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'That may well depend on you, Mr. Cohen.'

'I don't think I quite understand,' the lawyer replied.

William explained what had happened over the past few days and read out the relevant section of Charles Lester's Will.

Thomas Cohen spent some time taking down each word and then going over his notes carefully.

'Do you think his wishes would stand up in court?' asked William.

'Who knows? I can't think of a precedent for such a situation. A nineteenth-century Member of Parliament once bequeathed his constituency in a will, and no one objected, and the beneficiary went on to become Prime Minister. But that was over a hundred years ago - and in England. Now in this case, if the board decided to contest Mr. Lester's will, and you took their decision to court, I wouldn't care to predict which way the judge might jump. Lord Melbourne didn't have to contend with a surrogate of New York County. Nevertheless, a nice legal conundrum, Mr. Kane.'

'What do you advise?'said William.

'I am a Jew, Mr. Kane. I came to this country on a ship from Germany at the turn of the century, and I have always had to fight hard for anything I've wanted. Do you want to be chairman of Lester's that badly?'

'Yes, Mr. Cohen, I do.'

'Then you must listen to an old man who has, over the years, come to view you with great respect, and if I may say so, with some affection, and I'll tell you exactly what I'd do if I were faced with your predicament!

An hour later William put the phone down, and having some time to kill, he strolled up Park Avenue. Along the way, he passed a site on which a huge building was well into construction. A large, neat billboard announced 'The next Baron Hotel will be in New York. When the Baron has been your host, you'll never want to stay anywhere else.' William smiled for the first time that morning and walked with a lighter step towards the Metropolitan Club.

Ted Leach, a short dapper man with dark brown hair and a lighter moustache, was standing in the foyer of the club, waiting for him. He ushered William into the bar. William admired the Renaissance style of the club, built by Otto Kuhn and Standford White in 1894. J. P. Morgan had founded the club when one of his closest friends was blackballed at the Union League.

'A fairly extravagant gesture even for a very close friend,' Ted Leach suggested, trying to make conversation. 'What will you have to drink, Mr. Kane?'

'A dry sherry, please,' said William.

A boy in a smart blue uniform returned a few moments later with a dry sherry and a scotch and water; he hadn't needed to ask Mr. Leach for his order.

'To the next chairman of Lester's,' said Ted Leach, raising his glass.

William hesitated.

'Don't drink, Mr. Kane. As you know, you should never drink to yourself!'

William laughed, unsure how to reply.

A few minutes later two older men were walking towards them, both tall and confident in the bankers' uniform of grey three-piece suits, stiff collars and dark unpatterned ties. Had they been strolling down Wall Street, William would not have given them a second glance. In the Metropolitan Club he studied them carefully.

'Mr. Alfred Rodgers and Mr. Winthrop Davies,' said Ted Leach as he introduced them. William smiled reservedly, still unsure whose side anyone was on. The two newcomers were studying him equally carefully. No one spoke for a moment.

'Where do we start?' said the one called Rodgers, a monocle falling from his eye as he spoke.

'By going on up to lunch,' said Ted Leach.

The three of them turned arourid, obviously knowing exactly where they were going. William followed. The dining room on the second floor was vast, with another magnificent high ceiling. The maittre d' placed them in the window seat, overlooking Central Park, were no one could overhear their conversation.

'Let's order and then talk,' said Ted Leach.

Through the window William could see the Plaza Hotel. Memories of his graduation celebration with the grandmothers and Matthew came flooding back to him - and there was something else he was trying to recall about that tea at the Plaza...

'Mr. Kane, let's put our cards on the table,' said Ted Leach. 'Charles Lester's decision to appoint you as chairman of the bank came as a surprise, not to put too fine a point on it. But if the board ignores his wishes, the bank could be plunged into chaos and that is an outcome none of us needs. He was a shrewd old man, and he will have had his remons for wanting you as the bank's next chairman, and that's good enough for me.'

William had heard those words before - from Peter Parfitt.

'All three of us,' said Winthrop Davies, taking over, 'owe everything we have to Charles Lester' and we will carry out his wishes if it's the last thing we do as members of the board.'

'It may turn out to be just that,' said Ted Leach, 'if Peter Parfitt does succeed in becoming chairman.'

'I'm sorry, gentlemen,' said William, 'to have caused so much consternation. If my appointment as chairman came as a surprise to you, I can assum you it was nothing less than a bolt from the blue for me. I imagined I would receive some minor personal memento of Matthew's from Charles Lester's will, not the responsibility of running the entire bank.'

'We understand the position you've been placed in, Mr Kane,' said Ted Leach, 'and you must trust us when we say we are here to help you. We are aware that you will find that difficult to believe after the treatment that has been meted out to you by Peter Parfitt and the tactics he has been using behind your back to try and secure the chair for himself!

'I have to believe you, Mr. Leach, because I have no choice but to place myself in your hand and seek your advice as to how you view the cunxmt situation!

'Thank you,' said Leach. 'But situation is clear to me. Peter Parfitt's campaign is well organised, and he now feels he is acting from a position of strength. We, therefore. Mr. Kane, must be entirely open with each other if we are to have any chance of beating him. I am assuming, of course, that you have the stomach for such a fight.'

'I wouldn't be here if I didn't, Mr. Leach. And now that you have put the position so succinctly, perhaps you will allow me to suggest how we should go about defeating Mr. Parfitt.'

'Certainly,'said Ted Leach.

All three men listened intently.

'You are undoubtedly right in saying that Parfitt feels he is now in a strong position because to date he has always been the one on the attack, always knowing what is going to happen next. Might I suggest that the time has come for us to reverse that trend and take up the attack ourselves where and when he least expects it - in his own board room.'

'How do you propose we go about that, Mr. Kane?' enquired Winthrop Davies, looking somewhat surprised.

'I'll tell you if you will first permit me to ask you some questions. How many full-time executive directors are there with a vote on the board?'

'Sixteen,' said Ted Leach instantly.

'And with whom does their allegiance lie at this moment?' William asked.

'Not the easiest question to answer, Mr. Kane,' Winthrop Davies chipped in.

He took a crumpled envelope from his inside pocket and studied the back of it before he continued. 'I think we can count on six sure votes, and Peter Parfitt can be certain of five. It came as a shock for me to discover this morning that Rupert Cork-Smith, who was Charles Lester's closest friend, is unwilling to support you, Mr. Kane. Really strange, because I know he doesn't care for Parfitt. I think that may make the voting six apiece.'

'That gives us until Thursday,' added Ted Leach, 'to find out how the other four board members are likely to react to your appointment!

'Why Thursday?' asked William 'Day of the next board meeting,' answered Leach, stroking his moustache, which William had noticed he always did when he started to speak. 'And more important, Item One on the agenda is the election of a new chairman!

'I was told the next meeting would not take place until Monday,'said William in astonishment.

'By whom?' Davies asked.

'Peter Parfitt,' said William.

'His tactics,' Ted Leach commented, 'have not been altogether those of a gentleman!

'I've learned enough about that gentleman,' William said, placing an ironic stress on the words, 'to make me realize that I shall have to take the battle to him.'

'Easier said than done, Mr. Kane. He is very much in the driver's seat at this moment,' said Winthrop Davies, 'and I'm not sure how we go about removing him from it.'

'Switch the traffic lights to red,' replied William. 'Who has the authority to call a board meeting?'

'While the board is without a chairman, either vice-chairman,' said Ted Leach. 'Which in reality means Peter Parfitt or myself.'

'How many board members form a quorum?

'Nine,' said Davies.

'And if you are one of the two vice-chairmen, Mr. Leach, who is the company secretary?'

'I am,' said Alfred Rodgers, who until then had hardly opened his mouth the exact quality William always looked for in a company secretary.

'How much notice do you have to give to call an emergency board meeting, Mr. Rodgers?'

'Every director must be informed at least twenty-four hours beforehand although that has never actually happened except during the crash of twenty-nine. Charles Lester always tried to give at least three days' notice!

'But the bank's rules do allow for an emergency meeting to be held on twenty-four hours notice?' asked William.

'They do, Mr. Kane,' Alfred Rodgers affirmed, his monocle now firmly in place and focused on William- 'Excellent, then let's call our own board meeting.'

The three bankers stared at William as if they had not quite heard him clearly.

'Think about it, gentlemen,' William continued. 7&. Leach, as vice-chairman, calls the board meeting and Mr. Rodgers as company secretary, informs all the directors!

"When would you want this board meeting to take place?' asked Ted Leach.

'Tomorrow afternoon.' William looked at his watch. 'Three o'clock.'

'Good God, that's cutting it a bit fine,' said Alfred Rodgers. 'I'm not sure. . .'

'Cutting it very fine for Peter Parfitt~ wouldn't you say?' said William.

'That's true,' said Ted Leach, 'if you know precisely what you have planned for the meeting?'

'You leave the meeting to me. just be sure that it's correctly convened and that every director is properly informed!

'I wonder haw Peter Parfitt is going to react,' said Ted Leach.

'Don't worry about Parfitt,' said William. 'That's the mistake we've made all along. Let him start to worry about us for a change. As long as he is given the full twenty-four hours notice and he's the last director informed, we have nothing to fear. We don't want him to have any more time than necessary to stap. a caunter-attack. And gentlemen, do not be surprised by anything I do or say tomorrow. Trust my judgment, and be there to support me.'

'You don't feel we ought to know exactly what you have in mind?'

'No, Mr. Leach, you must appear at the meeting as disinterested directors doing no more than carrying out your duty.'

It was beginning to dawn on Ted Leach and his two colleagues why Charles Lester had chosen William Kane to be their next chairman. They left the Metropolitan Club a good deal more confident than when they had arived, despite their being totally in the dark as to what would actually happen at the board meeting they were about to instigate. William, on the, other hand, having carried out the first part of Thomas Cohen's instructions, was now looking forward to pulling off the harder second part.

He spent must of the afternoon and evening in his room at the Yale Club, meticulously conside rmig his tactics for the next day's meeting and taking only a short break to call Kate.

'Where are you, darling?' she said. 'Stealing away in the middle of the night to I know not where!

'To my mistress in New York,' said William.

'Poor girl,' said Kate. 'She probably doesn't know the half of it. What's her advice on the devious Mr. Parfitt?'

'Haven't had time to ask her, we've been so busy doing other things. While I have you on the phone, what's your advice?'

'Do nothing Charles Lester or your father wouldn't have done in the same circumstances,' said Kate, suddenly serious.

'They're probably playing golf together on the eighteenth cloud and taking a side bet watching us the whole time.'

'Whatever you do, William, you won't go far wrong if you do remember they are watching you.'

When dawn broke, William was already awake, having only managed to sleep for short, fitful intervals. He rose a little after six, had a cold shower, went for a long walk through Central Park to clear his head, and returned to the Yale Club for a light breakfast. There was a message waiting for him in the front hall - from his wife. William laughed when he read it for a second time at the line, 'If you're not too busy could you remember to buy Richard a baseball glove.' William picked up the Wall Street journal which was still running the story of trouble in the Lester's board room over the selection of a new chairman. It now had Peter Parfitt's version of the story, hinting that his appointment as chairman would probably be confirmed at Thursday's meeting. William wondered whose version would be reported in tomorrow's paper. Oh, for a look at tomorrow's journal now. He spent the morning double checking the articles of incorporation and by-laws of Lester's Bank. He had no lunch but did find time to visit Schwalts and buy a baseball glove for his son.

At two-thirty William took a cab to the bank on Wall Street and arrived a few minutes before three. The young doorman asked him if he had an appointment to see anyone.

'I'm William Kane.'