Mission to Paris Read Online Free Page A

horizon.’
    ‘Is it that easy?’
    ‘Yes. I spent two years at sea, that’s how I know.’
    ‘ You? A sailor?’
    He nodded. ‘I ran away to sea when I was sixteen.’
    ‘Your poor mom!’
    ‘I wrote them a letter,’ he said. ‘I went to Hamburg, and for a month all I did was sweep out the union hall, but then a Dutch ship needed a deckhand and I signed on and saw the world – Shanghai, Batavia, Calcutta …’ This had been the purest possible luck; Stahl had gone to sea in the spring of 1914, before the war, on what by chance was the ship of a country that remained neutral, thus he was spared service for the enemies of Austria-Hungary.
    ‘Say, you’ve had some adventures, haven’t you,’ she said.
    ‘I did. In 1916 we were shelled and set on fire, just off the coast of Spain. An Italian destroyer did that.’
    ‘But, you said “neutral” …’
    ‘We never knew why they did it. Exuberance, maybe, we didn’t ask. But we managed to reach the port of Barcelona, where I got help from the Austrian legation. They could have sent me off to fight in the trenches, but instead they gave me a job, and that was my military service.’
    ‘What did you do?’
    ‘I opened the mail. Made sure it got to the right people.’
    She started to ask a question, but then a gust of wind hit her and she said ‘Brrr’ and burrowed against Stahl, close enough now that her voice was soft. ‘So,’ she said, lingering on the word, ‘when did you decide to become an actor?’
    ‘A little later, when I was back in Vienna.’ The Ile de France lifted and fell, hitting another wave. ‘I think, Iris, it might be time for you to go back to your cabin, your husband’s probably beginning to wonder where you are.’
    ‘Oh, Jack sleeps like a log when he’s drunk.’
    Nonetheless, she wasn’t coming to Stahl’s cabin. She didn’t really want to, Stahl felt, maybe she wanted to be asked. But, in any event, what he didn’t need was a public row with some lush over a wife’s shipboard infidelity. With certain actors, Warner Bros. wouldn’t have cared, but not Fredric Stahl. He put a hand on her cheek and turned her face towards him. ‘One kiss, Iris, and then back to our cabins.’
    The kiss was dry, and tender, and went on for a time because they both enjoyed it.
    The storm came full force after midnight, the liner pitching and rolling in heavy seas. Stahl woke up, grumbled at the weather, and went back to sleep. When he left his cabin in the morning, the exquisite art deco carpets had been covered with rolls of brown paper and, up on deck, the sky was heavy with dark cloud and every wave sent spray flying over the bow. Returning to his cabin after a long walk, he found the ship’s daily news bulletin slipped beneath the door.
    The French Line wishes you good morning. Temperature at 0600 hours 53°. The Paris weather 66° and partly cloudy.
    The 1938 Salon d’Automne will open 5 October at the Grand Palais in Paris. The International Surrealist Exhibition remains open at the Galerie des Beaux-Arts, 60 artists, including Marcel Duchamp, and 300 works, including Salvador Dali’s ‘Rainy Taxi’.
    Yesterday at the European Championships in Paris, the Finnish runner Taisto Mäki set a new record in the 10,000 metre race, 29 minutes, 52 seconds.
    The British Prime Minister Chamberlain goes to Berchtesgaden today for consultations on the Sudeten issue with Reichs Chancellor Hitler.
    In Hollywood, filming has begun on ‘The Wizard of Oz’ with Buddy Ebsen, allergic to his costume, replaced by Jack Haley.
    Great Britain has ordered its fleet at Invergordon to alert status.
    Pittsburgh halfback Whizzer White, injured in a loss to the Eagles, has said he will play against the NY Giants on Friday.
    The first-class shuffleboard tournament has been postponed until 1400 hours tomorrow.
    It was dusk when the Ile de France docked at Le Havre, and a brass band greeted the passengers at the foot of the first-class gangway. A band made up,