'You know, don't you?' said Matthew finally.
'Yes,' said William, 'and I've been a fool and I hope you forgive me.'
'Don't cry, William. I haven't seen you do that since you were twelve, when Covington was beating you up and I had to drag him off you.
Remember? I wonder what Covington is up to now? Probably running a brothel in Tijuana; ies about all he was fit for. Mind you, if Covington is running it~ the place will be darrmed efficient, so lead me to it.
Don!t cry, William. Grown men don!t cry. Nothing can be done. I've seen all the specialists from New York to Los Angeles to Zurich, and there is nothing they can do. Do you mind if I skip the office this morning? I still feel bloody awful. Wake me if I stay too long or if I'm any more trouble, and I'll find my own way home.'
'This is your home,' said William.
Matthew's face changed. 'Will you tell my father, William? I can't face him. Youre an only son, too; you understand the problem!
'Yes, I will,' said William. 'Ill go down to New York tomorrow and tell him if you'll promise to stay with Kate and me. I won't stop you from getting drunk if that's what you wish to do, or from having as many women as you want, but you must stay here.'
'Best offer I've had in weeks, William. Now I think I'll sleep some more.
I get so tired nowadays!
William watched Matthew fall into a deep sleep and removed the half empty glass from his hand. A tomato stain was forming on the sheets.
'Don't die,' he said quietly. 'Please don't die, Matthew. Have you forgotten that you and I axe going to run the big~ gest bank in America?'
William went to New York the following morning to see Charles Lester. The great man aged visibly at William's news and seemed to shrink into his seat.
'11ank you for coming, William, and telling me personally. I knew something must be wrong when Matthew stopped his monthly visits to see me. I'll come up every weekend. He will want to be with you and Kate, and I'll try not to make it too obvious how hard I took the news. God knows what he's done to deserve this. Since my wife died, I built everything for Matthew, and now there is no one to leave it to. Susan has no interest in the bank.'
'Come to Boston when ever you want to, sir. You!U always be most welcome!
'11ank you, Willian; for everything youre doing for Matthew!
The old man looked up at him. 'I wish your father were alive to see how worthy his son is of the name Kane. If only I could change places with Matthew, and let him live...$ 'I ought to be getting back to him soon, sir.'
"Yes, of course. Tell him I took the news stoically. Don't tell him anything different.'
'Yes, sir.'
William travelled back to Boston that night to find that Matthew had stayed at home with Kate and started reading America's latest best seller, Gone With The Wind, as he sat out on the veranda. He looked up as William came through the French windows.
'How did the old man take it?'
'He cried,' said William q'he chairman of Lester's bank cried?' said Matthew. 'Never let the shareholders know that.'
Matthew stopped drinking and worked as hard as he could until the last few days. William was amazed by his determination and had continually to make him slow down. He was always on top of his work and would tease William by checking his mail at the end of each day. In the evenings before a large dinner, Matthew would play tennis with William or row against him on the river. 'I'll know I'm dead when I can't beat you,' he mocked. Matthew never - entered the hospital, preferring to stay on at the Red House. The weeks went so slowly and yet so quickly for William, waking each moming wondering if Matthew would still be alive.
Matthew died on a Thursday, forty pages still to read of Gone With The Wind.
Ile funeral was held in New York, and William and Kate stayed with Charles Lester. In six months, he had become an old man, and as he stood by the graves of his wife and only son, he told William that he no longer saw any purpose in this life. William said nothing; no words of his could help the gnevmg father. William and Kate returned to Boston the next day. The Red House seemed strangely empty without Matthew. The past few months had been at once the happiest and unhappiest period in William's life. Death had brought him a closeness, both to Matthew and to Kate, that normal life would never have allowed.
When William retumed to the bank after Matthew's death, he found it hard to get back into any sort of normal routine. He would get up and start to head towards Matthew's office for advice or a laugh, or merely to be assured of his existence, but he was no longer there. It was weeks before William could prevent himself from doing this.