Читать интересную книгу o 3b3e7475144cf77c - Пользователь

Kommandant, and invited him to see the show, and after that to take a ride. When they were

well out in the country Lanny addressed him as follows:

"Herr Kommandant, one of the Jews whom you are providing with plenty of hard work

happens to be a sort of relative of mine. He is a harmless young fellow, and if I should take him

to my home in France he would be content to play the clarinet for the rest of his life and

never do any harm to your glorious movement. It happens that I have just sold some

paintings and have cash in a Munich bank. Suppose I were to pay you, say twenty-five thousand

marks, in any form and by any method you direct, and you in turn would find some way to let

me pick up that prisoner in my car and whisk him up into the mountains and across the

Austrian border-would that appeal to you as a good night's work?"

Lanny's fancy created several denouements for that story. He knew that the Nazi machine

was pretty well riddled with graft; Johannes Robin had told many tales of pure Aryan business

men who were getting what they wanted by such methods, old as the first despotism. On the

other hand, this particular toughie might be a sincere fanatic—it was impossible to tell them

apart. Lanny was sure that if Hugo Behr had been in charge of the camp, he would have taken

the money; on the other hand, Heinrich Jung would probably have reported him to the grim

Gestapo.

And what would happen then? They couldn't very well do worse than escort him to the

frontier, as Generalissimo Balbo's men had done in Rome nearly ten years ago. But here was the

thing to give Lanny pause: if the Kommandant was a really virtuous Nazi, he might go back to

his camp and make it impossible for Lanny to corrupt any weakling among his men, by the

simple method of taking Freddi Robin and beating him to death and cremating the body.

"I must think of something better," said the grown-up playboy.

BOOK SIX

Blood Hath Been Shed

25

Grasping at air

I

CHRISTMAS was coming; and Irma had been away from her darling for more than three

months. It was unthinkable to stay longer. What was Lanny accomplishing? What was he

hoping to accomplish? Göring was just playing with him. He was trying to get something out of

them, and for nothing. He was keeping them quiet, sealing their lips. Not that Irma minded so

very much having her husband's lips sealed. If only he wouldn't worry, and fill his mind with

horrors so that he started in his sleep!

The Detaze show was over, and a happy development had come. One of the great museums

in Dresden had asked to have the paintings for a while; they would treat them in a

distinguished way, putting them in a separate room. The art lovers of that Luxusstadt would

come and admire them, inquiries would be made, and it would be a good thing both from the

point of view of art and of money. Zoltan would be coming and going, and inquiring

purchasers could be referred to him. Much better than having the pictures stuck away in a

storeroom on a private estate!

Beauty and Parsifal were going to London, on account of the strangest development you

could imagine. Lady Caillard had sent a dear friend of hers all the way to Munich to persuade

the American couple to come again as her guests, on account of a presentiment which had

seized her; she was going very soon to rejoin her beloved "Vinnie" in the spirit world, and she

wanted Beauty's dear man of love to be in her home at that time to close her eyes and take

charge of her funeral which was to be like none other in modern times, a thing of joy and not of

mourning. The guests were to wear white, and there would be happy music and feasting, all

under the sign of "V.B.X"—Vinnie, Birdie, and a Kiss. "Perhaps she will send us some word about

Freddi," said Beauty; and then—a horrid thought: "Perhaps she will leave us some of her

money."

The museum in Dresden was attending to the pictures, so Jerry Pendleton was free. Irma and

Lanny took him with them through a pass in those snow-covered mountains which make for

Munich a setting like a drop curtain. They crossed the narrow belt which the Versailles Diktat

had left to Austria, and through the Brenner pass which had been included in Italy's share of

the loot. There Mussolini's Blackshirts were busily engaged in making Aryans into

Mediterraneans by the agency of rubber truncheons and dogwhips. It made bad blood between

Fascismo and its newborn offspring in the north. Dr. Goebbels's well-subsidized agitators were

working everywhere in Austria, and not a few of them were in Italian dungeons. Optimistic

young Pinks looked forward to seeing the Fascists and the Nazis devour each other like the two

Kilkenny cats.

Home sweet home seemed ever so humble when you had been dwelling and visiting in

palaces; but roses were in bloom beside its gates, and down the drive came racing a treasure

without price, a tiny creature in a little blue dress, with dark brown hair streaming and dark

brown eyes shining—she had been told two days ago that mother and father were on the way, and

had been prattling about them and asking questions ever since. She was more than halfway

through her fourth year, and it is astounding how fast they grow; you come back after three or

four months and a new being confronts you; you cannot restrain your cries of delight, and a

watchful expert has to check your ardors, lest you promote the evil quality of self-

consciousness. Irma Barnes, who had been brought up in a play-world herself, had a hard time

realizing that a child is more than a plaything for two delighted parents. Irma Barnes, who had

always had her own way, had to learn to submit to discipline in the name of that very dogmatic

new science of "child study."

Yes, indeed; for even a twenty-three-million-dollar baby has to learn to use her hands, and

how shall she learn if someone does everything for her and never lets her make any effort?

How will she learn discipline if she always has her own way, and if she gets the idea that she is

the center of attention, more important than any of those with whom she has to deal? The

severe Miss Severne persisted in the notion that her professional authority must be respected; and

likewise the conscientious Miss Addington, no longer needed as Marceline's governess, but

staying on as half-pensioner, half-friend of the family until she would take charge of Frances.

Those two Church-of-England ladies had been conspiring together, and enlisted Lanny's help

against a doting mother, two rival grandmothers, and a Provencal cook and major domo—to

say nothing of Santa Claus.

II

A merry Christmas, yet not too much so, for over the household hangs the shadow of sorrow;

nobody can forget those two bereaved Jewish women and the grief that is in their hearts.

Rahel and Mama try their best to restrain themselves, and not to inflict their suffering upon

their friends; but everybody knows what they are thinking about. Really, it would be less sad if

Freddi were dead and buried, for then at least they would be sure he wasn't suffering. But this

way the worst is possible, and it haunts them; they stay by themselves in the Lodge, their lost

one always in the back of their minds and most of the time in the front. They are touchingly

grateful for everything that has been done for them, but there is one thing more they have to

ask; their looks ask it even when their lips are silent. Oh, Lanny, oh, Irma, emit you think of

something to do for poor Freddi?

Hansi and Bess are in the Middle West, giving concerts several times every week. They have

cabled money after the first concert, so Mama and Rahel no longer have to use Irma's money

to buy their food. They have offered to rent a little place for themselves, but Beauty has said

No, why should they—it would be very unkind. Irma says the same; but in her heart she cannot

stifle the thought that she would like it better if they did. She feels a thunder-cloud hanging over

the place, and wants so much to get Lanny from under it. She is worried about what is going on

in his mind, and doesn't see why she should give up all social life because of a tragedy they are

powerless to avert. Irma wants to give parties, real parties, of the sort which make a social

impression; she will put up the money and Beauty and Feathers will do the work—both of

them happy to do so, because they believe in parties, because parties are what set you apart

from the common herd which cannot give them, at least not with elegance and chic.

Then, too, there is the question of two little tots. They are together nearly all the time, and

this cannot be prevented; they clamor for it, take it for granted, and the science of child study

is on their side. Impossible to bring up any child properly alone, because the child is a

gregarious creature; so the textbooks agree. If little Johannes were not available it would be

necessary to go out and get some fisherboy, Provencal, or Ligurian or what not. There isn't the

slightest fault that Irma can find with the tiny Robin; he is a dream of brunette loveliness, he

is gentle and sweet like his father, but he is a Jew, and Irma cannot be reconciled to the idea

that her darling Frances should be more interested in him than in any other human being, not

excepting herself. Of course, they are such tiny things, it seems absurd to worry; but the books

and the experts agree that this is the age when indelible impressions are made, and is it wise to

let an Aryan girl-child get fixed in her mind that the Semitic type is the most romantic, the most

fascinating in the world? Irma imagines some blind and tragic compulsion developing out of that,

later on in life.

Also, it means that the spirit of Freddi Robin possesses the whole of Bienvenu. The frail little

fellow looks like his father, acts like him, and keeps him in everybody's thoughts; even the

visitors, the guests. Everybody has heard rumors that Johannes Robin has been deprived of

his fortune by the Nazis, and that his grandchild is here, a refugee and pensioner; everybody is

interested in him, asks questions, and starts talking about the father—where is he, and what do

you think, and what are you doing about it? The fate of Freddi Robin overshadows even the

Barnes fortune, even the twenty-three-million-dollar baby! Bienvenu becomes as it were a

haunted house, a somber and serious place where people fall to talking about politics, and

where the frivolous ones do not feel at home. Irma Barnes certainly never meant to choose

that kind of atmosphere!

III

There wasn't anything definite the matter with Lady Caillard, so far as any doctor could

find out; but she had got her mind thoroughly made up that she was going to join her

"Vinnie" in the spirit world, and sure enough, in the month of January she "passed on." The

funeral was held, and then her will was read. She had left to her friend Mrs. Parsifal Dingle her

large clock with the gold and ivory bird that sang; a pleasant memento of "Birdie," and one about

which there would be no controversy. The medium to whom the Vickers stock had been

promised got nothing but a headache out of it, for the directors of the huge concern were

determined to protect Sir Vincent's son and daughter, and they worked some sort of hocus-

pocus with the stock; they "called" it, and since the estate didn't have the cash to put up, the

company took possession of the stock and ultimately the legitimate heirs got it. There was a lot

of fuss about it in the papers, and Lanny was glad his mother and his stepfather were not mixed

up in it.

With the proceeds of their dramatic success Nina and Rick had got a small car. Rick couldn't

drive, on account of his knee, but his wife drove, and now they brought the Dingles to the

Riviera, and stayed for a while as guests in the villa. Rick used Kurt's old studio to work on an

anti-Nazi play, based on the Brown Book, the stories Lanny had told him, and the literature

Kurt and Heinrich had been sending him through the years. It would be called a melodrama,

Rick said—because the average Englishman refused to believe that there could be such people

as the Nazis, or that such things could be happening in Europe in the beginning of the year

1934. Rick said furthermore that when the play was produced, Lanny would no longer be able

to pose as a fellow-traveler of the Hitlerites, for they would certainly find out where the play

had been written.

Lanny was glad to have this old friend near, the one person to whom he could talk out his

heart. Brooding over the problem of Freddi Robin day and night, Lanny had about made up

his mind to go to Berlin, ask for another interview with General Göring, and put his cards on the

table, saying: "Exzellenz, I have learned that my brother-in-law's brother is a prisoner in

Dachau, and I would like very much to take him out of Germany. I have about two hundred

thousand marks in a Berlin bank which I got from sales of my stepfather's paintings, and I have

an equal amount in a New York bank which I earned as commissions on old masters purchased

in your country. I would be glad to turn these sums over to you to use in your propaganda, in

return for the freedom of my friend."

Rick said: "But you can't do such a thing, Lanny! It would be monstrous."

"You mean he wouldn't take the money?"

"I haven't any doubt that he'd take it. But you'd be aiding the Nazi cause."

"I don't think he'd use the money for that. I'm just saying so to make it sound respectable.

He'd salt the New York funds away, and spend the German part on his latest girl friend."

"You say that to make it sound respectable to yourself," countered Rick. "You don't know

what he'd spend the money for, and you can't get away from the fact that you'd be

strengthening the Nazi propaganda. It's just as preposterous as your idea of giving Göring

information about British and French public men."

"I wouldn't give him any real information, Rick. I would only tell him things that are known

to our sort."