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"Oh, Lanny, the most marvelous affair! Have you read the speech?"

"Indeed I have, and I consider it a great piece of statesmanship."

"Wundervoll!" exclaimed Heinrich.

"Kolossal!" echoed Lanny. In German you sing it, with the accent on the last syllable,

prolonging it like a tenor.

"Ganz grosse Staatskunst!"

"Absolut!" Another word which you accent on the last syllable; it sounds like a popgun.

"Wirkliches Genie!" declared the Nazi official.

So they chanted in bel canto, like a love duet in Italian opera. They sang the praises of Adolf,

his speech, his party, his doctrine, his Fatherland. Heinrich, enraptured, exclaimed: "You really

see it now!"

"I didn't think he could do it," admitted the genial visitor.

"But he is doing it! He will go on doing it!" Heinrich remained lyrical; he even tried to become

American. "How is it that you say— er geht damit hinweg?"

"He is getting away with it," chuckled Lanny.

"When can I see you?" demanded the young official.

"Are you busy this evening?"

"Nothing that I can't break."

"Well, come on over. We were just about to order something to eat. We'll wait for you."

Lanny hung up, and Irma said: "Isn't that overdoing it just a little?"

Lanny put his finger to his lips. "Let's dress and dine downstairs," he said. "Your best clothes.

The moral effect will be worth while."

V

There were three of them in the stately dining-room of the most fashionable hotel in Berlin;

the American heiress in the showiest rig she had brought, Lanny in a "smoking," and Heinrich

in the elegant dress uniform he had worn to the Kroll Opera House. Die grosse Welt stared at

them, and the heart of Heinrich Jung, the forester's son, was bursting with pride—not for

himself, of course, but for his Führer and the wonderful movement he had built. Respect for rank

and station had been bred into the very bones of a lad on the estate of Stubendorf, and this

was the highest he had ever climbed on the social pyramid. This smart American couple had been

guests on two occasions at the Schloss; it might even happen that the General Graf would enter

this room and be introduced to the son of his Oberförster! Lanny didn't fail to mention that he

had written to Seine Hochgeboren at his Berlin palace.

The orchestra played softly, and the waiters bowed obsequiously. Lanny, most gracious of

hosts, revealed his mastery of the gastronomic arts. Did Heinrich have any preference? No,

Heinrich would leave it to his host, and the host said they should have something echt

berlinerisch- how about some Krebse, billed as ecrevisses? Heinrich said that these would

please him greatly, and kept the dark secret that he had never before eaten them. They proved

to be small crayfish served steaming hot on a large silver platter with a much embossed silver

cover. The waiter exhibited the magnificence before he put some on separate plates. Heinrich

had to be shown how to extract the hot pink body from the thin shell, and then dip it into a

dish of hot butter. Yes, they were good!

And what would Heinrich like to drink? Heinrich left that, too, to his host, so he had

Rheinwein, the color of a yellow diamond, and later he had sparkling champagne. Also he had

wild strawberries with Schlagsahne, and tiny cakes with varicolored icing. "Shall we have the

coffee in our suite?" said the heiress; they went upstairs, and on the way were observed by

many, and Heinrich's uniform with its special insignia indicating party rank left no doubt that

Mr. and Mrs. Irma Barnes were all right; the word would go through the hotel, and the

reporters would hear of it, and the social doings of the young couple would be featured in the

controlled press. The Nazis would not love them, of course; the Nazis were not sentimental.

But they were ready to see people climbing onto their bandwagon, and would let them ride so

far as suited the convenience of the bandwagon Führer.

VI

Up in the room they had coffee, also brandy in large but very thin goblets. Heinrich never felt

better in his life, and he talked for a couple of hours about the N.S.D.A.P. and the wonders it

had achieved and was going to achieve. Lanny listened intently, and explained his own position

in a frank way. Twelve years ago, when the forester's son had first made known Adi

Schicklgruber's movement, Lanny hadn't had the faintest idea that it could succeed, or even

attain importance. But he had watched it growing, step by step, and of course couldn't help

being impressed; now he had come to realize that it was what the German people wanted, and of

course they had every right in the world to have it. Lanny couldn't say that he was a convert,

but he was a student of the movement; he was eager to talk with the leaders and question

them, so that he could take back to the outside world a true and honest account of the changes

taking place in the Fatherland. "I know a great many journalists," he said, "and I may be able

to exert a little influence."

"Indeed I am sure you can," responded Heinrich cordially.

Lanny took a deep breath and said a little prayer. "There's just one trouble, Heinrich. You

know, of course, that my sister is married to a Jew."

"Yes. It's too bad!" responded the young official, gravely.

"It happens that he's a fine violinist; the best I know. Have you ever heard him?"

"Never."

"He played the Beethoven concerto in Paris a few weeks ago, and it was considered

extraordinary."

"I don't think I'd care to hear a Jew play Beethoven," replied Heinrich. His enthusiasm had

sustained a sudden chill.

"Here is my position," continued Lanny. "Hansi's father has been my father's business

associate for a long time."

"They tell me he was a Schieber."

"Maybe so. There were plenty of good German Schieber; the biggest of all was Stinnes.

There's an open market, and men buy and sell, and nobody knows whom he's buying from or

selling to. The point is, I have ties with the Robin family, and it makes it awkward for me."

"They ought to get out of the country, Lanny. Let them go to America, if you like them and

can get along with them."

"Exactly! That is what I've been urging them to do, and they wanted to do it. But

unfortunately Johannes has disappeared."

"Disappeared? How do you mean?"

"He was about to go on board his yacht in Bremerhaven when some Brownshirts seized him

and carried him off, and nobody has any idea where he is."

"But that's absurd, Lanny."

"I'm sure it doesn't seem absurd to my old friend."

"What has he been doing? He must have broken some law."

"I have no idea and I doubt very much if he has."

"How do you know about it, Lanny?"

"I telephoned to the yacht and a strange voice answered. The man said he was a

Reichsbetriebszellenabteilung Gruppenführerstellvertreter."

"That's a part of Dr. Ley's new Labor Front. What's he got to do with a Jewish Schieber?"

"You may do me a great favor if you'll find out for me, Heinrich."

"Well, you know what happens in revolutions. People take things into their own hands, and

regrettable incidents occur. The Führer can't know everything that's going on."

"I'm quite sure of it," said Lanny. "The moment I heard about it, I said: "I know exactly

where to go. Heinrich Jung is the person who will understand and help me. So here I am!"

VII

The young Nazi executive wasn't a fool, not even with the Rheinwein and the champagne and