them, and the side entrance bell was ringing to announce the presence of
Irma said: "Your mother must come and help us." So Lanny wrote at once, and that old war-
mare said "Ha, ha!" and scented the battle afar off. It would have been a mortal affront to
invite one mother-in-law and not the other, so Irma sent a cablegram to Shore Acres, and that
older and more experienced charger dropped all her plans and took the first steamer. Even
Emily came to town for a few days, bringing her calling lists with the secret symbols. Feathers
sat by her side with a stenographer's notebook, collecting pearls of information which dropped
from the lips of the most esteemed of Franco-American hostesses.
In short, Lanny Budd found himself in the midst of a social whirlwind; and it would have been
cruelly unkind of him not to like it. Once more the ladies were in charge of his life, and what they
considered proper was what he did. He listened to their talk and he met the people they
brought for him to meet; if he wanted to play the piano it had to be done at odd moments
between social engagements; while, as for sitting down in a splendid library and burying
himself in a book—well, it was just too selfish, too solitary, too inconsiderate of all those
persons who wanted to pay their attentions to the lessee of so much magnificence.
IX
The election results had given a tremendous jolt to the conservative elements in France. The
party of Jesse Blackless had gained only two seats, but the party of Leon Blum had gained
seventeen, while the "Radicals" had gained forty-eight. To be sure that word didn't mean what
it meant in the United States; it was the party of the peasants and the small business men, but
it was expected to combine with the Socialists, and France would have a government of the left,
badly tainted with pacifism, and likely to make dangerous concessions to the Germans. The
groups which had been governing France, the representatives of big industry and finance
capital, popularly known as the
alarm.
One of Lanny's duties in Paris was to keep in touch with his exfamily, the de Bruynes. Having
now a suitable home of his own, he invited them to dinner and they came, father, two sons,
and the young wife of Denis
them, and felt herself being fascinatingly French when she welcomed the family of her
husband's former mistress. They, for their part, appeared to take it as a matter of course,
which made it still more French. They were people of high culture and agreeable manners, so
Irma was pleased to assist in carrying out the death-bed promises which Lanny had made to
the woman who had done so much to prepare him to be a good and satisfactory husband.
They talked about politics and the state of the world. That was what this splendid home was
for; so that Lanny wouldn't have to meet his friends in crowded cafes, where they were jostled
and could hardly hear one another's voices, but might sit in comfort and express themselves
with leisure and dignity. It was Irma's hope that the things said would take on something of
the tone of the surroundings; and certainly this appeared to be true with the de Bruynes, who
were Nationalists, all four of them, and in a state of great concern as to the trend of the
country and its position in the world.
Said the proprietor of a great fleet of taxicabs, speaking with some hesitation to a hostess
from overseas: "I am afraid that the people of your country do not have a clear realization of
the position in which they have placed my country."
"Do feel at liberty to speak freely, Monsieur," replied Irma, in her most formal French.
"There is a natural barrier which alone can preserve this land from the invasion of
barbarians, and that is the River Rhein. It was our intention to hold and fortify it, but your
President Veelson"— so they called him, ending with their sharp nasal "n"—"your President
Veelson forced us back from that boundary, onto ground which is almost indefensible, no
matter how hard we may try with our Maginot line. We made that concession because of your
President's pledge of a protective agreement against Germany; but your Congress ignored that
agreement, and so today we stand well-nigh defenseless. Now your President Oovay has declared
a moratorium on reparations, so that chapter is at an end—and we have received almost
nothing."
Lanny wanted to say: "You received twenty-five billions of francs under the Dawes plan,
and the products have glutted the world markets." But he had learned in Denis's home that it
was futile to argue with him, and it would be no less so in the palace of the Duc de
Belleaumont, one of Denis's financial associates.
"You do not feel that there is any possibility of trusting the German Republic?" inquired
Irma, trying hard to perfect her political education.
