the child, including a beautiful antique ring from Abel's backer. He returned the gift in kind when the Baron Group made a profit of sixtythree thousand dollars at the end of the year. Only the Mobile Baron was still losing money.
After Florentyna's birth Abel found he was spending much more of his time in Chicago which prompted him to decide that the time had come to build a Baron there. Hotels in the city were booming in the aftermath of the World's Fair. Abel intended to make his new hotel the flagship of the group in memory of Davis Leroy. The company still owned the site of the old Richmond Hotel on Michigan Avenue, and although Abel had had several offers for the land, he had always held out, hoping that one day he would be in a strong enough financial position to rebuild the hotel. The project required capital and Abel decided to use the seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars he had eventually received from Great Western Casualty for the old Chicago Richmond to start construction. As soon as his plans were formulated, he told Curtis Fenton of his intention, with the sole reservation that if David Maxton did not want a rival to the Stevens, Abel was willing to drop the whole project; he felt it was the least he could do in the circumstances. A few days later, Curtis ~enton advised him that his backer was delighted by the idea of 'Fhe Chicago Baron% It took Abel twelve months to build the new Baron with a large helping hand from Alderman Henry Osborne, who hurried through the permits required from City Hall in the shortest possible time. The building was opened in 1936 by the mayor of the city~ Edward J. Kelly, who, after the death of Anton Cermak, had become the prime organiser of the Democratic machine. In memory of Davis Leroy, the hotel had no twelfth floor - a tradition Abel continued in every new Baron he built.
Both Illinois senators were also in attendance to address the two thousand assembled guests. Ile Chicago Baron was superb bo, th in design and construction. Abel had wound up spending well over a million dollars on the hotel, and it looked as though every permy had been put to good use. 'Me public rooms were large and sumptuous with high stucco ceilings and decorations in pastel shades of green, pleasant and relaxing; the carpets were thick. The dark green embossed 'B' was discreet but ubiquitous, adorning everything from the flag that fluttered on the top of the forty - two storey building to the neat lapel of the most junior bellhop.
'This hotel already bears the hallmark of success,' said J. Hamilton Lewis, the senior senator from Illinois, 'because, my friends, it is the man, not the building, who will always be known as "The Chicago Baron".'Abcl beamed with undisguised pleasure as the two thousand guests roared their approval.
Abel's reply of acknowledgment was well turned and confidently delivered, and it earned him a standing ovation. He was beginning to feel very much at home among big businessmen and senior politicians. Zaphia hovered uncertainly in the back - round during the lavish celebration : the oc - casion was a little too much for her. She neither understood nor cared for success on Abel's scale; and even though she could now afford the most expensive clothes, she still looked unfashionable and out - of - place, and she was only too aware that it annoyed Abel. She stood by while Abel chatted with Henry Osborne.
'This must be the high point of your life,' Henry was saying, slapping Abel on the back.
'High point - I've just turned thirty,' said Abel. A camera flashed as he placed an arm round Henry's shoulder. Abel beamed, realising for the first time how pleasant it was to be treated as a public figure. 'I'm going to put Baron hotels right across the globe,' he said, just loud enough for the reporter to hear. 'I intend to be to America what Cesar Ritz was to Europe. Stick with me, Henry, and you'll enjoy the ride.'
Chapter 23
At breakfast the next morning, Kate pointed to a small item on page seventeen of the Globe, reporting the opening of the Chicago Baron.
William smiled as he read the article. Kane and Cabot had been foolish not to listen when he had advised them to support the Richmond Group. It pleased him that his own judgment on Rosnovski had turned