Oil! by Upton Sinclair

The weather grew hot, and they went back to Paris. Dad liked it better now, he could stroll on the boulevards, and sit in those outdoor cafés, where you sipped things to drink; there was always a waiter who understood English, and maybe he had been in God's country and would chat about it. There were numbers of Americans to meet; Dad found the express company office where they got their mail, and he even ran into people from Angel City there! The newspapers from home came twice a week, and lasted a long time.

Also, friends turned up -- Annabelle Ames, for example, to attend the London premiere of A Mother's Heart, and to visit Romania with Verne, and also Constantinople. It appeared that Verne was backing the Turkish government, as a means of squeezing a bigger share of the Mosul oil out of the British. A funny thing -- Excelsior Pete, Verne's bitterest rival at home, had offered to take him in on these concessions. Yes, you were getting something when you bought the leading cabinet members of the United States government! Excelsior Pete's action showed how much real importance they attributed to the oil scandals, and to the new President's public attitude.