The Forsyte Saga John Galsworthy (hot novels to read TXT) đ
- Author: John Galsworthy
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Its age was felt to be a comfort. Old Jolyon, in whom a desperate honesty welled up at times, would allude to his ancestors as: âYeomenâ âI suppose very small beer.â Yet he would repeat the word âyeomenâ as if it afforded him consolation.
They had all done so well for themselves, these Forsytes, that they were all what is called âof a certain position.â They had shares in all sorts of things, not as yetâ âwith the exception of Timothyâ âin consols, for they had no dread in life like that of three percent for their money. They collected pictures, too, and were supporters of such charitable institutions as might be beneficial to their sick domestics. From their father, the builder, they inherited a talent for bricks and mortar. Originally, perhaps, members of some primitive sect, they were now in the natural course of things members of the Church of England, and caused their wives and children to attend with some regularity the more fashionable churches of the Metropolis. To have doubted their Christianity would have caused them both pain and surprise. Some of them paid for pews, thus expressing in the most practical form their sympathy with the teachings of Christ.
Their residences, placed at stated intervals round the park, watched like sentinels, lest the fair heart of this London, where their desires were fixed, should slip from their clutches, and leave them lower in their own estimations.
There was old Jolyon in Stanhope Place; the Jameses in Park Lane; Swithin in the lonely glory of orange and blue chambers in Hyde Park Mansionsâ âhe had never married, not heâ âthe Soamses in their nest off Knightsbridge; the Rogers in Princeâs Gardens (Roger was that remarkable Forsyte who had conceived and carried out the notion of bringing up his four sons to a new profession. âCollect house property, nothing like it,â he would say; âI never did anything elseâ).
The Haymans againâ âMrs. Hayman was the one married Forsyte sisterâ âin a house high up on Campden Hill, shaped like a giraffe, and so tall that it gave the observer a crick in the neck; the Nicholases in Ladbroke Grove, a spacious abode and a great bargain; and last, but not least, Timothyâs on the Bayswater Road, where Ann, and Juley, and Hester, lived under his protection.
But all this time James was musing, and now he inquired of his host and brother what he had given for that house in Montpellier Square. He himself had had his eye on a house there for the last two years, but they wanted such a price.
Old Jolyon recounted the details of his purchase.
âTwenty-two years to run?â repeated James; âThe very house I was afterâ âyouâve given too much for it!â
Old Jolyon frowned.
âItâs not that I want it,â said James hastily; âit wouldnât suit my purpose at that price. Soames knows the house, wellâ âheâll tell you itâs too dearâ âhis opinionâs worth having.â
âI donât,â said old Jolyon, âcare a fig for his opinion.â
âWell,â murmured James, âyou will have your own wayâ âitâs a good opinion. Goodbye! Weâre going to drive down to Hurlingham. They tell me Juneâs going to Wales. Youâll be lonely tomorrow. Whatâll you do with yourself? Youâd better come and dine with us!â
Old Jolyon refused. He went down to the front door and saw them into their barouche, and twinkled at them, having already forgotten his spleenâ âMrs. James facing the horses, tall and majestic with auburn hair; on her left, Ireneâ âthe two husbands, father and son, sitting forward, as though they expected something, opposite their wives. Bobbing and bounding upon the spring cushions, silent, swaying to each motion of their chariot, old Jolyon watched them drive away under the sunlight.
During the drive the silence was broken by Mrs. James.
âDid you ever see such a collection of rumty-too people?â
Soames, glancing at her beneath his eyelids, nodded, and he saw Irene steal at him one of her unfathomable looks. It is likely enough that each branch of the Forsyte family made that remark as they drove away from old Jolyonâs âat home!â
Amongst the last of the departing guests the fourth and fifth brothers, Nicholas and Roger, walked away together, directing their steps alongside Hyde Park towards the Praed Street Station of the Underground. Like all other Forsytes of a certain age they kept carriages of their own, and never took cabs if by any means they could avoid it.
The day was bright, the trees of the Park in the full beauty of mid-June foliage; the brothers did not seem to notice phenomena, which contributed, nevertheless, to the jauntiness of promenade and conversation.
âYes,â said Roger, âsheâs a good-lookinâ woman, that wife of Soamesâ. Iâm told they donât get on.â
This brother had a high forehead, and the freshest colour of any of the Forsytes; his light grey eyes measured the street frontage of the houses by the way, and now and then he would level his umbrella and take a âlunar,â as he expressed it, of the varying heights.
âSheâd no money,â replied Nicholas.
He himself had married a good deal of money, of which, it being then the golden age before the Married Womenâs Property Act, he had mercifully been enabled to make a successful use.
âWhat was her father?â
âHeron was his name, a professor, so they tell me.â
Roger shook his head.
âThereâs no money in that,â he said.
âThey say her motherâs father was cement.â
Rogerâs face brightened.
âBut he went bankrupt,â went on Nicholas.
âAh!â exclaimed Roger, âSoames will have trouble with her; you mark my words, heâll have troubleâ âsheâs got a foreign look.â
Nicholas licked his lips.
âSheâs a pretty woman,â and he waved aside a crossing-sweeper.
âHow did he get hold of her?â asked Roger presently. âShe must cost him a pretty penny in dress!â
âAnn tells me,â replied Nicholas, âhe was half-cracked about her. She refused him five times. James, heâs nervous about it, I can see.â
âAh!â said Roger again; âIâm sorry for James; he had trouble with Dartie.â His pleasant colour was heightened by exercise, he swung his umbrella to the level
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