Thaddeus Cohen's pen was scratching away as furiously as his father's had before him.
'All these questions must be answered as quickly as possible so that I can decide if it's necessary to brief my board!
Thaddeus Cohen gave his father's shy smile as he 9hut his briefcase. 'I'm sorry that you should be troubled in this way while you are still convalescing. I'll be back to you as soon as I can ascertain the facts.'
He paused at the door. 'I admire greatly what you did at Remagen.'
William recovered his sense of well - being and vigour rapidly in the following months, and the scars on his face and chest faded into relative insignificance. At night Kate would sit up with him until he fell asleep and whisper, 'Thank God you were spared! The terrible headaches and periods of amnesia grew to be d - iings of the past, and the strength returned to his right arm. Kate would not allow him to return to work until they had taken a long and relaxing cruise in the - West Indies.
William relaxed with Kate more than at any time since their two weeks together in London. She revelled in the fact that there were no banks on the ship for him to do business with, although she feared if they stayed on board another week - William would have acquired the floating vessel as one of Lester's latest assets, redrganising the crew, routes, timings and even the way they sailed 'the boae, as William insisted on called the great liner. He was tanned and restless once the ship docked in New York Harbour, and Kate could not dissuade him from. returning immediately to the bank.
He soon became deeply involved again in Lesters problems. A new breed of men, toughened by war, enterprising and fast - moving, seemed to be running America's modem banks, under the watchful eye of President Tniman, the man who had won, a surprise victory for a second term in the White House after the world had been informed that Dewey was certain to win the election. As if not satisfied with their prediction, the Chicago Tribune went on to anYaounce that Dewey had actually won the election, but it was Harry S. Truman who remained in the White House. William knew very little about the diminutive ex - senator from Missouri, except what he read in the newspapers, and as a staunch Republican, he hoped that his party would find the right man to lead them into the 1952 campaign.
The first report came in from Thaddeus Cohen; Abel Rosnovski was still looking for shares in Lester's bank and had approached all the other benefactors of the will but only one agreement had been concluded. Susan Lester had refused to see William's lawyer when he approached her, so he was unable to discover why she had sold her six per cent. All he could ascertain was that she had no financial reason for doing so. 'Hell hath no fury,' mumbled William.
The document was admirably comprehensive.
Henry Osborne, it seemed, had been appointed a director of the Baron Group in May of 1947, with special responsibility for the Lester's account. More importantly, Abel Rosnovski secured Susan Lester's shares without it being possible to trace the acquisition back to either him or to Osborne.
Rosnovski now owned six per cent of Lester's Bank and appeared to be willing to pay at least another $750,000 to obtain Peter Parfitt's two per cent. William was only too aware of the actions Abel Rosnovski could carry out once he was in possession of eight per cent. Even more worrying to William was the fact that the growth rate of Lester's compared unfavourably with that of the Baron Group, which was already catching up its main rivals, the I - Elton and the Sheraton Groups. William began to wonder if it would now be wise to brief his board of directors on this newly obtained information, and even whether he ought not to contact Abel Rosnovski direct. After some sleepless nights, he turned to Kate for advice.
'Do nothing,' was Kate's reaction, 'until you can be absolutely certain that his intentions are as disruptive as you fear. The whole affair may turn out to be a tempest in a teapot.2 'With Henry Osborne as his hatchet man you can be sure that the tempest will pour far beyond the teacup: nothing can be totally innocent. I don't have to sit around and wait to find out what he is planning for me.'
'He might have changed, William. It must be twenty years since you've had any personal dealings with hirrO 'Al Capone might have changed, if he had been allowed to complete his jail sentence. We'll never know for certam, but I would not be willing to put a, bet on it.'
Kate added nothing more, but William let himself be per. suaded.by her and did little except to keep a close eye on Thaddeus Cohen's quarterly reports and hope that Ka&& intuition would turn out to be right.
28
The Baron Group profited greatly from the post - war explosion in the American economy. Not since the twenties had it been so easy to make so much money so quickly - and by the early fifties, people were beginning to believe that this time it was going to last. But Abel was not content with financial success alone; as he grew older, he began to worry about Poland's place in the post - war world and to feel that his success did not allow him to be a bystander four thou. sand miles away. What had Pawel Zaleski~ the Polish consul in Turkey said? 'Perhaps in your lifetime you will see Poland rise again.' Abel did everything he could to influence and persuade the United States Congress to take a mom militant attitude towards Russian control of its Eastern European satellites. It seemed to Abe4 as he watched one puppet socialist government after another come into being, that he had risked his life for nothing. He began to lobby Washington politicians, brief journalists and organise din. ners in Chicago and New York and other centres of the Polish - American community, until the Polish cause itself became synonymous with the Chicago Baron, Dr. Teodor Szymanowski, formerly professor of history at the university of Cracow, wrote a glowing editorial about Abel's 'Fight To Be Recognised' in the journal Freedom, which prompted Abel to contact him and see what else he could do to help. The professor was now an old man, and when Abel was ushered into his study, he was surprised by the frailty of his appearance, knowing the vigour of his opinions. He greeted Abel warn - dy and poured him a Danzig vodka. 'Baron Rosnovski,' he said banding him the glass, 'I have long admiredthe way you work on and on for our cause and although we make such little headway, you never seem to lose faith.'