Kane and Abel (Kane & Abel 1)

Anne spent half an hour talking to William but obtamed little response.

He was then retired for a sleep in the same manner by which he had arrived. Anne nobly resisted the fruit and candy piled by her bedside. She was deten - nined to get back into all - her dresses by the summer season and reassume her rightful place in all the fashionable magazines. Had not the Prince de Garonne said that she was the only beautiful object in Boston? Her long golden hair, fine delicate features, and slim figure had attracted excited admiration in cities she had never even visited. She checked in the mirror: no telltale lines on her face; people would hardly believe that she was the mother of a bouncing boy. Thank God it had been a bouncing boy, thought Anne.

She enjoyed a light lunch and prepared herself for the visitors who would appear during the afternoon, already screened by her private secretary.

Those allowed to see her on the first days had to be family or from the very best families; others would be told she was not yet ready to receive them. But as Boston was the last city rr - maining in America where each knew their place to the finest degree of social prominence, there was unlikely to be any unexpected intrudex.

The room which she alone occupied could have easily taken another five beds had it not already been smothered in flowers. A casual passer - by could have been forgiven for mistaking it for a minor horticultural show, if it had not been for the presence of the young mother sitting upright in bed. Anne switched on the electric light, still a novelty for her; Richard and she had waited for the Cabots to have them fitted, which all of Boston had interpreted as an oracular sign that electromagnetic induction was as of that moment socially acceptable.

The first visitor was Anne's mother - in - law, Mrs. Thomas Lowell Kane, the head of the family since her husband had died the previous year. In elegant late middle - age, she had perfected the technique of sweeping into a room to her own total satisfaction and to its occupants' undoubted discomfiture.

She wore a long chemise dress, which made it impossible to view her ankles; the only man who had ever seen her ankles was now dead. She had always been lean. In her opinion, fat women meant bad food and even worse breeding. She was now the oldest Lowell alive; the oldest Kane, come to that. She therefore expected and was expected to be the first to arrive to view her new gr - andson. After all, had it not been she who had arranged the meeting between Anne and Richard? Love had seemed of little consequence to Mrs. Kane - Wealth, position and prestige she could always come to terms with, Love was all very well, but it rarely proved to be a lasting commodity; the other three were. She kissed her daughter - in - law approvingly on the forehead. Anne touched a button on the wall, and a quiet buzz could be heard. The noise took Mrs. Kane by surprise; she could not believe electricity would ever catch on. The nurse reappeared with the heir. Mrs. Kane inspected him, sniffed her satisfaction and waved him away.

'Well done, Anne,' the old lady said, as if her daughterin - law had won a minor gyrnkhana prize. 'All of us are very proud of you.'

Anne's own mother, Mrs. Edward Cabot, arrived a few minutes later. She, like Mrs. Kane, had been widowed within recent years and differed so little from her in appearance that those who observed them only from afar tended to get them muddled up. But to do her justice, she took consider - ably more interest in her new grandson and in her daughter. The inspection moved to the flowers.

'How kind of the Jacksons to remember,' murmured Mrs. Cabot.

Mrs. Kane adopted a more cursory procedure. Her eyes skimmed over the delicate blooms then settled on the donors' cards. She whispered the soothing names to herself - Adamses, Lawrences, Lodges, Higginsons.

Neither grandmother commented on the names they didn't know; they were both past the age of wanting to learn of anything or anyone new. They left together, well pleased: an heir had been born and appeared, on first sight, to be adequate. They both considered that their final family obligation had been successfully, albeit vicariously, performed and that they themselves might now progress to the role of chorus.

They were both wrong.

Anne and Richard's close friends poured in during the afternoon with gifts and good wishes, the former of gold or silver, the latter in high - pitched Brahmin accents.

When her husband arrived after the close of business, Anne was somewhat overtired. Richard had drunk champagne at lunch for the first time in his life - old Amos Kerbes had insisted and, with the whole Somerset Club looking on, Richard could hardly have refused. He seemed to his wife to be a little less stiff than usual. Solid in his long black frock coat and pinstripe trousers, he stood fully six feet one; his dark hair with its centre parting gleamed in the light of the large electric bulb. Few would have guessed his age correctly as only thirty - three : youth had never been important to him; substance was the only thing that matteTed. Once again William Lowell Kane was called for and inspected, as if the father were checking the balance at the end of the banking day. All seemed to be in order. The boy had two legs, two arms, ten fingers, ten toes and Richard could see nothing that might later embarrass him, so William was sent away.