第113章
OUT OF THE WEB
On Forsyte 'Change the announcement of Jolly's death,among a batch of troopers,caused mixed sensation.Strange to read that Jolyon Forsyte (fifth of the name in direct descent)had died of disease in the service of his country,and not be able to feel it personally.It revived the old grudge against his father for having estranged himself.For such was still the prestige of old Jolyon that the other Forsytes could never quite feel,as might have been expected,that it was they who had cut off his descendants for irregularity.The news increased,of course,the interest and anxiety about Val;but then Val's name was Dartie,and even if he were killed in battle or got the Victoria Cross,it would not be at all the same as if his name were Forsyte.Not even casualty or glory to the Haymans would be really satisfactory.
Family pride felt defrauded.
How the rumour arose,then,that 'something very dreadful,my dear,'was pending,no one,least of all Soames,could tell,secret as he kept everything.Possibly some eye had seen 'Forsyte v.
Forsyte and Forsyte,'in the cause list;and had added it to 'Irene in Paris with a fair beard.'Possibly some wall at Park Lane had ears.The fact remained that it was known--whispered among the old,discussed among the young--that family pride must soon receive a blow.
Soames,paying one,of his Sunday visits to Timothy's--paying it with the feeling that after the suit came on he would be paying no more--felt knowledge in the air as he came in.Nobody,of course,dared speak of it before him,but each of the four other Forsytes present held their breath,aware that nothing could prevent Aunt Juley from making them all uncomfortable.She looked so piteously at Soames,she checked herself on the point of speech so often,that Aunt Hester excused herself and said she must go and bathe Timothy's eye--he had a sty coming.Soames,impassive,slightly supercilious,did not stay long.He went out with a curse stifled behind his pale,just smiling lips.
Fortunately for the peace of his mind,cruelly tortured by the coming scandal,he was kept busy day and night with plans for his retirement--for he had come to that grim conclusion.To go on seeing all those people who had known him as a 'long-headed chap,'an astute adviser--after that--no!The fastidiousness and pride which was so strangely,so inextricably blended in him with possessive obtuseness,revolted against the thought.He would retire,live privately,go on buying pictures,make a great name as a collector--after all,his heart was more in that than it had ever been in Law.In pursuance of this now fixed resolve,he had to get ready to amalgamate his business with another firm without letting people know,for that would excite curiosity and make humiliation cast its shadow before.He had pitched on the firm of Cuthcott,Holliday and Kingson,two of whom were dead.The full name after the amalgamation would therefore be Cuthcott,Holliday,Kingson,Forsyte,Bustard and Forsyte.But after debate as to which of the dead still had any influence with the living,it was decided to reduce the title to Cuthcott,Kingson and Forsyte,of whom Kingson would be the active and Soames the sleeping partner.For leaving his name,prestige,and clients behind him,Soames would receive considerable value.
One night,as befitted a man who had arrived at so important a stage of his career,he made a calculation of what he was worth,and after writing off liberally for depreciation by the war,found his value to be some hundred and thirty thousand pounds.At his father's death,which could not,alas,be delayed much longer,he must come into at least another fifty thousand,and his yearly expenditure at present just reached two.Standing among his pictures,he saw before him a future full of bargains earned by the trained faculty of knowing better than other people.Selling what was about to decline,keeping what was still going up,and exercising judicious insight into future taste,he would make a unique collection,which at his death would pass to the nation under the title 'Forsyte Bequest.'
If the divorce went through,he had determined on his line with Madame Lamotte.She had,he knew,but one real ambition--to live on her 'renter'in Paris near her grandchildren.He would buy the goodwill of the Restaurant Bretagne at a fancy price.Madame would live like a Queen-Mother in Paris on the interest,invested as she would know how.(Incidentally Soames meant to put a capable manager in her place,and make the restaurant pay good interest on his money.There were great possibilities in Soho.)On Annette he would promise to settle fifteen thousand pounds (whether designedly or not),precisely the sum old Jolyon had settled on 'that woman.'
A letter from Jolyon's solicitor to his own had disclosed the fact that 'those two'were in Italy.And an opportunity had been duly given for noting that they had first stayed at an hotel in London.
The matter was clear as daylight,and would be disposed of in half an hour or so;but during that half-hour he,Soames,would go down to hell;and after that half-hour all bearers of the Forsyte name would feel the bloom was off the rose.He had no illusions like Shakespeare that roses by any other name would smell as sweet.The name was a possession,a concrete,unstained piece of property,the value of which would be reduced some twenty per cent.at least.