IX
Two days passed, and Clemenceau didn't die, but on the contrary was announcing that he would be back on the job of peace-making in half a week. Then one afternoon in Lanny's mail he found a note reading: “Meet me at the same place, same time. Sam.”
Professor Alston was to advise some American delegates on the Fiume problem that evening. They probably wouldn't get through by eleven o'clock; but Lanny had been working faithfully, and felt justified in asking to be excused at five minutes before the hour. Wrapped in his warm trench overcoat, which had a detachable sheepskin lining, and wearing a waterproof hat against the driving rain, the youth strolled out of the hotel, across the wide avenue, and past the great gun which Kurt had once used to blow entrenchments and poilus to Kingdom Come. The German officer came from the other direction and fell in beside him, and they walked between the rows of monstrous engines rusting in the rain. “Well, Kurt?” said Lanny, seeing that his friend didn't speak at once.
“I have no right to call on you,” said the other, at last. “But I'm in danger, and I thought.you might wish to know it.”
“What is it?”
“The police have raided the group with whom I have been working. I went last night to the place where I stay. I always make it a practice to walk on the other side of the street, looking for a window signal indicating that everything is all right. I saw a police van drawn up in front and they were taking people out of the house. I walked on, and I've been walking the streets most of the time since. I don't know any place to go.”
Lanny didn't need to be told how serious this danger was. “Have you any reason to think the police know about you?”
“How can I tell what they know? I'm sure my leader won't talk, and we never kept any papers in the place. But one can never be sure what has happened in this business.”
“I've been watching the newspapers. There's been nothing in them.”
“The police would surely not make anything public about spies.”
“How long have you been at this work, Kurt?”
“Only since the armistice. I got into it because of you.”
“Of me?”
“My father has a friend in Switzerland — the man who used to forward my letters to you. After the armistice he asked me to come and see him. He told me he had been doing government work, and offered me an important duty to help the Fatherland. I accepted.”
“How many others of your people know about you?”
“I don't know for certain. The other side may have had a spy among us. It's the attempt on Clemenceau that has stirred them up, of course.”
“You must tell me the truth about that, Kurt. It's been worrying me a lot.”
“What do you mean?”
“Whether you had anything to do with that attack.”
“Oh, my God, Lanny! What put that idea into your head?”
“Well, I have realized that you are trying to stir up revolt here. And it's fair to assume that some of your agents would be in touch with people like that anarchist.”
“I don't know whether they are or not, Lanny, but, granting it, we have nothing to gain by such an attempt. It has set us back, it may have ruined everything. I assure you my associates are not fools. Would they want to put Poincaré in power?”
“I can have your word of honor, Kurt, that you and your people had nothing to do with that attack?”
“You have that absolutely.”
“It's a mighty serious matter for me, you know.”
“I understand that fully. That's why I walked the streets all day, trying to make up my mind to call upon you. I'm not sure that I have the right to, and if you decline to touch the matter, I'll not blame you.”
“I want to help you, Kurt, and I will.”
“You know what would happen if you were caught aiding an enemy agent.”
“I'm willing to take a chance on that — provided I know that neither you nor your friends have been destroying life or property.”
“The truth is, Lanny, I have no idea what they did before the armistice. I suppose they were doing everything they could to help the Fatherland. But now they are trying to soften the French government by promoting political opposition. We have such troubles to deal with at home, and why shouldn't the French have their share?”
“That's all right with me,” said the French-American, with a grin.
X
They had come to the embankment of the Seine, and were walking along the quais, close together, talking low, with wind and pelting rain to absorb their voices. When a passer-by came, they fell silent until he was gone. Lanny was thinking busily: “What shall I do? Kurt can't stay out on a night like this.” Already the rain was turning to sleet.
“Let's get down to the problem,” he said. “I can't take you to my rooms, because I share them with two other fellows. I can't take you to my uncle, because the police may have him already.”
“That is true.”
“Wherever we go, we'll have to take somebody into our confidence. It wouldn't be decent to introduce you under a false name. One can't play a trick like that on one's friends.”
“I suppose hot.”
“I believe Mrs. Chattersworth would be sympathetic, but she has so much company, and you'd have to meet people, otherwise the servants would think it strange.”
“The servants will make trouble anywhere.”
“I might get a car and drive you down to Juan; but the servants know you, and have heard my mother and me talking about you during the war.”
“That's out.”
“I thought of Isadora Duncan, who's in Paris. She's an internationalist and has queer people around her all the time. But the trouble is, she's irresponsible. They say she's drinking — the war just about drove her crazy.”
There was a pause while he thought some more. “I believe our best guess is my mother. She's not very good at keeping secrets, but she'd surely keep this one because it means danger for me also.”
“Where is she?”
“In an apartment in a small hotel. Most of the time she's invited out to meals, but she has breakfast sent to her rooms. She has no servant except a maid, and could find some excuse to get rid of her. That's the one way I can think of to get you hidden.”
“But, Lanny, would your mother be willing to have a strange man in her apartment?”
“You aren't a stranger; you're my friend, and my mother knows how dear you are to me. It would be inconvenient, of course; but it's a matter of life or death.”
“But don't you see, Lanny — the hotel people would be sure that she had a lover. There couldn't be any other assumption.”
“They don't pay so much attention to that in Paris; and Beauty knows what it is to be gossiped about. You see, she lived with Marcel for years before they were married. All her friends know that story, and you might as well know it too.”
“I only saw your mother for a few hours, Lanny, but I thought she was a wonderful person.”
“She's been through a lot since then, and it's left her.sort of distracted and at loose ends. She's only recently got reconciled to the idea that she's never going to see her husband again. Now she's figuring how the world may be persuaded to recognize his genius. He really had it, Kurt.”