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how to sell goods in Europe, and had taken Robbie's word as to the capabilities of Johannes

Robin. Things were going on much as in the old days.

Robbie wanted to hear every detail of what had happened in Germany. It was important for

him to understand the Nazis, for they were trying to get credit from Budd's and from the

banking group which now had Budd's under its wing. Morals had nothing to do with it—

except as they bore on the question whether the Third Reich would meet its notes on time.

Robbie and the two young people discussed the problem of Freddi from every point of view,

and Robbie gave his approval of what had been done. He said no more in his son's presence,

but when he was alone with Irma he confirmed her idea that the Reds and Pinks of Germany

had brought their troubles upon themselves. Nor was he worried about Hitler; he said that all

Britain and France had to do was to stand together firmly, and let the Nazis devote their

energies to putting down the Red menace throughout eastern and central Europe.

Of course it was unfortunate that one of the victims of this conflict had to be a young Jewish

idealist. They must try to help the poor fellow, if only for the family's peace of mind. Robbie,

who usually thought of money first, made the guess that if Freddi really was in Dachau it was

because of Irma's stocks and bonds. Rumor invariably multiplied a rich person's holdings by

three or four, and sometimes by ten or twenty; the fat General doubtless was expecting to get

many millions in ransom. Robbie said that he himself would offer to go in and see what could

be done; but he didn't propose to see Irma plundered, so the best thing was to wait and let

Göring show his hand if he would. Irma appreciated this attitude, and wondered why Lanny

couldn't be as sensible.

One thing Robbie said he was unable to understand: the fact that they had never received a

single line of writing from Freddi in more than eight months. Surely any prisoner would be

permitted to communicate with his relatives at some time! Lanny told what he had learned

from the Kommandant of Dachau, that the inmates were permitted to write a few lines once a

week to their nearest relatives; but this privilege was withheld in certain cases. Robbie said:

"Even so, there are ways of smuggling out letters; and certainly there must be prisoners

released now and then. You'd think some one of them would have your address, and drop a

note to report the situation. It suggests to me that Freddi may be dead; but I don't say it to the

Robins."

VI

Hard times were producing in France the same effects they had produced in Germany; and

now the political pot boiled over, making a nasty mess. It was the "Stavisky case," centering

about a swindler of Russian-Jewish descent. "Too bad he had to be a Jew!" said Irma, and Lanny

wasn't sure whether she was being sympathetic or sarcastic. "Handsome Alex," as he was called,

had been engaged in one piece of financial jugglery after another, culminating in a tour de

force which sounded like comic opera—he had promoted an extensive issue of bonds for the

pawnshops of the town of Bayonne! Altogether he had robbed the French public of something

like a billion francs; and it was discovered that he had been indicted for a swindle eight or nine

years previously, and had succeeded in having his trial postponed no less than nineteen times.

Obviously this meant collusion with police and politicians; either he was paying them money or

was in position to blackmail them. When Robbie read the details he said it sounded exactly like

Chicago or Philadelphia.

Stavisky had gone into hiding with his mistress, and when the police came for him he shot

himself; at least, so the police said, but evidence began to indicate that the police had hushed

him up. The Paris newspapers, the most corrupt in the world, printed everything they could find

out and twenty times as much. Two groups were interested in exploiting the scandals: the

parties of the extreme right, the Royalists and Fascists, who wanted to overthrow the Republic

and set up their kind of dictatorship; and the Communists, who wanted a different kind. The

two extremes met, and while vowing the deadliest hatred, they made war on the same

parliamentary system.

Lanny couldn't afford to visit his Red uncle, but he invited Denis de Bruyne to dinner, and the

three Budds listened to the story from the point of view of a French Nationalist. The situation in

the de Bruyne family bore an odd resemblance to that between Robbie and his son. Denis

belonged to a respectable law-and-order party, and was distressed because his younger son had

joined the Croix de Feu, most active of the French Fascist groups. Now Charlot was off

somewhere with his fellows, conspiring to overpower the police and seize control of the

country's affairs. At any moment he and his organization might come out on the streets, and

there would be shooting; the unhappy father couldn't enjoy his dinner, and wanted Lanny to