WORLD'S END

So the Hackaburys went shopping for yachts. You could buy one all ready-made, it appeared, with officers and crew and even a supply of fuel oil and canned goods. They found a Wall Street "plunger" who had plunged too deep, and they had bought him out, and sailed to Europe in lovely spring weather, and attended the Cowes regatta of 1913 in near-royal style. This was the summer that Lanny had spent at Hellerau; the Hackaburys had explored the fiords of Norway, taking Lord and Lady Eversham-Watson, and the Baroness de la Tourette and her friend Eddie Patterson, a rich young American who lived all over Europe; also Beauty Budd and her painter friend, Marcel Detaze, and a couple of unattached Englishmen of the best families to dance, play cards, and make conversation.

At first it had seemed shocking to Ezra Hackabury to have as guests two couples who weren't married, but who visited each other's cabin and stayed. But his wife told him this was a provincial prejudice on his part; it was quite "the thing" among the best people. The baroness was the victim of an unhappy marriage, while Beauty was poor, and of course couldn't marry her painter; however, she "was dear and sweet and very good company, and had helped Edna to meet her Ezra, for which they both owed a debt of gratitude which they must do their best to repay. The considerate thing would be for Ezra to buy a couple of Marcel's seascapes and hang them in the saloon of the Bluebird. Ezra did so.

II

The cruise proved such a success that another had been arranged, and the guests were arriving with their mountains of luggage, ready to set out for the eastern Mediterranean. Edna and Beauty had one of their heart-to-heart talks, and Beauty told about Baron Livens and Dr. Bauer-Siemans, and how cleverly Lanny had guessed about Marcel. Edna said: "How perfectly dear of him!" She was a longtime friend of that polite little boy, and at once suggested that he should go along on the cruise. "He never gets in anybody's way, and it'll be educational for him." Beauty said she was sure he would love it; and the mistress of the yacht added: "We can put him in the cabin with Ezra."

It was going to be a delightful adventure for all of them. Marcel Detaze was looking forward to painting the Isles of Greece, where burning Sappho loved and sung. The poetry of Byron being famous, as well as that of Sappho, everybody looked upon the region as one of glamour, and the guidebooks all agreed that it "was a paradise in early spring. Everybody was pleased except poor Ezra, who knew only one fact: that every isle was surrounded by water.. "The sea is insane," he kept saying. At first he refused to go; but when he saw tears in his wife's beautiful dark eyes, he said: "Well, not till I've had some food."

The soapman's appetite came back with a rush, and next day he was able to move about the garden, and the day after that he wanted to explore the Cap d'Antibes; no, not a drive, but a walk, actually a walk of several miles. The only person who was capable of such a feat was Lanny, who took charge of the one-time farm-boy and answered his questions about how the country people lived here, and what they ate, and what things cost.

The pair sat on the rocks of the Cap and looked at the water, and Mr. Hackabury admitted that it was fine from that vantage point; the coloring varied from pale green in the shallows to deep purple in the distance, and on the bottom were many-colored veils and palm fronds waving like slow-motion pictures. "Could you catch those fish?" asked Mr. Hackabury; and then: "Are they good to eat?" and: "What do the fishermen get for them in the market?" He looked at the anchored vessels of the French navy, and said: "I hate war and everything about it. How can your father stand to be thinking about guns all the time?"

He told Lanny about the soap business; where the fats came from and how they were treated, and the new "straight-line" machinery which turned out cakes of soap faster than you could count them. He told about the selling, a highly competitive business; making the public want your kind was a game which would take you a lifetime to learn and was full of amusing quirks. In fact, Ezra Hacka-bury selling kitchen soap sounded remarkably like Robbie Budd selling machine guns.

Also Mr. Hackabury talked about America; he thought it was terrible that a boy had never seen his own country. "They are a different people," he said, "and don't let anybody fool you, they are better." Lanny said his father thought so too, and had told him a lot about Yankee mechanics and farmers, how capable and hard-headed they were, and yet how kind. The soapman told about life in a small village, which Reubens had been when he was a boy. Everybody was independent, and a man got what he worked for and no more; people were not worldly, the stranger was welcomed and not suspected and snubbed. Pretty soon the lilacs and honeysuckle would be in bloom.