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Tony Si, but it didn’t help Willia, even in Kane and Cabot itself, as he went through months of reranted that he and Mattheould grow old together and share a cormnon destiny No one coh standard

Even Kate greorried by the hours Willia she awoke to find hi down at her She blinked up at hi?’

’No, I’ sure I don’t take it for granted!

22

By the end of 1932, with A a little apprehensive about the future of the Baron Group

Two thousand banks had been closed during the past two years, andtheir doors every week Nine million people were still un - employed, which had as its only virtue the assurance that Abel could hly professional staff in his hotel& ’Still, the Baron Group lost seventy - two thousand dollars during a year in which he had predicted that they would break even, and he began to wonder whether his backer’s purse and patience would hold out long enough to allow hiun to take an active interest in An to beco the Deainst Prohibition; Abel threw himself wholeheartcdly behind Cer to the hotel trade ’Me fact that Cerrant, from Czechoslovakia, created an ihted to be chosen as a delegate representative at the Deo that year where Cerht a packed audience to its feet with the words: ’It’s true I didn’t come over on the Mayflower, but I came as soon as I could!

At the convention Cermak introduced Abel to Franklin D Roosevelt, whoimpression on him FDR went on to win the Presidential election easily and he swept Democratic candidates into office all over the country One of the newly elected aldero City Hall was Henry Osborne When Anton Cermak was killed a feeeks later in Miami by an assassin’s bullet intended for FDR, Abel decided to contribute a considerable amount of tio

During 1933 the group lost only twenty - three thousand dollars, and one of the hotels, the St Louis Baron, actually showed a profit When President Roosevelt had delivered his first fireside chat on 12 March, exhorting his countryain believe in America’, Abel’s confidence soared and he decided to re - open the two hotels that he had closed the previous year

Zaphia grew querulous at his long absences in Charleston and Mobile, while he took the two hotels out of mothballs She had never wanted Abel to be er of the Stevens, a level at which she felt she could keep pace The pace was quickening as everybehind Abel’s a to lose interest in her

She was also beco anxious about her childlessness, and started to see doctors who reassured her that there was nothing to prevent her froestion that Abel should also be exaard the very mention of the subject as a slur on his ed that it was difficult for them to discuss it at all, Zapbia missed her period She waited hopefully for anotherthe doctor again He confirht, Zaphia gave birth to a daughter, on New Year’s Day, 1934 They named her Florentyna, after Abel’s sister Abel was besotted the moment he set eyes on the child and Zaphia knew froer be the first love of his life George and Zaphia’s cousin were the child’s Kuave a traditional ten - course Polish dinner on the evening of the christening

Many gifts were presented to the child, including a beautiful antique ring froift in kind when the Baron Group made a profit of sixtythree thousand dollars at the end of the year Only the Mobile Baron was still losing money

After Florentyna’s birth Abel found he was spending o which prompted him to decide that the time had co in the aftermath of the World’s Fair Abel intended to roup in memory of Davis Leroy The coan Avenue, and although Abel had had several offers for the land, he had always held out, hoping that one day he would be in a strong enough financial position to rebuild the hotel The project required capital and Abel decided to use the seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars he had eventually received froo Richmond to start construction As soon as his plans were formulated, he told Curtis Fenton of his intention, with the sole reservation that if David Maxton did not want a rival to the Stevens, Abel illing to drop the whole project; he felt it was the least he could do in the circumstances A few days later, Curtis ~enton advised hio Baron It took Abel twelvehand froh the permits required fro was opened in 1936 by the mayor of the city~ Edward J Kelly, who, after the death of Anton Ceraniser of the Democratic machine In memory of Davis Leroy, the hotel had no twelfth floor - a tradition Abel continued in every new Baron he built