'I want Anne, not you. Why aren't you at school? I Don't want you,' he said, his voice thick and slurred, trying to push William aside. 'Where't AnneT 'My mother is dead,' said William quietly.
Henry Osborne looked at him stupidly for a few seconds. The incomprehension of his gaze snapped William's selfcontrol.
'Where were you when she needed a husband?' he shouted.
Still Osborne stood, swaying slightly. 'What about the baby?'
'Stillborn, a little girt.'
Henry Osborne slumped into a chair, drunken tears starting to run down his face. 'She lost my little baby?'
William was nearly incoherent with rage and grief. 'Your baby? Stop thinking about yourself for once,' he shouted. 'You know Doctor MacKenzie advised her against becoming pregnant again.'
'Expert in that as well, are we, like everything else? If you had minded your own fucking business~ I could have taken care of my own wife without your interference!
'And her money, it seems.'
'Money. You tight - fisted little bastard, I bet losing that hurts you more than anything else.'
'Get up,' William said between his teeth.
Henry Osborne pushed himself up, and smashed the bottle across the comer of the chair. Whisky splashed all over the carpet. He swayed towards William with the broken bottle in his raised hand. WWiam stood his ground while Matthew came between them and easily removed the bottle from the drunken man's grasp.
William pushed his friend aside and advanced until his face was only inches away from Henry Osbome's.
'Now, you listen to me and listen carefully. I want you out of this house in one hour. If I ever hear from you again in my life, I shall instigate a full legal investigation into what has happened to my mother's half million dollar investment in your firm, and I shall re - open my. research into who you really are and your past life in Chicago. If, on the other hand, I do not hear from you again, ever, I shall consider the ledger balanced and the matter closed. Now get out before I kill you.'
Ile two boys watched him leave, sobbing, incoherent and furious.
The next morning William paid a visit to the bank. He was diately shown into the chairman's office. Alan Lloyd was packing some documents into a briefcase.
He looked up, and handed a piece of paper to William without speaking. It was a short letter to all board members tendering his resignation as chairman of the bank.
'Could you ask your secretary to come in?' said William quietly.
'As you wish.'
Alan Lloyd pressed a button on the side of his desk, and a middle - aged, conservatively dressed lady entered the room from a side door.
~Good morning, Mr. Kane,' she said when she saw William. 'I was so sorry to learn about your mother!
'nank you,' said William. 'Has anyone else seen this letter F 'No, sir,' said the secretary. 'I was about to type twelve copies for Mr.
Lloyd to sign.'
'Well, don't type them, and please forget that this draft ever existed.
Never mention its existence to anyone, do you understandT She stared into those blue eyes of the sixteen - year - old boy. So like his father, she thought. 'Yes, Mr. Kane.' She left quietly closing the door.
Alan Lloyd looked up.
'Kane and Cabot doesn't need a new chairman at the moment, Alan. You did nothing my father would not have done in the same circumstances: ,ies not as easy as that,' Alan said.
vs as easy as that,' said William. 'We can discuss this again when I am twenty - one and not before. Until then I would be obliged if you would run my bank in your usual diplomatic and conservative manner. I want nothing of what has happened to be discussed outside this office. You will destroy any information you have on Henry Osborne and consider the matter closed.'
William tore up the letter of resignation and dropped the pieces of paper into the fire. He put his arm around Alan's shoulders.
'I have no family now, Alan, only you. For Go&s sake don!t desert me.'
William wag driven back to Beacon Hill. On his arrival the butler informed him that Mrs. Kane and Mrs. Cabot were waiting for him in the drawing room. They both rose as he entered the room. It was the first time that William realised that he was now the head of the Kane family.
Ile funeral took place quietly two days later at the Old North Church on Beacon Hill. None but the family and close friends were invited, and the only notable absentee was Henry