"Hello, sir." "Glad to see you, but I thought you were at Mapledurham." "Oh, I just brought this up." "It's a Chardin." "I say." "It will go well with your Fragonard." "How's Fleur?" "Restless." "Oh?" "With this libel case out of the way... that's just it." "We're being cold-shouldered." "Why?" "You won." "Exactly." "People resent moral superiority." "What's that?" "Well, I resent it myself." "Yes, well, you see, attacking modern morality was a good stunt with the judge and the jury, and so on, but in society... oh, society!" "Well, I know, sir, but it's what we live in." "Oh, I don't mind." "God knows I'm used to ridicule." "Over foggartism." "But Fleur... she ought to have more gumption." "Yes, but society's her game, you know." "She wants me to take her round the world." "Round the...?" "Well, I know it's probably the very thing for her, something dramatic." "What's the matter with st." "Moritz?" "No." "It's the world or nothing." "And I can't go, sir." "Not until the House rises in august." "I should feel like a deserter, and that wouldn't be good for either of us in the long run." "How can she think of leaving that little chap?" "That shows how desperate she is." "Have you told her you won't go?" "Five minutes ago." "It's taken me a week to decide finally." "A pretty wretched week." "Well, she went in for collecting people, and now she's lost her collection." "Where is she?" "In her bedroom." "Shall you go up?" "Yes." "Yes, I will." "Mind you." "I think you're right to stick to your runs." "Hello." "Tired, my child?" "Michael tells me you want him to take you round the world." "Well, he can't." "So that ends it." "Those jackanapes." "Where do you feel it exactly?" "In my head, in my eyes... in my ears and in my heart." "Oh." "What business have they got that...?" "Why should they poke their noses in?" "Supercilious, shallow set of society monkeys." "And I don't see how I can take you." "Of course not, duckie." "I shall get used to being laughed at." "Laughed at?" "I don't see why you should." "I suppose people do go round the world." "Why, yes, but not you, duckie." "You'd be bored stiff." "It's sweet of you to even think of it, but I couldn't possibly let you go, not at your age." "My age?" "I'm no age to speak of." "I know, but..." "well, no, no, that won't do." "If people can't behave themselves, I'll..." "No, I'll show them." "We'll go." "Yes." "No, no, now don't make a fuss." "You are a dream." "Nonsense." "Yes." "There's one thing certain, anyway." "That red-haired baggage, she won't be going round the world." "Well, Marjorie, I see you brought that case into court." "I had to." "Ah, just as I thought." "No reaction whatever." "The italians are wrong." "Tell me, why?" "Common honesty." "I read your evidence, if that's what you mean." "No." "I wanted to find out where I stood." "Did you?" "Very much so." "Are you still going to be married?" "No." "Oh." "Whose doing?" "His or yours ?" "He said he would still marry me if I told him everything." "I didn't choose to." "Is there much to tell?" "A good deal." "So you don't choose to be married." "And now you won't be well off after all." "Pity." "But I think you were right." "How much do you owe?" "Well, I..." "no hear taps." "Very well, then, about 5000." "A good deal of it was due to my engagement." "The credit gushed like oil." "Yes, I dare say Have you a list of your debts?" "Thank you." "Your grandmother's clothes cost a fifth of yours, for five times the acreage." "You wear nothing nowadays, but the cost... ah, but the less there is, the better it has to be cut, you know." "Have you any plans?" "I thought of going on the stage." "Well, I suppose that might be suitable." "Can you act?" "I'm no Bernhardt." "Oh, Bernhardt.Talented, of course, but for great acting one must go back to history." "Well, if I'm to clear you, I shall have to sell the Gainsborough." "Oh, no, I... the question is, Marjorie, whether it's possible to strike a bargain with you." "Have you a word to keep?" "I think so." "It depends on what I have to promise." "But I don't want you to sell the Gainsborough." "Times are hard." "I've got an invention that ought to make my fortune, but nobody will look at it." "I'll manage somehow." "Oh, not under a burden like this." "But with that hair, you ought to have some stuff in you." "Do you really think you could earn your living?" "Yes." "Very well then." "I'll make a bargain with you." "If I clear your debts, will you give me your word to pay ready money in future?" "I want the word of a lady, if you understand what that is." "I suppose you have every right to say that." "Oh, but the Gainsborough... you must leave that to me." "Will you promise?" "Yes, I promise." "Good." "I'd like to ask you not to cheapen our name any further, but...well, the spirit of the age is against me." "Grandfather, I feel... now don't start saying something you don't mean." "I'd just like to add one thing." "I'm 80, and you're what, 26?" "Am I a bore?" "Far from it." "What you must have been like at 40." "Very, well." "Don't get through life too fast." "You'll be dreadfully bored by the time you're 50." "And believe me, there's no greater bore than a bored woman." "Goodbye." "Goodbye, grandfather, and thank you." "Hussy!" "Oh, well, I suppose they're all alike." "Thanks awfully, and could you let us have our bill?" "Thank you." "Thanks a well." "That sounds awfully like home." "Hello." "Are you all english?" "Yes, well, I am but... and I am." "And I'm not, except by marriage." "Doesn't that count?" "I hope so." "Oh, thank you." "Oh, fleur." "I don't feel quite the thing." "I think I'll just go back to my room." "What is it?" "Are you ill?" "I don't know." "I feel giddy." "Giddy?" "Yes, give me your arm." "I've been doing too much, or else it's that confounded cookery." "Now don't make a fuss." "It's just a turn." "Well, what you must do is go upstairs and lie down." "I'll send for a doctor." "Doctor?" "No such thing." "Touch of liver, that's all." "Have you been over here long?" "Only a week, I'm afraid." "I came to fetch my wife and her father." "We leave for new york tomorrow and then home." "And what have you liked best over here?" "In washington?" "Mount vernon, of course." "Because it's british colonial?" "Oh, Anne, come on." "Well, perhaps." "No, the Adams memorial at Rock Creek cemetery." "It's magnificent." "Everlasting stillness.Great and sad." "It makes me sink, here." "That's almost exactly what my wife say which reminds me," "I think better go and find them, will you excuse me?" "Goodbye." "I liked him." "Why didn't you ask his name, Jon?" "Oh, it never occurred to me." "It never does, to an englishman." "Why on earth not?" "Well, supposing he didn't want to know us?" "What nonsense." "Ah, thank you." "You'll get used to it, Anne." "England is a small, overcrowded island." "Privacy is hard to come by, so englishmen cherish it." "Anyway, what's the point?" "They're leaving tomorrow." "We shan't see him again." "But that is the point!" "we'll be in England ourselves in a couple of weeks." "Come on, I'm hungry." "Daddy, you're quite sure you don't mind us going?" "Certainly not." "You mustn't waste the tickets." "Would you like some brandy, sir?" "I can get some on a doctor's prescription." "Yes, now, brandy would really do you... no, no, don't fuss." "Are you packed?" "Nearly." "Well, don't be late back." "It's an early start." "All right, sir." "Go on." "Oh, did Michael tell you he met some english people downstairs?" "No." "What was their names ?" "Silly old thing, he forgot to ask." "Oh, they didn't ask me mine, either." "As for you, are you quite sure you don't mind us going?" "Quite sure." "Quite sure." "Good night, sir." "Yes, I shan't wait up." "All right." "There we are." "How are we going to help the wages of the nation to be increased, if we teach men to break contracts," "if we throw men out of work by the million?" "And we know that, whatever happens, the state of unemployment afterwards will be worse than that which we have today." "At this moment we are enjoying the lowest unemployment we have had for some years." "No!" "Whoever speaks after me will be able to refute that, if he can." "The cost of living is lower today than it has been for years." "No, no!" "There are signs of improvement." "Slight, but real." "And this is the moment that has been chosen to challenge the existing constitution of the country and to substitute the reign of force for that which now exists." "It was only two years ago, I remember very well reading in The new leaders some observations by the leader of the labor party." "He said: "All it's life it had been opposed to the sympathetic strike." ""It had no practical value." ""It had one certain result:" ""A bitter and blinding reaction." ""Liberty was more easily destroyed by those who abused it, than those who opposed it."" "Hear, hear." "I agree with every word of that." "I have very few more words to say." "There are very few light hearts in England today." "The only people who are happy in this situation are those who envy us or who hate us," "because they see the home of democratic freedom setting out on a course which if successful on the part of those who enter on it, can only substitute tyranny." "It is not wages that are imperiled." "It is the very freedom of our constitution." "Hear, hear!" "But I have confidence, knowing the character of our people, that we will see these troubles through." "Hear, hear!" "Well, michael?" "It's on." "Oh, what a bore." "Yes, duckie, but it's more than that." "I simply don't understand, I mean, what's the point of having a meeting and subsidies, and, well, all those meetings, if they can't settle something?" "That's mere common sense." "No good at all." "Well, why not?" "Because both sides have to save face." "On one side, longer hours and less wages." "On the other, not a minute more, not a shilling off." "Stalemate." "Saving face...caused the war, now it's causing the strike." "When I think of those miners, and their children starving, I want to weep." "When I think of their leaders, stiff-necked, old-fashioned, dyed-in-the-wool idiots," "I want to weep some more." "And as for our lot, when I think of them, I don't know what to do." "Don't we need a Mussolini?" "Oh, God forbid, duckie!" "You pay for his sort in the long run." "Look at Diaz in Mexico, or Napoleon in France." "Or Cromwell in England, for that matter." "I thought that Charles the second was rather a dear." "Oh, Fleur." "That's it." "I thought for one dreadful minute you'd lost your sense of humor." "You'll see to it that I don't." "Well, I hope so." "Well, what will you do in the House?" "There won't be much to talk about." "No." "We'll just sit and glower at each other, and use the word "formula" at stated intervals." "I came home by the park." "Do you know it's astonishing." "There are lorries and milk-cars and tents everywhere, specials and volunteers, and at Victoria station, chaps in plus-fours manning the signal boxes." "Yes, and little clerks in striped trousers learning how to drive engines." "Pickets everywhere of course, but no ructions." "Some trains will run tomorrow, though god help them all at Clapham junction." "They say we can't organize." "Oh, can't we just, after the event." "Michael." "Do you want to end the strike?" "We have to." "We all have to." "Oh." "Don't you see that?" "Yes, of course." "I'm only a little surprised that you do." "Oh, yes." "Well, the country's life can't be strangled, no matter who is in the right." "Duckie, I've been thinking." "Is there something that you want me to do?" "Well, I think so." "These railway volunteers, they'll want feeding." "Fleur, would you start a canteen for them?" "I mean, we'll have to get all kinds of people in to help." "But it's your quick head that's needed, and your way with men." "Mm, all right.Good. Good." "Yes, yes, I will." "It'll be pretty tough while it lasts, but Fleur, I'll tell you one thing." "There'll be less bloodshed and more good humor than there could be anywhere else in the world." "Hello." "Hello?" "Aunt winifred?" "Oh, Holly!" "How nice." "I was just thinking of ringing you up." "Isn't this strike too absurd?" "Oh, that's one word for it." "Val says he wants to come up and do something, but I won't let him." "No, quite right, with his game leg." "Well, he says the strike won't last." "But guess what, Jon's here." "Who?" "My little brother, with Irene and Anne." "Good gracious." "Jon wants to drive an engine." "These boys!" "They never grow up, do they?" "No." "Anyway we shall be coming up to london today." "I'll drive him." "His wife too?" "No." "Well, Irene?" "Not at the moment." "I thought we'd stay at the Langham." "Oh, no, dear." "You must come here." "Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no." "I have plenty of everything." "Soames made me stock up with coal and groceries a whole week ago." "It's awfully kind of you, aunt, but... is cousin Soames with you?" "No, dear, at Mapledurham." "Now, do come." "All right." "Oh, and, by the way, I shall be looking for a job too." "Do you think you could speak to Michael Mont?" "He's bound to be organizing things." "Well, very well, dear." "If you think you should." "Well, thanks awfully, auntie." "I must go." "Goodbye." "Goodbye, dear." "Goodbye." "You rang for me, ma'am." "Did I?" "Oh, yes." "So I did." "Now what for, I wonder?" "Oh, yes, Smither." "Where's The morning post?" "It hasn't come, ma'am." "Hasn't come?" "All on strike." "Newspapers and all." "Aunt bessie heard it on the wireless." "Dear me." "Well, if this strike goes on I shall have to get a wireless myself, though they do crackle so." "Well, thank you, Smither." "oh, there's a gentleman waiting to see you, ma'am." "A mr." "Stainford." "Stainford?" "Stainford?" "He says he's an old friend of mr." "Val's and he'd like a word with you." "Stainford?" "Well, very well, smither, show him in." "Mr. Stainford, ma'am." "Good of you to see me, mrs." "Dartie." "Not at all." "Will you sit down?" "Thank you, no." "Is val up in town?" "No, not at present." "Perhaps you could give me his address." "One loses touch, but we were friends at oxford." "Ah, yes." "He was abroad, you know, for many years, in South africa." "I heard that." "And now he breeds and trains racehorses." "I believe I heard that too." "On the south downs." "Oh!" "Excuse me." "Such a morning." "Hello?" "Ah, hello, Winifred." "Hello?" "Winifred." "I can hardly...who?" "Soames here." "Oh, Soames, dear, it's you." "Would you hold on a moment?" "I'm so sorry." "Not at all, mrs." "Dartie." "I shan't stay, but val's address?" "Oh, yes." "The Manor house, Wansdon, Sussex." "Manor house, Wansdon, Sussex." "I'm obliged to you." "What?" "Just a moment, dear." "Goodbye, mr..." "Now, my dear boy, don't fuss so." "I'm not fussing, I want to know who you've got there." "I have a visitor, a friend of Val'S." "A friend of Val's?" "And now I've been unpardonably rude." "Oh." "Just a moment." "Are you at Mapledurham?" "What?" "Yes, yes, of course I am." "Well what did I tell you?" "It's all rather exciting, don't you know." "It's dangerous, if that's what you mean." "I'm coming up tomorrow to stay with Fleur." "But why, dear?" "I should have thought you'd be so much more..." "I just want to be on hand in case of accidents." "Anyway the car's eating its head off down here." "Might as well be useful." "People are terribly busy about it all." "Oh, and Soames dear, young Jon Forsyte's over here with his wife and Irene." "They're at Wansdon." "Are you there, Soames?" "Oh, have we been cut off?" "No." "Oh." "I'll be up tomorrow." "Goodbye." "Such a morning." "Stainford...stainford... do you know, Smither... these chairs were last re-covered in 1913, just before the war." "A marvelous piece of silk." "Indeed, yes, ma'am." "Shall you be in to luncheon?" "Yes, I believe so." "Now, that's odd." "Smither, there was a snuffbox here." "Louis quinze, rather valuable, it belonged to my father." "At least I thought it was here." "Well, it was, ma'am, this morning." "I remember seeing it when I was dusting." "Then what...?" "Good heavens." "You don't think...?" "Mr. Stainford?" "Yes, yes, perfectly all right, thank you." "Now, I gave Holly your message." "Has she arrived yet?" "No, not yet, but she'll be jolly useful." "She'd better do supplies, I think, you know, instead of standing about serving." "Oh, yes, that will be nice." "It won't." "It's all pretty strenuous." "Yes, well, it can't last of course, the government's bound to do something." "Now, Fleur, dear, has your father come up yet?" "He should be in South square now." "Well, would you ask him to call round tomorrow?" "Something rather disagreeable has happened." "Oh?" "What?" "I don't want to bother you, dear, but I should like to see your father." "Yes, well, I'll tell him." "Aunt, you know, I really must fly." "Goodbye, dear, now don't tire yourself." "Goodbye." "Oh, dear." "Hello?" "Yes?" "This is mrs." "Mont." "What?" "But I've ordered them." "No." "No, really!" "What?" "But I must give them bacon and eggs in the morning." "They can't start on just cocoa." "What do you mean, the company can't afford...?" "Well, please be a dear and tell the manager from me they've got to be properly fed." "Will you?" "Then you are a dear." "Thank you so much." "Fleur?" "Oh, Holly, it's you." "Hello." "Welcome." "Red tape and cheeseparing, that's what we contend with here." "Will you let me help you?" "Rather." "Have you got a car?" "Yes." "Good." "First thing tomorrow then." "Here's a list for Harridge'S." "It's a terrific lot, but buy it all." "Bring it with me?" "Yes, please." "I'll take the risk of the company refusing to pay." "If I have to go round there myself and slobber on that revolting official." "You're rather enjoy it all, aren't you?" "Mm-hm.In a way." "I've discovered a bossy streak." "Horrid." "But it helps here." "I saw Jon in there." "Where did he spring from?" "America, via Paris." "We're all at Green street." "Funny to see him again, all smudgy like that." "His wife with him?" "No, she's at Wansdon with Irene." "It would be fun to see him some time." "He's stoking an engine from 6:00 A.M. Till 10:00 P.M." "I know, but I meant after, if the strike ever ends." "Are they going to live in England?" "Oh, I believe so." "Well, we're both over the measles." "If you get them again grown up, Fleur, they can be pretty bad." "No fear." "Well, I'm off." "I expect Michael's waiting." "I'll be here at 9, before you leave for Harridge's, and if you think of anything else, just stick it on the list." "I'll make them stump up somehow." "Good night, Holly." "Good night, Fleur." "Tired?" "Holly." "All over." "But it's a good feeling." "Oh, I'll drive you home." "Thank you." "I say, how did you know I'd be here?" "Oh, I didn't." "I just came to sign on." "Have they taken you?" "Yes." "Good for you." "Funny coincidence, though." "Well, this coincidence is funnier than most." "Do you know who runs this place?" "Fleur Mont." "Fleur?" "Good lord!" "She's just left." "But is she old enough?" "I mean to run a thing like this?" "It's a first-rate job." "Well, I think she's got a pretty clear head." "For instance, she saw you here this evening, and... saw me?" "And she didn't...?" "Oh." "Oh, I see." "Good morning, dear." "Good morning." "Did you have a good ride?" "Gorgeous!" "Val took me right up over the downs, it was beautiful." "Jon would have loved it." "I've had a note from him." "Oh, and there's one for you." "Oh, how he finds any time... they're working all hours." "He says he doesn't know who to admire most." "All the people somehow getting to work and putting up with everything, or the strikers themselves." "Why does he say that?" "Because of their patience and good humor, what he calls "their solid english decency."" "Yes." "Jon's english all right." "Through and through." "I hardly realized noticed how much until we landed at dover." "I guess we're settled here for the rest of our lives." "Shall you mind?" "No." "It's all strange of course, but, well, it seems like a homey kind of country." "It's so small, all the fields, I mean, all wrapped around in blossom like... is anything wrong?" "No, dear, no, nothing." "I've just got a note here from Holly." "She's starting work at a canteen for railway volunteers." "Jon goes there." "Why, that's fine." "I was thinking... don't you miss him?" "Every minute." "Holly says things are really quite normal." "No sign of trouble." "Wouldn't you like to go up?" "Would I?" "But what about you?" "I shall be perfectly all right here." "Holly tells me they can use all the help they can get." "At this canteen?" "Would they let me?" "Why not?" "Well, if you're sure you don't mind." "She's spoken to val's mother." "You can go there at once." "I don't suppose you'll see much of Jon, but I'm sure it'll be a comfort to him to have you with him." "And to me." "By the way, has he ever spoken to you of a cousin of his?" "A second cousin called Fleur mont?" "Jon hasn't spoken about her, but Francis did when he got home." "Ah, yes." "She just about saved his life." "Well, according to Holly, it is Fleur who is running this canteen." "She must be pretty bright." "Indeed she is." "Now finish your breakfast and then go and pack." "I'll see Val and arrange for you to be driven up." "And when you see Jon, give him my love." "I surely will." "You're quite certain that you saw the snuffbox here that day?" "Indeed, yes, mr." "Soames." "About half an hour before that mr." "Stainford came." "You were dusting?" "Yes, sir." "You think you could have swept it up by mistake?" "Well, could you?" "I'd have noticed." "Yes, I suppose you would." "Oh, well, thank you, smither." "It must have been him." "To think that a man of such distinction..." "Distinction?" "And a friend of Val's too." "I wouldn't mind so much if it hadn't belonged to papa." "Well, that fellow must be a ruffian." "He oughtn't be at large." "What's to be done?" "Well, Scotland yard." "Oh... well, they've got enough to do, I shouldn't wonder." "Ah, there's that chap I used on the Ferrar case." "Yes, he charges very high." "That doesn't matter, Soames... it's all right, I'll see him." "Well, thank you, dear." "Well, how's Fleur?" "Oh, she's overdoing this canteen business." "Well, they say she's running it very well." "I do think all these young women are so smart, so sure of themselves." "Oh, yes, they're sure enough, but you know, steady does it in the long run." "That was all rather a bore you know, soames." "Things move so quickly nowadays." "Yes, like that snuffbox." "Potatoes." "Twenty stone." "Twenty, got that?" "Treacle." "Better let me have large tins." "What are they?" "Five-pound tins." "Well, let's say, seven of those." "No, no, I assure you, treacle pudding's all the rage down here." "Yes, that's right." "Hello." "Oh, hello." "Yes, well if there is anything else, I'll ring you back." "Thank you, goodbye." "Anne?" "Yes?" "How do you do?" "Welcome to the clan." "The clan?" "Oh, Fleur and I were born Forsytes." "You've become one." "Oh." "Oh, that's right." "Well, it's awfully sporting of you to come and help." "If there's anything I can do." "I've wanted so much to meet you." "What you did for Francis... oh, it was nothing." "How is he?" "He was fine when we left." "But he wasn't happy over here, was he?" "I mean before he was ill." "Something happened to him, didn't it?" "Well, a girl happened." "Oh." "Still, he was well out of it." "She wasn't right for him." "I guess not." "Jon's been in and out." "I know." "I haven't had a chance to say hello, but he looked healthy, if a mite grubby." "It gave me quite a shock when I saw him last night." "I had to take the scrubber to him." "Fleur." "Yes, well, we mustn't waste time." "Now, if you go along with Holly, Anne, she'll put you wise." "That sounds nice and homey." "Well, we use all your expressions here." "We mustn't waste any more time." "Excuse me." "Hello?" "Yes, mrs." "Mont speaking." "Oh...no." "No, if the princess is really interested, would you ask her to be kind enough to come when they're feeding?" "Yes." "Yes, tomorrow would do." "What?" "Oh, yes, thank you." "Goodbye." "Ah, you're back." "Have you had anything to eat?" "Heaps." "This canteen business..." "I'm enjoying it frightfully." "Mind you don't catch something down there." "Oh, did you hear a noise?" "Yes, it was a tank." "Looked awfully strange." "Did you know they're sending them down to the docks, Michael says?" "That'll astonish their weak nerves." "Show them the government means business." "I don't know though, they're great extravagant things." "Far too... too military." "That's what Michael says but surely you're all for law and order." "Yes, I know, but well, hang it all, this is England, not Russia or Italy." "I've seen some of those strikers." "They're not danger." "Not a weapon amongst them, as far as I could tell." "Well, I don't expect... you don't suppose they're going to open fire, do you?" "They'd better not." "It's to be hoped they won't wake the baby." "You are a scream." "A scream?" "Whatever next?" "I'm off to bed." "Good night, my dear." "Oh, I've put the car away, duckie." "Oh, hello, sir." "Still up?" "Like a nightcap?" "Oh, no, thank you." "I've still got my wine." "What are they saying at the house?" "Nothing." "And very longwinded they are about it." "What's your opinion of the strike, sir?" "I mean generally, as a weapon?" "For the purposes of suicide, perfect." "I should have thought they'd have realized that by now." "Yes, I rather agree." "But what's the alternative?" "Well, they've got the vote." "Yes, that's always said, somehow parliament seems to matter less and less these days." "Things get settled or unsettled before we get down to dealing with them." "There must be government." "Administration, of course." "But look at this strike." "What can the average M.P.do about it?" "Not much." "But then, parliament always was a talking shop." "Oh, not that I'd like to see it done away with, mind you." "Yes, hang on to that Goya." "It's worth 200 more than I gave for it." "You know, Fleur's overexcited." "Don't let her overdo this canteen of hers." "She's enjoying it, sir." "Gives her head a chance." "Yes." "She's got a good little head, when she doesn't lose it." "Yes, that reminds me, that young Jon Forsyte's over here, they tell me." "Staying at Green street and stoking engines." "It was a boy-and-girl affair, but I thought you ought to know." "Thanks." "No, I hadn't heard." "I don't suppose she has either." "I told them not to tell her." "Do you remember that time in washington, you know, when I was taken ill?" "Yes, sir." "Very well." "Yes, I wasn't." "I saw that young man and his mother talking to you in the... what do call the place, the lobby." "Well I didn't think that, you know, it would be good if Fleur ran into them, so... oh, these things are all very silly, but you never can tell." "No." "You never can tell." "I rather liked the look of him." "I dare say." "He's the son of his father, I expect." "Well..." "this is the end of the old canteen." "Let's powder our noses and get out." "You'll miss it all." "In a way." "You've really done it awfully well." "Anne thinks you're wonderful." "Has anyone told her about Jon and me?" "No." "Well, I'd rather they didn't ." "Of course not." "I'll see to it." "She's a nice child." "Nice, but not important." "Oh, americans are generally important, sooner or later." "To themselves." "Well, so long as they get on together." "They do, I suppose?" "Oh, I haven't seen very much of jon, but I should say it's perfectly successful." "Good." "You all going down to Wansdon?" "The day after tomorrow." "Can I give you a lift?" "Father's collecting me at 4:00." "No thanks, Fleur." "What?" "I'll walk." "Still the same." "Funny how hard things die." "Yes, when you're a Forsyte." "You see, we don't show much." "It's airing feelings that kills them." "Perhaps." "Would you give my love to Jon and Anne?" "I will." "If I've got time I may call in at aunt Winifred's before you all go down." "Well then, I'll tell her to expect you." "My name's Forsyte." "Oh?" "You weren't too difficult to find." "Any reason why I should be?" "That remains to be seen." "You paid a visit to my sister, mrs." "Dartie." "Will you sit down?" "I want to ask you a question." "By all means." "When you were at Green street, did you, by any chance happen to see a louis quinze snuffbox on the table?" "It's disappeared." "We'd like to fix the time of its loss." "Afraid I can't help you." "It has value as an heirloom." "It has obviously been stolen." "Oh sorry." "I noticed nothing but some rather good marquetery." "No snuffbox." "It's unique." "The police won't have any difficulty." "No?" "If that is all, mr." "Forsyte... mr." "Stainford." "I'm as sure as a man can be that you've taken it." "Now, return it to me now and you'll hear no more of the matter." "You can have it." "For 10 pounds." "I can have it for nothing if I call a policeman." "You won't do that." "Why not?" "It isn't done." "Not done!" "Not done?" "Of all the confounded..." "I was at college with your nephew." "As if that has any..." "ten pounds." "I could sell it for 50, but I need the money badly." "I have the box here." "10 pounds." "Well, for sheer confounded brass." "Thanks very much." "Good afternoon." "Now, Michael, you know Harold Blade of course." "At least you must know his wonderful rafaelite work." "Yes, indeed." "He doesn't know me from Adam." "No, really." "But do tell me, why rafaelite?" "Why?" "Well, because he's the only man who's rediscovered the old values." "The old values?" "Well, I thought the academy was... that place?" "Oh, well." "If you still believe in them." "Oh, but I don'T." "Harold is the only rafaelite." "He'll be the last too." "Oh, there's a group forming, as they always do round great painters, but they never amount to much." "Does my father-in-law know your work, mr." "Blade?" "Soames." "He'll be collecting Harold when we're all dead." "Look at this." "Now." "Pure primary line and color." "Do you think they'd hang that in the Academy?" "Boy, their minds are a mystery to me." "I say, I rather like that suggestion of a halo." "I'm going for a walk." "Back for supper." "Goodbye." "Of course, he's the only man to paint Fleur." "Don't you think so?" "Thank you." "He'd get her modern look perfectly." "Oh." "He has such a struggle, with everyone against him." "Would she sit to him?" "Well, I'll ask her." "But do tell me, why is everyone against him?" "Because he's come through all the fashionable crazes." "They think he's a traitor." "Oh, I see." "Oh, it would be a great chance for him if Soames were to commission a portrait." "And Fleur ought to jump at it." "You know, in 10 years' time, Harold will be the man." "Well, I'll sound her out." "By the way, I hear your little brother's back in London." "Have you seen him yet?" "No, not yet." "But I'm hoping to, soon." "Why have you come to see me?" "Well, frankly, I was going to ask... yes." "Be frank." "I want you to tell me about Jon and Fleur, why they broke it up." "I'd have told you before, that day we met in the tea shop." "Remember?" "Yes, very well." "But I didn't think it important." "Well, is it now?" "That's for you to judge." "Do you know about Jon's mother?" "Irene?" "She was Soames' first wife." "Very beautiful, she was." "I met her in america." "But I had no idea she was married... how could you have?" "They didn't get on." "She left him, and years later she married my father and Soames divorced her." "I mean, Soames divorced her and she married my father." "Well, when Jon and Fleur fell in love," "Irene and my father were terribly upset, and so was Soames." "And then?" "The children were told." "Father died suddenly in the middle of it all." "And Jon... well, Jon decided to do as father wished." "He took Irene away, and Fleur married you." "God." "Poor little devils." "Yes, I always thought it wrong." "Irene should have put up with it." "Except, you know, they wouldn't have been happy." "Irene knew that." "Fleur's too selfish." "What?" "You're a good sort." "Too good for her." "Yes." "Oh, she isn't bad, but she's a selfish little creature." "That isn't so." "Sit down." "I only speak the truth, you know." "Oh, of course it was all horrible." "Soames and my father were first cousins." "And those children were dreadfully in love." "I don't know." "Yes, they should have been allowed to settle it between them." "It was their lives." "Hm." "I thought so too, at the time but now, perhaps it was all for the best." "You're happy, aren't you?" "Oh, I am." "But is she?" "Good morning, Smither." "Why, miss Fleur." "You're up bright and early." "Well, business, Smither." "Is anyone down yet?" "Only mr." "Jon, miss." "Well, I really came to see mrs." "Val Dartie." "You know, canteen accounts." "But mr." "Jon will do for the moment." "Where is he?" "They're in the parlor,miss." "With the painter." "It's funny to see them out again, isn't it?" "I'll be serving his breakfast in a minute, miss." "Well, then i'll just go straight in." "And Smither, bring a cup for me." "Very good, miss." "Fleur."