"To any true Forsyte, there is something repugnant about men so careless of their appearance as Philip Bosinney." "It argues a lack of deference towards the rules of polite society, towards Forsytes, in other words, that strikes them as immoral, if not positively dangerous." "But Soames, though a Forsyte through and through, is clever enough himself to recognize brains in others." "He might despise Bosinney, but he intended to use his ability." "After all, if the fellow could build houses, what did his clothes matter?" "And Bosinney?" " Well, he didn't know, any more than Soames did, that this was probably the most fateful day in both their lives." "Gravel soil." "What's that?" " Yes." "It's a fair site, but... here comes oliver, the agent." "I've asked him to meet us here." "I'm the solicitor for the estate." "Getting in on the ground floor?" "I expect you've got business to discuss." "I'll leave you alone for a bit." "Well, mr." "Forsyte?" "Good morning." "That your architect?" "He may be, if I decide to build." "I think you'll be making a mistake, sir, if you don't." "I think your people ought to come down in price to me." "This site is the cheapest we've go at the top of the hill,they're dearer by quite a bit." "It's possible I may not build at all." "The ground rent's very high." "With respect, sir." "We've only got to advertise to have a mob of people after it." "You'll find nothing like it near London." "Well, I haven't made up my mind yet." "I'll see you later at your house." "Glad to see you, sir." "The wife'll have some lunch ready." "Bosinney!" "Bosinney, where are you?" "Up here." "Hello, Forsyte." "I've found the very place for your house." "Look here." "You may be clever, but this site will cost me half as much again." "Hang the cost, man." "Look at the view." "For 8000 I could build you a palace." "I can't afford 8000." "Well?" "Well, I've taken that site of yours, after all." "Good for you." "Soames is a brick." "Really a brick." "To think that I should ever say that." "Phil, it's wonderful for you,wonderful." "Now you'll show them all, won't you just?" "You weren't supposed to know." "Nobody was." "He didn't even tell you, did he?" "I've no doubt he will, in his own way, in his own time." "Shall you be pleased if I build you a beautiful house?" "Of course she will." "Who wouldn't?" "I'll be pleased." "If it helps you, and mr." "Bosinney." "It will." "This is just the beginning, isn't it, Phil?" "Wait until I tell grandfather." "We'll be married in no time." "As you can imagine, Soames isn't paying me much." "You see, it's all in the family." "Never mind about that." "It's what comes after that counts." "You'll be known." "You'll be famous." "On the strength of one house?" "But surely." "It's going to be the most marvelous house ever built." "Well, of course it is." "Irene, you'll have no end of trouble." "People will come for miles to see it." "And Soames won't let any of them inside the gate." "Philip... may I call you that?" "We're going to be cousins." "I'm honored." "Well, then, Philip, if you wish to please your client, you must build a high stone wall around the house with broken glass on top, and strong iron gates and notices everywhere." "Beware of the dog." "Keep off the grass." "Abandon hope." "What nonsense." "Soames loves to show off." "You know he does, Irene." "Why, look how he insists on your going to the best dressmakers." "And the jewels he keeps buying you, why..." "yes, you're right and I'm wrong." "Soames is very proud of his possessions." "So you will be famous." "And we shall all sit at your feet." "Yes!" "If we're going your grandfather's for lunch, I'd better brush up a bit." "Shan't be long." "Don't mind him, will you?" "He tends to be a bit sudden." "I don't mind a bit." "It's incredible, isn't it?" "It's all going to happen, here and in his mind." "Don't you think he's a wonderful man?" "Thank you, Smither." "You are a good girl." "Thank you, miss." "One moment." "Smither." "Ann, dear?" "It's I, hester." "Very well, Smither." "Ask miss Hester to come in." "How pretty." "Thank you, dear." "Dear ann, how are you this morning?" "Bobbish, thank you." "Timothy?" "A little upset." "He's been reading The times." "I do wish he would not." "It does put him out so." "All about the dear queen's naval review at Spithead." "Oh, yes." "For the jubilee, of course." "I should like to have seen it." "Timothy says it's a great waste of money, all that coal being burnt up in battleships." "But that is what coal is for, dear." "Yes, I suppose it is." "And then he's worrying about the dear queen." "He thinks she might have caught a chill." "At her age?" "She's not even seventy." "But Ann, I must tell you the great news." "Soames is going to build a house at Robin hill." "Right out in the country" "And who do you think he's engaged as architect?" "Not?" "Yes." "Mr. Bosinney." "We're not supposed to mention it, but June said that I might tell you, because she thought it would cheer you up." "Cheer me up?" "What an extraordinary expression." "Still, it was good of her." "And it's very nice for dear June." "Oh yes, indeed." "But I do hope they will be careful." "Building, it's rather dangerous." "Yes, a risky business." "When you see Soames, tell him from me... tell him to be very careful." "We're not supposed to talk about it, but I thought that you, as Soames' sister," "would naturally be the first to hear." "I can't say I didn't have an inkling." "What did Timothy say?" "Did he have a fit?" "There." "I knew how it'd be." "But nobody tells me anything." "I don't see what Soames wants with a young man like that." "I shouldn't be surprised if Irene had put her oar in, she and that young june together." "And I might add, as far as June is concerned it seems to me that she is keener on him than he is on her." "She's always following him about." "You've no business to say such a thing." "Why not?" "It's true." "It is not." "And if it were,it's disgraceful to say so." "I can tell you one thing." "Now she has the buccaneer in town, she won't give two pence for you, as you'll discover." "Not that it matters." "We're going to live in the country." "You did hear what I said?" "Yes." "You don't seem interested." "I knew already." "June, I suppose." "This family." "You're one of them." "I suppose you don't want to go." "Well, you never seem contented here." "I can't tell what you want." "If it's so important to you, why don't you ask?" "Oh, God, what am i going to do?" "It's an odd sort of a house." "Look, there's a lot of room cut to waste." "The principle of this house is that you should have room to breathe, like a gentleman." "If you don't like it, you'd better say so." "I haven't said i didn't like it." "All right, look." "You can't swing a cat here." "The house is a rectangle." "This is a covered court, and this is for your pictures, divided from the court by curtains." "Draw them aside and you have a space of 51 by 23, 6." "Now this end wall is all window." "You've got a north light from there, and a southeast light from the court." "Simplicity and regularity." "Those are the principles." "Well, in architecture as in life." "We overload our houses with decoration, gimcracks, anything to distract the eye" "But this is wrong." "The eye should rest." "You should get your effects with a few strong lines." "Regularity." "There's no self-respect without it." "Won't it look rather like a barrack?" "Yes, I see what it is." "I can't say I'm surprised." "You want one of my uncle's houses, just like anybody else's." "The servants live in garrets, and the front door's sunk so that you have to come up again into the hall." "Splendid." "By all means." "Look, you get my uncle, and I'll tear this up." "No, wait a minute." "Yes, it's certainly original." "It covers a lot of ground." "Space, air, light." "You can't live like a gentleman in one of my uncle'S." "He builds for manufacturers." "Yes, I dare say." "It won't be cold, will it?" "Irene can't stand the cold." "She won't be cold." "I'll see to that." "Look, I've given you hot water pipes in aluminum casings." "You can see them here, here,here, here." "All the way around." "Now, you can get these in very good designs." "Where did I...?" "Here we are." "This is all very well, all this, but what's it going to cost?" "Hm?" "Oh." "Yes." "Now the house should be entirely of stone, but I didn't think you'd stand for that, so I've settled for a facing." "You should have a copper roof, but, well, as it is, with the iron work... let's say eight and a half thousand." "Eight thousand five hundred?" "Plus the cost of the land." "That's over 10,000." "I gave you a limit of eight." "Can't be done for a penny less." "Surely there are lots of little things you could..." "sorry, not one." "You can take it or leave it." "And Soames agreed." "He really liked the design, though he's too jolly mean to admit it." "He's accepted the cost of the house, and Philip's to have a free hand with the decoration." "Now then, gran,what do you think of that?" "I think it's remarkable,to say the least." "This young man of yours, he's...what's the word they use nowadays?" "Magnetic?" "Dynamic." "Electric." "I dare say." "As for me, my darling, I prefer oil lamps." "They shed a gentler light." "I'm all for the new things." "I like to see the sparks fly." "And I'm sure you will before you're finished." "Now I suppose you want to get married." "Yes, please." "You must wait." "But wait at least until this precious house is finished." "Don't rush." "Give the youngster a chance to prove himself, and try not to distract him too much." "Leave him free to work because he is working for you." "That's not only the kindest thing you can do, it's the wisest,for your own sake." "Talking of wisdom,you're a sage." "Yeah." "Socrates isn't in it?" "All right, gran." "I'll behave, and I'll be patient." "So that chap Soames is going to...?" "I've never cared for him." "Who could?" "He'll be a man of property." "A man of property." "Well, had to be." "It's in the blood." "Luncheon is served, sir." "Thank you." "Thanks." "Did I tell you I'd seen your father?" "Yes, you did." "Would you like to meet him?" "No, thank you." "He's an amiable chap." "I dare say." "But I don't need him." "Very well, very well." "But I'll tell you this, my girl, you never know who you're going to need in this world." "Cabbie!" "Take me to stanhope gate." "No, hang it." "Wistaria avenue, number 46." "That's a castle." "It's the mud pie!" "And my dolly's going to eat it now." "Yes, mrs." "Hawkins?" "What is it?" "There's a gentleman asking for you, ma'am." "For me?" "Jo, are you expecting someone?" " No, not that I know of." "Did he tell you his name, mrs." "Hawkins?" "He says his name is mr." "Jolyon Forsyte, sir." "What?" "No, no." "You mean he's asking for mr." "Forsyte." "No, sir." "That's what he calls hisself." "He told me so." "A very aged gentleman, sir, if I may be so bold as to describe him." "Jo..." "I can't turn him away." "No, no, of course not." "Well, can I?" "Will you ask mr." "Forsyte, please to join us?" "Very good, ma'am." "Children, come along with me." "Shh." "He's an old man, darling." "And it's all a long time ago." "Who's that?" "I don't know." "Crumbs, doesn't he look old?" "I think he's an old grenadier." "Forgive me for calling like this, without warning." "I was watching the cricket at lords, just round the corner." "Oh, yes." "Was the match a good one?" "Only moderate." "Come and sit down, father." "We're glad to see you." "Come on." "Thank you." "Over here." "Hey, you two ragamuffins,over here." "Father, allow me to introduce you to your grandchildren." "This one's Jolly, this one over here is Holly." "Children, this is your grandfather." "How do you do?" "Hey!" "This rag of a dog is Balthasar." "Balthasar, how do you do?" "How do you do?" "Forgive me, please." "I must see about the children's tea." "No, no." "Excuse me." "Whew." "That was a shock." "He should have known it would be." "How dare he?" "How dare he come here like this." "Has he no feeling?" "Doesn't he know what he's doing?" "To walk in like that after all these years, as if nothing had happened." "Perhaps he's lonely." "He deserves to be." "Helene... when I think of those years, of how deliberately, how coldly he cut you out from his life..." "Not coldly.It hurt him deeply." "More deeply, I think, than it hurt me." "I had you to turn to." "He had no one." "He had his family, his precious family, his position in society." "He had his money and his damnable pride." "If that was enough for him then, why isn't it now?" "Let him go to those things for comfort if he's lonely." "Don't they exist any longer?" "Perhaps they don't mean so much." "He chose them." "He chose them, just as he chose June instead of you." "June, he's losing her too." "So he comes here." "Why?" "Do you think it's for you?" "Or me?" "Or is it for our children?" "Does he want to take them as he took June?" "Darling." "There's no danger of that." "Isn't there?" "No, and you know there isn't." "Listen." "Look, my love." "What you can see there?" "That's true." "He loves children." "He has always loved small, helpless things, although he'd die rather than admit it." "Why should he not admit to it?" "Why?" "Because he's a Forsyte." "But it's true nevertheless." "I think that's what weighed most with him nine years ago." "Now... well, my darling, he's nearly 80." "What has he got to look forward to?" "Only death." "Do you really want me to be harsh with him?" "Will he come here again?" "I think so, if we let him." "Oh, Jo... dearest Jo." "How I make you suffer." "Shh." "Don't let me, joe." "You mustn't let me." "Come on, it's all right." "Shh." "Daddy, it's a chiming watch!" "Run along, children." "Your tea's waiting." "Come on." "Nice little house you have here." "Got a lease of it?" "Mm-hm." "Don't like the neighborhood, ramshackle lot." "Yes, we're a ramshackle lot." "Your wife's upset." "I'm not surprised." "I shouldn't have come, Jo, but I... will she forgive me?" "I expect so." "Just give her time." "Ah, time." "You don't know you're wasting it till it's gone." "Come and see us again, father, won't you?" "It's going well." "Yes." "I think we'll have to use... ruby tiles, with a touch of gray in the stuff to give it a transparent effect." "If we distemper the drawing-room walls, ivory cream over paper, you'll get an illusory look." "See, in the decorations, I want to aim at what I call "charm."" "I should like Irene's opinion." "You mean my wife has charm?" "In the middle of the courtyard now... yes, a clump of irises." "I suppose you find irene artistic." "Yes." "Want to look around?" "Mr. Bosinney is here, madam, to see mr." "Forsyte." "Is mr." "Forsyte in yet?" "Yes, madam." "He's upstairs." "Then please tell him, bilson." "Very good, madam." "And ask mr." "Bosinney to come in here." "Shall I stop or don't you mind?" "No." "You play very well." "Why?" "When I ask you to continue." "Because music and conversation don't go well together." "One spoils the other." "Well then, play." "To listen to Schubert and to look at you, what more could a man ask?" "Philip, please don't flirt with me." "I don't flirt." "If I look at you it's because I can't bear to look at anything else." "You're very direct." "What else should I be?" "I'm an architect,not a politician." "If I see something to admire, I admire it openly." "If it's beautiful, as you are," "I shout it aloud." "Phil..." "In God's name, why did you marry him?" "You've no right to ask questions like that." "No?" "Why did you, Irene?" "How could you bring yourself to do it?" "That's a long story, and rather a sad one." "May we leave it at that?" "Bosinney, you're here." "At your command." "I've been going through some of these accounts." "They come to a lot more than they should." "Now, if you make a firm stand against these builder chaps, you'll get them down all right." "They stick on anything they can." "Now take off ten percent all around." "It'll still be over, but..." "I've taken off every farthing I can." "Then all I can say is you've made a pretty mess of things." "But I told you a dozen times there'd be extras." "I know that, and I wouldn't object to a ten pound note here and there." "But this?" "!" "Most of it's due to your own suggestions." "You want double value for your money and when you get it, you don't want to pay for it." "Well, I guess I can pinch the balance of the estimates myself, but I'm damned if I'll do another stroke of work." "There's no need to take that line." "All I meant was when I'm told a thing is going to cost so much," "I like to know where I stand." "All right." "But look here." "You got my services dirt cheap, and you know it." "My fool of an uncle would charge four times as much for the work I'm putting in." "What you want, in fact, is a first-rate man for a fourth-rate fee, and that's exactly what you've got." "Well, let's go through it and see how the money's gone." "Soames!" "If you want to talk business, will you please go somewhere else?" "This is my drawing room, not your office." "I'm sorry." "And had you forgotten?" "June is coming to dinner." "She and philip are going to the theatre." "Shouldn't you go and change?" "Yes." "Don't you change?" "I haven't time." "Anyway, we don't go to the stalls." "Look, Bosinney, I'm sorry I got heated just now, but...well, I can't stand waste." "Go and make it up with Irene, talk to her about the house." "I want her to think well of it." "Good evening, miss June." "Hello, Bilson." "What a gorgeous day it's been." "Yes, miss." "Lovely." "Has mr." "Bosinney arrived?" "Yes, miss." "He's in the drawing-room." "Don't bother, Bilson." "I know the way, thank you." "So many things to talk about between us, and now we shan't have time." "Why not at dinner?" "Dinner conversation?" "Interrupt me with schubert,if you like." "But not with "pass the salt."" "Come to Robin hill, come on sunday, by yourself." "We can go over the house together." "I've promised to go driving with uncle Swithin." "The big one?" "Excellent." "Make him bring you with him." "It'll do his horses a power of good." "Irene, you must." "Why?" "Because I want to see you there, in that setting." "Don't you want to help me?" "Yes, Philip." "Oh, yes, I do." "How stuffy it is in here." "That blossom?" "Azalea, isn't it?" "I can't stand the scent." "Were you talking about the house?" "I haven't seen it yet." "Shall we all go on sunday?" "I'm going driving with uncle Swithin." "Surely what does that matter?" "Throw him over." "I'm not in the habit of throwing people over." "Really?" "You surprise me." "Well, if you're all ready, I'm sure dinner is too." "Shall we sit down?" "Are you enjoying the play?" "Yes, very much." "Lovely, isn't it?" "Isn't it hot?" "Yes, cooler up here, though." "What do you think of it?" "What?" "The play, of course." "Oh... well what do you think of it?" "Quite amusing?" "I suppose so." "Better than that damned Shakespeare, anyway." "Monty, look." "Isn't that June?" "By jove, so it is, with the wild buccaneer in attendance." "Phil?" "Yes?" "Do you realize how I've been looking forward to this evening?" "I've planned it for weeks so we could be alone together." "I didn't tell gran, he'd be furious." "And now..." "And now?" "You won't even talk to me." "You've hardly said a word since we left." "June, I've been working desperately hard, and I'm tired." "Not too tired to..." "I know, darling." "Just that I don't see you these days, and I thought for once... what did you think?" "We'd laugh and enjoy being together as we used to." "Phil, take me to see the house on sunday?" "No, not sunday." "Some other time." "Why not sunday?" "Why not sunday?" "Because I have another engagement." "You're going to take... an engagement that prevents my taking you." "Oh, June." "June, dear." "Did you...?" "Monty, did you see...?" "What on earth can have happened?" "My dear Freddie, they've had the father and mother of a row." "That's what's happened." "Oh, poor June." "Poor June, my foot." "She's too peppery by half, that one." "But the buccaneer had better watch out there, or he'll lose his heiress if he's not careful." "Monty, dear, sometimes you make me sick." "Philip Bosinney's a very strange young man, but one thing's quite certain." "He's not interested in money." "June's or anyone else'S." "That's all, my eye." "No, you're wrong." "No." "If he'd been just a fortune-hunter, don't you think uncle Jolene would've seen through him in a minute?" "Now finish your drink, dear boy." "Unless you intend taking it into the stalls." "June?" "June?" "Is that you?" "How's the man of property?" "Have a good dinner?" "Yes, thank you." "And Irene?" "Anyone else there?" "Only Phil." "Did he bring you home?" "Why didn't he come in?" "What's wrong with the chap?" "Nothing!" "Nothing's wrong with him." "Good night, gran." "Don't you want your milk." "It's been kept hot for you." "Nothing, thank you." "Good night, my darling." "Very good." "Yes, very good." "Yes, you've got the river there, a very pooty little view." "It is delightful." "Get that straight." "As for the house... yes, uncle?" "Well, it's not the sort of house i'm used to." "Take the hall now." "You'll want some statues there." "And that space in the middle..." "what do you call it?" "Under the skylight." "The court?" "Yes." "Now, don't go wasting that on plants." "You take my advice:" "Have a billiard table." "I'll say one thing though, he's given you a very decent little cellar." "You've got room there for six or seven hundred dozen." "I was just saying, you've given them a very decent little cellar." "Thank you." "Would you like a glass of champagne?" "Why, you're quite the Monte cristo." "Do sit down, uncle." "You must be tired." "Not a bit." "Enjoying myself." "Irene?" "No, thank you." "A nice wine." "Not the equal of my heidseick." "I was just thinking, sir... the best view of the house is from down there, by the copse." "Wouldn't you care to take a...?" "This view is good enough for me." "Would you mind if we...?" "Not at all." "Not at all." "I'll just sit here." "Let me fill your glass." "Thank you, my boy." "Damn bird repeats itself." "Hold on!" "Sit still!" "I'll get you home." "I don't care if I never get home." "All right." "You're safe now." "Yes." "A little more sherry?" "No thank you, Soames." "Well, I don't know how to advise you." "Monty's a spendthrift and a wastrel." "He's been nothing but a drain on father since the day you married him." "But there,you would have him." "I'm not complaining." "In many ways, I suppose he's not been the best husband in the world, but he's mine, and I'm fond of him." "Yes, I know." "How much is it this time?" "Three hundred." "He goes racing a lot, you know, with George." "That chap." "Yes, and it's very tiresome." "George doesn't lose all the time the way monty does." "That's because at bottom, despite his extravagance, he's a Forsyte." "Now your monty... well, I don't know what he is." "I dare say I can scrape it up somehow." "This time." "The main thing is not to worry papa." "Yes, and monty relies on that, damn the fellow." "Winifred, look." "You can count on me if it comes to it, but what with one thing and another... well, the house... no, it's sweet of you, dear, but I shouldn't dream of it." "I only wanted to tell somebody." "Is the house very expensive?" "More than I bargained for." "It's not that so much, it's not knowing where I stand." "That chap Bosinney..." "hello, Winifred." "How nice to see you." "I'll run upstairs and take my hat off." "Don't go." "Well, we all know she's pretty and I suppose we've got used to it, but really, today!" "It's positively unfair on the rest of us women, and I shall tell her so." "See if I don'T." "No, Swithin." "You must be mistaken." "She couldn't possibly have said that." "Never." "But I tell you she did." "When I pulled the beasts up, there she was, cool as... cool as myself." "Bless my soul." "She behaved as if she didn't care whether she broke her neck or not." ""Sit still", I told her." ""I'll get you home."" "And then she came out with it." ""I don't care if I never get home."" "Oh, what a dreadful thing to say." "Irreligious, I call it." "What do you think she meant?" "I wonder what mr." "Scoles would think." "Who the deuce cares?" "She's a fine woman, got some style about her." "Not one of your daverdy scarecrows." "She seems to have made a conquest of you anyway." "What's that?" "I hope I know a pretty woman when I see one." "Knows how to dress too." "That frock she had on fitted her like a skin, tight as a drum." "Oh, really, swithin!" "What was it made of?" "Made of?" "How should I know?" "I don't like the look of him at all." "I wish somebody would come." "Where's smither?" "With Ann, of course." "Miss Ann?" "Excuse me, miss Ann!" "Miss Ann, wake up." "Miss Ann!" "What should it have been made of, anyhow?" "But I'll tell you one thing." "That young architect chap, what's his name?" "Mr. Bosinney?" "Yes." "I shouldn't wonder if he was sweet on mrs." "Soames." "No!" "Yes." "I wasn't sure until I saw him pick up her handkerchief out there on that terrace place just before we left." "Did he give it to her back?" "Not I saw him kiss it when he thought I wasn't looking." "Oh, shocking!" "But dear june!" "And then the fellow put it inside his coat, here." "Miss Hester!" "It's miss Ann!" "I think she's dead." "So there it is, Jo." "As things are now,I thought you should know." "Yes, it was good of you, father, to come and tell me." "There you are, my dear." "Please, don't get up." "Forgive this late call." "Yes, of course." "Has something happened?" "Yes." "My sister, Ann, died this morning." "She was the oldest of us all, you know." "I'm sorry." "No, no need to be sorry, though we shall miss her." "She was a link with the last century, born 1799." "So old!" "Can you imagine her, as a child of six, down in dorset, watching the victory bonfires blaze out of Trafalgar?" "And a grown girl, aged 16, at the time of waterloo." "I remember that myself." "Thank you." "I was a nipper,aged 9." "There was a parade and I shouted myself hoarse, though whether I knew what I was shouting about?" "Anyway, my father gave me half a sovereign and anne gave me a shilling." "George the third coins." "Got them to this day." "Ann had memories." "Yet she never married." "No." "There was someone as i recall, but my mother died, and so ann took her place." "Cigar, father?" "No, thank you." "I'm sorry, they're.." "poor Ann." "You could say that, but she was a strength to my father." "He knew it too, and came to rely on her." "So did the lot of us." "She was what you might call the nucleus of us all." "She loved the family and of all the children, jo, she loved you best." "She gave me a pair of silver buckles that belonged to my grandfather, superior dosset Forsyte, that old rogue." "Yes, I've seen them." "He may have been a rogue but he was honest." "Don't you forget it." "Now as I said, ann was fond of you." "That is why I want you to come to her funeral." "No." "No." "She's dead, so she won't miss me." "I'd should like to have seen her again, though." "She had humor, and a great talent for getting the best out of people." "Jo, I should like you to be there." "But, my darling, I... no." "It is fitting." "She loved you,and gave you shoe buckles." "And it is fitting that you should go." "I agree." "Well, I'm sorry, father, I don't agree." "When the Forsyte ladies accept my wife as my wife and the Forsytes, as a whole, accept my children as, well, as your grandchildren, father," "Then, if I'm invited, I'll attend their festivals and their funerals." "But not until then." "There, I knew how it would be." "I said she wouldn't last the summer." "You said no such thing." "I shall have to look about for some ground somewhere." "What arrangements have you made?" "Don't talk to me about such things." "They tell me ann left her money to Timothy." "What there is of it." "Where is he?" "He ought to be here." "He's kept to his bed since she died." "He doesn't take any risks." "I hear you organized the funeral." "Certainly." "I'm sole executor." "Congratulations." "You're a first-rate undertaker too." "Do you find it pays?" "George, look." "What, ho!" "The prodigal son." "The death of aunt Ann was a blow that hit the Forsyte family uncommonly hard." "It was not so much that she had died suddenly,without warning, although they did feel it was unreasonable of her to go without a word." "Unlike ann, somehow, to do that... but that she had gone at all." "If one Forsyte could let go her grasp of life, why then, any of them might do the same." "It was unnerving." "Uncle Swithin, I'm told, was so upset by the funeral that all he could take for dinner was a partridge and an imperial pint of champagne." "But on Forsyte 'change, the living, as subjects for gossip, take precedence over the dead." "My presence at the funeral caused a considerable sensation." "My father had deliberately stated, in public, that affection is more important than conventional morality and respectability." "Absorbing too, although I hadn't yet heard the full story, were the increasing rumors about Soames' wife, Irene," "and the young architect, Philip Bosinney." "Swithin's description of the famous drive to Robin hill began it all, but since then those two had been seen together, alone,in the most unlikely places." "Jo." "Jo, you really think we should go?" "Yes, I do." "After all, you and my father pushed me into the first steps." "So for you to visit him at stanhope's gate is... well, it's simply the logical development." "But june." "What if June's there?" "Her attitude is, quite honestly, unimportant." "Yes, I suppose so." "Now that she's getting married, she's going to leave your father anyway." "But jo, you understand how she must feel towards me." "After all, I took you away from her mother." "Yes, so you did." "You deprived a Forsyte of her property, and that's unforgivable." "You see?" "She must hate me." "My darling, I was only joking." "Yes, I know you were.But I worry." "Then you mustn't." "It was all a long time ago." "June's grown up now." "She has her own life to lead." "Yes, of course." "And she did like me once." "Yes, so she did." "If I remember, that's when i began to like you too." "Off you go." "Do your shopping." "And I'll meet you at my father's at 4:00." "Oh, dear.Very well, then." "Enjoy yourself." "I'll see you later." "Jo..." "That woman, so elegant." "Do you think she's beautiful?" "Yes." "Yes, I do." "There's something about her face." "It reminds me of you." "What nonsense, darling." "We couldn't be more unlike." "No, no, the expression." "How you used to look sometimes, before we became free." "She's waiting." "For whom, do you think?" "Her husband or...or her lover?" "My god." "Jo, do you recognize her?" "No, but I know him." "My father introduced us after the funeral." "His name is Bosinney." "But it can't be." "Why, that's the man that June's going to marry." "Yes, my darling." "It is." "But who is she?" "I don't know, but look at them." "I am looking." "They are in love." "I must go, before he recognizes me." "No, wait." "She must be married, or they wouldn't meet so secretly and for so short a time." "Poor lovers." "Poor June." "Cream and sugar?" "No sugar, please." "Thank you, june." "Helene?" "Thank you." "Try one of those macaroons, won't you?" "Cook's rather proud of them." "Oh, no." "Oh, yes, yes, yes." "For grandpapa." "No cream, but I expect you remember that." "Mm-hm." "Never spoil the flavor of a good tea." "And I agree with you, father, so long as it is a good tea." "Yes." "Do you like it?" "Thank you." "It has an excellent flavor.." "So it should too." "I resigned from the firm years ago, but I still get my tea there." "I'll send you around a case tomorrow." "You're very kind, but... father, well you see, Helene swears by bullivants." "Bullivants?" "They don't know tea from sawdust." "Grandpapa!" "I don't care, what's more." "No, my dear, we can't have you drinking such rubbishy stuff." "You've been painting,I hear." "Yes, as usual." "What sort of price would you get now for your things?" "When I sell one, what it's worth, I suppose." "Not nearly as much." "All artists are underpaid.All of them." "When I think of the way people, rich people, treat artists... well, it's disgraceful." "Come on now,I don't know." "There's a market value for art same as any other commodity." "Now I'm as interested in art as the next man, but it is a luxury, not a necessity like... like tea, for instance." "Touche." "I still think it's disgraceful." "An artist works and slaves to create something beautiful, and nobody cares whether he lives or dies." "Mr. Soames Forsyte." "Excuse me, sir." "I expected you to be alone." "But as you see, I am not." "Perhaps I can call and see you another time." "If you wish." "In the meantime, Helene, my dear, this is Jo's cousin," "Soames, my brother James' boy." "My daughter-in-law." "How do you do?" "Well, cousin Soames..." "you don't change much with the years." "If you'll excuse me." "Nonsense, boy." "Now you're here." "Sit down." "June, give your cousin a dish of tea." "Certainly." "Cream and sugar,Soames?" "Thank you, but I don't want any tea." "Well then,what do you want?" "Nothing.I'd better go." "No, you don'T." "You came here wanting something." "It isn't business, or you'd deal with it through the office." "It's hardly a social call, or you'd sit down and take your tea like a gentleman." "So, what is it?" "A family matter?" "Eh?" "No." "Well, yes." "I suppose, in a way." "Then speak up." "This is my family." "What concerns me,concerns them." "What about the prospective member?" "What?" "What do you mean?" "I think he means Bosinney." "Precisely." "Phil?" "Is it something to do with the house?" "Since you ask, yes." "What is it?" "What's happened?" "Jo, shouldn't we leave?" "I think, father.." "No, I'd prefer you to stay, as uncle jolyon considers you're concerned." "And you may be." "Well?" "Our distinguished architect is getting himself into a mess." "The construction of my house is finished, there now remains the decorations." "The cost so far is much higher than I intended to pay, much higher than his estimates." "He has totally disregarded all protests and suggestions for economy, and I've just had to pay up." "Now, as you know it was agreed that he should do the decorations." "So.." "I ventured to write to him asking for a detailed estimate and urging the strictest economy." "Perhaps you might be interested to hear the gist of his reply." "What's all this got to do with us?" "Since he's supposed to be marrying June," "I'd have thought it might have been of some interest." "He says, "if I am to go on with the decoration," ""I should like you to understand that you must give me a free hand." ""You never come down without suggesting something that goes counter to my scheme." "So please make up your mind whether you want me to decorate or to retire, which on the whole I'd prefer to do." ""But understand that if I decorate, I do so alone, without interference of any sort."" "Well, that seems clear enough." "Yes." "I'm to give a free hand to spend my money like water." "No estimates, no controls." "He gives you an alternative, Soames." "He offers to resign." "Let him." "No, he mustn'T." "That would be wicked." "It's his house." "Phil's!" "I beg your pardon?" "I know it's your money, but that's all." "The house is his because he created it, and it'll still be his when you're dead and gone." "You don't own it any more than you could own a Rembrandt, however much you paid for it." "You don't know what you're talking about." "For once, Soames, I'm inclined to agree with you." "But jo's right, if don't trust a man, don't employ him." "It's not so simple." "I'd have to start all over again with a new man, with new designs, more delay, a lot of extra expense anyway." "Appears to have you in a cleft stick." "No." "I know my remedies, I'm a lawyer." "I came around because someone ought to warn Bosinney, in his own interests, not to go too far." "I thought a word from you would carry weight." "No, you can manage your own affairs." "I'll have nothing to do with it." "You can leave me out of it." "And me, I'm afraid." "He's unlikely to listen to anything I might say." "I should like to ask a question if I may, because no one has mentioned it." "Now this house is finished, the construction, of course." "Are you pleased with it?" "I mean, do you approve of what the architect has done?" "Yes, I suppose so." "And your wife, does she like it?" "I believe so." "And forgive me, but you are not a poor man." "This extra cost will not cripple you." "No?" "Then I think you should be content." "How seldom can one find the perfect thing?" "When you do, you should be content, whatever you have to pay." "I'm obliged to you." "I'm exceedingly obliged to you all." "Good day." "It's intolerable." "That infernal young jackanapes coming in here,upsetting everybody!" "What did he mean, gran, when he spoke of remedies?" "Can he do anything to Phil?" "Of course not." "Lawyer's claptrap." "All the same, my dear, he's an ugly customer, especially where property's concerned." "Perhaps you had better have a word with young Bosinney." "Tell him not to go too far." "Tell him not to drive Soames." "Tell him?" "How can I?" " How can I tell him anything?" "I never see him." "I haven't seen him for weeks." "Oh, Jo...?" "Yes, please, please.Please do." "June." "June, dear." "Don't touch me." "But can't I help you?" "I'd so like to." "I don't need help." "Not from anyone, and especially not from you." "Jo, my dear boy." "I don't know what to make of him." "They tell me he works hard, but I see no good coming of it." "He's impractical, no method." "He never comes here now, but when he did, he never looked at June the way he ought to." "He's not after her money." "He'd be off tomorrow with his bargain, if she gave a sign." "But she won'T." "She'll stick to him, never let go." "Well, I've persuaded her to come away with me for a month." "Switzerland." "She used to like the mountains." "She's gone to her room." "Father, I regret to have to say this, but there's a rumor going around." "You've heard it too?" "At the club." "Do you know it?" "Helene?" "Oh, yes." "There's always gossip and scandal." "I don't believe a word of it." "But it's true." "How do you know?" "We saw them together." "Today in the gardens, when I was painting." "So it is true." "And I'm afraid it's the real thing, father." "Real?" "What do you mean?" "Not a summer flirtation." "They are in love, seriously and deeply." "How can you tell?" "By their attitude towards each other, by their faces, hers especially." "We think she must be married, but whoever she is... what?" "You don't know?" "They haven't told you that, Jo,at the club?" "No." "Well, I will." "Her name is Irene Forsyte." "Oh, no." "Soames' wife." "Oh, my god." "Yes." "That's what they've been chattering about for weeks." "Pretty, isn't it?" "Jo, I want you to go along and see this young Bosinney." "Father, what can I do?" "We must know what he intends." "The thing can't just drift." "Surely I'm the last person..." "you're the only one." "i'd lose my temper, rap him over the knuckles." "It wouldn't do." "I'm sorry, but can you honestly see me playing the heavy, father?" "Asking a man his intentions, bringing him up to the mark?" "It's a distasteful thing to have to do anyway, but for me,it's simply ludicrous." "Bosinney would just laugh in my face." "Jo, darling, it's a very small thing to be laughed at." "June's your daughter, and she needs help." "She's fretting,there's no doubt about it, fretting herself to a shadow." "Very well." "I'll think about it." "But if I do decide to go see him, don't expect anything to come of it." "From what I've heard today, this young mr." "Bosinney is not the easiest man to deal with." "And therefore, as you request," "I give you a free hand with the decorations." "But I want it clearly understood that the total cost of the house, inclusive of your fee, must not exceed 12,000 pounds." "This gives you an ample margin and, as you know, is far more than I originally contemplated." "Dear Forsyte:" "If you think that in such a delicate matter as decoration" "I can bind myself to the exact pound, I'm afraid you're mistaken." "I can see that you are tired of the arrangement and of me, and therefore I had better resign." "Dear Bosinney, in both our interests it is undesirable that matters should be left at this stage." "I did not mean to say that if you should exceed the sum named in my letter by 10 or 20 or even 50 pounds, there would be any difficulty between us." "This being so, I should like you to reconsider your answer." "You have a free hand in the terms of this correspondence." "Pompous ass." "Well, you've read the letters." "There's his latest one." ""Dear Forsyte, very well." "Philip Bosinney."" "There it is, in writing." "Can't go back on that,can he?" "He'd better not." "No, even he must realize i mean what I say." "Your mother and I would like to see the house." "When do you think we can come?" "Any time you like." "Should we say saturday fortnight?" "I shall be down in southampton on friday, but I could come up from there to meet you." "Then we'll drive down and take Irene." "I daresay she'll have plenty to say about the decoration." "You can ask her, but I doubt if she'll go." "Won't go?" "What's the meaning of that?" "She's going to live there, isn't she?" "I don't know, they don't tell me, but I don't know what's come to women nowadays." "I never used to have any trouble with them." "But now, "won't do this, won't do that."" "You mark my words, she's had too much liberty.She's spoiled." "I won't have anything said against her." "No?" "Well, there's too much talk altogether." "Talk?" "What about?" "What about?" "How should I know what about?" "Now you take my advice." "Don't you listen to anything they say at Timothy's, or anywhere else for that matter." "I don't." "She's a good little thing at heart." "Your mother's quite sure of that." "That's very kind of mother." "And so am I." "But she ought to settle down a bit, away from distractions." "Yes, Robin hill's the place." "But I knew how it'd be." "Unless a woman has children and responsibilities... mr." "Soames, sir Herbert's here to see you." "I'll come." "Your mother-in-law couldn't come." "She's got a sore toe." "I'm sorry." "You look peaky." "The drive down will do you good." "Soames is very fond of you." "He won't have anything said against you." "Why don't you show him more affection?" "I can't show what i haven't got." "I don't know what you're about." "He's a very good husband." "You're not married to him." "What's that?" "Eh?" "He gives you everything you want, takes you everywhere." "And now he's built you this house in the country." "It's not as if you had anything of your own." "No." "I'm sure we've all tried to be kind to you." "And we're all fond of you." "If you'd only behave..." "I mean, if you'd only be more of a wife to him." "Well, now the house is finished, I suppose" "June and that young fellow will be getting married, eh?" "I don't know." "You should ask her." "I hear she's away in switzerland with her grandfather." "Does she write to you?" "No." "But I thought you and she were such great friends." "Again, I suggest you ask her." "Well, it's very odd." "I can't get a plain answer to a plain question, but there it is." "Well, don't say i haven't warned you." "Soames doesn't talk much, but he won't put up with a great deal more of this sort of thing." "What sort of thing?" "Well, how should I know?" "Let me tell you, you'll have nobody but yourself to blame." "What's more, you'll get no sympathy from anyone." "Thank you.I'll bear that in mind." "Whatever happens, I'm to get no sympathy." "It's a long time since i expected any." "Well, how do you do,mr." "Forsyte?" "Come down to see for yourself?" "How are you?" "Soames here yet?" "Not yet." "Will you excuse me, please?" "Well, very impressive." "You've been spending money pretty freely here, I should say." "Now what did that cost?" "What would you think?" "I?" "I have no idea." "Two or three hundred,I dare say." "The exact sum." "That tree out there, that ought to come down." "Oh, you think so?" "You think with that tree in the way, you don't get enough view for your money, eh?" "Well, I don't see what you want with a tree." "It shall come down tomorrow." "Don't say I thought it should come down." "I know nothing about it." "No?" "Nothing to do with me." "You do it on your own responsibility." "But you'll allow me to mention your name?" "Certainly not." "Better leave the tree alone." "It's not your tree." "You must have spent a deuce of a lot on these columns." "Now what did they cost?" "Can't tell you offhand, but I know it was a deuce of a lot." "I should think so." "I should... the picture gallery lies behind these curtains, worked by these ropes." "This one to open them, and this one to close them." "The ropes cost ten and six a yard, including the tassels." "Well, you've certainly spread yourself here." "I had no idea you were coming down today." "I'm glad." "I nearly didn't, but I couldn't forgot the chance of seeing you." "And now?" "I'm glad too." "I was lectured all the way down, but it was worth it." "When shall I see you again?" "Soon." "Bosinney!" "I want a word with you." "Have you seen these latest accounts?" "Yes, I believe so." "And you realize what you've done?" "Yes I've finished your house for you." "Here it stands, beautiful, a work of art, ready for you to take possession." "And I suppose you're quite satisfied with yourself." "I'll tell you what you've done." "You've put yourself in queer street." "And if you don't know it now you will, before you're very much older!" "What's the matter?" "What's all this?" "Our young friend has exceeded his instructions again, that's all." "So much of the worse for him." "Tomorrow?" "There's a storm coming up." "Shouldn't we go home?" "Yes." "We can't take you,I suppose, mr." "Bosinney?" "No." "Well then, goodbye." "Goodbye, mr." "Forsyte." "Mr. Forsyte, don't you get caught in any storms, will you?" "Thank you, Bilson." "We shan't need anything more tonight." "You may go to bed." "Thank you, madam.Good night." "Good night." "Where are you going?" "To bed." "You haven't spoken a word all evening." "You rarely do nowadays, to me." "What do you think about?" "No, don't go." "I've been looking up my correspondence with your friend,the buccaneer." "He's made a fool of himself, and he'll have to pay." "I don't know what you're talking about." "You soon will." "It's a mere trifle, of course, quite beneath your contempt." "A matter of 400 pounds." "Are you saying you're going to make him pay that towards this hateful house?" " I am." "And you know he's got nothing?" " Yes." "Then you're even meaner than I thought." "What is your idea of a wife's duty?" "I've never known." "Soames, do you remember the day i agreed to marry you?" "I promised then to do my utmost to be a good and loving wife to you." "And I've tried to keep that promise." "My god, Soames.How I've tried!" "Been very little sign of it." "But you made a promise too." "You said that if our marriage weren't a success you'd let me go." "Is it a success?" "It would be, if you behaved yourself." "You promised." "I did no such thing!" "You swore it, Soames, on your honor." "Will you let me go?" "How can I?" "We're married!" "Well then, don't talk such nonsense." "Never, do you hear me?" "Never again." "I won't put up with it." "Then you won't let me go?" "What would you do if I did?" "You've got no money." "I could manage somehow." "Once and for all, I will not have you say such things." "It's wrong and impossible, so never speak of it again." "Don't you understand?" "Do you still refuse to believe it?" "I loathe you, Soames." "I loathe the very sight of you." "There you are." "Unlock this door." "You hear me?" "Unlock this door!" "Let me in at once!" "I insist that you let me in!" "Irene?" "Irene?" "Who are you?" "Oh, yes, I remember." "You're a Forsyte." "I've seen you at the club." "Yes, and we were introduced after the funeral." "Come in." "Thank you." "My name is Jo, short for Jolyon." "Ah, yes, the senior branch." "Yes, I suppose so." "And unless I've been misinformed, the ex-prodigal twig?" "You could say that." "I say, look here, forgive the mess." "I'm having my annual cleanup." "I've had to sack my cleaning woman." "Was she dishonest?" "On the contrary, no." "It was I who was sorely tempted to steal..." "her wages." "I'm stony broke." "I see." "I understand." "I sympathize." "I know how it feels." "You?" "A Forsyte knows how it feels?" "I assure you." "Well... but then you escaped from them, didn't you?" "Yes." "Why?" "I'm sorry.I shouldn't ask, but... if ever we get to know each other properly, I'll tell you the whole story." "I'll hold you to that." "And now, if you'll excuse me, I simply must get on." "Yes, of course." "Let me help you." "No, you don't know my methods." "No, you just follow me around and talk." "You can begin by telling me why you came here." "Let me." "Thank you." "You didn't come here just to look at a starving architect, now, did you?" "Your father asked you to come." "In a way." "Yes." "You know, I like him." "He's a stuffy old philistine, but he's honest." "I like him." "He'd be gratified to hear it." "Don't you be pompous." "It doesn't suit you." "Is the house finished?" " Yes." "Excuse me." "Is it good?" "I'm nearly satisfied." "I congratulate you." "Oh, I don't know." "No?" "I'd have thought you'd be glad to get a long job off your hands." "But I suppose you feel as i feel when I sell a painting, a child has grown up and gone." "Yes." "Something's gone out of you, and... yes, gone." "I didn't know you painted." "Only watercolors, I'm afraid." "It's a very difficult medium." "Any fool of an amateur can paint in oils." "You just slap it on, slap it on." "If you don't like it,slap some more on." "I've known politicians who can paint quite respectably in oils." "Do you paint well?" "Oh, I improve." "But the hard thing for me is to believe in it." "Then how can you do it?" "Work's no good unless you believe in it." "That's exactly what i've always said." "You want to how I manage it, I'll tell you." "I'm a Forsyte, so I concentrate." "Painting's the only thing i'm fit to do, so I do my damndest." "Always hoping, of course, at the back of my Forsyte mind, that I'll be successful, and sell my paintings well and finish up as president of the royal society of watercolor artists." "A Forsyte, whatever his name may be, is not an uncommon animal." "How do you recognize him?" "By his sense of property." "A Forsyte, as I see him, is a slave to property." "He knows a good thing." "He knows a safe thing." "And he keeps a firm hold on his property whether it be houses, money, reputation," "or wives." "Yes." "Plenty of Forsytes in my profession." "Architects?" "Yes, plenty." "And musicians, painters, writers, clergymen, journalists, business and professional men." "The majority of sound, able, three-percent respectable citizens are Forsytes." "You should patent the word." "Yes." "I should like to lecture on the subject." "Well, now you've got it all there." "What are you going to do with it?" " God knows." "Well?" "What's the message?" "It's dangerous to go against the majority." "Never let anything carry you away." "A house." "A painting." "A woman." "They tell me you did." "you forget, I'm a Forsyte." "I hold on." "But I wouldn't recommend every man to go my way." "Thanks." "It's very kind of you." "But you're not the only people who can hold on." "That's my message, in case anyone's interested." "Now you really must excuse me." "As you can see, I'm busy." "Problems to solve, property to dispose of." "My regards to your father." "Well, come in." "Good afternoon." "I thought you'd come today." "No, I knew it." "Did you?" "So I've been trying to tidy up." "You're not very good at it, are you?" "It's rather one of the many things I do badly." "Who was that man?" "Who?" " Him." "Oh, him." "Nobody that need concern us." "Is this the day?" "Is it?" "At last?" "Yes, Philip." "It's been so long,my darling, so long." "Your fault,your fault..." "of course, my fault, but how should I know?" "You knew from the very beginning." "Yes, yes, I knew." "No other man but you, no other love." "But I had to be sure." "Oh, no, not of you, but of myself." "And now at I am." "Completely and utterly sure." "All my doubts and indecisions and fears are gone, like a child's bad dream." "I never thought it could happen, but it has." "I'm deeply in love, oceans deep." "So kiss me, Philip,and love me." "Nothing else in the whole world is of any importance." "And that's their defense." "And you'd better read it." "I will." "What line are they taking?" "They admit the facts." "But on the question of the letters between us, they raise a point." "Briefly, they say, that "to speak of a free hand"" "in the terms of this correspondence is an irish bull." "That cat won't jump." "Any judge will make short work of that." "Have you taken an opinion on it?" "Yes, Waterbuck, Q.C." "He says it's a nice point." "An able fellow, Waterbuck." "Are you briefing him?" "Yes." "Well, I shouldn't have thought the case was open and shut,but I can't tell." "If Waterbuck talks of a nice point..." "Excuse me, father." "We'll talk about it later, I have to go." "Gradman." "Gradman, do we know who the judge is yet?" "Forsyte versus Bosinney?" " Yes, mr." "Soames." "Mr. Justice Bentham, I heard this morning." "He's a strong judge." "Stands no nonsense." "All the better." "Well, Soames." "Your precious house is finished, I hear." "But you're not living in it, eh?" "Excuse me." "I hear other things too." "And I don't like what I hear." "Excuse me!" "Is Mr. Forsyte free, gradman?" " Yes, I believe so, sir." "Then I'll go in." "How are you, Jolyon?" "Haven't seen you for an age." "Two months." "You've been to switzerland, they tell me." "What's this I hear about Soames and young Bosinney?" "Well, Bosinney's got himself into a mess." "I knew how it'd be." "Soames warned him time and time again." "Well, he took no notice and Soames lost his patience in the end." "You can't blame him." "How much?" " Eh?" "How much was he over?" " Three hundred and fifty." "Soames did the right thing." "He paid all the bills..." "Soames is suing Bosinney for the amount." "He's a fool." "You've no business to say so." "Who brought that fellow into the family?" "Tell me that." "He hasn't a penny, and now he'll probably go bankrupt." "Soames'll lose his money and his costs, I shouldn't wonder." "Serve him right." "I don't know why he's worried over a few 100 pounds." "I thought he was a man of property." "Whatever he is, that's not the point." "It isn't the money." "I hope you know what you're at." "You must manage your own affairs, but if you take my advice, you'll settle out of court." "I've come for my will." "Your will?" "Are you going to change your arrangement?" " My concern." "I'm taking it out of your hands." "What?" "Yes." "And I'm moving the business of my companies away from this firm." "Away from the family?" "High time." "I need an independent legal advisor." "And let me add this, james." "I have no use for a lawyer that brings legal actions for the sake of petty revenge." "Oh, hello." "I didn't know you were here." "Hello." "How was switzerland?" "Mountainous." "June." "Yes?" "Don't you think you ought to give up?" "Give up?" "Of course not." "Anyway, give up what?" "Fighting battles you can't win." "I don't know what you mean." "I think you do." "However, no matter." "It's not for me to advise you." "With that, I agree." "But I think I'll take a chance, just this once." "You're very young." "Your whole life ahead of you." "It can be full and happy." "Don't wear yourself out in a hopeless struggle." "And it is hopeless, believe me." "I don't believe you." "Why should I?" "What do you know?" "Ah, Jo, thanks for coming." "June, you're not going?" "I'm going to see mrs." "Smeech." "Yes." "Well, see you for dinner?" "Yes, gran, of course." "Mrs. Smeech, a worn-out old washerwoman with bad legs, lives in Paddington, one of June's lame ducks." "She collects them." "What good it does,I can't tell." "She has a warm heart, and a fine hot temper to go with it." "Yes." "She takes after your mother." "Well, jo?" "Did you see young Bosinney?" " Yes, I saw him." "He's a strange chap, a little too bohemian for me." "And for me too, by a long chalk." "Still..." "that's in his nature." "Who are we to criticize, if it makes him a better artist?" "That's your damned tolerance, jo." "I've no patience with it." "Well, he has his own virtues." "What?" "Different from ours maybe." "He's as far removed from me as I am from from uncle james." "What virtues, may I ask?" "A keen intelligence, humor, complete dedication to his work." "Does that make him the right husband for june?" "No, the worst possible." "Disastrous, I'd say." "Besides, he's out of love with her." "Did he say so?" "No, never mentioned her name." "I had an odd feeling about that." "Almost as if he'd forgotten her existence." "Damn the man." "Damn him." "How dare he come here, make love to June, steal her affections and then sneak off without a word?" "Because he's obsessed, totally, completely obsessed with someone else." "It's like having an accident, falling under a train." "He doesn't know where he is." "That's fanciful." "Was she mentioned?" "No." "I shan't go into details, but it's quite obvious." "These two are lovers." "What's to be done, Jo?" "What's to be done?" "How can we protect june?" "It'll all come out, you know." "Soames is vindictive." "And there's legal action coming up." "Does june know about that?" "The whole family it's the talk of timothy's,confound the lot of them." "But the odd thing, when I spoke to June about it, it seemed to brighten her up as though it might do her some good." "She'll have some mad scheme in her head, no doubt." "Well, I don't know." "I don't know how it's all going to end." "Phil!" "Phil!" "If you're there, phil, let me in." "Where are you, phil?" "Where are you?" "Very pretty." "I don't like that blouse." "It's a shapeless thing." "Don't touch me." "Where have you been?" "Tell me at once." "Where have you been?" "In heaven, out of this house." "Soames, don'T." "Kill me if you like, but don'T." "I'd rather you killed me." "Kill you?" "Why should I?" "There's no need to kill you." "Anybody can have you." "Can't they?" "No..." "can't they?" "!" "Well I can too!" "You're my wife." "You're my wife!" "No!" "You're my wife!" "The first day of autumn, the fall of the year, and in london, naturally,the first fog." "But in this, the greatest city in the world, life must go on." "And Forsytes have to see that it does." "Whatever the weather, they must attend to business, as indeed, other less prosperous folk must do." ""Poor devil", a Forsyte might say to himself, "looks as if he's having a bad time."" "But then follows the consoling thought "it serves him right,"after all." "He should manage his affairs better."" "But what of a Forsyte with a guilty conscience?" "And there are some." "Is there room in his heart for shame and pity?" "Or is he rather proud of having asserted his rights at last and behaved like a man?" "Who can tell?" "But one thing's certain, whatever emotion may boil inside him, he will keep it as dark and secret as the grave." "Bilson, is your mistress up yet?" "I don't know, sir." "I took her up some breakfast, but when I knocked, she said to take it away." "Well, when you see her, tell her i've gone to the office." "The office, sir?" "Have you got to?" "It's terrible foggy out." "I'm aware of that." "Ah, mrs." "Forsyte, is everything satisfactory?" "Thank you, yes." "Do you know...was my note delivered?" "Oh, yes, madam." "Though it took the boy some time to reach Sloane square, the fog's very bad." "Did he bring back an answer?" "There was no reply to his knock, so he put the note through the letter box." "I see." "Thank you." "Irene." "I came as fast as I could." "What is it, what's happened?" "Why are you here?" "Because it's quiet and out of the way." "No one would look for me in a place like this." "Shouldn't we go and sit down?" "In here." "Now, tell me." "Poor love, you look so pale." "What's happened?" "I have left Soames." "Left him?" "For good?" "But that's wonderful." "It's what I've been begging you to do for weeks." "But why didn't you come straight to me?" "Because your studio is the first place he would look." "Don't I just wish he would." "No, that's not the reason." "What is it?" "The same as it has always been." "And you know what i think about that." "Nonsense." "No, philip." "Irene, I..." "No, darling." "Now, listen to me, please." "You must know." "You do know that all I want in the whole world is to live with you and share everything in your life." "But you shall." "No." "Perhaps not for a long time." "I remember you telling me what uncle Jolyon once said to you." "Your career, even your livelihood, depends upon you not offending people with money and influence." "Forsytes." "Yes." "Breaking with June is bad enough, though it's not scandalous." "But if you and i live openly together..." "philip, they'll destroy you." "We can outlive this." "An architect is not like a painter or an author." "He can't work in a vacuum." "So you'd be deprived of your power to work at all." "And for an artist, this is the worst thing that can happen." "I can think of worse." "To be deprived of me?" "I love you for saying so, but you don't believe it." "You wouldn't be the man I love, the artist I admire so much, if you did believe it." "Then to hell with it." "To hell with them all." "We'll go abroad." "I'm a good draughtsman." "I'll find work enough." "How soon?" "And won't you loathe it?" " I'll rejoice in it,if we're together." "Philip, how much money have you got?" "Hm?" "Oh, I don't..." "no, I mean all together." "None at all, have you?" "Money is no object..." "And you've been selling things, your field glasses, the old prints your father left you." "Pawned." "They'll all be redeemed." "Yes, and this lawsuit tomorrow." "If Soames should win...?" "I'll go bankrupt." "He'll get nothing out of it." "Except his revenge." "Well, I hope he finds it sweet." "He will because through you he'll be striking at me." "They come away with me." "No." "I have exactly 23 pounds, laboriously saved." "But I have said, money is... no!" "No, I'll find lodgings tomorrow and then work." "Work?" "What work?" "You forget." "I'm a qualified music teacher." "Then teach in France or Italy, where they understand music." "Florence perhaps, or Naples, where the sun shines." "We can live nobly on six pence a day." "Or perhaps it ought to be France." "You speak french well, don't you?" "Yes." "And you have the conservatoire diploma." "Well, that'll help, won't it?" "And as for me, my darling, I'll work... oh, god, I'll work like twenty demons." "After all, what is it?" "Putting ideas down on paper so that bricklayers and masons can understand well, that's the same in any language." "And it's warm in the south, and the wind blows softly." "When the sun goes down, the stars come out." "Bang.Like fireworks." "And the people... you know, the people there, they think all artists are crazy children." "Well, they do here, but the difference... the difference is that they like crazy children." "And as for love, well, they think love is a happy thing, a blessing,not a crime." "And so my love, my dearest love, will you come with me?" "Philip, I asked you to meet me here because I thought if we weren't alone, you couldn't persuade me." "I know you would try, and I was afraid." "Afraid that if I came to you," "I would never be able to leave you again." "But you never shall." "I won't be a burden to you." "Oh." "I can't live without you." "I didn't believe i should ever cry again." "I thought after last night, I... last night?" "Why?" "What happened last night?" "What was it?" "Soames?" "What did he do?" "I can't tell you." "But I must know." "By god, if he hurt you... something happened." "I knew there was something." "Why should you leave him suddenly, today, when yesterday you refused?" "Irene, my love, tell me." "Whatever it was, tell me about it." "Weeks ago, before we became lovers, Philip, I started to lock my door." "And when he realized I meant it, it seemed as if he accepted the situation." "But last night, when I came in, he followed me upstairs." "I tried to stop him, but he burst in." "He was out of his mind, savage," "like a mad beast." "Oh, I fought him." "Oh, God, Philip, I fought him, but he was too strong for me." "And in the end, in the end," "he had his way." "Don't, Philip." "Don't look like that." "I'll kill him." "No." "No, my darling, no." "It's all over." "It's all over." "Oh, I shouldn't have told you, I didn't mean to." "I don't understand." "How could a man do that?" "Oh, philip, my love, my love." "Well, anyway." "Whatever happens now ,you're to stay here, you're not to move out of here." "Do you understand?" "You are to wait for me." "Do not move one step." "I'll get some money somehow." "I'll be back as soon as I can, two or three house at the most." "And we'll leave at once." "Now, wait for me." "I'll wait." "Will your... your husband be coming back later?" "What?" "Oh, I beg your pardon." "Yes." "Yes." "Please, god." "He's coming back." "Here you are, cabbie." "Have a drink and keep the change." "Thank you." "Go on." "Hey!" "Hold hard, me beauty." "Good lord." "Bosinney." "Who are you?" "Come on now, you know me, george Forsyte." "Damn, and blast you to hell." "The wild buccaneer." "Drunk?" " No, I don't think so." "He's taken a knock." "I'm going after him." "In this?" "You're raving." "Why?" " So long, monty." "See you later." "But it's sheer raving lunacy." "Aw." "Now, then." "Get some money." "Arkwright, Jermyn street." "Oh, God." "Rape." "Bloody rape." "Oh, god." "What's sort of man?" "Rape." "Rape his own wife." "Oh, God." "He's not fit to live." "Bosinney." "I say, look out!" "Bosinney!" "Philip?" "Yes, Forsyte, it's a very subtle point, a very fine point." "When is a free hand not a free hand, eh?" "It sounds like one of those riddles in a christmas cracker, what?" "But what's the answer, eh?" "What's the answer?" "Well, what is the answer?" "Yes, well, we shan't know that until tomorrow, shall we?" "You will give your evidence." "Bosinney will give his." "I shall press my opinion." "Oh, firmly, I can assure you, and young... what's-his-name," "Chankery will press his for the other side." "And then in his infinite wisdom, mr." "Justice Bentham will deliver judgment." "But the nice point." "What is your opinion, sir Mervyn?" "Your son, being a lawyer, expressed himself precisely, as precisely as possible, in that final letter." "By adding the words, "in the terms of this correspondence", he ensured that the correspondence, the whole correspondence and nothing but the correspondence, should be the basis of decision." "No irrelevances, the quality of the work done by the architect, the amount of time and labor devoted by him, the adequacy or otherwise of his remuneration." "None of these matters can arise or will arise." "Or if they do arise, can they be admitted?" "My opinion is that the ruling in" "Boileau versus The blasted cement company limited will apply." "And in that case, as you will recall..." "Boileau got his verdict." "I'm obliged to you, sir Mervyn." "Emily, my dear, this is sir Mervyn Waterbuck." "Waterbuck, my wife." "How do you do?" "Dear lady." "I do think it was brave of you to venture out on such a day." "A pleasure." "Warmson, we're all quite ready for luncheon, I'm sure." "Is your business finished?" "If not, perhaps you could continue in the dining room." "I do hope you like saddle of mutton." "In my opinion, madam, saddle of mutton comes as a boon directly from the hands of providence." "Does it?" "Dear me." "You know, I never thought of it like that." "Tomorrow, then." "When you give your evidence, don't be too careful." "Be open, be direct." "A little bluffness, Forsyte, a little bluffness, what?" "Fellow's mountebank." "Yes, I know." "But I've seen him in court." "It works there." "Oh, I hope so." "I don't know, I can't tell." "Excuse me." "Yes, madam?" " Is there a message for me?" "I'm afraid not." "Nothing?" "Are you sure?" " I'm quite sure, madam." "Thank you." "Ah." "Ah, 26, very neat little break." "26, willie." "And then?" "Then I lost him." "He rushed across under the nose of a cab-horse and vanished." "Ah, and who was she?" "Oh, some little love-lady or other." "Some ... oh, damn it, I thought you were going to say it was friend Soames' wife." "Then damn it, you were wrong, weren't you?" "Oh, tricky pot." "You know, I can't help feeling sorry for that poor devil." "What, the buccaneer?" "Why?" "The chap was demented." "Wandering about in the fog like that, with all that on his mind." "Anything might happen to him." "Oh, he's all right." "10 to one he was tight." "Oh, dry up." "What?" " Bilson, is your mistress upstairs?" " No, sir." "Where is she, then?" "She left about half-past ten, sir, with her large valise." "What's that?" "What message did she leave?" " None, sir." "No message?" "Well, very well, that will do." "Thank you, sir." "Philip?" "There you are, then." "Oh, isn't it lovely." "That nasty fog's quite gone." "But not for long, smither, you mark my words." "Oh, but cook says..." "now hurry downstairs." "There's a good girl." "I think we have visitors." "Lawks, ma'am, and there's me with me brooms all over the lobby." "I did not tell you to run, Smither." "You know mr." "Timothy does not like it." "Oh, no, ma'am." "I forgot." "I think somebody's let them in." "Miss Hester, probably." "So I thought, "well, if all the men in the family have gone to the law courts..."" "Juley, dear." "Emily and my Winifred." "Now, aunt Juley." "Monty." "Well, dear, how are you?" "Very well, dear, considering." "But poor Skippy's little arrangements are not quite right." "The fog, you know." "And, Smither,will you take her, please?" "Fifteen minutes in the park, and do not let her talk to strangers." "Do sit down, everyone." "You'll stay to luncheon, won't you?" "How very kind." "Timothy may come down." "He stayed in his room yesterday, of course." "The fog, you know." "Monty, dear?" "No, thank you, aunt Hester." "But I'll push it off in a minute or two, if you don't mind." "Oh, must you?" "What a shame?" "Why?" "Well, I thought I'd drop in at the court." "Yes, he wants to be in at the death." "Don't you, monty?" "Death, dear?" "Whose death?" "Oh, good gracious, not one of the family." "I was speaking metaphorically, aunt." "Oh, metaphorically." "For some reason or another, and I can't imagine why." "Monty's taken a great dislike to mr." "Bosinney." "So has James, you know." "And I can quite understand it." "Mr. Bosinney's behaved very badly over Soames' house, very badly." "Well, yes." "It's inexcusable, of course." "But Soames is perfectly capable of dealing with that." "There's no doubt, I suppose that Soames will win his case?" "Oh, no doubt at all." "Sir Mervyn assured me so himself." "Oh, sir Mervyn, oh, then that's all right." "But if he does, what will happen to mr." "Bosinney?" "They tell me he has nothing." "Nothing." "Nothing except charm and talent." "Well, they're not very respectable qualities, my dear." "Hardly enough if a young man has to make his own way." "Oh, I don't know." "Anyway, I think he has chic." "Winifred." "Really, well, all I can say is you wouldn't have thought so if you'd seen the fellow yesterday, tearing through the fog as if the devil were after him." "Anything less "chic" it'd be hard to imagine." "Well, I'm afraid I must be off." "Monty." "You can't just go and leave us all bursting with curiosity." "I'm sorry, mama." "Freddie will tell you all the shocking details." "Won't you, Freddie?" "Goodbye, everyone." "Well, winifred?" "Winifred, do tell us." "What shocking details?" "None, I'm afraid, as far as I know." "But..." "Monty was joking." "Oh, dear... and I quite thought we were going to hear something definite at last." "Definite, juley?" "About mr." "Bosinney and Irene." "Are they or aren't they?" "That's what I want to know." "Do you know?" "I think Jolyon's changed terribly this last year." "We haven't seen much of him, of course, but James seems very anxious." "What do you think, Hester?" "Yes, yes, I do think that he is aging tremendously." "Poor, dear Jolyon." "Something ought to be done about it." "Well, there you are, Jo." "You can cut your coat a bit longer in the future." "I thought you ought to know." "I haven't many more years at my age." "Well, father, I... that dog of yours is spoiling the garden." "I don't know what you want with a dog." "Oh, by the way,I've taken all my business out of your uncle's hands." "James is past it, and that young Soames, he's a man of property." "He won't miss the fee." "So if there's anything, go to jack herring." "I shall remember." "I wish I could find the words,father, I..." "I'd be grateful if you said nothing more about it." "Too many years gone wasted." "Wasted?" "Oh, I don't know." "Not for you, perhaps." "You've learned a great deal, I dare say." "And the children... by the way, jo, there is something i'd like you to do for me... hello, darling." "Good morning." "Good morning." "I'm just leaving." "How are you?" "Very well, thank you." "Jo, your father was about to ask you to do something." "Yes, father." "What is it?" "What can I do?" "Oh, it's this tomfool case, Soames and Bosinney." "I'm told it's coming up this afternoon." "So?" "Yes, well, what do you want me to do?" "I'd go there myself, but it wouldn't be the thing." "No." "No, hardly the thing." "Because on one side, there are Forsytes, all the family of the Forsytes." "And on the other, just poor mr." "Bosinney,the architect." "And you?" "For you it is difficult." "I see the difficulty." "You are a Forsyte, so you should support them against this impudent young man who builds houses and wastes their money." "Oh, Helene, please!" "On the other hand... the young man is engaged to June, so you should support him." "But then perhaps he is making june unhappy." "Perhaps he doesn't love her any more." "Helene, please be quiet." "No." "I shall say my say." "Why not?" "Why not, indeed?" " I am outside." "I have always been outside, so i can see you all quite clearly." "If you go to the trial, mr.Forsyte, you must take one side or the other, isn't that so?" "That is so." "But this you don't want to do, not outright, so that all can see." "Because you don't know yourself whose side you're on." "So now you ask Jo to do this for you." "Isn't that what you want?" "It is." "After nine years, nine years, when you don't care if Jo is dead or starving," "now you come and say, "please, Jo, do this for me, do that for me." "Because for me, Jolyon Forsyte, it is hardly the thing."" "When I got to the court, father, what did you want me to do?" "There's no need." "I don't want you to do anything." "Well, I'll be going anyway." "So, what shall I do?" " Very well." "If you will." "If Bosinney loses this case, but only, mark you, if he loses, ask him to come and see me." "No, don't ask him, tell him." "I'll try." "This could be a disastrous case for him, and I won't have the boy hounded, no matter what." "Now, is that clear?" " As clear as crystal." "Good." "I'll see out, father." "Good day." "Helene, do you know why he came to see me?" "To ask you to go to the trial." "No, no." "That was an afterthought." "A good afterthought." "He takes, but he gives nothing." "He asks for everything." "Would you really like me to tell you why he came?" "If you wish." "To say that he'd changed his will." "He said that coming here in these past few months, getting to know you and the children, talking to me, even though he didn't always agree with what I said," "he said he felt at home here." "So he's changed his will." "Without any conditions at all, he's settled on me 1000 pounds a year, now, at once." "At his death, June is to have 50,000 held in trust, and the rest comes to me." "Over 100,000 pounds." "You know what that means?" "No more pinching and scraping, security for the children, a decent life." "When I tried to thank him, do you know what he said?" "I should like to hear." ""You'll oblige me", he said," by saying nothing more about it."" "So english, so wonderfully english." "I'm ashamed." "I'm so ashamed, I could kill myself." "Good luck, sir." "Don't trample on me!" "What do they isn't the circus." "I can't tell." "I didn't ask them to come." "Your mother wants you and Irene to dine with us tonight." "I'll come, anyway." "Thank you." "What do you mean, you'll come?" "Oh, I'll tell you later." "Ah, in good time, I see." "The case is just coming on." "Ah, Chankery." "Well, I shall be very interested to hear what your client has to say." "Well, you may be surprised too." "I doubt it." "With respect, but I doubt it." "Still no sign of Bosinney." "Counsel, eh?" "Which is which?" "Eh, waterbuck Q.C. For Soames in silk." "The junior, Chankery, for Bosinney." "Thank you." "The big battalion's on your side, eh?" "Good." "No sign of the buccaneer, huh?" "He's late." "He'll be here." "That chap's late for everything, but he'll come." "And I'll tell you why." "He's on a loser if he doesn't, that's why." "I'll bet you three to one he doesn't turn up." "In pounds?" "You're on, George." "Forsyte against Bosinney." "The facts in this case, my lord, are not in dispute." "This being so, all we shall ask your lordship to do is to interpret the correspondence which took place between my client, mr." "Soames Forsyte, and the defendant, mr." "Philip Bosinney, an architect, with regard to the decoration of a house." "I would submit, however, that this correspondence can only mean one very plain thing." "And with your lordship's permission..." "Can I help you, miss?" "Oh, if you will." "Where are they trying the case of Forsyte against Bosinney?" "In here." "You will be quiet, won't you,miss?" "The case is already on." ""Dear Bosinney, I did not mean to say that if you should" ""exceed the sum named in my letter by 10, 20, or 50 pounds" ""there would be any difficulty between us." ""That being so, I should like you to reconsider your answer." ""You have a free hand in the terms "of this correspondence," ""and I hope you will see your way "to completing the decorations," ""in the matter of which I know it is difficult to be absolutely exact." "Yours truly, Soames Forsyte."" "And now my lord, the final letter, dated may the 20th." ""Dear Forsyte, very well." "Philip Bosinney."" "Now, it's hardly surprising, my lord, that on receipt of that missive, short and sweet, if I may say so, and to the point... would you like any more than four to one?" "No, damn it, I wouldn'T." "What's that young june doing here?" " Jolyon shouldn't allow it." "I shouldn'T." "I can tell you that." "...Limit of 3000 pounds by the very large sum of 350 pounds." "Now, as a matter of principle, therefore, and this I must emphasize, as a matter of principle and in the interests of others, my client has felt himself compelled to bring this action." "He is now prepared to go into the witness box, and swear that he never did authorize, it was never in his mind to authorize the expenditure of any money beyond the extreme limit fixed." "And so without wasting any more of the court's time, I'll call mr." "Soames Forsyte." "Mr. Soames Forsyte?" "Mr. Soames Forsyte." "Forsyte versus Bosinney?" "In here, sir." "The case is already on." "Am I late, or are they early?" " Bit of both, I should say, sir." "May I?" " Yes, sure." "In the course of the correspondence with this defendant, you wish to make it plain that you would not countenance any expenditure beyond a certain limit and you stated this limit in exact terms?" "What are you doing here?" "I might ask you the same question." "And yet, when you received the bill for the decoration of the house, you found that the defendant had exceeded this limit by 350 pounds?" "400 pounds." "But I was prepared to accept 50 pounds of that as extras." "Quite so." "Quite so." "Very generous." "And it is to recover that 350 pounds that you have brought this action?" " Precisely." "Thank you, mr." "Forsyte." "Mr. Forsyte, when you agreed that mr." "Bosinney should do the decorations, did you not use the expression "a free hand"?" "No." "Now, come, come, mr." "Forsyte." "The expression I used was "a free hand in the terms of this correspondence"." "And do you tell the court that this is english?" "Certainly." "What does it mean?" " What it says." "But what does it say?" "A free hand in the terms of this correspondence." "And you do not consider this to be a contradiction in terms?" " Not at all." "And yet I believe that you are not an irishman, mr." "Forsyte?" "Is it not perfectly obvious,mr." "Chankery, that mr." "Forsyte, whatever else he may be, is not an irishman?" "Where's Bosinney?" "Not here.Why not?" "I never expected him to come." "All this gibberish means nothing to phil." "Are you sure there isn't a message?" "No message at all, sir." "Dear." "Oh, mr." "Bosinney!" "Oh, I do beg your pardon," "I thought you were someone else." "And if your lordship had had the opportunity, as I have, to see the house, to examine the delicacy and beauty of the work executed by my client, an artist in a most honorable profession," "I am persuaded... nay, I am convinced that not for one moment would your lordship have tolerated this daring... no, I say blatant attempt on behalf of the plaintiff to avoid his legitimate responsibilities." "My lord," "I fear that some disaster must have befallen my client." "I know he is most anxious to be here today to give his evidence, and yet he is nowhere to be found." "With your permission, I will call him again." "I call Philip Baynes Bosinney." "And your change.Thank you." "May I get you a cab?" "Thank you, no." "I should like to leave my luggage here, if I may,and send for it later." "But by all means." "Thank you." "It has been sought on behalf of the defendant, to show that no limit to expenditure was fixed during this correspondence." "If this were so,I can find no reason for the importation by the plaintiff into the correspondence of the sums of 12,000 pounds and subsequently of 35 pounds." "It is manifest to me that by his letter of may the 20th, the defendant assented to a very clear proposition." "By the terms of which he must be held to be bound." "For these reasons, there will be judgment for the plaintiff for the amount claimed, with costs." "Thank you." "Not at all, my dear chap." "Well, congratulations, cousin Soames." "A noble victory." "I suppose you're representing uncle Jolyon." "Well, you can tell him that i won't be too hard on Bosinney." "We'll come to some arrangement." "I shouldn't worry too much about that if I were you." "I'm sure Bosinney's debt will be paid." "So that's it." "Phil isn't here." "Nobody's here." "Except you... and I." "Yes." "I came to tell him Soames won the case." "Of course." "Phil wasn't there." "I didn't expect him to be." "Why not?" " Phil wouldn't defend himself." "Why should he?" "He's done nothing wrong." "No." "All he did was to make the house more beautiful." "What are you doing here?" "Don't stand there like that, as if you were made of stone." "I wish to god I were." "So... it's all true, everything I've tried not to think about, everything they've said about you, it's all true." "I don't know what they've said." "I haven't been listening." "You've no right to be here." "I've no right anywhere." "What do you mean?" " I've left Soames." "You always said I should." "Don't you remember?" "But it wouldn't have happened." "I should never have got free if... stop!" "Don't tell me." "I don't hear anything." "I don't want to know anything." "Why not?" "Are you afraid?" "You shouldn't be." "You were my friend." "I thought you were my friend." "Yes." "And you were a child." "But you're no longer a child." "You're a woman." "And you should know by now that women don't have friends." "They have a lover, and other people they just happen to have met." "You revolt me." "Yes." "But don't imagine that if you had given yourself to philip, anything would have been different." "Whatever you could do or say, nothing would have been different." "Tell me." "Have you seen him since yesterday?" "No." "Have you?" "No." "And I have the strangest feeling, as if my life had suddenly come to an end." "What are talking about?" "You've ruined my life, and you'll ruin his." "So go away." "I don't care what happens to you." "Just go." "Go!" "Irene?" "Irene!" "Your evening paper, sir." "Thank you, Parfitt." "Miss June come in yet?" "Yes, she has, sir." "Ah, there you are." "I want to talk to you." "Come and sit down." "Now, as you know, your father and I reconciled, and I'm glad of it." "I'm glad, if it's a comfort to you." "It is." "So I've decided on something." "I thought I'd mention it to you before I spoke to your father." "I'm going to give up this great place, sell it, and buy a house near London, where we can all live together, as a family should, eh?" "Yes, gran." "As for your stepmother, well, she's a good, kind woman." "You used to like her when you were a child, and she's very fond of Jo." "The children, they're dear little things." "Well, what do you say?" "Gran, I think..." "and if by any chance you didn't get on with them, we'd find a little flat for you in london." "I don't see why it wouldn't work splendidly." "There's just one thing." "Yes?" "What?" "I was going to suggest this anyway." "If we're moving to the country, why don't you buy the house at Robin hill?" "What?" " It's all finished and perfectly beautiful, and nobody's going to live there now." "Well, why not?" "Isn't Soames?" " I'm certain he isn'T." "I'm certain." "So if you could buy it, and if you could settle Soames' claim on Phil." "That was already in my mind." "Oh, gran, you're so good." "Oh, rubbish !" "I told your father, I won't have the boy hounded by that grasping lot, no matter what he's done." "Do you know what they say is going on?" "Yes, I know." "No, I don't know, and I don't care." "Things are changed." "I want to help him, and I will." "You want your own way in everything." "But as for the house, I'll think about it." "Well, there isn't much time." "If you don't do something at once, goodness knows what phil may do." "He may do anything." "Anything!" "I won't go to Soames." "I don't want anything more to do with him." "But you needn'T." "Do it through uncle James." "Go and see him now." "Now?" "Why not?" "Your father and stepmother are coming to dinner." "Oh, it isn't half-past six." "Please, gran, go now." "Very well." "Order the carriage." "Dear gran." "Dear, dear, gran." "It'll all come right now, thanks to you." "I'm sure it'll all come right." "My dear boy." "My dear boy." "What do you mean, left you?" "You never told me she was going to leave you." "I didn't know." "Soames, how dreadful." "Father, what's to be done?" "How should I know what's to be done?" "What's the good of asking me?" "Nobody tells me anything, and then they come and ask me what's to be done." "I can't tell." "Here's your mother.There she stands." "She doesn't say anything." "What I should say you've got to do is follow her." "I don't know where she's gone." "Didn't she leave anywhere." "where do you suppose she's gone, after that young Bosinney,that's where." "I know how it'd be." "Why don't you go round to his room, studio,whatever he calls it?" "I've just come from there." "she wasn't there, and neither was he." "Then they've gone off together." "Abroad, I shouldn't wonder." "Nonsense, James." "They haven't a penny between them." "But mother..." "Soames, what about her jewels?" " They're surely worth a great deal." "She's taken nothing, nothing at all." "Just one valise, and some of her oldest clothes." "We'll have a scandal." "I always said so." "Come now, james." "Soames will do all that he can." "And there you stand, you two and your mother." "I don't know." "But if she hasn't gone off with Bosinney, my advice, Soames,is to find her." "And when you do, don't listen." "Make her come back." "Excuse me, sir." "What is it?" "Mr. Jolyon Forsyte, sir, has called to see you." "Jolyon?" "Now what should he want, eh?" "I have a very good idea, and I don't want to see him." "But... come along, winifred." "We'll be in the other room, James." "And do try not to upset yourself too much." "There's a dear." "Upset?" "Ha." "All right, ask my brother to come in." "Very good, sir." "Please come this way, sir." "I've come to see you about this business between Soames and Bosinney." "I'm told this new house is a white elephant." "I know nothing about white elephants." "Bosinney's lost his case, and he'll likely go bankrupt." "I shouldn't wonder at it." "So Soames will be out of pocket." "I dare say, but..." "now, what I thought was this." "If Soames is not going to live at robin hill... now, I don't want to know anything." "I suppose Irene's put her foot down." "But I am looking for a country house myself." "If the price is right, I don't say I mightn't look at it." "Soames spent a lot of money there." "He'll want a good figure." "If he thinks I'll get a fancy price, he's mistaken." "Let him try and sell it at a forced sale, see what he'll get." "I'm told it's not every man's idea of a house." "It's a gentleman's house." "Anyway, Soames is here if you want to see him." "Uncle James, I apologize for this interruption." "But this isn't a social call, otherwise I should not have come." "There's something I have to say to my father immediately." "Yes, jo, what is it?" "You and Soames should hear it too." "Soames?" "What's it got to do with..." "He's here, isn't he?" "Soames." "Yes?" "Come here a minute." "Well?" "After you left Stanhope gate, father, a police inspector called." "Philip Bosinney was run over yesterday in the fog." "What?" "Is he...?" "Yes, he was killed, instantly." "He's lying in the hospital now, the inspector wanted to know if you would go there immediately." "I will come at once." "You and your son had better come too." "I should tell you..." "I should tell you there's talk of suicide." "Suicide?" "Why suicide?" "Why should he want to do a thing like that?" "God knows, if you and your son don't!" "Please, father." "Mr. Forsyte?" "We are all Forsytes." "I'm obliged to you for coming so quick." "What happened?" "We're not just sure." "Maybe it was an accident, maybe not." "The fog was not so thick just there, and the omnibus driver says the gentleman had ample time to avoid him." "But he walked straight under the horse's hooves." "It was an accident." "You may say that, sir, But he was very hard up." "We found several pawn tickets in his rooms, his account at the bank was overdrawn, and for a by, well, you've seen the account of the case of the day's papers." "A case that went against him." "Will you step in here,gentlemen?" "I'd like a positive identification." "He had an uncle, you know." "He's abroad, sir." "Would you mind?" "Do you identify the gentleman, sir?" "Yes, that is Philip Bosinney." "Quite a young sort of chap,wasn't he?" "I don't know." "It's a waste." "What about... what about her?" "Yes, sad." "You'll forgive me, inspector." "Well, sir?" "You can discount suicide, inspector." "He had everything to live for." "What do you make of this?" "Found in his breast pocket." "Any ideas?" "No." "I'm sorry." "I can't help you." "The tragic death of Philip Bosinney would no doubt be accepted as an accident, almost certainly by the coroner," "and without any doubt, by the Forsyte family." "Yet to my mind and I know the same thought was in my father's," "Bosinney's death was no accident." "The Forsytes had surely killed him." "And why not, they might well ask." "The poor buccaneer had threatened their most valuable possessions:" "Their money and the sanctity of the hearth." "Retribution, they'd call it." "Upon Bosinney, upon Irene, who had dared to fall in love, even upon June, for bringing him into the family circle." "Who's going to tell her?" "June?" "Yes." "I can't bear the thought of it." "He was everything to her." "I think Helene might, father." "What?" "Yes." "Just after you left stanhope gate an inspector appeared on the doorstep." "He told us both the news." "I was going to fetch you at once, but we went inside first, for a moment." "June was upstairs, dressing." "Helene thought that if she came down before we got back, well, the news might come more easily from another woman." "Might, might." "I'd be grateful if she has." "Hello." "Isn't grandpapa down yet?" "And where's my... my father?" "Has he left you by yourself?" "I'm so sorry." "June, will you come and sit down?" "Why?" "I have to tell you something, something tragic and dreadful." "You must please prepare yourself for a great shock." "What is it?" "What's happened?" "Is it grandpapa?" "Phil?" "Is it doing with Phil?" "Are you trying to tell me he's gone?" "Gone away with...?" "No, June." "Well, what then?" "He had an accident." "An accident?" "Oh, where is he?" "I must go to him at once." "June, dear." "Quick, tell me, where is he?" "He's dead." "No." "He was run over in the fog last night and was killed." "No!" "No!" "It's not true." "It can't be true." "It can't be!" "But it is." "Isn't it?" "June..." "Whoa!" "Jo, I don't think you can be much help to June, but..." "What?" "I'm thinking of that poor girl Irene." "If she hasn't heard already, Soames'll tell her." "Unless I'm mistaken, he won't be too squeamish about it." "Someone ought to go there." "Father." "Tell her... tell her if you see her that I'll do anything I can." "London architect killed in fog!" "All the news, all the news, all the latest!" "Horrible accident, london architect killed in fog." "Paper, sir?" "Horrible accident, london architect killed in fog." "Look, here's half a crown." "Go somewhere else." "Well, guv'nor, this is me beat." "Two half crowns, now go." "You've come back." "Why are you sitting here in the dark?" "I suppose..." "I suppose you've seen this." "You know he's dead." "That's why you've come back." "You've nowhere else to go, have you?" "No, stay." "Where else should you be but... here?" "He was your lover, wasn't he?" "Don't deny it." "I know now." "I know for certain." "I don't deny anything." "Why?" "I don't understand why." "I'm a human being." "I'm a man." "I love you." "You think you know what that word means?" "Yes!" "You really think you know?" "I think so." "Have I been good to you?" "I've tried to be." "You had everything you want." "Except one thing." "Oh, one thing!" "This freedom you talk about, I suppose." "But we can't all be free to do exactly as we like." "And if we were, what sort of a world do you think we'd live in?" "Why there'd be no order." "No rules." "No settled society." "The morals of the hen run." "Anarchy." "Is that what you want?" "Is that the way you think we should behave, like animals?" "Is that your idea of marriage?" "That you should give yourself any man that takes your fancy?" "Do you want to live like a whore?" "Stay, you'll hear me out." "Very well, since it's for the last time." "But if I were... what you called me, you'd have no cause for complaint." "Because you've tried to buy me with your money and your position and with your love." "Yes, yes, you have loved me, and I believe you still do, in your way." "But none of it, nothing you can offer, is as much to me as one touch of his hand." "That's the freedom I asked for, Soames." "The freedom to love once, just once and forever." "But you denied me that because love to you is greed and the lust for possession, for ownership." "I was speaking of marriage." "Yes, I know." "And marriage is a contract, freely entered into, with rights and obligations on both sides." "Our marriage is over." "No!" "Irene..." "look, couldn't we begin again?" "I've been harsh with you, I know, I'm sorry." "But, I've suffered too, you know." "Yes." "Damnably." "But we can get over this in time." "I'll make no demands on you." "No, no, I mean that." "We can make a life together, if we both try." "If there's anything you want..." "Just one thing." "What is it?" "Your permission to stay here tonight." "As you so delicately said, I've nowhere else to go." "And tomorrow I'll be gone from this house." "You won't have to suffer any more because of me." "You're still my wife." "I'm not!" "I'm not your anything." "I don't understand you!" "No, you don't!" "And you never will." "But I'll say it once more, I am not your property." "You don't own me, and no one else ever will." "Is that clear?" "From now on I own myself!" "Yes." "Here, cabbie." "Wait for me, please." "Well, sir?" "What do you want?" "Oh, it's you." "Your door was open, Soames." "Well?" "Might I speak with your wife for a moment?" "I have a... my wife can see no one." "I should only keep her a moment." "I said my wife can see no one." "This is my house." "I manage my own affairs." "I've told you before, We are not at home." "Well, I don't know." "That you, parfitt?" "I shan't want anything more." "You can go to bed." "I'll lock up." "It's Jo, father." "Ah, there you are." "Where's Helene?" "Upstairs with June." "The child fainted when your wife told her." "She's better now, but Helene insisted on staying with her." "Yes, she well, did you see the man of property?" "Yes, I saw him." "And I saw his wife." "Just for a moment." "Father?" "But these are mine." "I didn't yeah, I've picked them up from time to time." "At a reasonable figure you don't charge much for your work." "I charge what I can get." "I notice you haven't hung them anywhere?" "Well, no, I was..." "hardly your style, eh?" "Well, frankly, my boy, wishy-washy?" "No." "I wouldn't say that." "Perhaps a little too small?" "Well, I am a Forsyte." "We like a lot for our money." "That's a principle Soames carries too far, much too far." "What is it, Jo?" "Did he say anything?" "Yes, he told me to mind my own business." "That's his privilege, I suppose." "He wouldn't let me talk to Irene, but I saw her, just for an instant." "She only half saw me, I think for a moment she believed she was seeing a miracle." "That young Bosinney had come back from the dead." "Then she understood and her face went cold, like a stone, and Soames slammed the door in my face." "Well that's his privilege too, I suppose." "But stil... yes, but the thought of her, shut up there with him, after all that's happened." "It's intolerable." "Poor little thing." "One shouldn't condone immorality, I suppose." "But... no." "I take it she was the young fellow's mistress?" "Yes, I'm certain of it." "It's a coil, isn't it?" "But Jo, the older I get,the less ready I am to condemn the young for what they do." "I can't help it." "Young people ought to be happy if they can." "We're young for too short a time." "I agree with you but I'm quite sure" "I'm the only Forsyte who would." "I dare say." "What will she do?" "Well, she won't stay with Soames, I'm certain of that." "The question is, what will he do?" "Will he divorce her?" "He'll think twice." "There's a scandal in his precious career." "Lawyers don't like getting mixed up with the law, you know." "No, he'll hold on." "She's his wife, and a wife's a man's property just as much as a carriage or a house." "Oh, he'll hold on as long as he can." "Yes, he's a tenacious brute." "Father, there's something I haven't told you, but I think perhaps you should know." "You are the head of the family." "Much anyone thinks of that nowadays." "What is it?" "After I left Soames' house, I bumped into cousin George." "Oh, that chap." "Yes, apparently, he was the last person to see Bosinney alive." "What?" "Yes,he found him wandering about in the fog." "At first cousin George thought that the buccaneer was drunk." "He was weaving all over the place, didn't seem to care what was happening to him." "He was talking a lot too." ""Babbling", as george called it." "But he heard enough to understand what the poor devil was going through." "Apparently Irene had just told him something which had driven him out of his mind." "It appears the night before Soames had decided to exercise his rights as a husband," "Irene resisted, and Soames used force." "But that's barbarous." "I refuse to believe it." "George was positive, father." "Utterly revolting!" "Poor woman, poor woman." "Yes, and poor Bosinney." "But if it is true, it explains a lot." "Why did you think it necessary to tell me, Jo?" "It'll get about." "You mean George will tell others?" "He might." "He's a malicious chap." "He never could be doing with Soames." "It's best that you should know." "A terrible thing." "Terrible!" "Will you take some more brandy, Jo?" "Yes, a little more, thank you." "You see george sometimes,don't you?" "At my club, yes." "Tell him to keep his mouth shut." "This is not a thing to get about." "If he tells just one more person, I... here, my boy." "All right, father." "Come on." "Sit down." "This'll do us both good." "I've had a shock." "I won't deny it." "All right." "Yes." "You see a house in a fashionable square:" "Trim." "Elegant." "Distinguished." "The family who live there, equally so." "And suddenly you catch a glimpse of the reality behind the façade." "For a moment, just a moment, you're aware." "Violence." "Desperation." "Wild passion." "It's a rum old world, father." "No wonder you're shocked." "That's as may be, but we're none of us eager to leave it, are we?" "No, I suppose not." "Go on wanting things." "With one foot in the grave, we'll want something, I shouldn't wonder." "Jo, this business has helped me to make up my mind:" "I'm too old." "Nonsense." "For london, I mean." "All this noise and rushing about." "No, I shall resign from my boards and sell this great barrack of a place." "Yeah?" "And what then?" "Robin hill." "What?" "Bosinney's place?" "Soames' house?" "I believe he'll sell." "James thinks so." "And I'll buy, if the price is right." "But only on one condition." "What's that?" "That you come too." "You and your wife and the children." "Well, I should like it of course." "But I can't answer for helene." "I dare say we shall get on." "What about June?" "After this we may have to make other arrangements for June." "But what about you?" "You agree?" "Well I'll put it to Helene of course," "I think she must be glad for the children's sake but, well, you know how unpredictable she can be." "She worries too much, and she's too thin, that's all.." "Well, father, if Helene agrees, I agree with all my heart." "Good, good, we come and see me tomorrow when you've talked it over, eh?" "Roger, dear, you must be very proud of little Francie." "Oh, it's a charming waltz." "What does she call this one?" ""The kensington coil", I believe." "How appropriate." "Yes, it does have a sweet dip to the melody." "And is this one to be published too?" "Of course it is." "So she tells Roger, don't pretend not to know." "It's coming out next week." "The same firm that published her" ""songs for little people" and "kiss me, mother, ere I die."" "Euphemia tells me there's money in it." "Money?" "What sort of money,I'd like to know." "Oh, quite a lot, uncle." "Enough to buy all her clothes." "You don't tell me!" "Roger should put a stop to it, in my opinion." "Good heavens, why?" "Music, poetry, a lot of time-wasting rubbish." "If you ask me, all very well for a pack of foreigners, but an english girl, who knows what company she'll be keeping?" "A lot of riff-raff, I shouldn't wonder." "Oh, uncle Nicholas, that point of view is quite out of date." "Girls do all sorts of things nowadays." "They always did, what?" "They always did." "But she's a clever little thing, well turned out." "Damn me if I don't take her for a drive one of these days." "And did you see the critiques in the ladies' genteel guide?" "No!" "No?" "Oh, Winifred cut it out for me." "One moment." "Thank you, my dear." "That was very nice." "Thank you, aunt Juley." "Well done, Francie." "I wish I had your talent." "Now, do you think it will sell?" "Smith and Latchmore think so." "I made them raise my royalties for it." "Raise your royalties?" ""If you don't", I said," ""I shall take my immortal works elsewhere."" "Somehow, Roger, I can't help regretting that Francie doesn't compose classical music." "She did, once." "Really?" "A violin sonata, she called it, or some such nonsense." "It didn't sell 30 copies." "Ah, here it is." "Now, listen everybody." ""We have pleasure in noticing the latest" ""of miss Francie Forsyte's'" spirited ditties, entitled 'Grandma's porgy. '" ""It is both sparkling and pathetic, and we ourselves" ""were moved to tears and laughter." ""Miss Forsyte should go far." There!" "Don't go too far, dear." "Talking of going far, they tell me Soames has given up his London house." "Yes, aunt, he..." "gone to live in Brighton,I hear." "Ah, some very good property in Brighton." "It's a growing place,in Brighton, they tell me, though why it should be,I don't know." "I believe the sea breeze is a very beneficial... has anybody seen anything of...?" "Soames travels up daily to the office." "He finds the walk to the station..." "I've seen her." "Who, dear?" "In the morning." "Irene." "Well, that's who you meant, wasn't it?" "Yes, dear, of course." "Yes, I saw her at a concert by herself, looking beautiful and sad." "You know, I've always rather liked her." "If you ask me, I think Soames should..." "Soames should do what, Nicholas?" "Get her back?" "Is that what you mean?" "She'd never go back." "After, what is it?" "Four years?" "Four years of freedom?" "I know I wouldn't." "You shouldn't know anything at all about such things." "Oh, don't be so stuffy, father." "Women nowadays know everything." "What I want to know is if Irene does go back to Soames, where will they live?" "There's no question of that because Jolyon's gone and bought Soames' house, hasn't he?" "Yes, but, aunt, that's old history." "Oh, is it?" "And Jo living there with that immoral german girl." "His wife, aunt." "Oh, I dare say." "But Timothy thinks it's all quite irregular." "And June there." "And those children." "Well... it's a very decent little house." "I've seen it." "Very pretty little cellar." "A gentleman's house." "That's what James said." "A gentleman's house." "And whatever we may say about mr." "Bosinney..." "I would prefer it if he were not mentioned." "He must have been a very clever young man to build a house like that." "I do wish I could have seen it." "There, boy." "What is it?" "Don't let that dog touch your frock." "He's got wet paws." "Here, boy." "I don't mind." "What's his name?" "Balthasar." "Don't ask me why." "They've all gone to spain." "I'm alone." "Would you care to come up to the house?" "Thank you, uncle Jolyon." "I should like to." "Good." "Good." "I dare say it's not quite as you remember it." "My son's a painter, you know." "He's got a french taste in things." "It's not mine, but there, the place will belong to him when I'm gone." "It's elegant." "You'll stay to dinner?" "It's a lonely business eating all by yourself." "You said they were all away?" "In Spain." "Jo had always wanted to paint there and Helene needed a holiday." "She worries, you know." "And she's not been well." "June decided to go with them." "So all I have left is this little holly." "Isn't there a grandson?" "Oh, yes, jolly." "A fine little chap, but he's at school." "His first year at Harrow." "Ah, mademoiselle, how is she?" "Very well now, I think." "Good, good." "I believe she sleeps now." "Holly's been upset." "Too many strawberries, eh, mademoiselle?" "No, sir." "May I introduce mademoiselle Beuce, Holly's governess." "Mademoiselle, this is my niece." "How do you do, mademoiselle?" "My name is mrs." "Heron." "Enchantée, madame." "Now, mademoiselle, mrs." "Heron is dining with me." "Will you take her up to miss June's room, and see she has hot water and so on?" "Certainly, sir." "Dinner's in a half an hour." "I shan't change." "Please come with me, madam." "Thank you." "Sir?" "Ah!" "Plunket, I forgot to say I have a lady to dinner with me." "Tell cook to do something extra." "Very good, sir." "And Plunket, one more thing." "Go down to the cellar, turn right inside the door, first bin on your right you'll find 14 bottles of hock." "Bring me up one of those,Plunket, but handle it like a baby, will you?" "That's a steinberg cabernet." "I bought it 35 years ago." "I doubt there's four dozen bottles left in England." "Chill it now, and it'll be just right for dinnertime." "Thank you." "We'll take coffee in the drawing room." "Very good, sir." "A glass of port?" "I'd rather just finish this, if I may." "It's a superb wine." "I wouldn't give it to everybody." "Tell me, where are you living now?" "Chelsea." "I have a little flat there." "You're alone?" "Quite alone." "What do you do all day?" "Teach music." "I have another interest too." "Work, there's nothing like it, is there?" "I don't do any now." "I'm getting on, you know." "What's the other interest?" "Trying to help women who've come to grief." "To grief?" "Lord, I see." "What can you do for them?" "Not much." "I've no money to spare, but I belong to a society, just a few of us." "We do what we can." "How do you..." "I mean, how do you find them?" "Through the hospitals." "The hospitals." "That's a sad, terrible business." "What hurts chiefly is that once they were all children, pretty children too, most of them." "I don't know how you..." "I can't bear to think about..." "I shouldn't have mentioned it." "No, no." "These things do exist, alongside our comfortable world." "My comfortable world." "Good to be reminded of them from time to time." "Shall we go into the drawing room?" "Perhaps you'll play to me." "I should like to." "I'll join you in a minute when I've found a cigar." "Is there anything you'd especially like to hear?" "Mozart?" "Mendelssohn?" "More chopin." "It's an evening for chopin, don't you think?" "Indeed I do." "Nocturnes?" "Preludes?" "Yes." "But come and have a coffee." "And some cognac to go with it." "Oh, no cognac, thank you." "And no coffee." "But I'll pour some for you." "Thank you." "Without cream, please." "Does this annoy you?" "On the contrary." "Curious thing." "Strong cigars and Wagner's music." "Seem to go together, and I never could abide either." "As I get older, Beethoven." "Mozart, of course." "Handel, yes." "Schubert." "But above all, chopin." "That seem strange to you?" "Sentimental?" "No, he was not sentimental." "He loved beauty." "Beautiful." "To look at you and listen to Chopin, more than a man deserves." "I've said something to upset you." "There, there, my love." "Now, now." "Now, now, now." "There, there." "It's okay." "All right." "There, there." "All right." "All over now." "I'm sorry." "Forgive me." "Now, you must come again." "Come for lunch." "You'll meet holly." "She's a dear little thing." "And that dog's taken a fancy to you." "The carriage is waiting, sir." "Thank you." "He'll get you back to town in an hour or so." "Here, this is for your protégéS." "Fifty pounds!" "Oh, how kind you are." "Rubbish." "Say no more." "Very well." "But thank you." "I'll go and put my hat on." "Thank you." "Plunket." "Yes, sir?" "Tell Beacon to have the landau at the door at 10:00 tomorrow." "I'm going up to London." "Come in, uncle Jolyon." "Tell me, what do you pay for a place like this?" "Forty pounds a year." "You don't think that's too much, do you?" "No." "Reasonable enough, I dare say." "Oh, do sit down." "Thank you." "I did enjoy our drive, and that splendid tea at ruffels." "It was like being a child again, taken out for a treat in the holidays." "We must do it again." "Uncle Jolyon, has June forgiven me?" "She doesn't speak about it, but I should think so." "Why not?" "Have you?" "Yes, just as soon as I knew how the land lay." "I regret nothing." "I couldn't." "When you were young, did you ever love very deeply?" "Ah, love's a strange thing, sometimes a fatal thing." "The old greeks knew that, that's why they made love a goddess." "I dare say they were right." "Philip adored them, the way they gave themselves to art." "He did too." "He had something of the sculptor, I fancy." "Yes, yes, he loved good line, balance, symmetry, the golden age of design and architecture." "Do you know... he once said that he felt you belonged to it?" "What?" "He said you had a real sense of beauty." "The devil he did." "Well, so I have, or I wouldn't be sitting here with you." "It's strange enough that I'm here, that I'm alive at all." "That night..." "That night, my son saw you for a moment." "Was that your son?" "Yes." "I thought for a second it was Philip." "Early in the morning, I went down to the river." "I didn't care whether I lived or died, but I was thinking of death." "A woman saw me hesitating." "She caught me by the arm." "One of those women?" "She told me her story,and I was ashamed." "When you know what other people suffer, you're ashamed." "She took care of me for three days." "I had no money and no hope." "She never left me until I was able to face the thought of living." "And that's why you..." "That's why I do what I can for them now." "No money!" "I wish you'd come to me." "Why didn't you?" "Because my name is Forsyte?" "Or was it June that kept you away?" "Well, no matter." "From now on, you must come to me for anything you need." "If you don't, I shall be quite cut up." "Thank you." "I manage very well." "Now, you're coming to lunch on sunday, don't forget." "Thank you." "I won'T." "You mustn't come down if you find it dull." "Dull?" "It's heavenly." "Well, it's a pleasure to see you." "Little Holly's face is the only one here I care to look at, except yours." "And that's not humbug." "I never told a woman I admired her when I didn't." "Except my wife in the old days." "When Holly marries, I shan't be here to see it." "I don't like to think of her being hurt." "That dog will scratch." "Does Soames ever trouble you?" "No." "I haven't seen him." "Ah, that's a comfort." "Shall we take a turn around the garden?" "I might find you a nectarine." "I should like that." "Good." "To dance on sundays!" "The little Tayleurs never behaved so." "The Tayleurs were such well-bred children." "My fault, mademoiselle." "Bah, better the day, better the deed." "Go on, chicken, have your tea." "We have shocked mademoiselle." "She's a thin, rum little soul." "As for the Tayleurs..." "a little priggish?" "Holly hates them." "The Tayleurs are constantly held up as an example." "Gives her a dreadful feeling of inferiority." "And in mademoiselle's next place, she'll frighten her pupils with the virtues of the little Forsytes." "I dare say, I dare say." "But Holly's musical, I think." "You haven't heard her play, will you give me an opinion?" "Of course I will." "You wouldn't like to teach her, would you?" "I should like to very much, but what about June?" "They'll be coming home soon." "What does that matter?" "She may have forgiven me, as you said, but she'd never forget." "Nonsense." "She must forget." "Because you say so, uncle Jolyon?" "She's a Forsyte too." "Yes." "We're a stubborn lot." "Oh, it's so hard to refuse you when you've been so kind to me." "Then you'll come?" "Twice a week until your family returns." "Then we'll see." "Damn it, Jo." "That's not bad, that's not at all bad." "Jo?" "Coming." "Did it go well?" "Yes, my love." "I think I've captured it." "Tell me, how are you?" "Are you feeling any better?" "How's that migraine?" "Oh, much better." "Much, much better." "But tell me, what have you captured?" "Simplicity." "I don't understand." "Well, I'll try and explain." "Now, when you first start to paint in watercolors, you take a small brush, like this." "Then you wet it, and fill it with color." "Now let's say... chrome yellow." "By all means, Jo." "Chrome yellow it is." "Then you lay the brush gently on the paper, you move it ever so slightly, and you lift it." "And what have you got?" "Let me imagine." "I think what you have is the first petal of a flower." "Right." "A daisy, perhaps." "A yellow daisy." "Oh, I love you." "You can see it." "Oh, yes, Jo." "I can see the first petal of a daisy." "Something you can't improve upon no matter how much you fiddle with tone, shadows, half-lights." "All you're doing, however clever and subtle you think you are, is getting further and further away from your first clear vision of a daisy." "And this you have learned here, in Spain?" "No, I think I've always known it." "The trouble is we're so bound by the conventional." "What other painters have done before us." "All very well, of course." "But the academics and teachers lay down as rules what should only be guidelines." "But here, in this spanish light, where the colors are harsh and the shadows solid..." "you see clearly." "Yes, I think so." "For the first time in my life." "And will you wish to stay here?" "Oh, of course not!" "If it's real, this way of looking at things then it must be just as real in england as it is out here." "Anyway, I have to find out." "I'm glad, Jo." "I pine a little for England." "Then we shall go home." "Next week." "Letters for us all." "Ah." "A batch for you, father." "Thank you." "One for me from grandpapa." "And one for you, Helene." "Are you better?" "Oh yes, thank you, yes." "Oh, this is from holly." "Oh, sweet." "She's so sweet." "Listen, Jo." ""Balthasar always comes when" we pick strawberries,"but he won't eat any." ""He thinks we're rabbits and gets very cross like mademoiselle." ""She's being very tiresome", but she doesn't mean it." ""Balthasar and grandpapa send their love." ""I've got a new music teacher."" ""She is beautiful and isn't a bit cross "and gives me pieces to play," ""not these stupid scales..." "all the time."" ""She and grandpapa go to concerts sometimes "" "and she plays me the music they've heard"" "She's not our real aunt, grandpapa says..."" "Real aunt?" ""But I'm allowed to call her aunt Irene."" "Irene?" "Well?" "Very fine." "This chap, massenet, he's no mozart, but..." "Confess, uncle jolyon,you like it." "Very well, I like it." "It's extremely important, uncle Jolyon, for your continued enjoyment of music," "that you entertain a totally novel idea." "Oh, what's that?" "The notion, subversive though it may seem, that since Beethoven and Mozart, there have been other composers of merit." "You're making fun of me." "Yes." "I'm glad you should feel like doing so." "Irene, I've been wanting to say this to you." "Don't get wrapped up in the past." "Mustn't waste life." "Too little of it." "And when you get to be an old chap, like me you know what you've missed because you've been cautious all your days, too cautious to take what life offers." "I have accepted it." "You know I've accepted it." "Yes, you have, but you're still young." "Go on accepting it." "Of all the Forsytes I've met, you are the most unpredictable." "You've not met my son, have you?" "You don't know my boy, Jo." "We've had our differences, but looking back," "I have to admit that he's been right." "Yes, on the whole, he's been right." "I've put off telling you this, I won't deny it." "They're coming back.Next monday." "June too?" "Yes, but this must make no difference." "Holly must still have her lessons." "You will still come down?" "Uncle Jolyon..." "Dear uncle Jolyon, you know it's impossible." "There can be no more lessons." "No more operas, no more visits to Robin hill." "Excuse me, sir." "A telegram, sir." "The boy's waiting for an answer." "Telegram?" "No answer, plunket." "Ah, mrs." "Heron is coming to lunch." "Tell cook, will you?" "Yes, sir." "Ah." "Bal, bal, bal, Balthasar!" "Come, boy!" "Come, we'll meet her." ""Your letter received." "Will be with you 12:30 this morning." "Love, Irene."" "Come on, you old rag-bag." "Come on, boy!" "Come on, eh?" "Mommy!" ""To my granddaughter, June Forsyte, "50,000 pounds in trust," ""the income to be hers entirely, free of legacy duty." ""And if she marries, to be held in trust for her heirs," ""and so on and so forth." ""And to my beloved niece, Irene Forsyte," ""born Irene heron, by which name she is now known," ""I leave the sum of 15,000 pounds.""