turned around and shook hands with the man who had directed him to the board room twenty - three years before.
The rather surprised doon - nan said, 'Goodnight, sir,' as he watched William climb into the back of his car for the last time.
His chauffeur took him home and when he reached East Sixty - eighth Street, William collapsed on his front door step. The chauffeur and Kate helped him into the house~ Kate could see he was crying, and she put her arms round him.
'What is it, William? What's happened?'
'I've been thrown out of my own bank,' he wept. My own board no longer have confidence in me - When it mattered, they supported Abel Rosnovski.'
Kate managed to get him up to bed and sat with him through the night. He never spoke. Nor did he sleep.
The announcement in the Wall Street journal the following Monday morning said simply: 'William Lowell Kane, the president and chairman of Lester's Bank resigned after yesterday's board meeting!
No mention of illness or any explanation was given for his sudden departure, and there was no suggestion that his son would take his place on the board. William knew that rumour would sweep through Wall Street and that the worst would be assumed. He sat in bed alone, caring no longer for this world.
Abel read the announcement of William Kanes resignation in the Wall Street journal the same day. He picked up the phone, dialled Lester's Bank and asked to speak to the new chairman. A few seconds later Jake Thomas came on the line. 'Good morning, Mr. Rosnovski.'
'Good morning, Mr. Thomas. I'm just phoning to confirm that I shall release all my Interstate Airways shares to the bank at the market price this morning and my eight per cent holding in Lester's to you personally for two million dollars!
'Thank you, Mr. Rosnovski, that's most generous of you.'
'No need to thank me, Mr. Chairman, it's no more than we agreed on when you sold me your two per cent of Lester's,' said Abel RosnovskL
Chapter 40
Book Seven
40
Abel was surprised to find how little satisfaction his final triumph had given him.
George tried to persuade him that he should go to Warsaw to look over sites for the new Baron but Abel didn't want to. As he grew older he became fearful of dying abroad and never seeing Florentyna again, and for months Abel showed no interest in the group's activities. When John F. Kennedy was assassinated on 22 November 1963, Abel became even more depressed and feared for America. Eventually George did convince him that a trip abroad could do no harm, and that things would perhaps seem a little easier for him when lie returned.
Abel travelled to Warsaw where he obtained a highly confidential agreement to build the first Baron in the communist world. His command of the language impressed Warsawians, and he was proud to beat Holiday Inns and Intercontinental behind the Iron Curtain. He couldn't help thinking ... and it didn't help when Lyndon Johnson appointed John (3 ronowski to be the first Polish - American ambassador to Warsaw. But now nothing seemed to give any satisfaction. He had defeated Kane and lost his own daughter, and he wondered if the man felt the same way about his son. After Warsaw, he roamed the world, staying in his hotels, watching the construction of new ones. He opened the first Baron in Cape Town, South Africa, and flew back to Germany to open one in Dilsseldorf.
Abel then spent six months in his favourite Baron in Paris, roaming the streets by day, and attending the opera at night, hoping it might revive happy memories of Florentyna.
He eventually left Paris and returned to America, after his long exile.
As he descended the metal steps of an Air France 707 at Kennedy International Airport, his back hunched and his bald head covered with a black hat, nobody recognised him. George was there to greet him, loyal, honest George, looking quite a bit older. On the ride to the New York Baron, George, as always, brought him up to date on group news. The profits, it seemed, were even higher as his keen young executives thrust forward in every major country in the world. Seventy - two hotels run by twenty - two thousand staff. Abel didn't seem to be listening. He only wanted news of Florentyna.
'She's well,' said George, 'and coming to New York early next year.'
'Why?' said Abel, suddenly excited.
'She's opening one of her shops on Fifth Avenue!
Tifth