and take no chances. It is dangerous for you to be walking with me.'"

"I doubt if it could make serious trouble for an American; but it might cost me my chance to

save Freddi if it became known that I was in touch with Socialists."

"It is certainly unwise for us to meet."

"It depends upon what may happen. How can we find each other in case of need?"

"It would not do for you to come where I am. If I need to see you, I'll send you an unsigned

note. I read in the papers that you were staying at the Adlon."

"Yes, but I'm leaving tomorrow or the next day for Munich, where I'll be at the Vier

Jahreszeiten. Letters will be forwarded, however."

"Tell me, Genosse Lanny," she exclaimed, in a tense voice; "do you suppose there could be

any chance for you to find if Ludi is in Dachau?"

"I can't think of any way now; but something might turn up. I must have some way to get

word to you."

"Notice this corner ahead of us; remember it, and if you have any news for me, walk by here

on Sunday, exactly at noon. I'll be watching for you, and I'll follow you to your car. But don't

come unless you have something urgent."

"You mean that you will come to this corner every Sunday?"

"So long as there's any chance of your coming. When you leave Germany, I can write you to

Juan-les-Pins."

"All right," he said; and then, as a sudden thought came to him: "Do you need money?"

"I'm getting along all right."

But he knew that propagandists can always use money. He didn't take out his billfold, that

being a conspicuous action; he reached under his coat, and worked several bills into a roll, and

slipped them into the pocket of that well-worn brown coat. He was becoming expert in the art

of distributing illicit funds. What he gave her would be a fortune for Social-Democrats,

underground or above. He would leave it for her to explain how she had got it.

When he returned to the hotel, Irma said: "Well! You must have found some paintings that

interested you!"

He answered: "A couple of Menzels that I think are worth Zoltan's looking at. But the works

by the Maris brothers were rather a disappointment."

IX

The period of the Detaze show in Berlin corresponded with an election campaign throughout

the German Reich; assuredly the strangest election campaign since that contrivance had been

born of the human brain. Hitler had wiped out all other political parties, and all the legislative

bodies of the twenty-two German states; by his methods of murder and imprisonment he had

destroyed democracy and representative government, religious toleration and all civil rights; but

being still the victim of a "legality complex," he insisted upon having the German people endorse

what he had done. A vote to say that votes had no meaning! A Reichstag to declare that a

Reichstag was without power! A completely democratic repudiation of democracy! Lanny

thought: "Has there ever been such a madman since the world began? Has it ever before

happened that a whole nation has gone mad?"

Living in the midst of this enormous institute of lunacy, Lanny Budd tried to keep his

balance and not be permanently stood upon his head. If there was anything he couldn't

comprehend, his Nazi friends were eager to explain it, but there wasn't a single German from

whom he could hear a sane word. Even Hugo Behr and his friends who were planning the

"Second Revolution" were all loyal Hitlerites, co-operating in what they considered a sublime

demonstration of patriotic fervor. Even the members of smart society dared give no greater sign

of rationality than a slight smile, or the flicker of an eyelash so faint that you couldn't be sure if

you had seen it. The danger was real, even to important persons. Only a few days later they

would see Herzog Philip Albert of Württemberg imprisoned for failing to cast his vote in this

sublime national referendum.

Hitler had raised the issue in the middle of October when the British at Geneva had dared to

propose a four years' "trial period" before permitting Germany to rearm. The Führer's reply was

to withdraw the German delegates from both the League of Nations and the Conference for

Arms Limitation. In so doing he issued to the German people one of those eloquent manifestoes

which he delighted to compose; he told them how much he loved peace and how eager he was

to disarm when the other nations would do the same. He talked to them about "honor"—he, the

author of Mein Kampf— and they believed him, thus proving that they were exactly what he had

said they were. He proclaimed that what the German people wanted was "equal rights"; and,

having just deprived them of all rights, he put to them in the name of the government this

solemn question:

"Does the German people accept the policy of its National Cabinet as enunciated here and is it

willing to declare this to be the expression of its own view and its own will and to give it holy

support?"

Such was the "referendum" to be voted on a month later. In addition, there was to be a new

Reichstag election, with only one slate of candidates, 686 of them, all selected by the Führer,

and headed by the leading Nazis: Hitler, Göring, Goebbels, Hess, Röhm, and so on. One party,