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Lanny remembered the bridge by which he had crossed the river Rhein on his way to Munich;

the place at which the child Marie Antoinette had entered France. "Would the bridge between

Kehl and Strasbourg be acceptable to you?"

"Entirely so."

"I will be on that bridge whenever you wish."

"We can get there more quickly than you. So you set the time."

"Say ten o'clock tomorrow morning."

"It is a date. I won't be there personally, so this is to thank you for your many courtesies and

wish you all happiness."

"My wife is in the room, and desires to send her regards to you and your wife."

"Give her my greetings and thanks. I am certain that my wife will join in these sentiments.

Adieu." Such were the formulas; and oh, why couldn't people really live like that?

IX

"Now, dear," said Lanny to his wife, "I think we can soon go home and have a rest."

Her amazement was great, and she wanted to know, how on earth he had done it? He told

her: "They were trying to find the whereabouts of some of Freddi's friends and comrades. My

guess is, they've got them by now, so he's of no use to them. Also, it might be that Göring

thinks he can make some use of me in future."

"Are you going to do anything for him?"

"Not if I can help it. But all that's between you and me. You must not breathe a word of it to

anybody else, not even to your mother, nor to mine." It pleased her to feel that she stood first

in his confidence, and she promised.

He went to the telephone and put in a call for his faithful friend in Cannes. "Jerry," he said,

"I think I'm to get Freddi out, and here's another job. Call Rahel at Bienvenu and tell her to get

ready; then get her, and motor her to Strasbourg. Don't delay, because I have no idea what

condition Freddi will be in, and she's the one who has to handle him and make the decisions.

You know the sort of people we're dealing with; and I can't give any guarantees, but I believe

Freddi will be there at ten tomorrow, and it's worthwhile for Rahel to take the chance. Get

Beauty's car from Bienvenu, if you like. I advise you to come by way of the Rhone valley,

Besancon and Mulhouse. Drive all night if you can stand it and let Rahel sleep in the back seat. I

will be at the Hotel de la Ville-de-Paris in Strasbourg."

Lanny had another problem, a delicate one. He didn't want to take Irma on this trip, and at the

same time he didn't want to hurt her feelings. "Come if you want to," he said, "but I'm telling

you it may be a painful experience, and there won't be much you can do."

"Why did you ask me to Paris, Lanny, if you didn't want my help?"

"I asked you because I love you, and wanted to see you, and I thought you would want to see

me. I want your help in everything that interests you, but I don't want to drag you into

something that you have no heart for. I haven't seen Freddi, and I'm just guessing: he may look

like an old man; he may be ill, even dying; he may be mutilated in some shocking way; he may be

entirely out of his mind. It's his wife's job to take care of him and nurse him back to life; it's not

your job, and I'm giving you the chance to keep out of another wearing experience."

"We'll all be in it, if they're going to live at Bienvenu."

"In the first place, Rahel may have to take him to a hospital. And anyhow, we aren't going

back until fall. Hansi and Bess are making money, and so is Johannes, I have no doubt, and

they'll want to have a place of their own. All that's in the future, and a lot of it depends on

Freddi's condition. I suggest leaving you at Emily's until I come back. I'm having Jerry bring

Rahel in a car, so he can take her wherever she wants to go, and then you and I will be free.

There's a maison de sante here in Paris, and a surgeon who took care of Marcel when he was

crippled and burned; they're still in business, and I phoned that I might be sending them a

patient."

"Oh, Lanny!" she exclaimed. "How I would enjoy it if we could give just a little time to our

own affairs!"

"Yes, darling," he said. "It's a grand idea, and England will seem delightful after I get this job

off my hands. I'm eager to see what Rick has done with his last act, and maybe I can give

him some hints."

It wasn't until he saw Irma's moue that he realized what a slip he had made. Poor Lanny, he

would have a hard time learning to think about himself!

X

Irma was duly deposited at the Chateau les Forêts, an agreeable place of sojourn in mid-July.

In fifteen years the noble beech forests had done their own work of repair, and the summer

breezes carried no report of the thousands of buried French and German soldiers. Since Emily

had been a sort of foster-mother to Irma's husband, and had had a lot to do with making the

match, they had an inexhaustible subject of conversation, and the older woman tried tact fully

to persuade a darling of fortune that every man has what the French call les défauts de ses

qualités, and that there might be worse faults in a husband than excess of solicitude and