Fall of Giants

At three o’clock someone called for silence, and a reverent hush fell. Clemenceau said something, a door opened, and the two German signatories came in. Maud knew from Walter that no one in Berlin had wanted to put his name to the treaty, and in the end they had sent the foreign minister and the postal minister. The two men looked pale and ashamed.

Clemenceau made a short speech, then beckoned the Germans forward. Both men took fountain pens from their pockets and signed the paper on the table. A moment later, at a hidden signal, guns boomed outside, telling the world that the peace treaty had been signed.

The other delegates came up to sign, not just from the major powers but from all the countries who were party to the treaty. It took a long time, and conversation broke out among the spectators. The Germans sat stiffly frozen until at last it was over and they were escorted out.

Maud was sick with disgust. We preached a sermon of peace, she thought, but all the time we were plotting revenge. She left the palace. Outside, Wilson and Lloyd George were being mobbed by rejoicing spectators. She skirted the crowd, made her way into the town, and went to the Germans’ hotel.

She hoped Walter was not too cast down: it had been a dreadful day for him.

She found him packing. “We’re going home tonight,” he said. “The whole delegation.”

“So soon!” She had hardly thought about what would happen after the signing. It was an event of such huge dramatic significance that she had been unable to look beyond it.

By contrast, Walter had thought about it, and he had a plan. “Come with me,” he said simply.

“I can’t get permission to go to Germany.”

“Whose permission do you need? I’ve got you a German passport in the name of Frau Maud von Ulrich.”

She felt bewildered. “How did you manage that?” she said, though that was hardly the most important question in her mind.

“It was not difficult. You are the wife of a German citizen. You are entitled to a passport. I used my special influence only to shorten the process to a matter of hours.”

She stared at him. It was so sudden.

“Will you come?” he said.

She saw in his eyes a terrible fear. He thought she might back out at the last minute. His terror of losing her made her want to cry. She felt very fortunate to be loved so passionately. “Yes,” she said. “Yes, I will come. Of course I will come.”

He was not convinced. “Are you sure this is what you want?”

She nodded. “Do you remember the story of Ruth, in the Bible?”

“Of course. Why…?”

Maud had read it several times in the last few weeks, and now she quoted the words that had so moved her. “Whither thou goest I will go, and where thou lodgest I will lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God; where thou diest… ” She stopped, unable to speak for the constriction in her throat; then, after a moment, she swallowed hard and resumed. “Where thou diest will I die, and there will I be buried.”

He smiled, but there were tears in his eyes. “Thank you,” he said.

“I love you,” she said. “What time is the train?”

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT – August to October 1919

Gus and Rosa returned to Washington at the same time as the president. In August they contrived to get simultaneous leave and went home to Buffalo. The day after they arrived, Gus brought Rosa to meet his parents.

He was nervous. He desperately wanted his mother to like Rosa. But Mother had an inflated opinion of how attractive her son was to women. She had found fault with every girl he had ever mentioned. No one was good enough, especially socially. If he wanted to marry the daughter of the king of England, she would probably say: “Can’t you find a nice well-bred American girl?”

“The first thing you’ll notice about her, Mother, is that she’s very pretty,” Gus said at breakfast that morning. “Second, you’ll see that she has only one eye. After a few minutes, you’ll realize that she’s very smart. And when you get to know her well, you’ll understand that she’s the most wonderful young woman in the world.”

“I’m sure I shall,” said his mother with her accustomed breathtaking insincerity. “Who are her parents?”

Rosa arrived at midafternoon, when Mother was taking her nap and Father was still downtown. Gus showed her around the house and grounds. She said nervously: “You do know that I come from a more modest background?”

“You’ll get used to it soon enough,” he said. “Anyway, you and I won’t be living in this kind of splendor. But we might buy an elegant small house in Washington.”

They played tennis. It was an uneven match: Gus with his long arms and legs was too good for her, and her judgment of distance was erratic. But she fought back determinedly, going for every ball, and won a few games. And in a white tennis dress with the fashionable midcalf hemline she looked so sexy that Gus had to make a major effort of will to concentrate on his shots.