He briefly considered resigning from Kane and Cabot, but Matthew convinced him that it would serve no purpose and, in any case, his father would not have approved. Matthew appeared to take his friend’s defeat even harder than William. Twice in the following week he arrived at the bank with the obvious signs of a hangover, and left early, with important work unfinished. William let the incidents pass without comment, and on the Friday he invited Matthew to join him and Kate for dinner. Matthew declined, claiming that he had a backlog of work to catch up on. William wouldn’t have given it another thought if he hadn’t seen Matthew dining at the Ritz-Carlton that evening with an attractive woman who William could have sworn was married to one of Kane and Cabot’s departmental managers. Kate didn’t comment, other than to say that Matthew didn’t look very well. William only hoped that Matthew would be able to cope with two desks while he was away. That was the moment he decided he couldn’t face a whole month in England without Kate, and suggested she join him for the trip.
