'What did you say to that?'
'I told him someone as wonderful as you couldn't be replaced by a suitably Brahmin family friend, and he completely lost his temper!
Florentyna didn't let go of Richard as he spoke.
"nen he threatened to cut me off without a penny if I married you,' he continued. 'When will they understand we don't care a damn about their money? I tried appealing to my mother for support, but even she could not control his temper.. He insisted that she leave the room. I have never seen him treat my mother that way before. She was weeping, which only made my resolve stronger. I left him in midsentence. God knows, I hope he doesn't take it out on Virginia and Lucy. What happened when you left?'
'My father hit me,' said Florentyna very quietly. 'For the first time in my life. I think he'll kill you if he finds us together. Richard darling, we must get out of here, before he finds out where you are, and he's bound to try here first. I'm so frightened.'
'No need for you to be frightened, Florentyna. We'll leave tonight and go as far away as possible and to hell with them both.'
'How quickly can you pack?' asked Florentyna.
'I can't,' said Richard. 'I can never return home now. You pack your things and then we'll go. I've got about a hundred dollars on me. How do you feel about marrying a hundreddollar man?'
'As much as a shop girl can hope for, I suppose - and to think I'd dreamed of being a kept woman. Next you'll be wanting a dowry,' Florentyna added while rummaging in her bag. 'Well, I've got two hundred and twelve dollars and an American Express card, so you owe me fifty - six dollars, Richard Kane, but I'll consider repayment at a dollar a year.2 In thirty minutes Florentyna was packed. Then she sat down at her desk, scrawled a note and left the envelope on the table by the side of her bed.
Richard hailed a cab. Florentyna was delighted to find how capable Richard was in a crisis and it made her feel more relaxed. 'Idlewild,' he said, placii~g Florentyna's three cases in the boot.
At the airport he booked a flight to San Francisco; they chose the Golden Gate City simply because it seemed the most distant point on the map of America.
At seven thirty, the American Airlines Super Constellation 1049 taxied out on to the runway to start its sevenhour flight.
Richard helped Florentyna with her seat belt. She smiled at hirn.
'Do you know how much I love you, Mr. Kane?,'
Wes, I think so - Mrs. Kane,' he replied.
34
Abel and George arrived at Florentyna's flat on East Fiftyseventh Street a few minutes after she and Richard had left for the airport. Abel was already remorseful and regretting the blow he had struck his daughter. He did not care to conjecture about what his life would be like without his only child.
He thought if he could only reach her before it was too late, he n - xight, with gentle persuasion, still talk her out of marrying the Kane boy. He was willing to offer her anything to stop the marriage.
George rang the door bell as he and Abel stood outside her door. No one answered. George pressed the bell again, and they waited for some time before Abel used the key Florentyna had always left with him for emergencies. They searched the place, neither really expecting to find her.
'She must have left already,' said George, as he joined Abel in the bedroom.
Tes, but where?' said Abel, and then he saw an envelope addressed to him on the table. He remembered the last letter left for him by the side of a bed that had not been slept in. He ripped it open.
Dear Daddy, Please forgive me for running away but I do love Richard and will not give him up because of your hatred for his father. We will be married right away and nothing you can do will prevent it. If you ever try to harm him in any way, you will be harming me. Neither of us intend to return'to New York until you have ended the senseless feud between our family and the Kane's. I love you more than you will ever realise and I shall always be thankful for everything you have done for me. I pray that this is not the end of our relationship but until you can change your mind, 'Never seek the wind in the field - it is useless to try and find what is gone!
Your loving daughter, Florentyna, Abel collapsed on to the bed, and passed the letter to George, who read the handwritten note and asked helplessly, 'Is there anything I can doT Tes, George. I want my daughter back, even if it means dealing direct with that bastard Kane. Tlere's only one thing I feel certain of : he will want this marriage stopped whatever sacrifice he has to make. Get him on the phone!
It took George some time to locate William Kane's unlisted number. The night security officer at Lester's Bank finally gave it to him when George insisted that it was a family emergency. Abel sat silently on the bed, Florentyna's letter in his hand, remembering how when she was a little girl, he had taught her the old Polish proverb that she had now quoted back to him. When George was put through to the Kane residence, a male voice answered the phone.