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’I don’t understand why you haven’t opened that real estate business you used to be so keen on, Henry!
’I can’t The tiht The real estateat thethat now for nearly a year; I wonder if it will ever be proh for you: ’Sure it will; truth is, I need a little more capital to help myself set up Now if you would loantomorrow’
’That’s impossible, Henry You know the terms of Richard’s will; my allowance was stopped the day ere married, and now I have only the capital left’
’A little of that would help et that precious boy of yours has well over twenty million in the family trust’
’You seem to know a lot about William’s trust,’ said Anne suspiciously
’Oh, coive me a chance to be your husband Don’t uest in my own home’
’What’s happened to your h to start your own business’
’You’ve always knoas not in Richard’s class financially, and there was a time, Anne, when you claimed 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 ared to convince herself she was beingunwifely and ungenerous She had more money than she could possibly need: couldn’t she trust a little of it to the to who upon these thoughts, she agreed to let Henry have one hundred thousand dollars to set up his own real estate firrn in Boston Within a month Henry had found a smart new office in a fashionable part of town, appointed staff, and started work Soon he waswith all the city politicians and real estate men of Boston They talked of the boom in farm land, and they flattered Henry Anne didn’t care very much for them as social company, but Henry was happy and appeared to be successful at his work
William, now fourteen, was in this third year at St Paulls, sixth in his class overall and first in ure in the Debating Society He wrote to hishis 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 each Monday she would carefully extract William’s letter from the box to be certain that Henry never saw the envelope She continued to hope, that in ti Henry, but it became clear that that hope was unrealistic when, in one particular letter to his ht her permission to stay with his friend, Matthew Lester, for the summer holidays The request came as a painful blow to Anne, but she took the easy way out and fell in with William’s plans, which Henry also seemed to favour
William hated Henry Osborne and nursed the hatred passionately, not sure what he could actually do about it He was relieved that Henry never visited hi his h that he had to live with him in Boston
For the first tie, William was anxious for the holidays to come
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 top of the class, Class President, and have won the Hamilton Memorial Mathematics Scholarship to Harvard,’ replied William without hesitation
’Why is all that so important?’ asked Matthew innocently
’My father did all three’
’When you’ve finished beating your father, I win introduce you to etic and enjoyable four weeks in Verame from chess to American football When the month came to an end they travelled to New York to spend the last part of the holiday with the Lester fareeted at the door by a butler who addressed Matthew as sir and a twelve - year - old girl covered in freckles who called hih because I - Lis friend was so thin and it was she as fat The little girl smiled and revealed teeth almost totally hidden behind braces
’You would never believe Susan was my sister, would you?’ asked Matthew disdainfully
’No, I suppose not,’ said Willia than you’