第 17 页

'I am going to lose the whole deal if I don't have that money right now, Anne.'

'But it's all I have, Henry. If I give you that amount, I'll be left with nothing.'

'This house alone must be worth over two hundred thousand. You could mortgage it tomorrow.'

'The house belongs to William.'

'William, William, William. It's always William who gets in the way of my success,' shouted Henry as he stormed out.

He returned home after midnight, contrite, and told her he would rather she kept her money and that he went under, for at least they would still have each other. Anne was comforted by his words and later they made love. She signed a cheque for one hundred and fifty thousand dollars the next morning, trying to forget that it would leave her penniless until Henry pulled off the deal he was pursuing. She couldn't help wondering if it was more than a coincidence that Henry had asked for the exact amount that remained of her inheritance.

The next month Anne missed her period.

Doctor MacKenzie was anxious but tried not to show it; the grandmothers were horrified and did; while Henry was delighted and assured Anne that it was the most wonderful thing that had ever happened to him in his whole life, and even agreed to building a new children's wing for the hos, pital that Richard had planned before he died.

When William heard the news by letter from his mother, he sat deep in thought all evening unable to tell even Matthew what was preoccupying him. The following Saturday morning, having been granted special permission, by his housemaster, Grumpy Raglan, he boarded a train to Boston and on arrival withdrew one hundred dollars from his savings account. He then proceeded to the law offices of Cohen, Cohen and Yablons in Jefferson Street. Mr. Thomas Cohen, the senior partner, a tall angular man with a dark jowl was somewhat surprised when William was ushered into his office.

'I have never been retained by a sixteen-year-old before,' Mr. Cohen began. 'It will be quite a novelty for me;---he hesitated ---Mr. Kane.'

He found Mr. Kane did not run easily off the tongue. 'Especially as your father was not exactly - how shall I put it? - known for his sympathy for my co-religionists.'

'My father,' replied William, 'was a great admirer of the achievements of the Hebrew race and in particular had considerable respect for your firm when you acted on behalf of rivals. I heard him mention your name on several occasions. That's why I have chosen you, Mr. Cohen, not you me, That should be reassurance enough.'

Mr. Cohen quickly put aside the fact that William was only sixteen.

'Indeed, indeed. I feel I can make an exception for the son of Richard Kane. Now, what can we do for you?'

'I wish you to answer three questions for me, Mr. Cohen. One, I want to know if my mother, Mrs. Henry Osborne, were to give birth to a child, son or daughter, whether that child would have any legal rights to the Kane fan-dly trust. Two, do I have any legal obligations to Mr. Henry Osborne because he is married to my mother, and three, at what age can I insist that Mr. Henry Osborne leave my house on Louisburg Square in Boston?'

Thomas Cohen's quill pen sped furiously across the paper in front of him, spattering little blue spots on an already ink-stained desk top.

William placed one hundred dollars on the desk. The lawyer looked taken aback but picked the notes up and counted thern.

'Use the money prudently, Mr. Cohen. I will need a good lawyer when I leave Harvard.'

'You have already been accepted at Harvard, Mr. Kane? My congratulations. I am hoping my son will go there too.'

'No, I have not, but I shall have done so in two years' time. I will return to Boston to see you in one -week, Mr. Cohen. If I ever hear in my lifetime from anyone other than yourself on this subject, you may consider our relationship at an end. Good day, sir.'

Thomas Cohen would have also said good day, if he could have spluttered the words out before William closed the door behind him.

William returned to the offices of Cohen, Cohen and Yablons seven days later.

'Ah, Mr. Kane,' said Thomas Cohen, 'how nice to see you again. Would you care for some coffee?'

'No, thank you.'

'Shall I send someone out for a Coca-Cola?'

William's face was expressionless.

'To business, to business,' said Mr. Cohen, slightly embarrassed. 'We have, dug around a little on your behalf, Mr. Kane, with the help of a very respectable firm of private investigators to assist us with the questions you asked that were not purely academic. I think I can safely say we have the answers to all your questions. You asked if Mr. Osborne's offspring by your mother, were there to be any, would have a claim on the Kane estate, or in particular on the trust left to you by your father. No is the simple answer, but of course Mrs. Osborne can leave any part of the five hundred thousand dollars bequeathed to her by your father to whom she pleases!

Mr.. Cohen looked up,

'However, it may interest you to know, Mr. Kane, that your mother has drawn out the entire five hundred thousand from her private account at Kane and Cabot during the last eighteen months, but we have been unable to trace how the money has been used. It is possible she may have decided to deposit the amount in another bank.'

William looked shocked ' the first sign of any lack of the self-control that Thomas Cohen had noted.

'There would be no reason for her to do that,' William said. 'The money can only haw gone to one person!

The lawyer remained silent, expecting to hear more, but William steadied himself and added nothing, so Mr. Cohen continued.

'The answer to your second question is that you have no personal or legal obligations to Mr. Henry Osborne at all. Under the terms of your fathers will, you mother is a trustee of the estate along vrith a Mr. Alan Lloyd and a Mrs. John Preston, your surviving godparents, until you come of age at twenty-one!

Thomas Cohen looked up again. William's face showed no expression at all.

Cohen had already learned that that meant he should continue.

'And thirdly, Mr. Kane, you can never remove Mr. Osborne from Beacon Hill as long as he remains married to your mother and continues to reside with her.. The property comes into your possession by natural right on her death. Were he still alive then, you could require him to leave. I think you will find that covers all your questions, Mr. Kane!

'Thank you, Mr. Cohen,'said William. 'I am obliged for your efficiency and discretion in this matter. Now perhaps you could let me know your professional charges?'

'One hundred dollars doesn't quite cover the work, Mr. Kane, but we have faith in your future and . . .'

'I do not wish to be beholden to anyone, Mr. Cohen, You must treat me as someone with whom you might never deal again. With that in mind, how much do I owe you?'

Mr. Cohen considered the matter for a moment. 'In those circumstances we would have charged you two hundred and twenty dollars, Mr. Kane.'

William took six twenty-dollar notes from his inside pocket and handed them over to Cohen. This time, the lawyer did not count them.

'I am grateful to you for your assistance, Mr. Cohen, I am sure we shall meet again. Good day, sir.'

'Good day, Mr. Kane. May I be permitted to say that I never had the privilege of meeting your distinguished father but having dealt with you, I wish that I had.'

William smiled and softened. 'Thank you, sir!

Preparing for the baby kept Anne fully occupied; she found herself easily tired and resting a good deal. Whenever she enquired of Henry how business was going, he always had some plausible answer to hand, enough to reassure her that all was well without supplying her with any actual details.

Then one morning the anonymous letters started coming again. This time they gave more details, the names of the women involved and the places they could be seen with Henry. Anne burned them even before she could commit the names or places to memory. She didn't want to believe that her husband could be unfaithful while she was carrying his child. Someone was jealous and had it in for Henry, and he or she had to be lying.

The letters kept coming, sometimes with new names. Anne continued to destroy them, but now they were beginning to prey on her mind. She wanted to discuss the whole problem with someone, but couldn't think of anybody in whom she could confide. The grandmothers would have been appalled and were, in any case, already prejudiced against Henry. Alan Lloyd at the bank could not be expected to understand as he had never married, and William was far too young. No one seemed suitable. Anne considered consulting a psychiatrist after listening to a lectum given by Sigmund Freud, but a Lowell could never discuss a family problem with a complete stranger.

The matter finally came to a head in a way that even Anne had not been prepaxed for. One Monday morning, she received three letters, the usual one from William addressed to Mrs Richard Kane, asking if he could once again spend his surnmer holidays with his friend Matthew Lester in New York. Another anonymous letter alleging that Henry was having an affair with, with ... Milly Preston, and the third from Alan Lloyd, as chairman of the bank, asking if she would be kind enough to telephone and make an appointment to see him. Anne sat down heavily, feeling breathless and unwell, and forced herself to re-read all three letters. William's letter stung her by its detachment. She hated knowing that he preferred to spend his holidays with Matthew Lester. They had been growing continually further apart since her marriage to Henry. The anonymous letter suggesting that Henry was having an affair with her clossest friend was impossible to ignore. Anne couldn't help remembering that it had been Milly who had introduced her to Henry in the first place, and that she was William's godmother. The third letter from Alan Lloyd somehow filled her with even more apprehension. The only other letter she had ever received from Alan was one of condolence on the death of Richard.

She feared another could only mean more bad news.

She called the bank. The operator put her straight through..

'Alan, you, wanted to see me?'

'Yes, my dear, I would like to have a chat sometime. When would suit you?'

'Is it bad news?' asked Anne.

'Not exactly, but I would rather not say anything over the phone, but there's nothing for you to worry about. Are you free for lunch, by any chance?'

'Yes I am, Alan.'

'Well, let's meet at the Ritz at one o'clock. I look forward to seeing you then, Anne!'

One o'clock, only three hours away. Her mind switched from Alan to William to Henry, but settled on Milly Preston. Could it be true? Anne decided to take a long warm bath and put on a new dress. It didn't help. She felt, and was beginnhig to look, bloated. Her ankles and calves, which had always been so elegant and so slim, were becoming mottled and puffy. It was a little frightening to conjecture how much worse things might betome before the baby was born.

She sighed at herself in the mirror and did the best she could with her outward appearance.

'You look very smart, Anne. If I weren't an old bachelor considered well past it, I'd flirt with you shamelessly,' said the silver haired banker, greeting her with a kiss on both cheeks as though he were a French general.

He guided her to his table. It was an unspoken tradition that the table in the corner was always occupied by the chairman of Kane and Cabot, if he were not lunching at the bank. Richard had done so and now it was the turn of Alan Lloyd. It was the first occasion that Anne had sat at that table with anyone. Waiters fluttered around them like starlings, seeming to know exactly when to disappear and reappear without interrupting a private conversation.

'When's the baby due, Anne?'

'Oh, not for another three months.'

'No complications, I hope. I seem to remember.'

'Well,' admitted Anne, 'the doctor sees me once a week and pulls long faces about my blood pressure, but I'm not too worried.'

'I'm so glad, my dear,' he said and touched her hand gently as an uncle might. 'You do look rather tired, I hope you're not overdoing things.'

Alan Lloyd raised his hand slightly. A waiter materialised at his side, and they both ordered.

'Anne, I want to seek some advice from you.'

Anne was painfully aware of Alan Lloyd's gift for diplomacy. He wasn't having lunch with her for advice. There was no doubt in her mind that he had come to dispense it -kindly.

'Do you have any idea how well Henry's real estate projects are going?'

'No, I don't,' said Anne. 'I never involve myself with Henry's business activities. You'll remember I didn't with Richard's either. Why? Is there any cause for concern?'

'No, no, none of which we at the bank are aware. On the contrary, we know Henry is bidding for a large city contract to build the new hospital complex. I was only enquiring, because he has come to the bank for a loan of five hundred thousand dollars.'

Anne was stunned.

'I see that surprises you,' he said. 'Now, we know from your stock account that you have a little under twenty thousand dollars in reserve, while running a small overdraft of seventeen thousand dollars on your personal account.'

Anne put down her soup spoon, horrified. She had not realised that she was so badly overdrawn. Alan could see her distress.

'That's not what this lunch is about, Anne,' he added quickly. 'The bank is quite happy to lose money on the personal account for the rest of your life. William is making over a million dollars a year on the interest from his trust, so your overdraft is hardly significant, nor indeed is the five hundred thousand Henry is requesting, if it were to receive your backing as William's legal guardian!

'I didn't realise that I had any authority over William's trust money,' said Anne.

'You don't on the capital sum, but legally the interest earned from his trust can be invested in any project thought to benefit William, and is under the guardianship of yourself, myself and Milly Preston as godparents until William is twenty-one. Now as chairman of William's trust I can put up that five hundred thousand with your backing. Milly has already informed me that she would be quite happy to give her approval so that would give you two votes and my opinion would therefore be invalid!