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When she found that he was trying not to tell her his story, her curiosity became intensified;

he made up a mild version, based upon his effort to buy Freddi out of Dachau, which Irma knew

had been his plan. He said that he and Hugo had been arrested, and, he had been confined in

the very gemütlich city jail of Munich. He could go into details about that place and make a

completely convincing story; his only trouble had been that they wouldn't let him communicate

with the outside world. It was on account of the confusion of the Blood Purge; Irma said the

papers in England had been full of that, and she had become convinced that she was a widow.

"You'd have made a charming one," he said; but he couldn't get a smile out of her.

"What are you waiting for now?" she wanted to know. He told her he had had a conference

with Furtwaengler, and had a real hope of getting Freddi out in the next few days. He

couldn't think of any way to make that sound plausible, and Irma was quite impatient, wanting

to be taken to England. But no, he must stay in this hotel all day—the old business of waiting

for a telephone call that didn't come! She wanted to get away from every reminder of those

days and nights of misery; and this included Freddi and Rahel and all the Robin family. It

made her seem rather hard; but Lanny realized that it was her class and racial feeling; she

wanted to give her time and attention to those persons whom she considered important. Her

mother was in England, and so was Frances; she had new stories to tell about the latter, and it

was something they could talk about and keep the peace. It was almost the only subject.

There being more than one telephone at the Crillon, Lanny was able to indulge himself in the

luxury of long-distance calls without a chance of delaying the all-important one from Berlin.

He called his mother, who shed a lot of tears which unfortunately could not be transmitted by

wire. He called Rick, and told him in guarded language what were his hopes. He called Emily

Chattersworth and invited her to come in and have lunch, knowing that this would please Irma.

Emily came, full of curiosity; she accepted his synthetic story, the same that he had told his wife.

The episode of Solomon Hellstein was all over Paris, just as Göring had predicted; Emily had

heard it, and wanted to verify it. Lanny explained how he had been under detention in Berlin,

and there had got the facts about what was being done to the eldest of the half dozen banking

brothers. Also Lanny wrote a long letter to his father, telling him the real story; a shorter letter

to Hansi and Bess, who had gone to South America, along with Hansi's father—the one to sell

beautiful sounds and the other to sell hardware, including guns. The young Reds hadn't wanted

to go, but the two fathers had combined their authority. The mere presence in Europe of two

notorious Reds would be an incitement to the Nazis, and might serve to tip the scales and defeat

Lanny's efforts to help Freddi. The young pair didn't like the argument, but had no answer to

it.

VIII

Early in the morning, a phone call from Berlin! The cheer ful voice of Oberleutnant

Furtwaengler announcing: "Gute Nachrichten, Herr Budd! I am authorized to tell you that we

are prepared to release your friend."

The man at the Paris end of the wire had a hard time preserving his steadiness of voice.

"Whereabouts, Herr Oberleutnant?"

"That is for you to say."

"Where is he now?"

"In Munich."

"You would prefer some place near there?"

"My instructions are that you shall name the place."

Lanny remembered the bridge by which he had crossed the river Rhein on his way to Munich;

the place at which the child Marie Antoinette had entered France. "Would the bridge between

Kehl and Strasbourg be acceptable to you?"

"Entirely so."

"I will be on that bridge whenever you wish."

"We can get there more quickly than you. So you set the time."

"Say ten o'clock tomorrow morning."

"It is a date. I won't be there personally, so this is to thank you for your many courtesies and

wish you all happiness."

"My wife is in the room, and desires to send her regards to you and your wife."

"Give her my greetings and thanks. I am certain that my wife will join in these sentiments.

Adieu." Such were the formulas; and oh, why couldn't people really live like that?

IX

"Now, dear," said Lanny to his wife, "I think we can soon go home and have a rest."

Her amazement was great, and she wanted to know, how on earth he had done it? He told

her: "They were trying to find the whereabouts of some of Freddi's friends and comrades. My

guess is, they've got them by now, so he's of no use to them. Also, it might be that Göring

thinks he can make some use of me in future."

"Are you going to do anything for him?"

"Not if I can help it. But all that's between you and me. You must not breathe a word of it to

anybody else, not even to your mother, nor to mine." It pleased her to feel that she stood first

in his confidence, and she promised.

He went to the telephone and put in a call for his faithful friend in Cannes. "Jerry," he said,

"I think I'm to get Freddi out, and here's another job. Call Rahel at Bienvenu and tell her to get

ready; then get her, and motor her to Strasbourg. Don't delay, because I have no idea what

condition Freddi will be in, and she's the one who has to handle him and make the decisions.

You know the sort of people we're dealing with; and I can't give any guarantees, but I believe

Freddi will be there at ten tomorrow, and it's worthwhile for Rahel to take the chance. Get

Beauty's car from Bienvenu, if you like. I advise you to come by way of the Rhone valley,

Besancon and Mulhouse. Drive all night if you can stand it and let Rahel sleep in the back seat. I

will be at the Hotel de la Ville-de-Paris in Strasbourg."

Lanny had another problem, a delicate one. He didn't want to take Irma on this trip, and at the

same time he didn't want to hurt her feelings. "Come if you want to," he said, "but I'm telling

you it may be a painful experience, and there won't be much you can do."

"Why did you ask me to Paris, Lanny, if you didn't want my help?"

"I asked you because I love you, and wanted to see you, and I thought you would want to see

me. I want your help in everything that interests you, but I don't want to drag you into

something that you have no heart for. I haven't seen Freddi, and I'm just guessing: he may look

like an old man; he may be ill, even dying; he may be mutilated in some shocking way; he may be

entirely out of his mind. It's his wife's job to take care of him and nurse him back to life; it's not

your job, and I'm giving you the chance to keep out of another wearing experience."

"We'll all be in it, if they're going to live at Bienvenu."

"In the first place, Rahel may have to take him to a hospital. And anyhow, we aren't going

back until fall. Hansi and Bess are making money, and so is Johannes, I have no doubt, and

they'll want to have a place of their own. All that's in the future, and a lot of it depends on

Freddi's condition. I suggest leaving you at Emily's until I come back. I'm having Jerry bring

Rahel in a car, so he can take her wherever she wants to go, and then you and I will be free.

There's a maison de sante here in Paris, and a surgeon who took care of Marcel when he was

crippled and burned; they're still in business, and I phoned that I might be sending them a