John's evening date with Victor's family was forced to be rescheduled. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 Info Because when he returned to the Caen suite, he found a beautiful engraving invitation tucked under the crack in the cabin door, and the captain, Monsieur Renaud, invited them to dinner. John forgot that this is a tradition of luxury cruises. On the first night of each voyage, the captain invites all first-class passengers to dinner. It was the start of a series of top social events on board, and it would be rude not to attend.

Thinking that Victor and his wife had also received an invitation, John asked the waiter to tell him that the meeting had been moved to noon the next day, and then preparations for the evening banquet began. John himself didn't need to prepare, but Adele and Ella needed to get dressed up.

The welcome dinner on the "Normandy" was no less than that of any royal palace in Europe, and it was much better than the White House dinner that John attended. All the guests were dressed up, each of the ladies was carefully groomed, and the strong smell of perfume made John's nose itch.

The food was plentiful and delicious, and the cutlery was very particular and the table was decorated with white and purple orchids. The variety of drinks served at the banquet even caused Adele to be worried, for Monsieur de Gano was fond of drinking, but he was not very good at heart, and he was easily drunk. But fortunately, tonight's guests are meeting for the first time, and he is still relatively restrained when he drinks.

The captain, Mr. Reynolds, was a very dignified French man, wearing a blue uniform with gold buttons, with a big belly, and conversing with his guests in slow-spoken English or fluent French. Every now and then he would flick his fingers, and the well-dressed steward behind him would leap up to him, respectfully following his orders.

At the banquet, John met for the first time Mrs. Roda Henry, wife of Lieutenant Colonel Victor. Although Lady Roda is forty-five years old, she is still very beautiful and charming. She is 2 inches taller than her husband, Victor, with a perm of big wavy curls, and a low-cut evening gown that perfectly complements her proud figure. Madame Roda is not only outstanding in appearance, but also very likable in personality, with large, gray-green eyes with rich expressions and a slightly hoarse southern accent, which makes her an extraordinary affinity. John believed that Mrs. Roda had more potential to be a distinguished diplomat than her husband, a naval officer.

Because neither of the Victors nor Mrs. knew French, John and Adele, who were sitting next to them, would translate for them from time to time. Mrs. Roda was somewhat flattered that "big men" like John would deign to help them translate. As an officer's wife, she has long been accustomed to the hierarchical social environment of the army. There, the wives of the junior officers had to maintain respect and obedience to the wives of the senior officers.

Tonight, she was very active, even a little overactive. John was a little embarrassed, at least when she praised John's June 1 speech in a slightly exaggerated tone. Adele enjoyed Rhoda's compliments to her husband, and the two women chatted happily all the time.

Rhoda and Victor have three children in total. Two boys, one was a naval officer, one was studying in Italy, and the other daughter stayed in New York to study. In terms of children's education, Roda has taught Adele a lot of experience. She described all sorts of funny things that happened between her and the children, making both Adele and Ella giggle. Madame Roda's active behavior attracted the attention of many guests, especially the young men, and even Captain Renault stopped to listen to her speech for a while.

Compared to his active wife, Lieutenant Colonel Victor is very low-key. All night, he whispered to a German businessman sitting on the other side of him. The chubby German merchant and his equally chubby lady were dressed in traditional Germanic attire like two large beer kegs. Hearing that he had served as the commander of a German submarine force, John speculated with some malice that this German would not retire because he was too fat to fit into a submarine.

Victor also worked on torpedoes for a while when he was in the Naval Ordnance Bureau, so he had a lot in common with this fat German man named Grock. Especially when they discover that the two may have fought each other in the Atlantic during World War I (though one is on the water and the other is underwater), the atmosphere of communication is even better, and in a short time they destroy an entire bottle of brandy.

The dinner was followed by a traditional ballroom dance. As is customary, Captain Renault invited the most distinguished lady on board, Adele, to dance the first dance, and then everyone began to combine freely. John first asked Lady Rhoda to dance, and then to Adele. Then he finished his task, gave up the stage to the "young men", hid in the sofa area in the corner of the dance floor, and smoked cigars and chatted with a group of "old men".

In the summer of 1938, the situation in Europe was already very tense. Germany had just annexed Austria and was now making territorial claims to the Sudetai region of Czechoslovakia. Czechoslovakia, although inferior to Germany, was not a soft persimmon either. They had an army of nearly 50 divisions, the second largest arsenal in Europe, and the Franco-Czech Treaty of Mutual Assistance with them. Everyone is worried about whether Europe will be involved in war again.

So, John, the topic of their conversation is also inseparable from the current tensions in Europe. A French-Jewish businessman took aim at Hitler as soon as he came up: "Can you imagine how ridiculous it is that we let him win? A little man who was nothing, had little education, came from a humble background, and sold hand-painted postcards on the side of the road, he became the head of Germany in less than ten years. He was also a foreigner, an Austrian. In order for him to run against Hindenburg, they had to forge his citizenship documents. It was so sad that the inheritance of the Habsburg and Hohenzollern royal families fell into the hands of a street thug. When they occupy the Rhine, we should do it. At that time, Hitler was hanged, and it was as effortless as he rushed into the dormitory of female students. ”

However, his remarks did not resonate too much with the scene. Although Hitler's reputation was not good, it has not been much better since the economic crisis of 1929. Many people believe that when they were unemployed and on the verge of bankruptcy, it was these selfish and greedy Jewish businessmen wielding bloody financial instruments that drained the last bit of bread money out of their pockets. Not only in Germany, but also in Britain, France, the United States, and even Poland, there is a strong sense of anti-Semitism.

Therefore, no one answered, only the German businessman named Grok stood up and retorted: "Now when you think of Germany, you foreigners always think of Jews first. There are indeed problems with policy in this area, but these are irrelevant in comparison with the achievements of the Führer. The Führer has already restored Germany. This is absolutely true. The people have jobs, everyone has food, they have a house, and everyone has spirits. Hitler's contribution to our young generation alone is unbelievable. What did the youth do in the days of the Weimar Republic? They went to the streets to make trouble, and they became communists. Now, they are all working, training, serving the community, and they are all happy! ”

Grock's views represent the general approach of many German people, especially German officers. They were not very interested in Hitler's Jewish policy, but they were strongly supportive of his leadership in Germany to break the yoke of the Treaty of Versailles.

"Things are not out of control yet, gentlemen, are there not yet fights in Europe." John spoke up, "But the situation in Asia is very serious. The Japanese are slaughtering China, they have first-class warships, and they are expanding every month, and maybe in a few years they will turn the Pacific Ocean into an inland lake of Japan. ”

"This is a fact," said Monsieur de Garno, who had spent many years in the Far East, in support of his son-in-law's view: "How many people are there in Europe? 100 million or 200 million? Japan is now on the verge of ruling over 600 million people. They lived in papier-mâché houses, wore silk kimonos, and ate only a small amount of raw fish and white rice balls, but they defeated the mighty Russia. Now it's about to annex China again, and that's what makes it terrible. Compared to them, Hitler's toys seemed to me like cats and dogs fighting in the backyard. ”

"Gentlemen, the latest news!" At this time, Captain Renault came over with a telegram in his hand, "The Swiss defeated the German-Austrian army 4:2. ”

Captain Renault brought the latest report of the World Cup in France. Originally, the Austrian team had already reached the finals of this World Cup. However, due to the annexation of Austrian territory by Germany, their right to participate was also annexed by the German team. In order to show German-Austrian unity, Hitler forced eight Austrian players to wear fascist-emblazoned sportswear to play for the German team.

If there's one other topic besides war that attracts the attention of men, it's football. Especially when this World Cup is being held in France and there are a lot of French and French-Americans on the scene. The rest of the conversation has been around the World Cup. Hungary, Brazil, Italy and Czechoslovakia are all favourites to win the tournament, while the names of famous stars such as Piola, Leonidas, Sarossi, Pranica and Wilimoviski are also in demand. John found that there were many passengers who planned to go to the finals like himself.

"Cherish it, gentlemen." John thought silently in his heart: "If I missed this opportunity, I will have to wait 12 years to watch the World Cup." ”