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"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

the brandy. He perceived at once why he had been receiving all this hospitality. But then, he

had known Lanny Budd for some twelve years, and had had other meals at his expense and no

favors asked. It is injurious to one's vanity to have to suspect old friends, and Heinrich had a

naturally confiding disposition. So he asked: "What do you want me to do?"

"First, I want you to understand my position in this unhappy matter. I have many friends in

Germany, and I don't want to hurt them; but at the same time I can't let a member of my

family rot in a concentration camp without at least trying to find out what he's accused of. Can I,

Heinrich?"

"No, I suppose not," the other admitted, reluctantly.

"So far, there hasn't been any publicity that I have seen. Of course something may break loose

abroad; Johannes has friends and business associates there, and when they don't hear from

him they, too, may get busy on the telephone. If that happens, it will make a scandal, and I think

I'm doing a favor to you and to Kurt and to Seine Hochgeboren and even to the Führer, when I

come and let you know the situation. The first person I meet in Berlin is likely to ask me:

'Where is Johannes?' And what am I to say? Since he is my sister's father-in-law and my

father's associate, I'd be bound to call at his home, or at least telephone and let him know of my

arrival."

"It's certainly awkward," conceded Heinrich.

"Another thing: when Seine Hochgeboren gets my letter in the morning he may call up. He's a

friend of Johannes—in fact, it was at Johannes's palace that I first met him. Also, Irma expects

to meet the Fürstin Bismarck tomorrow—perhaps you know her, a very charming Swedish lady.

What is she going to say about the matter?"

Heinrich admitted that it was verteufelt; and Lanny went on: "If I tell these people what has

happened, I am in the position of having come here to attack the Regierung; and that's the last

thing I want to do. But the story can't be kept down indefinitely, and it's going to make a

frightful stink. So I said to Irma: 'Let's get to Heinrich quickly, and have the thing stopped

before it gets started.' Johannes is absolutely a non-political person, and he has no interest in

spreading scandals. I'm sure he'll gladly agree to shut up and forget that it happened."

"But the man must have done something, Lanny! They don't just grab people in Germany

and drag them to jail for nothing."

"Not even Jews, Heinrich?"

"Not even Jews. You saw how orderly the boycott was. Or did the foreign press lie to you

about it?"

"I have heard terrible stories; but I have refused to believe them and I don't want to have to. I

want to be able to go out and tell my friends that as soon as I reported this case to the Nazi

authorities, the trouble was corrected. I offer you a chance to distinguish yourself, Heinrich,

because your superiors will be grateful to you for helping to avoid a scandal in the outside

world."

VIII

This conversation was being carried on in German, because Heinrich's English was

inadequate. Irma's German was even poorer, but she had the advantage of having been told

Lanny's plan of campaign, and she could follow its progress on the young official's face. A well-

chiseled Nordic face, with two sky-blue eyes looking earnestly out, and a crown of straw-

colored hair shaved so that a Pickelhaube might fit over it—though Heinrich had never worn

that decoration. The face had been pink with pleasure at the evening's start; it had become rosy

with good food, wine, and friendship; now it appeared to be growing pale with anxiety and a

crushing burden of thought.

"But what on earth could I do, Lanny?"

"It was my idea that you would help me to take the matter directly to the Führer."

"Oh, Lanny, I couldn't possibly do that!"

"You have access to him, don't you?"

"Not so much as I used to. Things have changed. In the old days he was just a party leader,

but now he's the head of the government. You've no idea of the pressure upon him, and the

swarms of people trying to get at him all the time."

"I can understand that. But here is an emergency, and surely he would thank you for coming

to him."

"I simply wouldn't dare, Lanny. You must understand, I am nothing but an office-man. They

give me a certain job, and I do it efficiently, and presently they give me more to do. But I have

never had anything to do with politics."

"But is this politics, Heinrich?"

"You will soon find out that it is. If Dr. Ley has arrested a rich Jew, he has some reason; and

he's a powerful politician, and has friends at court—I mean, near the Führer. If I go and butt in,

it will be like walking into No Man's Land while the shooting is going on. What hold I have on

the Führer is because I am an old admirer, who has never asked anything of him in all my life.

Now, if I come to him, and he finds that I'm meddling in state affairs, he might be furious and say

" Raus mit dir! " and never see me again."

"On the other hand, Heinrich, if it should ever come to his ears that you had advance

knowledge of this matter and failed to give him warning, he wouldn't think it was a high sort

of friendship, would he?"

The young Nazi didn't answer, but the furrows on his brow made it plain that he was facing a

moral crisis. "I really don't know what to say, Lanny. They tell me he's frightfully irritable just

now, and it's very easy to make him angry."

"I should think he ought to feel happy after that wonderful speech, and the praise it is

bound to get from the outside world. I should think he'd be more than anxious to avoid having

anything spoil the effect of such a carefully planned move."

"Du lieber Gott!" exclaimed the other. "I ought to have the advice of somebody who knows

the state of his mind."

Lanny thought: "The bureaucrat meets an emergency, and has no orders!" Aloud he said: "Be

careful whom you trust."

"Of course. That's the worst of the difficulty. In political affairs you cannot trust anybody. I

have heard the Führer say it himself." Heinrich wrinkled his brows some more, and finally

remarked: "It seems to me it's a question of the effect on the outside world, so it might

properly come before our Reichsminister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda."

"Do you know him?"

"I know his wife very well. She used to work in Berlin party headquarters. Would you let me

take you to her?"

"Certainly, if you are sure it's the wise step. As it is a matter of politics, you ought to consider

the situation between Dr. Goebbels and Dr. Ley. If they are friends, Goebbels might try to hush

it up, and perhaps keep us from seeing the Führer."

"Gott im Himmel!" exclaimed Heinrich. "Nobody in the world can keep track of all the

quarrels and jealousies and intrigues. It is dreadful."

"I know," replied Lanny. "I used to hear you and Kurt talk about it in the old days."

"It is a thousand times worse now, because there are so many more jobs. I suppose it is the

same everywhere in politics. That is why I have kept out of it so carefully."

"It has caught up with you now," said Lanny; but to himself. Aloud he remarked: "We have to

start somewhere, so let us see what Frau Goebbels will advise."

IX

Heinrich Jung went to the telephone and called the home of Reichsminister Doktor Joseph

Goebbels. When he got the Frau Reichsminister he called her "Magda," and asked if she had

ever heard of Lanny Budd and Irma Barnes. Apparently she hadn't, for he proceeded to tell her

the essential facts, which were how much money Irma had and how many guns Lanny's father

had made; also that they had visited at Schloss Stubendorf and that Lanny had once had tea

with the Führer. Now they had a matter of importance to the party about which they wished

Magda's counsel. "We are at the Adlon," said Heinrich. "Ja, so schnell wie moglich. Auf

wiedersehen " .

Lanny called for his car, and while he drove to the Reichstagplatz, Heinrich told them about

the beauty, the charm, the warmth of heart of the lady they were soon to meet. One point

which should be in their favor, she had been the adopted child of a Jewish family. She had been

married to Herr Quandt, one of the richest men in Germany, much older than herself; she had

divorced him and now had a comfortable alimony—while the man who paid it stayed in a

concentration camp! She had become a convert to National Socialism and had gone to work

for the party; a short time ago she had become the bride of Dr. Goebbels, with Hitler as best

man, a great event in the Nazi world. Now she was "Frau Reichsminister," and ran a sort of

salon—for it appeared that men cannot get along without feminine influence, even while they

preach the doctrine of Küche, Kinder, Kirche to the masses.

"People accuse Magda of being ambitious," explained the young official. "But she has brains and

ability, and naturally she likes to use them for the good of the cause."

"She will have a chance to do it tonight," replied Lanny.

They were escorted to the fashionable apartment where the lovely Frau Quandt had once

lived with the elderly manufacturer. The "Frau Reichsminister" appeared in a cerise evening

gown and a double string of pearls that matched Irma's; both strings were genuine, but each

lady would have been interested to bite the other's to make sure. Magda had wavy fair hair, a

sweet, almost childish face, and rather melancholy eyes with the beginning of dark rings about

them. Lanny knew that she was married to one of the ugliest men in Germany; he could believe

that she had needed the spur of ambition, and wondered if she was getting the satisfaction she

craved.

It was growing late, and the visitors came to the point quickly. Knowing that the Minister of

Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda was a bitter anti-Semite, Lanny said: "Whatever one's

ideas may be, it is a fact that Hansi Robin is a musician of the first rank. The concert which he

gave with the Paris Symphony this spring brought him a tremendous ovation. He has given

similar concerts in London and in all the great cities of the United States, and that means that

thousands of people will be ready to come to his defense. And the same thing is true about the