Джеффри Арчер - The Prodigal Daughter

The two contestants tossed a newly minted Jefferson nickel to decide the order of speaking. Florentyna won and chose to speak first, a mistake she never made again in her life. She walked to the front of the class, a frail figure, and mindful of Miss Tredgold’s final words of advice — ‘Stand up straight, child. Remember you’re not a question mark’ — she stood bolt upright in the center of the raised wooden platform in front of Miss Evans’s desk and waited to be told she could begin. Her first few sentences came choking out. She explained her policies for ensuring that the nation’s finances remained stable while at the same time promising to keep the United States out of the war. ‘There is no need for one American to die because the nations of Europe cannot stay at peace,’ she declared — a sentence from one of Mr. Roosevelt’s speeches that she had learned by heart. Mary Gill started to applaud, but Florentyna took no notice and went on talking while, at the same time, pushing her dress down nervously with damp hands. Her last few sentences came out in a great rush, and she sat down to a lot of clapping and smiles.

Edward Winchester rose to follow her, and a few of the boys from his class cheered him as he walked up to the blackboard. It was the first time Florentyna realized that some of the votes had been decided even before the speeches began. She only hoped that was true for her side as well. Edward told his classmates that winning at kickball was the same as winning for your country, and in any case Willkie stood for all the things that their parents believed in. Did they want to vote against the wishes of their fathers and mothers? Because if they did support FDR they would lose everything. This line was greeted with a splutter of applause, so he repeated it. At the end of his speech, Edward was also rewarded with claps and smiles, but Florentyna convinced herself they were no louder or wider than hers had been.

After Edward had sat down, Miss Evans congratulated both candidates and asked the twenty-seven voters to take a blank page from their notebooks and write down the name of Edward or Florentyna, according to who they felt should be President. Pens dipped furiously into inkwells, scratched across paper. Voting slips were blotted, folded, and then passed forward to Miss Evans. When the teacher had received the last one, she began to unfold the little rectangles and place them in front of her in separate piles, a process that seemed to take hours. The whole classroom remained silent throughout the count, which in itself was an unusual event. Once Miss Evans had completed the unfolding she counted the twenty-seven sheets of paper slowly and carefully, and then double-checked them.

‘The result of the mock election’ — Florentyna held her breath — ‘for President of the United States is thirteen votes for Edward Winchester’ — Florentyna nearly cheered: she had won — ‘and twelve votes for Florentyna Rosnovski. Two people left their papers blank, which is called abstaining.’ Florentyna couldn’t believe it. ‘I therefore declare Edward Winchester, representing Wendell Willkie, to be the new President.’

It was the only election FDR lost that year, but Florentyna was unable to disguise her disappointment and ran to hide in the girls’ locker room to be sure no one could see her crying. When she came out she found Mary Gill and Susie Jacobson waiting for her.

‘It doesn’t matter,’ said Florentyna, trying to put a brave face on the result. ‘At least I know both of you supported me.’

‘We couldn’t.’

‘Why couldn’t you?’ asked Florentyna in disbelief.

‘We didn’t want Miss Evans to know that we weren’t sure how to spell your name,’ said Mary.

On the way home, after Miss Tredgold had heard the story seven times, she made so bold as to ask if the child had learned anything from the exercise.

‘Oh, yes,’ replied Florentyna emphatically. ‘I’m going to marry a man with a very simple name.’

Abel laughed when he heard the story that night and repeated it to Henry Osborne over dinner. ‘Better keep your eye on her, Henry, because it won’t be long before she’s after your seat.’

‘I’ve got fifteen years before she can vote, and by then I’ll be ready to hand the constituency over to her.’

‘What are you doing about convincing the International Relations Committee that we ought to be in this war?’

‘FDR will do nothing until the result of the election is known. Everybody is aware of that, including Hitler.’

‘If that’s so, I only pray that Britain won’t lose before we join in because America will have to wait until November to confirm FDR as President.’

During the year Abel broke ground on two more hotels, in Philadelphia and San Francisco, and had begun his first project in Canada, the Montreal Baron. Although his thoughts were rarely far from the success of the Group, something else still remained on his mind.

He wanted to be in Europe, and it wasn’t to build hotels.

At the end of the fall term, Florentyna got her first spanking. In later life she always associated this with snow. Her classmates decided to build a massive snowman, and each member of the class had to bring something with which to decorate him. The snowman ended up with raisin eyes, a carrot nose, potato ears, an old pair of garden gloves, a cigar and a hat supplied by Florentyna. On the last day of the term all the parents were invited to view the snowman, and many of them remarked on its hat. Florentyna beamed with pride until her father and mother arrived. Zaphia burst out laughing, but Abel was not amused at the sight of his fine silk topper on the head of a grinning snowman. Once they had arrived home, Florentyna was taken to her father’s study and given a long lecture on the irresponsibility of taking things that did not belong to her. Abel bent her over his knee and gave her three hard slaps with a hairbrush.

That Saturday night was one she would never forget.

That Sunday morning was one America would always remember.

The Rising Sun appeared over Pearl Harbor on the wings of hostile aircraft and crippled the U.S. battle fleet, virtually wiping out the base and killing 2,403 Americans. The United States declared war on Japan the following day and on Germany three days later.

Abel immediately summoned George to inform him that he was going to join the American forces before they sailed for Europe. George protested, Zaphia pleaded, and Florentyna cried. Miss Tredgold did not venture an opinion.

Abel knew he had to settle one final thing before leaving America. He called for Henry.

‘Did you spot the announcement in The Wall Street Journal , Henry? I nearly missed it myself because of all the news about Pearl Harbor.’

‘You mean the merger of Lester’s with Kane and Cabot, which I predicted in last month’s report? Yes, I already have the full details.’ Henry took a file from his briefcase and passed it to Abel. ‘I guessed that was what you wanted to see me about.’

Abel flipped through the file until he found the relevant article, which Henry had underlined in red. He read the paragraph twice and then started to tap his fingers on the table. ‘The first mistake Kane has made.’

‘I think you may be right,’ said Henry.

‘You’re earning your fifteen hundred dollars a month, Henry.’

‘Perhaps it’s time to make it two thousand.’

‘Why?’

‘Because of Article Seven of the new bank’s rules.’

‘Why do you think he allowed the new clause to be inserted in the first place?’ said Abel.

‘To protect himself. It has obviously never occurred to Mr. Kane that someone might be trying to destroy him, but by exchanging all his shares in Kane and Cabot for the equivalent Lester shares he’s lost control of one bank and not gained control of the new one because Lester’s is so much larger. While he only holds eight percent of the shares in the new venture, he has insisted on that clause to be sure he can stop any transaction for twelve months, including the appointment of a new chairman.’