Tou forget I know what you're worth, Mrs. Brookes, but I'll make a deal with you. We'll go on playing until you've won it back!
'It may take a few years,' said Kate.
'I'll wait,'said William.
He found himself telling her of long - buried incidents in his past, things he had barely discussed even with Matthew, his respect for his father, his love for his mother, his blind hatred of Henry Osborne, his ambitions for Kane and Cabot. She, in turn, told him of her childhood in Boston, her schooldays in Virginia, and of her early marriage to Max Brookes.
Five days later when she said goodbye to him at the station, he kissed her for the first time.
9Kate, I'm going to say something very presumptuous. I hope one day you'll feel more for me than you felt for Max.'
'I'm beginning to feel that way already,'she said quietly.
William looked at her steadily. 'Don't stay out of my life for another nine months.'
'I can't - you've sold my house!
On the way back to Boston, feeling more settled and happy than at any time since before his father's death, William drafted a report on the sale of Buckhurst Park, his mind returning continually to Kate and the past five days. just before the train drew into the South Station, he scribbled a quick note in his neat but illegible handwriting.
Kate, I find I am missing you already. And it's only a few hours. Please write and let me know when you will be coming to Boston.
Meanwhile I shall be getting back to the bank's business and find I can put you out of my mind for quite long periods (i.e. 10 n 5 minutes) at a stretch consecutively.
Love William He had just dropped the envelope into the mail box on Charles Street when all thoughts of Kate were driven from his mind by the cry of a newsboy.
'Wall Street collapse!
William seized a copy of the paper and scanned the lead story rapidly.
The market had plummeted overnight; some financiers viewed it as nothing more than a readjustment; William saw it as the beginning of the landslide that he had been predicting for months. He hurried to the bank and went straight to the chairman's office.
'I'm sure the market will steady up in the long run,' said Alan Lloyd soothingly.
'Never,' said William. 'The market is overloaded. Overloaded with small investors who thought they were in for a quick profit and are certain to run for their lives now. Don't you see the balloon is about to burst? I'm going to sell everything. By the end of the year, the bottom will have dropped out of this market, and I did warn you in February, AhuLl 'I still Don't agree with you, William, but I'll call a full board meeting for tomorrow, so that we can discuss your views in more detail.'
'lliank you,' said William. He returned to his office and picked up the inter - office phone.
'Alan, I forgot to tell you. I've met the girl I'm going to marry.1 'Does she know yetT asked Alan.
'No,' said William.
'I see,' said Alan. 'Then your marriage win closely resemble your banking career, William. Anyone directly involved will be informed only after you've made your decision!
William laughed, picked up the other phone, and in:unediately placed his own major stock holdings on the market and went into cash. Tony Simmons had just come in, and stood at the open door watching William, thinking he had gone quite mad.
'You could lose your shirt overnight dumping all those shares with the market in its present state.'
'I'll lose a lot more if I hold on to them,' replied William.
The loss he was to make in the following week, over one million dollars, would have staggered a less confident man.
At the board meeting the next day he also lost, by eight votes to six, his proposal to liquidate the bank's stocks; Tony Simmons convinced the board that it would be irresponsible not to hold out for a little longer. Ile only small victory William notched up was to persuade his fellow directors that the bank should no longer be a buyer.
The market rose a little that day, which gave William the opportunity to sell some more of his own stock. By the end of the week, when the index had risen steadily for four days in a raw, William began to wonder if he had been over - reacting, but all his past training and instinct told him that he had made the right decision. Alan Lloyd said nothing; the money William was losing was not his, and he was looking forward to a quiet retirement.
On 22 October the market suffered more heavy losses and William again begged Alan Lloyd to get out while there was still a chance. This time Alan listened and allowed William to place a sell order on some of the bank's major stocks. The following day, the market fell again in an avalanche of selling, and it mattered little what holdings the bank tried to dispose of because there were no longer any buyers. The dumping of stock turned into a stampede, as every small investor in America put in a sell bid to try to get out from under. Such was the panic that the ticker tape could not keep pace with the transactions. Only when the Exchange opened in the morning, after the clerks had worked all night, did traders know for a fact how much they had lost the day before.