第 49 页

'I'd risk that to be chairman of one of the largest financial institutions in America!

William returned to New York that evening, elated by his discussion and called a board meeting of Lester's to outline Tony Simmons' proposal. When he found that the board approved of a merger in principle, he instructed each manager in the bank to consider the whole plan in greater detail.

The departmental heads took three months before they reported back to the board, and to a man they came to the same conclusion : a merger was no more than common sense, as the two banks were complementary in so many ways. With different offices all over America and branches in Europe, they had a great deal to offer each other. Moreover, the chairman of Lester's had continued to own fifty-one per cent of Kane and Cabot, making the merger simply a marriage of convenience. Some of the directors on Lester's board could not understand why William hadn't thought of the idea before. Ted Leach was of the opinion that Charles Lester must have had it in his mind when he nominated William as his successor.

The details of the merger took nearly a year to negotiate and lawyers were kept at work into the small hours to complete the necessary paper work. In the exchange of shares, William ended up as the largest stockholder with eight per cent of the new company and was appointed the new bank's president and chairman. Tony Simmons remained in Boston as one vice-chairman' and Ted Leach in New York as the other. The new merchant bank was renamed Lester, Kane and Company, but was still to be referred to as Lester's.

William decided to hold a press conference in New York to announce the successful merger of the two banks and he chose Monday, 8 December 1941 to inform the financial business world at large. The press conference had to be cancelled, because the morning before the Japanese had launched an attack on Pearl Harbor.

The prepared press release hed already been mailed to the newspapers some days before, but the Tuesday morning financial pages understandably allocated the announcement of the merger only a small amount of space.

This lack of coverage was no longer foremost in William's mind.

He couldn't quite work out how or when he was going to tell Kate that he intended to enlist. When Kate heard the news she was horrified and immediately tried to talk him out of the decision.

'What do you imagine you can do that a million others can't?' she demanded.

'I'm not sure,' William replied, 'But all I can be certain of is that I must do what my father or grandfather would have done given the same circumstances!

'They would have undoubtedly done what was in the best interest of the bank.'

'No,' replied William quickly. 'They would have done what was in the best interest of America.,

Book Four

24

Abel studied the news item on Lester, Kane and Company in the financial section of the Chicago Tribune. With all the space devoted to the implications of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, he would have missed the brief article had it not been accompanied by a small out-of-date photograph of William Kane, so out-of-date that Kane looked much as he had when Abel had visited him in Boston over ten years before. Certainly Kane appeared too young in that photograph to live up to the journal's description of him as the brilliant chairman of the newly formed Lester, Kane and Company. 'The article went on to predict: 'The new bank, a joining of Leste's of New York and Kane and Cabot of Boston, could well become one of the most important financial institutions in America after Mr. Kane's decision to merge the two distinguished family banks. As far as the Trib could ascertain the shares would be in the hands of about twenty people related to, or closely associated with the two families!

Abel was delighted by that particular piece of information, realising that Kane must have lost overall control- He read the news item again. William Kane had obviously risen in the world since they had crossed swords, but then so had he, and he still had an old score to settle with the newly appointed chairman of Lesters.

So handsomely had the Baron Group's fortunes prospered over the decade that Abel had paid back all the loans to his backer and honoured to the letter the original agreement with his backer and had secured one hundred per cent ownership of the company within the required ten-year period.

By the last quarter of 1939, not only had Abel paid off the loan, but the profits for 1940 passed the half million mark. This milestone coincided with the opening of two new Barons, one in Washington, the other in San Francisco.

Though Abel had become a less devoted husband during this period, he could not have been a more doting father. Zaphia, longing for a second child, finally goaded him into seeing his doctor. When he learned that, because of a low sperm count, probably caused by sickness and malnutrition in his days under the Germans and Russians, Florentyna would almost certainly be his only child, he gave up all hope for a son and proceeded to lavish everything on her.

Abel's fame was now spreading acrm America and even the press had taken to referring to him as "The Chicago Baron'. He no longer cared about the jokes behind his back. Wladek Koskiewicz had arrived and, more importantly, he was here to stay. By 1941 the profits from his thirteen hotels were just short of one mil1ion. and, with his new surplus of capital, he decided the bme bad come for even further expansion.

Then the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.

Abel had already been sending considerable sums of money to the British Red Cross for the relief of his countrymen since that dreadful day in September 1939 on which the Nazis had marched into Poland, later to meet the Russians at Brest Litovsk and once again divide his homeland between dmm He had waged a fierce battle, both within the Democratic Party and in the press, to push an unwilling America into the war even if now it had to be on the side of the Russians. His efforts so far had been fruitless, but on that December Sunday, with every radio station across the country blaring out the details to an incredulous nation, Abel knew that America must now be committed to the war. On I I December he listened to President Roosevelt tell the nation that Germany and Italy had officially declared war on the United States. Abel had every intention of joining in, but first he had a private declaration of war he wished to make, and to that end he placed a call to Curtis Fenton at the Continental Trust Bank.

Over the years Abel had grown to trust Fenton's judgment and had kept him on the board of the Baron Group when he gained overall control in order to keep a close link between the group and Continental Trust.

Curtis Fenton came on the line, his usual formal and always polite self.

'How much spare cash am I holding in the group's reserve account?' asked Abel, Curtis Fenton picked out the file marked 'Number 6 Acocount', remembering the days when he could put all Mr. Rosncrvski's affairs into one file.

He scanned some figures.

'A little under two million dollars,' he said.

'Good,' said Abel. 'I want you to look into a newly formed bank called Lester, Kane and Company. Find-out the of every shareholder, what percentage they control and if there are any conditions under which they would be willing to sell. All this must be done without the knowledge of the bank's chairman, Mr. William Kane and without my name ever being mentione. Curtis Fenton held his breath and said nothing. He was glad that Abel Rosnovski could not see his surprised fam Why did Abel Rosnovski want to put money into- anything to do with William Kane? Fenton had also read in the Wall Street Journal about the merging of the two famous family banks. What with Pearl Harbor and his wife's headache, he too had nearly missed the item. Rosnovski's request jogged his memory - he must send a congratulatory wire to William Kane. He pencilled a note on the bottom of the Baron Group file while listening to Abel's instructions.

'When you have a full rundown I want to be briefed in person, nothing on paper.'

'Yes, Mr. Rosnovski.'

I suppose someone knows what's going on between those two, Curtis Fenton added silently to himself, but I'm damned if I do.

Abel continued. 'I'd also like to know in your quarterly reports the details of every official statement issued by Lester's and which companies they are involved with.'

'Certainly, Mr. Rosnovski.'

'Thank you, Mr. Fenton. By the way, my market research team is advising me to open a new Baron in Montreal.'

'The war doesn't worry you, Mr. Rosnovski?'

'Good God, no. If the Germans reach Montreal we can all close down, Continental Trust included. In any case, we beat the bastards last time, and we'll beat them again. The only difference is that this time I'll be able to join the action. Good day, Mr. Fenton!

Will I ever understand what goes on in the mind of Abel Rosnovski, Curtis Fenton wondered, as he hung up the phone. His thoughts switched back to Abel's other request, for the details of Lester's shares. That worried him even more. Although William Kane no longer had any connection with Rosnovski, he feared where this might all end if his client obtained a substantial holding in Lester's. He decided against giving his views to Rosnovski for the time being, supposing the day would come when one of them would explain what they were both up to.

Abel also wondered if he should tell Curtis Fenton why he wanted to buy stock in Lester's but came to the conclusion that the fewer the number of people who knew of his plan, the better.

He put William Kane temporarily out of his mind and asked his secretary to find George, who was now a vice president of the Baron Group. He had grown along with Abel and was now his most trusted lieutenant. Sitting in his office on the forty-second floor of the Chicago Baron, Abel looked down at Lake Michigan, on what was known as the Gold Coast, but his own thoughts returned to Poland. He wondered if he would ever live to see his castle again, now well inside the Russian borders under Stalin's control. Abel knew he would never settle in Poland, but he still wanted his castle restored to him. The idea of the Germans or Russians occupying his magnificent home once again made him want to ... His thoughts were interrupted by George.

'You wanted to see me, Abel?'

George was the only member of the group who still called the Chicago Baron by his first name.

'Yes, George. Do you think you could keep the hotels ticking along for a few months if I were to take a leave of absence?'

'Sure I can,' said George- 'Why, are you finally going to take that vacation you promised yourself?'

'No,' replied Abel. 'I'm going to war.'

'What?' said George. 'What?' he repeated.

'I'm going to New York tomorrow morning to enlist in the army.'

'You're crazy, you could get yourself killed!

'That isn't what I had in mind,' replied Abel. 'Killing some Germans is what I plan to do. The bastards didn't get me the first time around and I have no intention of letting them get me now.'

George continued to protest that America could win the war without Abel.

Zaphia protested too; she hated the very thought of war and little Florentyna, just turned eight years old, burst into tears. She did not quite know what war meant, but she did understand that Daddy would have to go away for a very long time.

Despite their protests, Abel took his first plane flight to New York the next day. All of America seemed to be going in different directions and he found the city full of young men in khaki saying their farewells to parents, sweethearts and wives, all assuring each other that the war would be over in a few weeks but none of them believing it.

Abel arrived at the New York Baron in time for dinner. The dining room was packed with young people, girls clinging desperately to soldiers, sailors and airmen, while Frank Sinatra crooned to the rhythms of Tommy Dorsey's big band. As Abel watched the young people on the dance floor, he wondered how many of them would ever have a chance to enjoy an evening like this again. He couldn't help remembering Sammy explaining how he had become maitre d' at the Plaza. The three men senior to him had returned from the Western Front with one leg between them. None of the young people dancing could begin to know what war was really like. He didn't join in the celebration - if that's what it was. He went to his room instead.

In the morning, he dressed in a plain dark suit and went down to the recruiting office in Times Square. He had chosen to enlist in New York because he feared someone might recognise him in Chicago and all he could hope to end up with would be a swivel chair. The office was even more crowded than the dance floor had been the night before, but here no one was clinging on to anyone else. Abel hung around the entire morning in order to fill out one form that would have taken him three minutes in his own office. He couldn't help noticing that all the other recruits looked fitter than he. He then stood in line for two more hours waiting to be interviewed by a recruiting sergeant who asked I-Lim what he did for a living.

'Hotel management,' said Abel, and went on to tell the officer of his experiences in the first war. The sergeant stared silently at the five foot seven, one hundred and ninety pound man with an expression of incredulity. If Abel had told him he was the Chicago Baron, the officer would not have doubted his stories of imprisonment and escape, but he chose to keep this information to himself and be treated like any of his fellow countrymen.

'You'll have to take a full physical tomorrow morning,' was all the recruiting sergeant said at the end of Abel's monologue, adding, as though he felt the comment was no less than his duty, 'Thank you for volunteering.'

The next day Abel had to wait several more hours for his physical examination. The doctor in charge was fairly blunt about Abel's general condition. He had been protected from such comments for several years by his,position and success. It came as a rude awakening when the doctor classified him 4F.

'You're overweight, your eyes are not too good, your heart is weak, and you limp. Frankly, Rosnovski, youre plain unfit. We can't take soldiers into battle who are likely to have a heart attack even before they find the enemy. That doesn't mean we can't use your talents; there's a lot of paperwork to be done in this war if you are interested.'