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"I bought all that stock for nothing!" exclaimed the young wife.

"Not for nothing, but for a high price, I fear. You had best cable Uncle Joseph to look into the

matter thoroughly and advise you whether to sell it or hold on. Robbie, no doubt, will be

writing us the details."

The other communication was very different; a letter addressed to Lanny in his own

handwriting, and his heart gave a thump when he saw it, for he had given that envelope to

Hugo Behr. It was postmarked Munich and Lanny tore it open quickly, and saw that Hugo had

cut six letters out of a newspaper and pasted them onto a sheet of paper—a method of

avoiding identification well known to kidnapers and other conspirators. "Jawohl" can be one

word or two. With space after the first two letters, as Hugo had pasted them, it told Lanny that

Freddi Robin was in Dachau and that he was well.

So the American playboy forgot about his father's lost hopes and his own lost heritage. A

heavy load was lifted from his mind, and he sent two cablegrams, one to Mrs. Dingle in Juan—

the arrangement being that the Robins were to open such messages—and the other to Robbie

in Newcastle: "Clarinet music excellent," that being the code. To the latter message the dutiful

son added: "Sincere sympathy don't take it too hard we still love you." Robbie would take this

with a grin.

Irma and Lanny tore Hugo's message into small pieces and sent it on its way to the

capacious sewers of Berlin. They still had hope of some favor to be gained from the head of the

Prussian government. At any moment Leutnant Furtwaengler might show up and announce:

"We have found your Yiddisher friend." Until then, Lanny could only wait; for when you are

cultivating acquaintances in die grosse Welt, you don't say to these persons: "I have made

certain that you are lying to me, and propose that we now proceed to negotiate upon that basis."

No, Lanny couldn't even say: "I have doubts." For right away the Oberleutnant would look

surprised and ask: "What is the basis of them?" Lanny couldn't even say: "I urge you to try

harder"; for important persons must be assumed to have their hands full.

XI

The sum of more than four hundred thousand marks which had been paid for Detaze pictures

had been deposited in Berlin banks. It would be up to Lanny and Zoltan to use those marks in

purchasing art works for their American clients, who would make their payments in New

York; thus the pair would have to ask no favors of the Nazis. Lanny had obtained information

from a list of clients in America, and Zoltan had a list which he had been accumulating over a

period of many years; so there would be no difficulty in doing a sufficient amount of business.

They had agreed to go fifty-fifty on all transactions.

Lanny had suggested taking the show to Munich for-a week, and his friend had approved. Here

was a great art-loving public, and sales were certain; moreover, Beauty got fun out of it, and

Lanny knew of pictures which might be bought there. Jerry Pendleton, who had been waiting in

Berlin to take the unsold Detazes back to France, would see to packing and transporting them to

Munich. The Herr Privatdozent assured them that he enjoyed even more influence in the

Bavarian city, the cradle of National Socialism. He would be paid another fifteen thousand marks

for his services, plus his expenses for two weeks. He was planning to live high;

Hugo Behr returned to Berlin, reporting that he had made contact with an old party

acquaintance who was now one of the S.A. guards in the camp of Dachau. To this man Hugo

had explained that he had a friend who was owed money by a young Jew, and wondered if the

debtor was still alive and if there was any prospect of his coming out. The report had been that

Freddi Robin had been in the camp for four or five months; had been pretty roughly treated

before he came there, and now was kept by himself, for what reason the S.A. man didn't know.

What he had meant by reporting Freddi as "well" was that he was alive and not being

abused, so far as the informant had heard. Nobody was happy in Dachau, and least of all any

Jew.

Hugo added: "We might be able to trust that fellow, because I had a long talk with him

and he feels about events pretty much as I do. He's sick of his job, which isn't at all what he

bargained for. He says there are plenty of others who feel the same, though they don't always

talk. You know, Lanny, the Germans aren't naturally a cruel people, and they don't like having

the most brutal and rowdyish fellows among them picked out and put in charge."

"Did he say that?" inquired Lanny.

"He said even more. He said he'd like to see every Jew put out of Germany, but he didn't see

any sense in locking them up and kicking them around, just for being what they were born. I

told him my idea that the party is being led astray and that it's up to the rank and file to set it

straight. He was interested, and maybe we'll have an organized group in Dachau."

"That's fine," commented the American; "and I'm ever so much obliged to you. I'm going to

Munich pretty soon and perhaps you can come again, and I'll have some other message for

your friend." At the same time he took a little roll of hundred-mark notes out of his pocket and

slipped them into his friend's—a matter of only a few inches as they sat side by side in the car.

XII

To his wife Lanny said: "There might be a possibility of getting Freddi out without waiting

forever on the fat General."

"Oh, do be careful!" exclaimed Irma. "That would be a fearful risk to take!"

"Only as a last resort. But I really think Göring has had time enough to peer into all the

concentration camps in the Reich."

He made up his mind to call up Oberleutnant Furtwaengler and inquire concerning the

promised investigation. But he put it off till the next morning, and before he got round to it

the young staff officer was announced and ushered up to the suite. "Herr Budd," he said, "are

you free for the next two or three days?"

"I could get free."

"Seine Exzellenz has earned a holiday after the strain of his court appearances." The serious

young officer said this without the least trace of a smile, and Lanny assented with the gravest of

nods. "Seine Exzellenz is taking a shooting trip to the estate of Prinz von Schwarzerober in the

Schorfheide, and would be pleased if you would accompany him."

"That is very kind indeed," replied the American, with a carefully measured amount of

cordiality. "I appreciate the honor and will enjoy the opportunity to know the General better."

"Unfortunately," added the other, "this is what you Americans, I believe, call a 'stag' affair."

"A stag affair in two senses of the word," smiled Lanny, who knew about shooting in the

German forests. "My wife won't object to staying here, for she has friends who keep her

entertained."

"Very well, then," replied the Oberleutnant. "The car will call for you at fifteen o'clock

tomorrow."

Later, the young couple went driving and talked over the situation. "He wants something,"

declared the husband. "I suppose I'm going to find out about it now."

"Let him do the talking," cautioned Irma. "You saw that he expects it." She was nine years

younger than her husband, and had met the General only once, but she knew all about his

Prunksucht, his delight in self-display, both physical and mental. "He has to prove that he's

the greatest man in the company, the greatest in the government, perhaps the greatest in the

world. He will do anything for you if you convince him you believe that."

Lanny's mother had been supplying him with that sort of instruction all through his life. He

wondered: had Irma got it from Beauty —or from the Great Mother of them all?

23

All the Kingdoms of the World

I

LANNY in his boyhood had observed the feudal system operating in Stubendorf, and had

found it paternal and pleasant; so he could understand how the Nazis had made the same

discovery. The party was bound for the hunting preserve of one of those great landlords who had

been the friends of Hauptmann Göring in the days when he was an ace aviator, successor to

von Richthofen in command of that famous squadron. These wealthy Junkers had allied

themselves with the Hitler party upon Göring's assurance that they would be properly cared for,

and Göring now was seeing that the pledge was kept. There wasn't going to be any "Second

Revolution" in Prussia if the head of the government could prevent it, and he thought that he

could.

The party traveled in that six-wheeled Mercedes which Lanny had come to call "the tank." The

chauffeur and the guard who rode beside him were black-uniformed Schutzstaffel men, both

well armed. The very large General lolled in the back seat, with Lanny in the place of honor

beside him. In two retractable seats rode Oberst Siemans, a Reichswehr officer who was a World

War buddy of the General's, and Hauptmann Einstoss, an S.A. man who had accompanied Göring

in his flight to Switzerland after the Beerhall Putsch. A second car followed with Furtwaengler

and another staff officer, a secretary, a telephone operator, and a valet.

The party in the "tank" talked about the trial. Lanny wished he might hear what they would

have said if he hadn't been along, but there was no way to arrange that. They talked on the

assumption that the five prisoners were the spawn of Satan, and that the General had

completely annihilated Dimitroff. When they asked Lanny what would be the opinion of the

outside world, he replied that all people were inclined to believe what it was in their interest to

believe, and the outside world was afraid of the Nazis because it suspected that they meant to

rearm Germany. Thus, if one was cautious, it was possible to avoid lying and at the same time

avoid giving offense.

They drove at high speed, with a powerful horn giving notice to all the world to clear the way.

Toward dusk they left the highway and entered a heavy forest; they drove many miles on a

private road before coming to a hunting lodge, well lighted for their reception. A spacious hall,

with bearskins on the floor and trophies on the walls; a glass-cased rack of guns at one end, a

banquet-table at the other, and a great stone fireplace with logs blazing. There was no host—

the place had been turned over to the General. Servants in green foresters' uniforms brought

drinks, and when Seine Exzellenz called for supper there came a procession of men, each

bearing a silver platter: the first containing a huge roasted boar's head, steaming hot, the

second a haunch of venison, the third several capercailzie, a kind of grouse bigger than any

chicken, and the fourth some fricasseed hares. Lanny, dining under the feudal system, could

only laugh and beg for mercy. His host, proud of his prowess as a trencherman, was not

displeased to have others take an attitude of inferiority.

It was the same with the drinking. Hot punch and cold Moselle, burning brandy sauces,

cocktails, beer—there was apparently no ordained sequence; the valiant air commander took

everything that he saw and called for more. The way Lanny saved himself was by music; when