Fortune is a Woman Read Free Page A

and composed, but her beautiful heart-shaped face had lost its color and she noticed that Francie's hand shook as she carefully folded the newspaper and placed it on the table. She thought Francie was still as lovely as the day she had met her; her blue eyes were dark with sadness, but they still had that same sapphire intensity of youth. Her long, smooth blond hair was swept up at the sides with sparkling jeweled combs and coiled into a chignon at the back, and her white fine-wool crepe dress emphasized her slender, graceful figure.
    "Better have a glass of brandy," Annie suggested, adding bluntly, "you look ill."
    Francie shrugged. Refusing the brandy, she sank back into the soft cushions of the sofa.
    "I asked him not to leave his money to me," she said. "I have more than enough, as well as this house and the ranch. There were many bequests, a substantial amount— ten million dollars—to the Chen family in Hong Kong, but he left the bulk of it to Lysandra. A personal fortune of three hundred million dollars and a business worth at least three times as much." She fingered the single strand of enormous pearls at her neck worriedly. "The mansion on Repulse Bay and all his art treasures and priceless antiques were donated to Hong Kong as an art museum, with an endowment for future acquisitions. And, of course, the Mandarin Foundation is already autonomous."
    Annie looked at her, stunned. "I didn't realize how much money he had. I mean I knew he was rich... but..."
    "Oh, Annie," Francie exclaimed, her blue eyes full of pain, "the sad thing is that it couldn't buy him the things he really wanted. An education, culture—and acceptance. He was forced to get his learning from the streets and he acquired culture by his instinct for beauty. But he was never accepted. I blame myself for that. If it were not for me, then at least the Chinese would have accepted him."
    "That may be true, but San Francisco society never would. And that's what he wanted. For your sake."
    Francie took a parchment scroll tied with red tape from the pretty little Empire desk by the window and as she unrolled it Annie saw the Lai Tsin chop, the great gold seal.
    "He wrote his will himself in Chinese," Francie told her. "I want you to hear what he says."
    The Mandarin had written each fine brushstroke of the Chinese characters as exquisitely precise as a miniature painting.
    "It is my decree that no male heir of the Lai Tsin family shall ever occupy the highest position in the corporation. Instead they will be compensated with money with which to start up their own companies, to pursue their own business interests and to make their own way in the world, as men should.
    "Through the years it has been proven to me many times that women are more worthy than men. Therefore I decree that women shall always carry the fortunes of the Lai Tsin family. The Lai Tsin women will be as powerful as the great dowager empresses of the Chinese dynasties. But they will always be modest, they will never allow the Lai Tsins to lose face, and they will never bring disgrace to the family, either in business or in their personal lives. Those who do will be banished from the family without delay and shall never be reinstated. So, when she is eighteen, I decree that Lysandra Lai Tsin will become owner and taipan of the Lai Tsin Corporation. And until she -attains eighteen years, Francesca Harrison shall control the corporation and have total power and final say in any major decision."
    "It's not right to burden a girl with all that responsibility," Annie exclaimed. "Lysandra's still a child, we don't even know if she will be clever enough, or strong enough —or if she'll even want to run the Lai Tsin Corporation. Francie, it'll just be the past all over again, she'll be a woman in a man's world. And you, of all people, know how hard that is."
    Francie closed her eyes, unwilling to remember. "Believe me, Annie, I didn't want Lysandra to be the Lai Tsin heiress. You'll see, as soon