He sat down. There was a moment of surprise silence and then loud applause.
The captain returned to the platform, but appeared uncertain what to do, A voice from behind him broke the tension.
'If I may, Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask Mr. Kane if I might use his rebuttal time.' It was Thaddeus Cohen.
William nodded his agreement to the captain.
Cohen walked to the lectern and blinked at the audience disarmingly. 'It has long been true,' he began, 'that the greatest obstacle to the successful democratic socialism in the United States has been the extremism of some of its allies. Nothing could have exemplified this unfortunate fact more clearly than my colleague's speech tonight. The propensity to damage the progressive cause by calling for the physical extermination of those who oppose it might be understandable in a battle - hardened immigrant, a veteran of foreign struggles fiercer than our own. In America it is pathetic and inexcusable. Speaking for myself, I extend my sincere apologies to Mr.
Kane.'
This time the applause was instantaneous. Virtually the entire audience rose to its feet and clapped continuously.
William walked over to shake hands with Thaddeus Cohen. It was no surprise to either of them that William and Matthew won the vote by a margin of more than one hundred and fifty votes. The evening was over, and the audience filed out into the silent, snow - covered paths, walking in the middle of the street, talking animatedly at the tops of their voices. , William insisted that Thaddeus Cohen should join him and Matthew for a drink. They set off together across Massachusetts Avenue, barely able to see where they were going in the drifting snow, and came to a halt outside a big black door almost directly opposite Boylston Hall. William opened it with his key and the three entered the vestibule.
Before the door shut behind him, Thaddeus Cohen spoke. 'I'm afraid I won't be welcome here!
William looked startled for a second. 'Nonsense. You're with me.'
Matthew gave his friend a cautionary glance but saw that William was determined.
They went up the stairs and into a large - room, comfortably but not luxuriously furnished, in which there were about a dozen 'young men sitting in armchairs or standing in small knots of two and three. As soon as William appeared in the doorway, the congratulations started.
'You were marvellous, William. That's exactly the way to treat those sort of people!
'Enter in triumph, Bolski slayer.'
Thaddeus Cohen hung back, still half - shadowed by the doorway, but William had not forgotten him.
'Amd, gentlemen, may I present my worthy adversary, Mr. Thaddeus Cohen.'
Cohen stepped forward hesitantly.
All noise ceased. A number of heads were averted, as if they were looking at the elm trees in the yard, their branches weighed down with new snow.
Finally, there was the crack of a floorboard as one young man left the room by another door. Then there was another departure. Without haste, without apparent agreement, the entire group filed out. The last to leave gave William a long look before he, too, turned on his heel and disappeared.
Matthew gazed at his companions in dismay. Thaddeus Cohen had turned a dull red and stood with his head bowed. William's lips were drawn together in the same tight cold fury that had been apparent when Crosby had made his reference to the Titanic.
Matthew touched his friend's arm. 'We'd better go.'
The three trudged off to William's rooms and silently drank some indifferent brandy.
When William woke in the morning, there was an envelope under his door.
Inside there was a short note, from the chairman of the Porcellian Club informing him that 'he hoped there would never be a recurrence of last night's, best forgotten, incident.'
By lunchtime the chairman had received two letters of resignation.
After months of long, studious days, William and Matthew were almost ready - no one ever thinks he is quite ready - for their final examinations. For six days they answered questions and filled up sheets and sheets of the little books, and then they waited, not in vain for they both graduated as expected from Harvard in June of 1928.
A week later it was announced that William was the winner of the President's Mathematics Prize. He wished his father had been alive to witness the presentation ceremony. Matthew managed an honest 'C', which came as a relief to him and no great surprise to anyone else. Neither had any interest in further education, both having elected to join the real world as quickly as possible.
William's bank account in New York edged over the million dollar mark eight days before he left Harvard. It was then that he discussed in greater detail with Matthew his long term plan to gain control of Lester's Bank by merging it with Kane and Cabot.