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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