‘I don’t want my husband to see you before I’ve told him how you ended up here,’ she explained. ‘Would you like to stay with us, Wladek, if my husband agrees?’
‘Yes, please,’ he said simply.
‘Then off you go to bed,’ she said.
Wladek climbed the stairs, praying that the woman’s husband would allow him to live with them. He undressed slowly and got into bed. He was too clean, the sheets were too crisp, the mattress too soft. He threw the pillow onto the floor, but he was so tired that he slept despite the comfort of the bed. It was already dark outside when he was awakened by the sound of raised voices. He couldn’t tell how long he had been asleep. He crept to the door, eased it open and listened to the conversation taking place in the kitchen below.
‘You stupid woman,’ Wladek heard a shrill voice say. ‘Don’t you understand what would have happened if you’d been caught? You would have been sent to the camps, and I would have lost my job.’
‘But if you had seen him, Piotr. He was like a hunted animal.’
‘So you decided to turn us into hunted animals,’ he replied. ‘Has anyone else seen him?’
‘No,’ said the woman, ‘I don’t think so.’
‘Thank God for that. He must leave immediately, before anyone discovers he’s been here - it’s our only hope.’
‘But where can he go, Piotr? He has no one. And I have always wanted a son.’
‘I don’t care what you want, or where he goes. He is not our responsibility. We must be rid of him, and quickly.’
‘But Piotr, I think he is royal. I think his father was a baron. He wears a silver band around his wrist, and on it are the words—’
‘That only makes it worse. You know what our new leaders have decreed. No nobility, no privileges. We would not even be sent to the camp - the authorities would just shoot us.’
‘We have always wanted a son, Piotr. Can we not take this one risk in our lives?’
‘In your life, perhaps, but not in mine. I say he must go, and go now.’
Wladek did not need to hear any more. The only way he could help his benefactress was to disappear without trace into the night. He dressed quickly, and stared at the bed, hoping it would not be another four years before he slept so soundly again. He was unlatching the window when the door was flung open and the stationmaster marched into the room. He was a tiny man, no taller than Wladek, with a large stomach and a bald head except for a few grey strands of hair vainly combed across his scalp. He wore rimless spectacles, which had produced little red semicircles under each eye. He stared at Wladek. Wladek stared back.
‘Come downstairs,’ the man commanded.
Wladek followed him reluctantly to the kitchen. The woman was sitting at the table, sobbing.
‘Now listen, boy,’ the man said.
‘His name is Wladek,’ the woman interjected.
‘Now listen, boy,’ the man repeated. ‘You are trouble, and I want you out of here and as far away as possible. I’ll tell you what I’m willing to do to help you.’
Wladek gazed at him, aware that he would only be willing to help himself.
‘I am going to supply you with a train ticket. Where do you want to go?’
‘Odessa,’ said Wladek, ignorant of where it was or how much it would cost, knowing only that it was the next city on the doctor’s map to freedom.
‘Odessa, the mother of crime - an appropriate destination,’ sneered the stationmaster. ‘You’ll be among your own kind there.’
‘Let him stay with us, Piotr. I will take care of him, I will—’
‘No, never. I would rather pay the bastard to go.’
‘But how can he hope to get past the authorities?’ the woman pleaded.
‘I will issue him with a ticket and a working pass for Odessa.’ The man turned to Wladek. ‘Once you are on that train, boy, if I ever see or hear of you again in Moscow, I’ll have you arrested on sight and thrown into the nearest jail. You’ll be back in that prison camp as fast as the train can get you there - if they don’t shoot you first.’
The man glanced at the clock on the mantelpiece: five past eleven. He turned to his wife. ‘There’s a train that leaves for Odessa at midnight. I’ll take him to the station and put him on it myself. Have you any baggage, boy?’
Wladek was about to say no, when the woman said, ‘Yes, I’ll go and fetch it.’
She was gone for some time. Wladek and the stationmaster glared at each other with mutual contempt. The clock struck once in her absence, but still neither spoke. The stationmaster’s eyes never left Wladek. When she returned, she was carrying a large brown paper parcel tied with string. Wladek stared at it and was about to protest, but as their eyes met, he saw such fear in hers that he only just managed the words, ‘Thank you.’
‘Eat this before you leave,’ she said, thrusting her bowl of cold soup towards him.
He obeyed, and although his shrunken stomach was now full, he gulped down the soup as quickly as possible, not wanting to cause her any more trouble.
‘Animal,’ the man muttered.
Wladek looked at him, hatred in his eyes. He felt pity for the woman, bound to such a man for life. A prison of her own.
‘Come, boy, it’s time for you to leave,’ the stationmaster said. ‘We don’t want you to miss your train, do we?’
Wladek followed him out of the kitchen. He hesitated as he passed the woman, briefly touching her hand.
The stationmaster and the refugee crept through the streets of Moscow, keeping to the shadows, until they reached the station. The stationmaster obtained a one-way ticket to Odessa and gave the little red slip of paper to Wladek.
‘My pass?’ Wladek said defiantly.
From his inside pocket the man drew out an official-looking form, signed it hurriedly and reluctantly handed it over. His eyes kept looking all around him for any possible danger. Wladek had seen eyes like that many times during the past four years: the eyes of a coward.
‘Never let me see, or hear, of you again,’ the stationmaster said: the voice of a bully.
Wladek was about to say something, but the stationmaster had already disappeared into the shadows of the night, where he belonged.
Wladek looked at the eyes of the people who hurried past him. The same eyes, the same fear; was anyone in the world free? He gathered the brown paper parcel under his arm, adjusted his cap and walked towards the barrier. The guard glanced at his ticket and ushered him through without comment. He climbed on board the train. Although he would never see her again in his life, he would always remember the kindness of the woman, the stationmaster’s wife, Comrade … he didn’t even know her name.
16
PREPARING FOR the baby kept Anne fully occupied; she found herself tiring easily, and had to rest a great deal. Whenever she asked Henry how business was going, he always had some plausible answer to reassure her that all was well, without supplying any actual details.
Then the anonymous letters started to appear again. This time they gave more details - the names of the women involved, and the places they had been seen with Henry. Anne burned them before she could commit the names or the places to memory. She didn’t believe her husband could be unfaithful while she was carrying his child. Someone was jealous, or holding a grudge against Henry. They had to be lying.
But the letters kept coming, sometimes with new names. Anne continued to destroy them, but they were beginning to prey on her mind. She wanted to discuss them with someone, but couldn’t think of anybody in whom she could confide. The grandmothers would have been appalled, and were in any case already prejudiced against Henry. Alan Lloyd at the bank could not be expected to understand, as he had never married, and William was far too young. No one seemed suitable. Anne considered consulting a psychiatrist after listening to a lecture given by Sigmund Freud when he visited Boston, but she decided that she would never consider discussing a family problem with a complete stranger.
The matter finally came to a head in a
way that Anne could not have anticipated. One Monday morning she received three letters: the usual one from William addressed to Mrs Richard Kane, asking if he could once again spend the summer vacation with his friend Matthew Lester; an anonymous letter alleging that Henry was having an affair with, with … Millie Preston; and one from Alan Lloyd, asking if she would be kind enough to telephone and make an appointment to see him at the bank.
Anne sat down heavily, feeling breathless and queasy, and forced herself to reread all three letters. William’s stung her by its detachment. She hated knowing that he preferred to spend his summer with his friend rather than at home. The anonymous letter claiming that Henry was having an affair with her closest friend was impossible to ignore. Anne couldn’t help remembering that it had been Millie who had introduced her to Henry in the first place, and that she was William’s godmother. The third, from Alan Lloyd, filled her with even more apprehension. The only other letter she had ever received from him was one of condolence on the death of Richard. What did he wish to offer his condolences about this time?
She called the bank. The operator put her straight through.
‘Alan, you wanted to see me?’
‘Yes, my dear. I’d like to have a chat if you can spare the time.’
‘Is it bad news?’ asked Anne.
‘Not exactly, but I’d rather not say anything over the phone.’ He tried to reassure her. ‘There’s nothing for you to worry about. Are you free for lunch, by any chance?’
‘Yes, I am.’
‘Well, let’s meet at the Grand at one o’clock. I look forward to seeing you then, my dear.’
One o’clock, only three hours away. Her mind switched from Alan to William, and then to Henry, but finally settled on Millie Preston. Could it be true? She decided to take a long bath and to put on a new dress. It didn’t help. She felt, and was beginning to look, bloated. Her ankles and calves, which had always been so elegant and slim, were becoming shapeless. It was a little frightening to imagine how much worse things might become before the baby was born. Anne sighed as she looked at herself in the mirror, and did the best she could to appear attractive and confident.
‘You look very smart, Anne. If I weren’t an old bachelor, I’d flirt with you shamelessly,’ said the silver-haired banker, greeting her with a kiss on both cheeks as though he were a French general. He guided her to his usual table.
It was an unspoken tradition at the Grand Hotel in Boston that the table in the corner was always reserved for the chairman of Kane and Cabot if he was not lunching at the bank, but this was the first time Anne had sat there. Waiters fluttered around them like eager starlings, seeming to know exactly when to disappear and reappear without interrupting their conversation.
‘So when’s the baby due, Anne?’
‘Oh, not for another three months.’
‘No complications, I hope.’
‘Well,’ admitted Anne, ‘the doctor examines me once a week and pulls a long face about my blood pressure, but I’m not too worried.’
‘I’m so glad, my dear,’ he said, and touched her hand gently, as an uncle might. ‘You do look rather tired - I hope you’re not overdoing things.’
Anne didn’t respond.
Alan Lloyd barely raised his head, and a waiter materialized at his side.
‘My dear, I want to seek some advice from you,’ Alan said after they had ordered. Anne was well aware of Alan Lloyd’s gift for diplomacy. He hadn’t asked her to lunch in order to seek her advice. There was no doubt in her mind that he wanted to dispense it - kindly.
‘Do you have any idea how Henry’s real estate projects are going?’
‘No, I don’t,’ admitted Anne. ‘I never involve myself with his business activities. You’ll recall I didn’t with Richard’s either. Why? Is there any cause for concern?’
‘No, no, none of which we at the bank are aware. On the contrary, we know Henry is bidding for a large city contract to build the new hospital complex. I was only asking because he has applied to the bank for a loan of five hundred thousand dollars.’
Anne was speechless.
‘I see that comes as a surprise,’ he said. ‘Now, we know from your stock holding that you have a little under twenty thousand dollars in reserve, and are running a small overdraft of seventeen thousand dollars on your personal account.’
Anne dropped her soup spoon. She had not realized that she was overdrawn. Alan could see her distress.
‘That’s not what this lunch is about, Anne,’ he said quickly. ‘The bank is quite happy to advance money on the personal account for the rest of your life. William is making over a million dollars a year on the interest from his trust, so your overdraft is hardly significant; nor indeed is the five hundred thousand Henry is requesting, if it were to receive your backing as William’s legal guardian.’
‘I didn’t realize I had any authority over William’s trust money,’ said Anne.
‘You don’t on the capital sum, but legally the interest earned from it can be invested in any project thought to benefit him, and is under the guardianship of you and his godparents, myself and Millie Preston, until he turns twenty-one. Now, as chairman of William’s trust I can put up that five hundred thousand with your approval. Millie has already informed me that she would be quite happy to grant her approval.’
‘Millie has given her approval?’
‘Yes. Hasn’t she mentioned it to you?’
Anne did not reply immediately.
‘What is your opinion?’ she asked, avoiding the question.
‘Well, I haven’t seen Henry’s accounts, because he only registered the company eighteen months ago and he doesn’t bank with us, so I have no idea what expenditure is over income for the current year, and what return he is predicting for 1923. I do know he has made an application for the new hospital contract, and rumour has it the bid is being taken seriously.’
‘Did you realize that over the past eighteen months I’ve given Henry five hundred thousand dollars of my own money?’ said Anne.
‘My chief teller informs me whenever a large amount of cash is withdrawn from any account. I had no idea what you were using the money for, and frankly it was none of my business, Anne. That money was left to you by Richard, and is yours to spend as you see fit. In the case of the interest from the family trust, that is a different matter. If you did decide to withdraw five hundred thousand dollars to invest in Henry’s firm, the bank would need to inspect his books, because the money would be considered as another investment in William’s portfolio. Richard did not give the trustees the authority to make loans, only to invest on William’s behalf. I have already explained the situation to Henry. If we were to go ahead and make this loan, the trustees would have to be convinced that it was a sound investment.
‘William, of course, is always kept up to date on what we are doing with his trust income, as we saw no reason not to comply with his request that he receive a quarterly investment statement from the bank, in the same way as all the trustees do. No doubt he will have his own views on this particular investment, which he will be fully aware of after he receives the next quarterly report. It may amuse you to know that since his sixteenth birthday, he has been sending me his own opinions on every investment we make. To begin with, I looked on them with the passing interest of a benevolent guardian. Of late, I have been studying them with considerable respect. By the time William takes his place on the board of Kane and Cabot, this bank may well turn out to be too small for him.’
‘I’ve never been asked for advice about William’s trust before,’ Anne said forlornly.
‘Indeed you haven’t, although the bank sends you reports on the first day of every quarter, and it has always been in your power as a trustee to query any of the investments we make on William’s behalf.’ He took a slip of paper from an inside pocket and said no more until the sommelier had finished pouring a second glass of wine. Once the man was out of earshot, Alan continued.
‘William curren
tly has a little over twenty-one million dollars invested with the bank at four and a half per cent. We reinvest the interest for him each quarter in stocks and bonds. We have never in the past invested in a private company. It may surprise you to learn, Anne, that we now carry out this reinvestment on a fifty-fifty basis: fifty per cent on the bank’s advice, and fifty per cent following the suggestions put forward by William himself. At the moment we are still ahead of him, much to the satisfaction of Mr Simmons, our investment director, to whom William has promised a Rolls-Royce should he beat the boy’s own returns by more than ten per cent in any calendar year.’
‘But where would William get the money to buy a Rolls-Royce? He’s not allowed to touch the money in his trust until he turns twenty-one.’
‘I don’t know the answer to that, Anne. But I’m certain he wouldn’t have made the commitment if he could not honour it. Have you by any chance seen his famous ledger lately?’
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