Kane and Abel (Kane & Abel 1)

William tore up the letter of resignation and dropped the pieces of paper into the fire. He put his arm around Alan's shoulders.

'I have no family now, Alan, only you. For Go&s sake don!t desert me.'

William wag driven back to Beacon Hill. On his arrival the butler informed him that Mrs. Kane and Mrs. Cabot were waiting for him in the drawing room. They both rose as he entered the room. It was the first time that William realised that he was now the head of the Kane family.

Ile funeral took place quietly two days later at the Old North Church on Beacon Hill. None but the family and close friends were invited, and the only notable absentee was Henry Osborne. As the mourners departed, they paid their respects to William. 'ne grandmothers stood one pace behind him, like sentinels, watching, approving the calm and dignified way in which he conducted himself. When everyone had left, William accompanied Alan Lloyd to his car.

The chairman was delighted by William's one request of him.

'As you know, Alan, my mother had always intended to build a children's wing to the new hospital, in memory of my father I would like her wishes carned oue II Wladek stayed at the Polish Delegation in Constantinople for eighteen months, working day and night for Pawel Zaleski, becoming an indispensable aide and close friend. Nothing was too much trouble for him and Zaleski soon began to wonder how he managed before Wladek arrived. He visited the British embassy once a week to cat in the kitchen with Mrs. Henderson, the Scottish cook, and, on one occasion, with His Britannic Majesty's second consul himself.

Around them the old Islamic way of life was dissolving, and the Ottoman Empire was beginning to totter. Mustafa Kemal was the name on everyone's lips. The sense of impending change made Wladek restless. His mind returned incessantly to the Baron and all whom he had loved in the castle. The necessity to survive from day to day in Russia had kept them from his mind's eye, but in Turkey they rose up before him, a silent and slow procession. Sometimes, he could see thesp strong and happy, Leon swimming in the river, Florentyna playing caes cradle in his bedroom, the Baron's face strong and proua in the evening candlelight, but always each well - remembered, well - loved face would waver and, try as Wladek did to hold them firm, they would change horribly to that last dreadful aspect~ Leon dead on top of him, Florentyna bleeding in agony, and the Baron almost blind and broken.

Wladek began to face the fact that he could nmrex return to a land peopled by such ghosts, until he had made something worthwhile of his life. With that single thought in nund he set his heart on going to America, as his countryman Tadeusz Kosciuszko, of whom the Baron had told so many.

enthralling tales, had done so long before him. The United States, described by Pawel Zaleski as the 'New Worl&. The very name inspired Wladek with a hope for the future and a chance to return to Poland in triumph. It was Pawel Zaleski who put up the money to purchase an immigrant passage for him to the United States. They were difficult to come by, for they were always booked at least a year in advance. It seemed to Wladek as though the whole of Eastern Europe was trying to escape and start afresh in the New World.

In the spring of 1921, Wladek Koskiewicz finally left Constantinople and boarded the S.S. Black Arrow, bound for Ellis Island, New York. He possessed one suitcase, containing all his belongings, and a set of papers issued by Pawel Zaleski.

The Polish consul accompanied him to the wharf, and embraced him affectionately. 'Go with God, my boy.'

The traditional Polish response came naturally from the depths of Wladek's early childhood. 'Remain with God,'he replied.

As he reached the top of the gangplank, Wladek recalled his terrifying journey from Odessa to Constantinople. This time there was no coal in sight, only people, people everywhere, Poles, Lithuanians, Estonians, Ukrainians and others of many racial types unfamiliar to Wladek. He clutched Ids few belongings and waited in the line, the first of many long waits with which he later associated his entry into the United States.

1~is papers were sternly scrutinised by a deck officer who was clearly predisposed to the suspicion that Wladek was trying to avoid military service in Turkey, but Pawel ZaleaWs documents were impeccable; Wladek invoked a silent blessing on his fellow countryman's head as he watched others being turned back.

Next came a vaccination and a cursory medical examination which, had he not had eighteen months of good food and the chance to recover his health in Constantinople, Wladek would certainly have failed. At last with all the checks over he was allowed below deck into the steerage quarters.

There were separate compartments for males, females and married couples.