But he had no idea where Sam was living or how he could find out. He was considering the problem when Vic Kaufman walked into his office and took him by surprise.

“Have you noticed my dad repeating himself lately?”

“No, can’t say I have,” said Seb. “Saul’s occasionally a little forgetful, but he must be over seventy.”

“When he escaped from Poland he didn’t bring a birth certificate with him, but he once let slip that he could remember Queen Victoria’s funeral, so he must be nearer eighty. I have to admit I’m a bit worried, because if anything did happen to the old man, frankly, you’re not ready to take over yet, and I’m just not good enough.”

It had never crossed Seb’s mind that Saul Kaufman wouldn’t go on being chairman forever, and he certainly hadn’t considered taking over as chairman of the bank before Vic raised the subject.

Seb now had fourteen staff working for him, most of them older than himself, and his department was the third-largest income provider for the bank, not far behind foreign exchange and commodities.

“Don’t worry about it, Vic,” said Seb, trying to reassure him. “I’m sure your father’s got a few more miles left on the clock.”

However, at Seb’s weekly meeting with the chairman, Mr. Kaufman did ask, on three separate occasions, the name of the client they were representing on one particular land development deal, although Seb knew he’d done business with him on at least two occasions in the past.

Seb had spent so much of his spare time thinking about what was happening at another bank just a few streets away that it hadn’t crossed his mind that his future at Kaufman’s could not be taken for granted. He tried not to think about the worst-case scenario: the old man having to retire because of ill-health, Farthings making a takeover bid for Kaufman’s, and Seb having to write a second resignation letter to the new joint chairman of the two banks.

He even considered canceling his trip to the States, but he knew that if he didn’t leave by the last tide on Friday evening, he would never have the courage to go through with it.

*   *   *

Seb thoroughly enjoyed his father’s company on the five-day voyage to New York, not least because, unlike his mother, Harry didn’t spend his time asking endless questions Seb didn’t want to answer.

They always ate together in the evening, and sometimes at lunch. During the day, his father would lock himself in his cabin, leaving the Do Not Disturb sign on his door. He spent hour upon hour going over the final draft of his latest manuscript, which he would hand to Harold Guinzburg within an hour of the ship docking.