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No one spoke

Several otherthe next feeeks when they realised that Abel did not intend to continue Desmond Pacey’s system on his own behalf, and they were quickly replaced

By the end of March, Abel had invited four employees fros in conu - non: they were young, ambitious and honest Within six inal staff of one hundred and ten were still employed at the Riche bottle of chaures for the Chicago Richmond Tley had shown a profit of three thousand, four hundred and eighty - six dollars Small, but the first profit the hotel had shown in the thirty years of its existence Abel was projecting a profit of over twenty - five thousand dollars in 1929

Davis Leroy was an to rely heavily on Abel’s judg that what had been true of the Chicago Richroup Abel wanted to see the Chicago hotel running s the others; Leroy agreed but talked of a partnership for Abel if lie could do for the others what he had done with Chicago

They started going to baseball and the races together whenever Davis was in Chicago On one occasion, when Davis had lost seven hundred dollars without getting close in any of the six races, he threw up his arust and said, ’Why do I bother with horses, Abel? You’re the best bet I’ve ever made’

Melanie Leroy always dined with her father on these visits Cool, pretty, with a slis which attracted uests, she treated Abel with a slight degree of hauteur which gave hiun to formulate for her, nor did she invite him to substitute ’Melanie’ for ’Miss Leroy’

until she discovered he was the holder of an econoree from Columbia and knew more about discounted cash flow than she did herself After that, she softened a little and came from time to time to dine with Abel alone in the hotel and seek assistance with the work she was doing for her liberal arts degree at the University of Chicago Emboldened, he occasionally escorted her to concerts and the theatre, and began to feel a proprietorial jealousy whenever she brought other h she never careatly had the hotel cuisine improved under Abel’s iron fist that people who had lived in Chicago for thirty years and never realised the place existed wereAbel redecorated the whole hotel for the first tireen and gold uniforuest, who had stayed at the Richmond for a week every year, actually retreated back out of the front door on arrival, because he thought he had walked into the wrong establishment When Al Capone booked a dinner party for sixteen in a private room to celebrate his thirtieth birthday, Abel knew he had arrived

Abel’s personal wealth grew during this period, while the stock ht thousand dollars, eighteen e account now stood at over thirty thousand He was confident that the market would continue to rise, and so he always re - invested his profits His personal requirements were stiH fairly modest He had acquired t suits and his first pair of brown shoes He still had his rooms and food provided by the hotel and few out - of - pocket expenses

There seeht future ahead of him The Continental Trust had handled the Richmond account for over thirty years, so Abel had transferred his own account to theo to the bank and deposit the hotel’s previous day’s receipts He was taken by surprise one Fridayto see him He knew his personal account was never overdrawn, so he presu to do with the Richmond The bank could hardly be about to complain that the hotel’s account was solvent for the first tile of corridors until he reached a handsoentle knock and he was ushered in to er

’My name is Curtis Fenton,’ said thehireen leather button seat He was a neat, rotund man ore half - moon spectacles and an io with his three piece banker’s suit

’Thank you,’ said Abel nervously