But not all the audience agreed with her point of view. The house divided horizontally;
from the stalls came frozen silence and from the galleries storms of applause. The critics
divided in the same way; those with a pinkish tinge hailed the play as an authentic picture of the
part which fashionable society was playing in politics, an indictment of that variety of
corruption peculiar to Britain, where privileges which would have to be paid for in cash in France
or with office in America, go as a matter of hereditary right or of social prestige. In any case it
was power adding to itself, "strength aiding still the strong."
It was the kind of play which is automatically labeled propaganda and therefore cannot be
art. But it was written from inside knowledge of the things which were going on in British
public life and it told the people what they needed to know. From the first night the theater
became a battleground, the high-priced seats were only half filled but the cheap ones were
packed, and Rick said: "It's a question whether we can pay the rent for two or three weeks,
until it has a chance to take hold."
Lanny replied: "We'll pay, if I have to go and auction off some pictures." No easy matter raising
money with hard times spreading all over the world; but he telephoned all the fashionable
people he knew, begging them to see the play, and he cajoled Margy, Dowager Lady Eversham-
Watson, to have a musicale and pay the Robin family a couple of hundred pounds to come and
perform: the money to go for the play. Irma "chipped in," even though in her heart she
didn't like the play. As for Hansi, he wrote to his father, who put five hundred pounds to his
son's credit with his London bankers—a cheap and easy way to buy peace in his family, and to
demonstrate once again how pleasant it is to have money, heigh ho!
In one way or another they kept the play going. Gracyn, to whom it gave such a "fat" part,
offered to postpone taking her salary for two weeks. Lanny wrote articles for the labor papers,
pointing out what the production meant to the workers, and so they continued to attend and
cheer. The affair grew into a scandal, which forced the privileged classes to talk about it, and
then to want to know what they were talking about. In the end it turned out that Eric Vivian
Pomeroy-Nielson had a "hit"—something he had been aiming at for more than ten years. He
insisted on paying back all his friends, and after that he paid off some of the mortgages of "the
Pater," who had been staking him for a long time. The main thing was that Rick had managed
to say something to the British people, and had won a name so that he would be able to say
more.
VII
The Robins were begging the Budds to take a little run into Germany. Yachting time was at
hand, and they had persuaded Papa to put the
wanted so much to get him away from the worries of business—and who could do it so well as
the wonderful Lanny Budd and his equally wonderful wife? Lanny might even be able to
persuade him to retire for good; or perhaps to take a long cruise around the world, where he
couldn't be reached by friends or foes.
Germany was in the midst of a hot election campaign. A new Reichstag was being chosen; the
"Cabinet of the Barons," otherwise known as the "Monocle Cabinet," was asking for popular
support. Elections were always interesting to Lanny, and the young people urged him to come
and see. But Irma had another maternal seizure; she said "Let's run down to Juan again, and
come back for a cruise at the end of the campaign." Lanny said: "Any way you want it."
So the party broke up. Fanny took a steamer to New York, the Robins took the ferry to
Flushing, and the Budds took one to Calais. They sent a telegram to the palace in Paris, and
dinner was ready when they arrived. Irma observed: "It's nice to have your own place; much
nicer than going to a hotel." Lanny saw that she wished to justify herself for having spent
all that money, so he admitted that it was "nicer." Jerry was there, and with a lot of checks
ready for her to sign; he wanted her to go over the accounts, but she was sure they were all
right, and she signed without looking. The three went to a cabaret show, very gay, with music
and dancing and a scarcity of costumes; some of it made Irma blush, but she was trying to
acquire the cosmopolitan tone.
The following evening they were at Bienvenu again. Baby was bigger and brighter; she knew
more words; she remembered what you had taught her. She was growing a mind! "Oh, Lanny,
come see this, come see that!" Lanny would have been glad to settle down to child study, and
to swimming and target-shooting with Bub, and talking to the workers at the school; but they
had made a date with the Robins; and also there came a letter from Pietro Corsatti, who was at
Lausanne, reporting the conference for his paper. He said: "A great show! How come you're
missing it?"
At this time there were two of Europe's international talk-fests being held on the same Swiss
