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'That's for sure,' said Tony Simmons. 'Why don't you see this fellow Rosnovski and have it out with him?'

'I expect that's exactly what he'd like me to do.' replied William. 'It would leave him in no doubt that the bank feels it's under siege.'

'Don't you think his attitude might change if you told him how hard you tried to talk the bank into backing the Richmond Group, but they wouldn't support you and ...'

'I've no reason to believe he doesn't know that already,' said William. 'He seems to know everything else.'

'Well what do you feel the bank should do about Rosnovski?' asked Ted Leach. 'We certainly can't stop him from purchasing our stock if he can find a willing seller. If we went in for buying our own stock, far from stopping him, we would play right into his hands by raising the value of his holding and jeopardising our own financial position. I think you can be certain he would enjoy watching us sweat that one out. We are about the perfect size to be taken on by Harry Truman, and there's nothing the Democrats would enjoy more than a banking scandal with an election in the offing.'

'I realise there's little I can do about it,' said William, 'but I had to let you know what Rosnovski was up to in case he springs another surprise on us.'

'I suppose there's still an outside chance,' said Tony Simmons, 'that the whole thing is innocent, and he simply respects your talent as an investor!

'How can you say that, Tony, when you know my stepfather is involved? Do you think Rosnovski employed Henry Osborne to further my career in banking? You obviously don't understand Rosnovski as I do. I've watched him operating now for over twenty years. He's not used to losing; he simply goes on throwing the dice until he wins. I couldn't know him much better if he was one of my own family. He. will...'

'Now don't become paranoid, William, I expect.'

'Don't become paranoid you say, Tony. Remember the power our Articles of Incorporation give to anyone who gets his hands on eight per cent of the bank's stock. An article I had originally inserted to protect myself from being removed. The man already has six per cent and if that's not a bad enough prospect for the future, remember that Rosnovsld could wipe out Interstate Airways overnight just by placing his entire stock on the market at once.'

'But he would gain nothing from that,' said Ted Leach. 'On the contrary, he would stand to lose a great deal of money.'

'Believe me, you don't understand how Abel Rosnovski's mind works,' said William. 'He has the courage of a lion, and the loss would mean nothing to him. I'm fast becoming convinced his only interest is in getting even with me. Yes, of course he'd lose money on those shares if he dumped them, but he always has his hotels to fall back on. There are twenty-one of them now, you know, and he must realise that if Interstate stock collapses overnight, we will also be knocked backwards. As bankers, our credibility depends on the fickle confidence of the public, confidence Abel Rosnovski can now shatter as and when it suits him.'

'Calm down William,' said Tony Simmons. 'It hasn't come to that yet. Now we know what Rosnovski is up to, we can keep a closer watch on his activities and counter them as and when we need to. The first thing we must be sure of is that no one else sells their shares in Lester's before first offering them to you. The bank is always going to support any action you take. My own feeling is still that you should speak to Rosnovski personally and have it out in the open with him. At least that way we will know how serious his intentions are, and we can prepare ourselves accordingly!

'Is that also your opinion, Ted?' asked William.

'Yes, it is. I agree with Tony. I think you should contact the man directly. It can only be in the bank's interests to discover how innocent or otherwise his intentions really are.'

William sat silently for a few moments. 'If you both feel that way, I'll give it a try,' he eventually said. 'I must add that I don't agree with you, but I may be too personally involved to make a dispassionate judgment. Give me a few days to think about how I should best approach him, and I'll let you know the outcome.'

After the two vice-chairmen had left his office, William sat alone, thinking about the action he had agreed to take, certain there could be little hope of success with Abel Rosnovski if Henry Osborne was involved.

Four days later, William sat alone in his office, having given instructions that he was not to be interrupted under any circumstances.

He knew that Abel Rosnovski was also sitting in his office in the New York Baron: he had had a man posted at the hotel all morning whose only task had been to report the moment Rosnovski showed up. The waiting man had phoned; Abel Rosnovski had arrived that morning at eight twenty-seven, had gone straight up to his office on the forty-second floor aind had not been seen since. William picked up his telephone and asked the operator to get him the Baron Hotel.

'New York Baron!

'Mr. Rosnovski, please,' said William nervously. He was put through to a secretary.

'Mr. Rosnovski, please,' he repeated. This time his voice was a little steadier.

'May I ask who is calling?' she said.

'My name is William Kane.'

There was a long silence - or did it simply seem long to William?

'I'm not sure if he's in, Mr. Kane. I'll find out for you.'

Another long silence.

'Mr. Kane?'

'Mr. Rosnovski?'

'What can I do for you, Mr. Kane?' asked a very calm lightly accented voice.

Although William had prepared his opening remarks carefully, he was aware that he sounded anxious.

'I'm a little worried about your holdings in Lesters Bank, Mr. Rosnovski,' he said, 'and indeed in the strong position you have built up in one of the companies we represent. I thought perhaps the time had come for us to meet and discuss your full intentions. There is also a private matter I should like to make known to you.'

Another long silence. Had he been cut off?

'There are no conditions which would ever make a meeting with you possible, Kane. I know enough about you already without wanting to hear your excuses about the past. You keep your eyes open all the time, and you'll find out only too clearly what my intentions are, and they differ greatly from those you will find in the Book of Genesis, Mr. Kane. One day you're going to want to jump out of the twelfth floor window of one of my hotels, because you'll be in deep trouble with Lester's Bank over your own holdings. I only need two more per cent to invoke Article Seven, and we both know what that means, don't we? Then perhaps you'll appreciate for the first time what it felt like for Davis Leroy, wondering for months what the bank might do with his life. Now you can sit and wonder for years what I am going to do with yours once I obtain that eight per cent!

Abel Rosnovski's words chilled William, but somehow he forced himself to carry on calmly, while at the same time banging his fist angrily on the table. 'I can understand how you feel, Mr. Rosnovski, but I still think it would be wise for us to get together and talk this whole thing out. There are one or two aspects of the affair I know you can't be aware of.'

'Like the way you swindled Henry Osborne out of five hundred thousand dollars, Mr. Kane?'

William was momentarily speechless and wanted to explode, but once again managed to control his temper.

'No, Mr. Rosnovski, what I wanted to talk to you about has nothing to do with Mr. Osborne. It's a personal matter and it involves only you. However, I most emphatically assure you that I have never swindled Henry Osborne out of one red cent!

'That's not Henry's version. He says you were responsible for the death of your own mother, to make sure that you didn't have to honour a debt to him. After your treatment of Davis Leroy, I find that only too easy to believe.'

William had never had to fight harder to control his emotions, and it took him several seconds to muster a reply. 'May I suggest we clear this whole misunderstanding up once and for all by meeting at a neutral place of your choice where no one would recognise us?'

'There's only one place left where no one would recognise you, Mr- Kane.'

'Where's that?' asked William.

'Heaven,' said Abe4 and placed the phone back on the hook.

'Get me Henry Osborne at once,' he said to his secretary, He drummed his fingers on the desk while the girl took nearly fifteen minutes to find Congressman Osborne who, it turned out, had been showing some of his constituents around the Capitol building.

'Abel, is that you?'

'Yes, Henry, I thought you'd want to be the first to hear that Kane knows everything, so now the battle is out in the open.'

'What do you mean, he knows everything? Do you think he knows I'm involved?' asked Henry anxiously.

'He sure does, and he also seems to be aware of the special company accounts, my holdings in Lester's Bank and Interstate Airways!

'How could he possibly know everything in such detail? Only you and I know about the special accounts.'

'And Curtis Fenton,' said Abel, interrupting him.

'Might. But he would never inform Kane.'

'He must have. There's no one else. Don't forget that Kane dealt directly with Curtis Fenton when I brought the Richmond Group from his bank. I suppose they must have maintained some sort of contact all along.'

'Jesus.'

'You sound worried, Henry!

'If William Kane knows everything, it's a different ball game. I'm warning you, Abel, he's not in the habit of losing!

'Nor am I,' replied Abel. 'And William Kane doesn't frighten me; not while I'm holding all the aces in my hand. What is our latest holding in Kane's stock?'

'Off the top of my head, you own six per cent of Lester's Bank, and ten per cent of Interstate Airways, and odd bits of other companies they're involved with. You only need another two per cent of Lester's to invoke Article Seven and Peter Parfitt is still biting.'

'Excellent,' said Abel. 'I don't see how the situation could be better. Continue talking to Parfitt, remembering that I'm in no hurry while Kane can't even approach him. For the time being we'll let Kane wonder what we're up to. And be sure you do nothing until I return from Europe. After my phone conversation with Mr. Kane this morning, I can assure you that, to use a gentleman's expression, he's perspiring but I'll let you into a secret, Henry. I'm not sweating. He can go on that way because I have no intention of making a move until I'm good and ready.'

'Fine,' said Henry. 'I'll keep you informed if anything comes up at this end that we should worry about.'

'You must get it through your head, Henry, there's nothing for us to worry about. We have your friend, Mr. Kane, by the balls, and I now intend to squeeze them very slowly.'

'I shall enjoy watching that,' said Henry, sounding a little happier.

'Sometimes I think you hate Kane more than I do.'

Henry laughed nervously. 'Have a good trip to Europe!

Abel put the phone back on the hook and sat staring into space as he considered his next move, his fingers still tapping noisily on the desk.

His secretary came in.

'Get Mr. Curtis Fenton at the Continental Trust Bank,' he said, without looking at her. His fingers continued to tap. His eyes continued to stare.

A few moments later the phone rang.

'Fenton?'

'Good morning, Mr. Rosnovski, how are you?'

'I want you to close all my accounts with your bank.'

There was no reply from the other end.

'Did you hear me, Fenton?'

'Yes,' said the stupefied banker. 'May I ask why, Mr. Rosnovski?'

'Because Judas never was my favourite apostle, Fenton, that's why. As of this moment, you are no longer on the board of the Baron Group. You will shortly receive written. instructions confirming this conversation and telling you to which bank the accounts should be transferred.'

'But I don't understand why, Mr. Rosnovski. What have I done ... ?'

Abel hung up as his daughter walked into the offim 'That didn't sound very pleasant, Daddy.'

'It wasn't meant to be pleasant, but it's nothing to concern yourself with, darling,' said Abel, his tone changing immediately. 'Did you manage to find all the clothes you need for Europe?'

'Yes, thank you, Daddy, but I'm not absolutely sure what they're wearing in London and Paris. I can only hope that I've got it right. I don't want to stick out like a sore thumb.'

'You'll stick out all right, my darling, by being the most beautiful thing the British have seen in years. They'll know your clothes didn't come out of a nation book with your natural flair and sense of colour. Those young Europeans will be falling all over themselves to get alongside you, but I'll be there to stop them. Now let's go and have some lunch and discuss what we are going to do while we're in London!

Ten days later, after Florentyna had spent a long weekend with her mother - Abel never enquired after her - the two of them flew from New York's Idlewild Airport to London's Heathrow. The flight in a Boeing 377 took nearly fourteen hours, and although they had private berths, when they arrived at Claridges in Brook Street, the only thing they both wanted to do was have another long sleep.

Abel was making the trip to Europe for three reasons : first to confirm building contracts for new Baron hotels in London, Paris and possibly Rome; second, to give Florentyna her first view of Europe before she went to Radcliffe to study modern languages; and third, and most important to him, to revisit his castle in Poland to see if there was even an outside chance of proving his ownership.

London turned out to be a success for both of them.

Abel's advisors had found a site on Hyde Park comer, and he instructed solicitors to proceed immediately with all the negotiations for the land and the permits that would be needed before England's capital could boast a Baron. Florentyna found the austerity of post-war London forbidding after the excess of her own home, but the Londoners seemed to be undaunted by their war-damaged city, still believing themselves to be a world power. She was invited to lunches, dinners and balls, and her father was proved right about her taste in clothes and the reaction of young European men. She returned each night with sparkling eyes and stories of new conquests made - and forgotten by the following morning. She couldn't make up her mind whether she wanted to marry an Etonian from the Grenadier Guards who saluted her all the time or a member of the House of Lords who was in waiting to the King. She wasn't quite sure what 'in waiting' meant, but he certainly knew exactly how to treat a lady.