Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1942-05-22

said. for giving out this story now
La Belle Lucrece is a different pic
ture. Where others are merely works
Of art, something TO look at, she seems
still to live. II is as though she can
actually see all that has happened
since her creation. Those eyesl Imag-
inc, when Leonardo was plying his
brushes back in Florence, they were
breaking ground for St. Peters in
Rome, Luther was soon to post his
thesis which started the Protestant
reformation; the French revolution
had still to mark time two centuries
more before 1t could break. What has
happened to Paris under the nazis is
merely an episode to Lucrece. For re-
gimes may come, regimes may go,
but"
I blinked at the man and he smiled.
Remember, my business is SELL
ing pictures. And this one-why. even
little Germaine was added to its ex-
trinsic valued BY stealing Lucrece at
the time she did, and the fact that
the copy is now in Berlin. she en-
HANGED its worth many thousand dol
lars. I'm giving hostages to temptation
BY letting you in on the story now"
Look here" exclaimed, ''are you
trying to tell me" And then I
glanced at that diversified brief case
heavily studded with embassy seals.
Don't jump to conclusions" Haines
said quickly. Just leave our state de-
partment out. But you're right, Lu-
crece is on board this clipper Fan
tastic, eh, when you consider how old
Leonardo used to make sketches of a
flying machine to go through the air"
IQNt. Il,
great master who captivated my inter-
est now. In that house in the Street
OF the Winds in Marseilles she had
literally been starving to death with
portrait worth million dollarSl
All through those months of "phony
war" she had chung to the picture,
unable to sell it, nor daring to try,
in Paris no longer filled with tour
lists. And then the invasion. Christophe
was killed-but she had already passed
from his life before the Germans
streamed across Flanders. She fled
from the city with all the others, still
/ hanging on to La Belle Lucrece
"Germaine was bitter against the
naZls,' Haines continued. Her Paris
captured-to little Germaine, that was
the same as the end of the world She
wanted me to take Lucrece beyond the
Gestapo's searching reach; to keep her
sale TILL Paris was free; to restore her
then where she belongs, in a France
no longer under the heel of what she
called the barbarian swine"
So that was it. He had given his
promise. And just to make sure he
would not forget" he was asking me
to write this story, knowing that after
its publication he would no longer have
any choice-that then he would have
to return Lucrece!
But Germaine?" I asked.
:. The clipper had passed from the
fringe of a cloud, and the sun burst
dazzling-bright on the water a mile
or more beneath our wings. Haines
seemed to be staring hard at the sight
But this was mere acting to give him.
self time.
She was anxious to get me out Of
the house''-his voice sounded strained
|, because of the picture. She wanted
to know it was safely away. I coulc
, return in the morning, she said. did
When I reached the Street of the
Winds they we're taking her out o.
that place-in a basket"
You mean"
Il mean" Haines finished gruffly
there was nothing left for her to live
for. Her last excuse was gone. hac
It,"
(The Enid