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PARTISAN REVIEW
will. Nothing could prevent it. Such things are not in our power."
"Kameraden!
None of you can know how much I suffer. Before my
eyes I see that gay smile. I hear the mountain brook of that laughter. Geli!
Geli! Not once did I have to beg her. Never did I have to grovel. She did
for me, from the goodness of her heart, what others did because of promis–
es, because of fear."
The SS adjutant looked as if he might break into tears. "And so, too,
all that we have attained has also been according to God's will. You have
no choice but to continue. You have been chosen by destiny. Nothing can
be undone. Our only direction is forward!"
"Well said, Gunsche," Goering declared. "The greater part of the task
still awaits us. Not just in Europe. We shall be victorious on every conti–
nent."
"Ah! Ah!" Hitler exclaimed, peering upward at either the gilded ceil–
ing or through it, beyond it, to the evening sky. "With my revolver! In
my apartment!"
At these words a coldness came over my heart, as if some cruel person
had plunged it, like an unwanted tabby, into a pail of frozen water. How
could the leaders of the Reich allow me and Granite to overhear such
remarks? Even worse, how could they allow us to leave the Reich once
they had done so? They would have to shoot both of us, the way crimi–
nals must eliminate whoever has blundered across their crime. And even if
we somehow managed to escape, how could Magda go with us? Hadn't
she, like Geli, been Hitler's mistress? That meant that, like his niece and
every other woman who had shared his secrets, she must take, or seem to
take, her own life.
Now
I,
like Herr Hitler, stared up toward the ceiling, where a great
chandelier blazed above us. Would that, like the even grander fixture in
Mysterious
Mr.
Moto,
it might crash down upon us, while I stood, in my
cool white linen, calmly chatting nearby.
AufWiedersehen
to the leaders of
the Reich! Alas: the chandelier hung as immutable as the candelabrae of
the heavens. The only thing that changed was the Fuhrer's expression. He
looked toward his visitors with - was that a wink? Beneath the brush of
the moustache, was that a hint of a smile? Goebbels led him to where
Granite and I were standing. None of us shook hands. But when the min–
ister mentioned the name of the founder of Granite Films, Hitler looked
him directly in the eye.
"I understand from Goebbels that you wish to see me about your
properties in the Greater Reich ."
"We have come, Herr Reichsftihrer, to make an arrangement con–
cerning our assets. The minister has informed us that this must be done
with you in person."
