第 42 页

'Leave Matthew out of this. It's me yoxere blocking; I am head of the department!

'I can't leave Matthew out of it. I wish I could. The final overall responsibility to the board for anyone's actions is mine, and he is the number two man in the bank's most important department!

'Yes, and therefore my responsibility, because I am the number one man in that department!

'No, William, it cannot remain your responsibility alone when Matthew comes into the office drunk at eleven o'clock in the morning, no matter how long and close your friendship has been.'

'Don't exaggerate.'

'I am not exaggerating, William. For over a year now this bank has been carrying Matthew Lester, and the only thing that has stopped me mentioning my worries to you before is your close personal relationship with him and his family. I wouldn't be sorry to see him hand in his resignation. A bigger man would have done so long ago, and his friends would have told him so.'

'Never,' said William. 'If he goes, I go.'

'So be it, William,' said Tony. 'My first responsibility is to our investors, not to your old school chums.'

'You'll live to regret that statement, Tony,' said William, as he stormed out of the chairman's office and returned to his own room in a furious temper.

'Where is Mr. Lester?' William demanded as he passed his secretary.

'He's not in yet, sir.'

William looked at his watch, exasperated.

'Tell him I'd like to see him the moment he arrives!

'Yes, Sir.'

William paced up and down his office, cursing. Everything Tony Simmons had said about Matthew was accurate, which only made matters worse. He began to think back to when it had all begun, searching for a simple explanation. His thoughts were interrupted by his secretary.

'Mr. Lester has just arrived, sir.'

Matthew entered the room looking rather sheepish, displaying all the signs of another hangover. He had aged badly in the past year, and his skin had lost its fine, athletic glow. William hardly recognised him as the man who had been his closest friend for nearly twenty years.

'Matthew, where the hell have you been?'

'I overslept,' Matthew replied, uncharacteristically scratching at his face. 'Rather a late night, I'm afraid!

'You mean you drank too much.'

'No, I didn't have that much. It was a new girlfriend who kept me awake all night. She was insatiable!

'When will you stop, Matthew? You've slept with nearly every single woman in Boston.'

'Don't exaggerate, William, There must be one or two left; at least I hope so. And then don't forget all the thousands of married ones.'

'It's not funny, Matthew.'

'ON come on, William. Give me a break.'

'Give you a break? I've just had Tony Simmons on my back because of you, and what's more I know he's right. You'll jump into bed with anything wearing a skirt, and worse, you're drinking yourself to death. Your judgment has gone to pieces. Why, Matthew? Tell me why. There must be some simple explanation. Up until a year ago you were one of the most reliable men I have ever met in my life. What is it, Matthew? What am I supposed to say to Tony Simmons?'

'Tell Simmons to go to hell and mind his own business!

'Matthew, be fair, it is his business. We are running a bank, not a bordello, and you came here as a director on my personal recommendation.'

'And now I'm not measuring up to your standards, is that what you're saying?'

'No, I'm not saying that.'

'Then what the hell are you saying?

'Buckle down and do some work for a few weeks. In no time everyone will have forgotten all about it.'

'Is that all you want?'

'Yes,' said William.

'I shall do as you command, O Master,' said Matthew, and he clicked his heels and walked out of the door.

'Oh, hell,' said William.

That afternoon William wanted to go over a client's portfolio with Matthew but nobody seemed to be able to find him. He had not returned to the office after lunch and was not seen again that day. Even the pleasure of putting young Richard to bed in the evening could not distract William from his worries about Matthew. Richard could already say two and William was trying to make him say three, but he insisted on saying 'tree'.

'If you can't say three, Richard, how can you ever hope to be a banker?'

William demanded of his son as Kate entered the nursery.

'Perhaps he'll end up doing something worthwhile,' said Kate.

'What's more worthwhile than banking?' William enquired.

'Well, he might be a musician, or a baseball player, or even President of the United States.'

'Of those three I'd prefer him to be a ball player - it's the only one of your suggestions that pays a decent salary,' said William as he tucked Richard into bed.

Richard's last words before sleeping were, 'Tree, Daddy.' William gave in.

It wasn't his day.

'You look exhausted, darling. I hope you haven't forgotten that we're having drinks later with Andrew MacKenzie.'

'Hell, Andrew's party had totally slipped my mind. What time is he expecting us?,'

'In about an hour.'

'Well, first I'm going to take a long, hot bath.'

'I thought that was a woman's privilege,' said Kate.

'Tonight I need a little pampering. I've had a nerveracking day.'

'Tony bothering you again?'

'Yes, but I am afraid this time he's in the right. He's been complaining about Matthew's drinking habits. I was only thankful he didn't mention the womanising. It's become impossible to take Matthew to any party nowadays without the eldest daughter, not to mention the occasional wife, having to be locked away for their own safety. Will you run my bath?'

William sat in the tub for more than half an hour, and Kate had to drag him out before he fell asleep. Despite her prompting they arrived at the MacKenzie's twenty-five minutes late, only to find that Matthew, already well on the way to being inebriated, was trying to pick up a congressman's wife. William wanted to intervene, but Kate prevented him from doing so.

'Don't say anything,' she whispered.

'I can't stand here and watch him going to pieces in front of my eyes,' said William. 'He's my closest friend. I have to do something.'

But in the end he took Kate's advice and spent an unhappy evening watching Matthew become progressively drunk. Tony Simmons, from the other side of the room, was glancing pointedly at William, who was relieved at Matthew's early departure, even though it was in the company of the only unattached woman left at the party. Once Matthew had gone William started to relax for the first time that day.

'How is little Richard?' Andrew MacKenzie asked.

'He can't say "three",'said William.

'Might turn out to do something civilised after all,' said Doctor MacKenzie.

'Exactly what I thought,' said Kate. 'What a good idea William: he can be a doctor.'

'Pretty safe,' said Andrew. 'Don't know many doctors who can count past two.'

'Except when they send their bills,' said William.

Andrew laughed. 'Will you have another drink, Kate?'

'No thank you, Andrew. It's high time we went home. If we stay any longer, only Tony Simmons and William win be left, and they can both count past two so we would all have to talk banking the rest of the night.'

'Agreed,' said William. 'Thank you for a lovely party, Andrew. By the way, I must apologise for Matthew-s behaviour.'

'Why?' said Doctor MacKenzie.

'Oh, come on, Andrew. Not only was he drunk but there wasn't a woman in the room who felt safe left alone with himp 'I might well do the same if I were in his predicament,' said Andrew MacKenzie.

'What makes you say that?' said William 'You cant approve of his habits just because he's single!

'No, I don't, but I try to understand them and realise I might be a little irresponsible faced with the same problem.'

'What do you mean?'asked Kate.

'My God,' said Doctor MacKenzie. 'He's your closest friend, and he hasn't told you?'

'Told us what?' they said together.

Dr. MacKenzie stared at them both, a look of disbelief on his face.

'Come into my study.'

William and Kate followed the doctor into a small room, lined almost wall-to-wall with medical books, interspersed only with occasional, sometimes unframed, photographs of student days at Cornell.

'Please have a seat, Kate,' he said. 'William I make no apology for what I am about to say, because I assumed you knew that Matthew was gravely ill, dying, in fact~ of Hodgkin's disease. He has known about his condition for over a year!

William fell back in his chair, for a moment unable to speak. 'Hodgkin's disease?'

'An almost invariably fatal inflammation and enlargement of the lymph nodes,' said the doctor rather formally.

William shook his head incredulously. 'Why didn't he tell me?'

'You've known each other since you were at school together. My guess is he's far too proud to burden anyone else with his problems. He'd rather die in his own way than let anyone realise what he's going through. I have begged him for the last six months to tell his father, and I have certainly broken my professional promise to him by letting you know, but I can't let you go on blaming him for something over which he has absolutely no control.'

'Thank you, Andrew,' said William. 'How can I have been so blind and so stupid?'

'Don't blame yourself,' said Doctor MacKenzie. 'There's no way you could have known!

'Is there really no hope?' asked William. 'Are there no clinics, no specialists? Money would be no problem...'

'Money can't buy everything, William, and I have consulted the three best men in America, and one in Switzerland. I am afraid they are all in agreement with my diagnosis, and medical science hasn't yet discovered a cure for Hodgkin's disease.'

'How long has he got to live?' asked Kate in a whisper.

'Six months at the outside, more likely three.'

'And I thought I had problems,' said William. He held tightly on to Kate's hand as if it were a lifeline. 'We must be going, Andrew. Thank you for telling us.'

'Help him in any way you can,' said the doctor, 'but for God's sake, be understanding. Let him do what he wants to do. It's Matthew's last few months, not yours. And don't ever let him know I told you.'

William drove Kate home in silence. As soon as they reached the Red House, William called the girl Matthew had lef t the party with.

'Would it be possible to speak to Matthew Lester?'

'He's not here,' said a rather irritable voice. 'He dragged me off to the In and Out Club, but he was already drunk by the time we got there, and I refused to go in that place with him.' Then she hung up.

The In and Out Club. William had a hazy recollection of having seen the sign swinging from an iron bar but he couldn't remember exactly where the place was. He looked it up in the phone book, drove over to the north side of town and eventually, after questioning a passer-by, he found the club. William knocked on the door. A hatch slid back.

'Are you a member?'

'No,' said William firmly, and passed a ten-dollar note through the grill.

The hatch slid closed, and the door opened. William walked on to the middle of the dance floor, looking slightly incongruous in his three-piece banker's suit. The dancers, twined around each other, swayed incuriously away from him. William's eyes searched the smoke-filled room for Matthew, but he wasn't there. Finally he thought he recognised one of Matthew's many recent casual girlfriends, whom he felt certain he'd seen coming out of his friend's flat early one morning. She was sitting cross-legged in a corner with a sailor. William went over to her.

'Excuse me, miss,' he said.

She looked up but obviously didnt recognise William.

'The lady's with me, so beat it,' said the sailor.

'Have you seen Matthew Lester?'

'Matthew?' said the girl. 'Matthew who?'

'I told you to get lost,' said the sailor, rising to his feet.

'One more word out of you, and I'll knock your block off,' said William. The sailor had seen anger like that in a man's eyes once before in his life and had nearly lost an eye for his trouble. He sat back down.

'Where is Matthew?'

'I don't know a Matthew, darling.' Now she, too, was frightened.

'Six-feet-two, blond hair, dressed like me, and probably drunk.'

'Oh, you mean Martin. He calls himself Martin here, darling, not Matthew.'

She began to relax. 'Now let me see, who did he go off with tonight?' She turned her head towards the bar and shouted at the bartender. 'Terry, who did Martin go out with?'

The bartender removed a dead cigarette butt from the comer of his mouth.

'Jenny,' he said, and put the unlit cigarette back in place.

'Jenny, that's right,' said the girl. 'Now let me see, she's short sessions. Never lets a man stay for more than half an hour, so they should be back soon.'

'Thank you,' said William.

He waited for almost an hour at the bar sipping a scotch with a lot of water, feeling more and more out of place by the minute. Finally, the bartender, the unlit cigarette still in his mouth, gestured to a girl who was coming through the door.

'That's Jenny,' he said. Matthew was not with her.

The bartender waved for jenny to join them. A slim, short, dark, not unattractive girl, she winked at William and walked towards him swinging her Iiips.

'Looking for me, darling? Well, I am available, but I charge ten dollars for half an hour.'