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’What did you say to that?’
’I told him someone as wonderful as you couldn’t be replaced by a suitably Brahmin family friend, and he coo of Richard as he spoke
"nen he threatened to cut me off without a penny if I married you,’ he continued ’When will they understand we don’t care a da to my mother for support, but even she could not control his temper He insisted that she leave the room I have never seen hi, which only er I left him in midsentence God knows, I hope he doesn’t take it out on Virginia and Lucy What happened when you left?’
’My father hit me,’ said Florentyna very quietly ’For the first tiether Richard darling, we et out of here, before he finds out where you are, and he’s bound to try here first I’htened, Florentyna We’ll leave tonight and go as far away as possible and to hell with them both’
’How quickly can you pack?’ asked Florentyna
’I can’t,’ said Richard ’I can never return hoot about a hundred dollars ona hundreddollar irl can hope for, I suppose - and to think I’d drea a dowry,’ Florentyna added while ruot two hundred and twelve dollars and an American Express card, so you owe me fifty - six dollars, Richard Kane, but I’ll consider repayment at a dollar a year2 In thirty minutes Florentyna was packed Then she sat down at her desk, scrawled a note and left the envelope on the table by the side of her bed
Richard hailed a cab Florentyna was delighted to find how capable Richard was in a crisis and it made her feelFlorentyna’s three cases in the boot
At the airport he booked a flight to San Francisco; they chose the Golden Gate City simply because it seemed the most distant point on the map of America
At seven thirty, the American Airlines Super Constellation 1049 taxied out on to the runway to start its sevenhour flight
Richard helped Florentyna with her seat belt She smiled at hirn
’Do you kno much I love you, Mr Kane?,’
Wes, I think so - Mrs Kane,’ he replied
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Abel and George arrived at Florentyna’s flat on East Fiftyseventh Street a few minutes after she and Richard had left for the airport Abel was already rehter He did not care to conjecture about what his life would be like without his only child
He thought if he could only reach her before it was too late, he n - xight, with gentle persuasion, still talk her out ofto stop thethe door bell as he and Abel stood outside her door No one answered George pressed the bell again, and they waited for some time before Abel used the key Florentyna had always left with hiencies They searched the place, neither really expecting to find her
’She e, as he joined Abel in the bedroom
Tes, but where?’ said Abel, and then he saw an envelope addressed to him on the table He remembered the last letter left for him by the side of a bed that had not been slept in He ripped it open
Dear Daddy, Please forgive ive him up because of your hatred for his father We will beyou can do will prevent it If you ever try to har me Neither of us intend to return’to New York until you have ended the senseless feud between our family and the Kane’s I love you more than you will ever realise and I shall always be thankful for everything you have done for me I pray that this is not the end of our relationship but until you can change your mind, ’Never seek the wind in the field - it is useless to try and find what is gone!
Your loving daughter, Florentyna, Abel collapsed on to the bed, and passed the letter to George, who read the handwritten note and asked helplessly, ’Is there anything I can doT Tes, George I wantdirect with that bastard Kane Tlere’s only one thing I feel certain of : he ant this e stopped whatever sacrifice he has to e soht security officer at Lester’s Bank finally gave it to hiency Abel sat silently on the bed, Florentyna’s letter in his hand, reht her the old Polish proverb that she had now quoted back to hih to the Kane residence, a male voice answered the phone