Passenger to Frankfurt - Agatha Christie [66]
‘Ah, that was the name, yes. A very charming young woman, I believe. And she brought him to visit you. It was most kind of her. He was so impressed. Impressed, too, with all your beautiful possessions. Your way of living, and indeed, the wonderful things which he had heard about you. How you have a whole movement of–oh, I do not know how to give the proper term. A Galaxy of Youth. Golden, beautiful youth. They flock round you. They worship you. What a wonderful life you must live. Not that I could support such a life. I have to live very quietly. Rheumatoid arthritis. And also the financial difficulties. Difficulty in keeping up the family house. Ah well, you know what it is for us in England–our taxation troubles.’
‘I remember that nephew of yours, yes. He was agreeable, a very agreeable man. The Diplomatic Service, I understand?’
‘Ah yes. But it is–well, you know, I cannot feel that his talents are being properly recognized. He does not say much. He does not complain, but he feels that he is–well, he feels that he has not been appreciated as he should. The powers that be, those who hold office at present, what are they?’
‘Canaille!’ said Big Charlotte.
‘Intellectuals with no savoir faire in life. Fifty years ago it would have been different,’ said Lady Matilda, ‘but nowadays his promotion has been not advanced as it should. I will even tell you, in confidence, of course, that he has been distrusted. They suspect him, you know, of being in with–what shall I call it?–rebellious, revolutionary tendencies. And yet one must realize what the future could hold for a man who could embrace more advanced views.’
‘You mean he is not, then, how do you say it in England, in sympathy with the Establishment, as they call it?’
‘Hush, hush, we must not say these things. At least I must not,’ said Lady Matilda.
‘You interest me,’ said Charlotte.
Matilda Cleckheaton sighed.
‘Put it down, if you like, to the fondness of an elderly relative. Staffy has always been a favourite of mine. He has charm and wit. I think also he has ideas. He envisages the future, a future that should differ a good deal from what we have at present. Our country, alas, is politically in a very bad state. Stafford seems to be very much impressed by things you said to him or showed to him. You’ve done so much for music, I understand. What we need I cannot but feel is the ideal of the super race.’
‘There should and could be a super race. Adolf Hitler had the right idea,’ said Charlotte. ‘A man of no importance in himself, but he had artistic elements in his character. And undoubtedly he had the power of leadership.’
‘Ah yes. Leadership, that is what we need.’
‘You had the wrong allies in the last war, my dear. If England and Germany now had arrayed themselves side by side, if they had had the same ideals, of youth, strength, two Aryan nations with the right ideals. Think where your country and mine might have arrived today? Yet perhaps even that is too narrow a view to take. In some ways the communists and the others have taught us a lesson. Workers of the world unite? But that is to set one’s sights too low. Workers are only our material. It is “Leaders of the world unite!” Young men with the gift of leadership, of good blood. And we must start, not with the middle-aged men set in their ways, repeating themselves like a gramophone record that has stuck. We must seek among the student population, the young men with brave hearts, with great ideas, willing to march, willing to be killed but willing also to kill. To kill without any compunction–because it is certain that without aggressiveness, without violence, without attack–there can be no victory. I must show you something–’
With somewhat of a struggle she succeeded in rising to her feet. Lady Matilda followed suit, underlining a little her difficulty, which was not quite as much as she was making out.
‘It was in May 1940,’ said Charlotte, ‘when Hitler Youth went on to its second stage. When Himmler obtained from Hitler a charter. The charter of the famous SS. It was formed for the destruction of the