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rid of the hated unions and safe against strikes from this day forth?

Robbie Budd wrote about this situation, important to him. He said: "There is a bitter fight

going on for control of the industry in Germany. There are two groups, both powerful

politically. It is Thyssen and Krupp vs. the Otto Wolff group. The latter is part Jewish, and the

present set-up is not so good for them. Johannes believes he has friends in both camps, and I

hope he is not fooling himself. He is sailing a small ship in a stormy sea."

Robbie also gave another item of news: "Father is failing and I fear you may not find him here

when you arrive. It is no definite disease, just the slow breakdown of old age, very sad to

witness. It means heavy responsibilities for me; a situation which I prefer not to write about, but

will tell you when I see you. Write the old gentleman and assure him of your appreciation of

his kindness to you; he tries to keep his hold on all the family as well as on the business. He

forgets what I told him yesterday, but remembers clearly what happened long ago. That is

hard on me, because I caused him a great deal of unhappiness in those days, whereas of late he

had been learning to take me for what I am and make the best of it. I try not to grieve about

him, because he has had more out of life than most men, and fate neither lets us live forever

nor have our way entirely while we are here."

V

Adolf Hitler was the man who was having his own way, more than any who had lived in

modern times. He was going ahead to get the mastery of everything in Germany, government,

institutions, even cultural and social life. Every organization which stood in his way he

proceeded to break, one after another, with such speed and ruthlessness that it left the

opposition dizzy. The Nationalist party, which had fondly imagined it could control him, found

itself helpless. Papen, Vice-Chancellor, was reduced to a figurehead; Goring took his place in

control of the Prussian state. Hugenberg had several of his papers suppressed, and when he

threatened to resign from the Cabinet, no one appeared to care. One by one the Nationalist

members were forced out and Nazis replaced them. Subordinates were arrested, charged with

defalcation or what not— the Minister of Information was in position to charge anybody with

anything, and it was dangerous to answer.

On the tenth day of May there were ceremonies throughout Germany which riveted the

attention of the civilized world. Quantities of books were collected from the great library of

Berlin University, including most of the worthwhile books which had been written during the

past hundred years: everything that touched even remotely upon political, social, or sexual

problems. Some forty thousand volumes were heaped into a pile in the square between the

University and the Opera House and drenched with gasoline. The students paraded, wearing

their bright society caps and singing patriotic and Nazi songs. They solemnly lighted the pyre

and a crowd stood in a drizzling rain to watch it burn. Thus modern thought was symbolically

destroyed in the Fatherland, and a nation which had stood at the forefront of the intellectual

life would learn to do its thinking with its "blood."

On that same tenth of May the schools of Germany were ordered to begin teaching the Nazi

doctrines of "race." On that day the government confiscated all the funds belonging to the

Socialist party and turned them over to the new Nazi-controlled unions. On that day

Chancellor Hitler spoke to a Labor Congress, telling it that his own humble origin and

upbringing fitted him to understand the needs of the workers and attend to them. On that

day the correspondent of the New York Times was forbidden to cable news of the suicide of the

daughter of Scheidemann, the Socialist leader, and of a woman tennis champion who had

brought honor to Germany but who objected to the process of "co-ordinating" German sport

with Nazi propaganda. Finally, on that day there was a parade of a hundred thousand persons

down Broadway in New York, protesting against the treatment of German Jews.

VI

The members of the Budd family in Bienvenu and in Paris were packing and getting ready for a

year's absence from home. What should they take and what leave behind? Everything that was

going on board the yacht had to be marked for the cabins or the hold. What was to be sent

from Paris to Bienvenu was left in charge of Jerry Pendleton, who would see to its packing and

unpacking. The ex-tutor and ex-lieutenant had saved most of his year's salary, and would go

back to the pension and wait for the tourists to return. Madame Zyszynski was to be loaned for

a year to the munitions king—for the spirits of the Budds and Dingles appeared to have said their

say, whereas the Duquesa Marqueni was still going strong. Bub Smith was to escort the

priceless little Frances to the yacht and see her safely on board; then he would take a steamer

and return to his job in Newcastle, until such time as the baby should arrive in the land of the

gangsters and the home of the kidnapers.

The expedition from Bienvenu arrived in Paris by train: Hansi and Bess; Beauty and her

husband; Marceline and her governess— the former nearly sixteen, an elegant young lady, but

she would be made to study every day on the yacht, and if there was anything Miss Addington

didn't know, she would look it up in the encyclopedia, or the all-knowing Lanny would tell it to

her. Frances was now three years old, and her entourage was made up of Miss Severne, a

nurse, and the ex-cowboy from Texas. These ten persons arrived in the morning, and there was

fuss and clamor, because they all wanted this or that before they got onto a yacht, and it

seemed that so many bags and boxes had never before been heaped up in the entrance hall of a

palace.

In the evening the expedition entrained for Calais; four more of them now: Irma and her

husband, her maid and her Feathers—who, as Irma said over and over, was a fool, but a good

one, doing all the errands, the shopping, and telephoning; keeping the accounts and getting

hopelessly mixed up in them; talcing her scoldings with tears, and promising to reform and doing

her best, poor soul, but not having it in her, since she had been brought up as a lady, and

thought about her own ego more than she could ever think about her job.

There were now twice as many boxes and bags, and twice as much fuss, but carried on in low

tones, because Irma was strict about having the dignity of the family preserved. It was a

conspicuous family, and there were reporters at the station to see them off and to ask about

their proposed trip. Millions of people would read about their doings and get vicarious thrills;

millions would admire them and millions would envy them, but only a small handful would love

them—such appeared to be the way of the world.

VII

Next morning the party emerged on the station platform of the ancient seaport and bathing

resort. They waited while Lanny got busy on the telephone and ascertained that the yacht had

not yet been reported. They were loaded into taxis and taken to the Hotel du Commerce et

Excelsior, where the mountain of luggage was stacked in a room and Feathers set to watch over

it. A glorious spring day, and the family set out to find a point of vantage from which they could

watch the approach of the trim white Bessie Budd. Irma and Lanny had a memory of this

spectacle, never to be forgotten: the day at Ramsgate when they had been trying to get