The Forsyte Saga John Galsworthy (hot novels to read TXT) đ
- Author: John Galsworthy
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Perhaps he did not believe in âgoodnessâ and âbadnessâ any more than his son; but as he would have said: He didnât knowâ âcouldnât tell; there might be something in it; and why, by an unnecessary expression of disbelief, deprive yourself of possible advantage?
Accustomed to spend his holidays among the mountains, though (like a true Forsyte) he had never attempted anything too adventurous or too foolhardy, he had been passionately fond of them. And when the wonderful view (mentioned in Baedekerâ ââfatiguing but repayingâ)â âwas disclosed to him after the effort of the climb, he had doubtless felt the existence of some great, dignified principle crowning the chaotic strivings, the petty precipices, and ironic little dark chasms of life. This was as near to religion, perhaps, as his practical spirit had ever gone.
But it was many years since he had been to the mountains. He had taken June there two seasons running, after his wife died, and had realized bitterly that his walking days were over.
To that old mountainâ âgiven confidence in a supreme order of things he had long been a stranger.
He knew himself to be old, yet he felt young; and this troubled him. It troubled and puzzled him, too, to think that he, who had always been so careful, should be father and grandfather to such as seemed born to disaster. He had nothing to say against Joâ âwho could say anything against the boy, an amiable chap?â âbut his position was deplorable, and this business of Juneâs nearly as bad. It seemed like a fatality, and a fatality was one of those things no man of his character could either understand or put up with.
In writing to his son he did not really hope that anything would come of it. Since the ball at Rogerâs he had seen too clearly how the land layâ âhe could put two and two together quicker than most menâ âand, with the example of his own son before his eyes, knew better than any Forsyte of them all that the pale flame singes menâs wings whether they will or no.
In the days before Juneâs engagement, when she and Mrs. Soames were always together, he had seen enough of Irene to feel the spell she cast over men. She was not a flirt, not even a coquetteâ âwords dear to the heart of his generation, which loved to define things by a good, broad, inadequate wordâ âbut she was dangerous. He could not say why. Tell him of a quality innate in some womenâ âa seductive power beyond their own control! He would but answer: âHumbug!â She was dangerous, and there was an end of it. He wanted to close his eyes to that affair. If it was, it was; he did not want to hear any more about itâ âhe only wanted to save Juneâs position and her peace of mind. He still hoped she might once more become a comfort to himself.
And so he had written. He got little enough out of the answer. As to what young Jolyon had made of the interview, there was practically only the queer sentence: âI gather that heâs in the stream.â The stream! What stream? What was this newfangled way of talking?
He sighed, and folded the last of the papers under the flap of the bag; he knew well enough what was meant.
June came out of the dining-room, and helped him on with his summer coat. From her costume, and the expression of her little resolute face, he saw at once what was coming.
âIâm going with you,â she said.
âNonsense, my dear; I go straight into the City. I canât have you racketting about!â
âI must see old Mrs. Smeech.â
âOh, your precious lame ducks!â grumbled out old Jolyon. He did not believe her excuse, but ceased his opposition. There was no doing anything with that pertinacity of hers.
At Victoria he put her into the carriage which had been ordered for himselfâ âa characteristic action, for he had no petty selfishnesses.
âNow, donât you go tiring yourself, my darling,â he said, and took a cab on into the city.
June went first to a back-street in Paddington, where Mrs. Smeech, her lame duck, livedâ âan aged person, connected with the charring interest; but after half an hour spent in hearing her habitually lamentable recital, and dragooning her into temporary comfort, she went on to Stanhope Gate. The great house was closed and dark.
She had decided to learn something at all costs. It was better to face the worst, and have it over. And this was her plan: To go first to Philâs aunt, Mrs. Baynes, and, failing information there, to Irene herself. She had no clear notion of what she would gain by these visits.
At three oâclock she was in Lowndes Square. With a womanâs instinct when trouble is to be faced, she had put on her best frock, and went to the battle with a glance as courageous as old Jolyonâs itself. Her tremors had passed into eagerness.
Mrs. Baynes, Bosinneyâs aunt (Louisa was her name), was in her kitchen when June was announced, organizing the cook, for she was an excellent housewife, and, as Baynes always said, there was âa lot in a good dinner.â He did his best work after dinner. It was Baynes who built that remarkably fine row of tall crimson houses in Kensington which compete with so many others for the title of âthe ugliest in London.â
On hearing Juneâs name, she went hurriedly to her bedroom, and, taking two large bracelets from a red morocco case in a locked drawer, put them on her white wristsâ âfor she possessed in a remarkable degree that âsense of property,â which, as we know, is the touchstone of Forsyteism, and the foundation of good morality.
Her figure, of medium height and broad build, with a
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