possible, Henry. You know the terms of Richard’s will. My allowance was stopped the day we married, and I only have the capital left.’
‘A little of that would be more than enough. And don’t forget that precious boy of yours has over twenty million in his family trust.’
‘You seem to know a lot about William’s trust,’ Anne said.
‘Oh, come on, Anne, give me a chance to be your husband. Don’t make me feel like a guest in my own home.’
‘What’s happened to your money, Henry? You always led me to believe you had enough to start your own business.’
‘You’ve always known I wasn’t in Richard’s league financially, and there was a time, Anne, when you said it didn’t matter: “I’d marry you, Henry, if you were penniless,”’ he mocked.
Anne burst into tears, and Henry tried to console her. She spent the rest of the evening in his arms, neither of them referring to the subject again. She managed to convince herself she was being unfair, and lacking understanding. She had more money than she could ever possibly need. Shouldn’t she entrust a little of it to the man to whom she was so willing to entrust the rest of her life?
The next morning, she agreed to let Henry have $100,000 to set up his own real estate business in Boston. Within a month he had rented a smart new office in a fashionable part of town, appointed a staff of six and started work. Soon he was mixing with influential city politicians and established real estate men of Boston. They drank with him in their clubs and talked of the boom in farmland. They told him of investments that couldn’t lose, and joined him at the race-track. They put him up for expensive country clubs where he would meet future clients. It wasn’t long before Anne’s $100,000 had disappeared.
When William celebrated his fifteenth birthday, he was in his third year at St Paul’s, sixth in his class overall, and top in mathematics. He had also become a rising figure in the Debating Society, if not on the sports field.
He wrote to his mother once a week, reporting his progress, always addressing his letters to Mrs Richard Kane, refusing to acknowledge that Henry Osborne even existed. Anne wasn’t sure whether she should talk to him about it, and she was careful to hide the envelopes from Henry. She continued to hope that in time William would come around to liking her husband, but as the months passed it became clear that such a hope was unrealistic. William hated Henry Osborne, and nursed his hatred passionately, although he wasn’t sure what he could actually do about it. He was grateful that Osborne never accompanied her when his mother visited him at school; he could not have tolerated having the other boys see his mother with that man. It was bad enough that he had to live with him in Boston.
In one letter William asked if he could spend the summer holidays with his friend Matthew Lester, first at a summer camp in Vermont, then with the Lester family in New York. The request came as a painful blow to Anne, but she took the easy way out and gave her permission. Henry seemed quite happy to go along with her decision.
For the first time since his mother’s marriage, William was looking forward to the holidays.
The Lesters’ Packard chauffeured William and Matthew noiselessly to the summer camp in Vermont. On the journey, Matthew casually asked William what he intended to do when the time came for him to leave St Paul’s.
‘When I leave, I will be the top student of our year, class president, and will have won the Hamilton Memorial Mathematics Scholarship to Harvard,’ replied William without hesitation.
‘Why is all that so important?’ Matthew asked innocently.
‘My father achieved all three.’
‘When you’ve finished battling with your father, I’ll introduce you to mine.’
William smiled.
The two boys had a lively and enjoyable six weeks in Vermont, playing every game, from chess to football. When camp finally broke up,
‘A little of that would be more than enough. And don’t forget that precious boy of yours has over twenty million in his family trust.’
‘You seem to know a lot about William’s trust,’ Anne said.
‘Oh, come on, Anne, give me a chance to be your husband. Don’t make me feel like a guest in my own home.’
‘What’s happened to your money, Henry? You always led me to believe you had enough to start your own business.’
‘You’ve always known I wasn’t in Richard’s league financially, and there was a time, Anne, when you said it didn’t matter: “I’d marry you, Henry, if you were penniless,”’ he mocked.
Anne burst into tears, and Henry tried to console her. She spent the rest of the evening in his arms, neither of them referring to the subject again. She managed to convince herself she was being unfair, and lacking understanding. She had more money than she could ever possibly need. Shouldn’t she entrust a little of it to the man to whom she was so willing to entrust the rest of her life?
The next morning, she agreed to let Henry have $100,000 to set up his own real estate business in Boston. Within a month he had rented a smart new office in a fashionable part of town, appointed a staff of six and started work. Soon he was mixing with influential city politicians and established real estate men of Boston. They drank with him in their clubs and talked of the boom in farmland. They told him of investments that couldn’t lose, and joined him at the race-track. They put him up for expensive country clubs where he would meet future clients. It wasn’t long before Anne’s $100,000 had disappeared.
When William celebrated his fifteenth birthday, he was in his third year at St Paul’s, sixth in his class overall, and top in mathematics. He had also become a rising figure in the Debating Society, if not on the sports field.
He wrote to his mother once a week, reporting his progress, always addressing his letters to Mrs Richard Kane, refusing to acknowledge that Henry Osborne even existed. Anne wasn’t sure whether she should talk to him about it, and she was careful to hide the envelopes from Henry. She continued to hope that in time William would come around to liking her husband, but as the months passed it became clear that such a hope was unrealistic. William hated Henry Osborne, and nursed his hatred passionately, although he wasn’t sure what he could actually do about it. He was grateful that Osborne never accompanied her when his mother visited him at school; he could not have tolerated having the other boys see his mother with that man. It was bad enough that he had to live with him in Boston.
In one letter William asked if he could spend the summer holidays with his friend Matthew Lester, first at a summer camp in Vermont, then with the Lester family in New York. The request came as a painful blow to Anne, but she took the easy way out and gave her permission. Henry seemed quite happy to go along with her decision.
For the first time since his mother’s marriage, William was looking forward to the holidays.
The Lesters’ Packard chauffeured William and Matthew noiselessly to the summer camp in Vermont. On the journey, Matthew casually asked William what he intended to do when the time came for him to leave St Paul’s.
‘When I leave, I will be the top student of our year, class president, and will have won the Hamilton Memorial Mathematics Scholarship to Harvard,’ replied William without hesitation.
‘Why is all that so important?’ Matthew asked innocently.
‘My father achieved all three.’
‘When you’ve finished battling with your father, I’ll introduce you to mine.’
William smiled.
The two boys had a lively and enjoyable six weeks in Vermont, playing every game, from chess to football. When camp finally broke up,
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