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defensive. We are completely absorbed in the problems of our own economy. We mean to

make good the Socialism in our name, and show the outside world as well as our own people

that the problems of unemployment can be solved. In five years—no, I dare say in three—there

will not be a single man desiring work in Germany and not finding it."

"That indeed will be something to watch, Herr Reiehsminister." The great man started to

explain how it could be done; and from that abnormally wide mouth there poured a torrent of

words. Lanny had observed the same thing with Hitler and Mussolini and many lesser

propagandists—they forgot the difference between an audience of four and an audience of four

million, and were willing to expend as much energy on the former as on the latter. Crooked

Juppchen went on and on, and perhaps would have talked all night; but his tactful wife chose

an opportunity when he was taking in breath, and said: "The Herr Reichsminister Doktor has

a hard day's work behind him and has another before him. He ought to have some sleep."

The others started to their feet at once; and so they missed hearing about the Autobahnen

which the new government was going to build all over Germany. They thanked both host and

hostess, and took their departure quickly. After they had delivered Heinrich to his home and

were safely alone in their car, Irma said: "Well, do you think you got away with it?"

"We can't tell a thing, in this world of intrigue. Goebbels will think the matter over and

decide where his interests lie."

Irma had understood a little of the conversation here and there.

She remarked: "At least you got the dirt on Dr. Ley!"

"Yes," replied her husband; "and if we have the fortune to meet Dr. Ley, we'll get the dirt on

Dr. Goebbels!"

18

I Am a Jew

I

Lanny wasn't taking his father's suggestion of reporting to the American Embassy. The

attache who was Robbie's old friend was no longer there. The Ambassador was a Hoover

appointee, a former Republican senator from Kentucky and Robbie Budd's type of man; but he

was ill, and had gone to Vichy, France, from which place he had given an interview defending

the Nazi regime. As for Lanny himself, he didn't expect any serious trouble, but if it came, he

would put it up to the Embassy to get him out. He had agreed with Irma that when he went

out alone he would set a time for his return; if anything delayed him he would telephone, and

if he failed to do this, she would report him as missing.

In the morning they took things easy; had breakfast in bed and read the papers, including

interviews with themselves, also full accounts of the Reichstag session and other Nazi doings.

Their comments were guarded, for they had to expect some form of spying. Except when they

were alone in their car, everything in Germany was to be wonderful, and only code names were

to be used. Heinrich was "Aryan," Goebbels was "Mr. Mouth," and the Frau Minister "Mrs.

Mouth." Disrespectful, but they were young and their manners were "smart."

There came a telephone call from Freddi; he gave no name, but Lanny, knowing his voice,

said promptly: "We saw some fine Bouguereau paintings last night, and are waiting for a call

telling us the price. Call later." Then he settled down and wrote a note to Mrs. Dingle, in Paris,

enclosing various newspaper clippings, and saying: "The picture market appears promising and

we hope to make purchases soon. The clarinet and other instruments are in good condition."

While he was writing, one of Irma's friends, the Fürstin Donnerstein, called up to invite the

young couple to lunch. Lanny told Irma to accept for herself. It was a waste of time for her to

sit through long interviews with officials in the German language; let her go out and spread

the news about Johannes, and find out the reaction of "society" to the disappearance of a

Jewish financier. Lanny himself would wait in their suite for messages.

They were dressing, when the telephone rang. The "personal secretary" to Herr

Reichsminister Doktor Goebbels announced: "The Herr Reichsminister wishes you to know

that he has taken entire charge of the matter which you brought to his attention, and he will

report to you as soon as he has completed investigations."

Lanny returned his thanks, and remarked to his wife: "We are getting somewhere!"

Irma replied: "He was really a quite agreeable person, Lanny." He looked at her, expecting a

small fraction of a wink; but apparently she meant it. He would have liked to say: "Too bad his

public speeches aren't as pleasant as his private conversation." But that could be said only in

the car.

He added a postscript to the note to his mother: "I have just been given reason to hope that

our deal may go through quickly." He was about to offer to accompany Irma to the luncheon,

when there came a tap upon the door, and a bellboy presented a card, reading: "Herr

Guenther Ludwig Furtwaengler. Amtsleiter Vierte Kammer: Untersuchungs- und

Schlichtungsausschuss N.S.D.A.P." Lanny didn't stop to puzzle out this jet of letters, but said:

"Bring the Herr up." Studying the card, he could tell something about the visitor, for the

Germans do not customarily put the title "Herr" on their cards, and this was a crudity.

The officer entered the reception room, clicked his heels, bowed from the waist, and remarked:

"Heil Hitler. Guten Morgen, Herr Budd." He was a clean-cut youngish man in the black and

silver uniform of the S.S. with the white skull and crossbones. He said: "Herr Budd, I have the

honor to inform you that I was yesterday appointed to the personal staff of the Reichsminister

and Minister-Prasident of Prussia, Hauptmann Goring. I have the rank of Oberleutnant, but have

not had time to have new cards engraved. Seine Exzellenz wishes to invite you and Frau Budd to

his inauguration ceremonies, which take place the day after tomorrow."

"We are greatly honored, Herr Oberleutnant," said Lanny, concealing his surprise.

"I present you with this card of admission. You understand it will be necessary to have it with

you."

"Assuredly," said Lanny, and put the treasure safely into the inside breast pocket of his coat.

The other went on: "Seine Exzellenz the Minister-Prasident wishes you to know that he is

giving immediate personal attention to the matter of Johannes Robin."

"Well, thank you, Herr Oberleutnant," said the American. This time his surprise couldn't be

concealed. He explained: "Only a few minutes ago I had a call from the office of another

Reichsminister, and was told that he had the matter in charge."

Said the officer: "I am instructed to inform you that if you will accompany me to the

residence of Seine Exzellenz the Minister-Prasident, he personally will give you information

about the matter."

"I am honored," replied Lanny, "and of course pleased to come. Excuse me while I inform my

wife."

Irma paled when told this news, for she had heard about Goring, who had so far no rival for

the title of the most brutal man in the Nazi government. "Can this be an arrest, Lanny?"

"It would be extremely bad form to suggest such an idea," he smiled. "I will phone you

without fail at the Furstin Donnerstein's by two o'clock. Wait there for me. If I do not call, it

will be serious. But meantime, don't spoil your lunch by worrying." He gave her a quick kiss

and went down to the big official car—a Mercedes, as big as a tank, having six wheels. It had a

chauffeur and guard, both in Nazi uniforms. Lanny thought: "By heck! Johannes must be

richer than I realized!"

II

A short drive up Unter den Linden and through the Brandenburger Tor to the Minister-

Prasident's official residence, just across the way from the Reichstag building with its burned-

out dome. Lanny had heard no end of discussion of the three-hundred-foot tunnel which ran

under the street, through which the S.A. men were said to have come on the night when they

filled the building with incendiary materials and touched them off with torches. All the non-

Nazi world believed that Hermann Wilhelm Goring had ordered and directed that job.

Certainly no one could question that it was he who had ordered and directed the hunting down

and killing, the jailing and torturing, of tens of thousands of Communists and Socialists,

democrats and pacifists, during the past three and a half months. In his capacity of Minister

without Portfolio of the German Reich he had issued an official decree instructing the police to

co-operate with the Nazi forces, and in a speech at Dortmund he had defended his decree:

"In future there will be only one man who will wield power and bear responsibility in Prussia

—that is myself. A bullet fired from the barrel of a police pistol is my bullet. If you say that is

murder, then I am a murderer. I know only two sorts of law because I know only two sorts of

men: those who are with us and those who are against us."

With such a host anything was possible, and it was futile for Lanny to try to guess what was

coming. How much would the Commandant of the Prussian Police and founder of the

"Gestapo," the Secret State Police, have been able to find out about a Franco-American Pink in

the course of a few hours? Lanny had been so indiscreet as to mention to Goebbels that he

had met Mussolini.

Would they have phoned to Rome and learned how the son of Budd's had been expelled from

that city for trying to spread news of the killing of Giacomo Matteotti? Would they have

phoned to Cannes and found out about the labor school? To Paris and learned about the Red

uncle, and the campaign contributions of Irma Barnes which had made him a Deputy of France?

Lanny could pose as a Nazi sympathizer before Heinrich Jung—but hardly before the Führer's

head triggerman!

It was all mystifying in the extreme. Lanny thought: "Has Goebbels turned the matter over

to Goring, or has Goring grabbed it away from Goebbels?" Everybody knew that the pair were

the bitterest of rivals; but since they had become Cabinet Ministers their two offices must be

compelled to collaborate on all sorts of matters. Did they have jurisdictional disputes? Would

they come to a fight over the possession of a wealthy Jew and the ransom which might be

extorted from him? Goring gave orders to the Berlin police, while Goebbels, as Gauleiter of

Berlin, commanded the party machinery, and presumably the Brownshirts. Would the cowering

Johannes Robin become a cause of civil war?

And then, still more curious speculations: How had Goring managed to get wind of the

Johannes Robin affair? Did he have a spy in the Goebbels household? Or in the Goebbels

office? Or had Goebbels made the mistake of calling upon one of Goring's many departments for

information? Lanny imagined a spiderweb of intrigue being spun about the Robin case. It

doesn't take long, when the spinning is done with telephone wires.

III

Flunkies bowed the pair in, and a secretary led Lanny up a wide staircase and into a sumptuous

room with a high ceiling. There was the great man, lolling in an overstuffed armchair, with а

рilе of papers on a small table beside him, and another table with drinks on the other side.

Lanny had seen so many pictures of him that he knew what to expect: a mountain of a man,

having a broad sullen face with heavy jowls, pinched-in lips, and bags of fat under the eyes. He

was just forty, but had acquired a great expanse of chest and belly, now covered by a

resplendent blue uniform with white lapels. Suspended around his neck with two white

ribbons was a golden star having four double points.

The ex-aviator's love of power was such that he was assuming offices one after another:

Minister without Portfolio of the Reich, Minister-Prasident of Prussia, Air Minister,

Commander-in-Chief of the German Air Force, Chief Forester of the Reich, Reich

Commissioner. For each he would have a new uniform, sky blue, cream, rose-pink. It wouldn't be

long before some Berlin wit would invent the tale of Hitler attending a performance of

Lohengrin, and falling asleep; between the acts comes the tenor in his gorgeous swanboat

costume, wishing to pay his respects to the Führer; Hitler, awakened from his nap, rubs his

eyes and exclaims: "Ach, nein, Hermann! That is too much!"

Next to his chief, Goring was the least unpopular of the Nazis. He had been an ace aviator,

with a record of devil-may-care courage. He had the peculiar German ability to combine

ferocity with Gemütlichkeit. To his cronies he was genial, full of jokes, a roaring tankardman,

able to hold unlimited quantities of beer. In short, he was one of the old-time heroes of

Teutonic legend, those warriors who could slaughter their foes all day and at night drink

wassail with their unwashed bloody hands; if they were slain, the Valkyries would come on their

galloping steeds and carry them off to Valhalla to drink wassail forever after.

IV

Lanny's first thought: "The most repulsive of men!" His second thought, close on its heels: "I

admire all Nazis!" He bowed correctly and said: "Guten Morgen, Exzellenz."

"Guten Morgen, Mr. Buddy" said the Hauptmann, in a rumbling bull voice. "Setzen Sie sich."

He indicated a chair at his side and Lanny obeyed. Having met many of the great ones of the

earth in his thirty-three years, Lanny had learned to treat them respectfully, but without

obsequiousness.

It was the American manner, and so far had been acceptable. He knew that it was up to the

host to state why he had summoned him, and meantime he submitted to an inspection in

silence.

"Mr. Budd," said the great man, at last, "have you seen this morning's Paris and London

newspapers?"

"I do not have the advantage of possessing an air fleet, Exzellenz." Lanny had heard that

Goring possessed a sense of humor.

"Sometimes I learn about them by telephone the night before," explained the other, with a