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they were—they couldn't have met very often, for the Führer gave all the orders. "Prachtvoll!"

was the comment of Heinrich and Kurt. Lanny had the traitor thought: "This came out of the

deal with Thyssen and the other steel kings!"

The offices of Hitler and his staff were on the same floor, and promptly at the appointed hour

they were ushered into the simply decorated study of the head Nazi. They gave the salute, and

he rose and greeted them cordially. He remembered Lanny and shook hands with him.

"Willkommen, Herr Budd. How long has it been since we met—more than three years? How time

does fly! I don't have a chance to notice it, to say nothing of enjoying it."

Once more Lanny felt that soft moist hand, once more he looked into those gray-blue eyes set

in a pale, pasty face, rather pudgy now. for Adi was gaining weight, in spite of or possibly

because of his gall-bladder trouble. Looking at him, Lanny thought once more that here was

the world's greatest mystery. You might have searched all Europe and not found a more

commonplace-appearing man; this Führer of the Fatherland had everything it took to make

mediocrity. He was smaller than any of his three guests, and as he was now in a plain business

suit with a white collar and black tie, he might have been a grocery assistant or traveling

salesman for a hair tonic. He took no exercise, and his figure was soft, his shoulders narrow and

hips wide like a woman's. The exponent of Aryan purity was a mongrel if ever there was one; he

had straight thick dark hair and wore one lock of it long, as Lanny had done when a boy.

Apparently the only thing he tended carefully was that absurd little Charlie Chaplin mustache.

Watching him in his Berlin apartment, Lanny had thought: "It is a dream, and the German

people will wake up from it." But now they were more deeply bemused than ever, and Lanny,

trying to solve the riddle, decided that here was the Kleinbürgertum incarnate, the average

German, the little man, the "man in the street." Thwarted and suppressed, millions of such men

found their image in Adi Schicklgruber, understood him and believed his promises. The ways in

which he differed from them—as in not eating meat and not getting drunk when he could—these

made him romantic and inspiring, a great soul.

VI

The hotel attendant was standing in the doorway, with the picture resting on the floor; he

steadied it with his left hand while keeping his right arm and hand extended outward and

upward in a permanent salute. The Führer noticed him and asked: "What is this you have brought

me?"

Lanny told him, and they stood the picture on a chair, with the attendant behind it, out of

sight, holding it firmly. Hitler placed himself at a proper distance, and Lanny ceremoniously

removed the cover. Then everybody stood motionless and silent while the great man did his

looking.

"A beautiful thing!" he exclaimed. "That is my idea of a work of art. A Frenchman, you say?

You may be sure that he had German forefathers. Who is the woman?"

"She is my mother," replied Lanny. He had made that statement hundreds of times in his life

—Munich being the fifth great city in which he had assisted at an exhibition.

"A beautiful woman. You should be proud of her."

"I am," said Lanny, and added: "It is called Sister of Mercy. The painter was badly wounded in

the war, and later killed. You can see that he felt what he was painting."

"Ah, yes!" exclaimed Adi. "I too, have been wounded, and know how a soldier feels about the

women who nurse him. It would appear that great art comes only by suffering."

"So your Goethe has told us, Herr Reichskanzler."

A silence, while Hitler studied the painting some more. "A pure Aryan type," he commented;

"the spiritual type which lends itself to idealization." He looked a while longer, and said: "Pity is

one of the Aryan virtues. I doubt if the lesser races are capable of feeling it very deeply."

This went on for quite a while. The Führer looked, and then made a remark, and no one else

ventured to speak unless it was a question. "This sort of art tells us that life is full of suffering.

It should be the great task of mankind to diminish it as far as possible. You agree with that, Herr

Budd?"

"Indeed I do; and I know that it was the leading idea of Marcel's life."

"It is the task of the master race. They alone can fulfill it, because they have both the

intelligence and the good will." Lanny was afraid he was going to repeat the question: "You

agree with that?" and was trying to figure how to reply without starting an argument. But

instead the Führer went on to inform him: "That should be our guiding thought in life. Here in

this room we have three of the world's great nationalities represented: the German, the French,

the American. What a gain if these nations would unite to guard their Aryan purity and

guarantee the reign of law throughout the world! Do you see any hope for that in our time?"

"It is a goal to aim at, Herr Reichskanzler. Each must do what he can."