o 3b3e7475144cf77c полностью

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

smile. "They carry a story to the effect that the Jewish moneylender, Johannes Robin, has

disappeared in Germany. We do not care to have the outside world get the impression that we

are adopting American customs, so I had the matter investigated at once, and have just informed

the press that this Schieber has been legally arrested for attempting to carry a large sum of

money out of the country on board his yacht. This, as you may know, is forbidden by our law."

"I am sorry to hear that news, Exzellenz."

"The prisoner is liable to a penalty of ten years at hard labor— and it will be very hard

indeed, I can assure you."

"Naturally, Exzellenz, I cannot say anything about the matter until I have heard Johannes's

side of the story. He has always been a law-abiding citizen, and I am sure that if he broke the

law it was by oversight. He was setting out on a yachting cruise, and one cannot sail to strange

lands without having cash on board to purchase food and fuel."

"It is absolutely requisite to have a permit from the Exchange Control Authority, and our

records show that no such document had been issued. The law has been on the books for more

than a year, and has been well advertised. We cannot afford to have our country drained of