The Complete Project Gutenberg Works of Galsworthy

ays after the dinner at Swithin's, and looking back from across t

her hands crossed in her lap, manifestly waiting for him to

if he drank! Did he run into debt, or gamble, or swear; was he violen

a source of the most terrible irritation. That she had made a mistake, and did no

a cause for his wife's not getting o

ly never even occurred to him. Her power of attraction, he regarded as part of her value as his property; but it made him, indeed, suspect that she could give as well as receive; and she gave him nothing! 'Then why did she marry me?' was his continual thought. He had, forgotten his courtship; that year and a half when he had besieged and lain in wait for her, devising schemes for her entertainment, giving her presents, proposing to her periodically, and keeping her o

aise, when the lover is at length rewarded for hammering the iron till

s, mousing doggedly al

unless he decided to move

ome getting on for three thousand a year; but his invested capital was not perhaps so large as his father believed-James had a tendency to expect that his

es, stacked against the wall, which he had no room to hang. He brought them home with him on his way back from the City, generally after dark, and would

ts tall houses, its interminable streets, where his life and the lives of his breed and class were passed. Every n

d, had only been into the room on rare occasions, in discharge of some wifely duty. She was not asked to look at the p

of the picture shop his im

ith its greyish shaven tinge, and the buttoned strictness of his black cut-away coat, conveyed an appearance of reserve and secrecy, of imperturbable, enfor

made a calculation of their values, but without the satisfaction

d seen at Robin Hill, when he had gone down there in the spring to inspect the Nicholl mortgage-what could be better! Within twelve miles of Hyde Park Corner, t

th him; for to a true Forsyte, sentiment, even the sentiment of social position, was a luxu

from her friends and those who put ideas into her head! That was the thing! She was too t

The house would please her she would enjoy messin

last house of Parkes, which had a tower; but Parkes had himself said that his architect was ruinous. You never knew wher

he memory of Parkes' tower precluded

at Swithin's he had made enquiries, the result of which

eve

u like-a bit-a b

erms. The more he reflected on the idea, the more he liked it. It would be keeping the thing in the family, with Forsytes almost an instinct; and he would be able

bring the young man; for, like every Forsyte, he could be a

close at, hand, so that he would be able

the job. June's marriage might depend on it. Irene could not decently stand in the way of June's marriag

buttered; he should be easy to deal with in money matters. Soames made this reflection in no defrauding spirit; it was the natural attitude of

human nature itself-when he reflected, with a sense of comfor

stop in the side aisles for five or ten minutes, scrutinizing the names and epitaphs on the monuments. The attraction for him of this great church was inexplicable, unless it enabled him to concentrate his thoughts on the business of the day. If any affair of particular moment, or demanding peculiar acutene

monument to monument, turned his eyes upwards to the co

the awed and wistful l

s whitened to a chalky h

lasped in front over th

sacred inspiration pe

'I must have room t

He found the architect in his shirt-sleeves, smoking a pipe, and ruling o

er to do on Sunday, com

your opinion on

going t

"but don't speak of it.

" said the

ered abou

high up here,

ut the nature and scope of Bosinney

far," answered the architect. "

eth; it assisted him perhaps to carry on the conversation. So

for an office lik

much," repl

mpressed Soam

e said. "I'll call for yo

, and drove him to the station. On arriving at Robin Hill, they f

sun and cloudless sky-and in the straight, narrow road

. Into the side-pockets of this coat were thrust bundles of papers, and under one

ough these eccentricities were revolting to Soames, he derived a certain satisfaction from them, as evidence

e a surprise, so don't say anything about it. I nev

ney n

" pursued Soames, "and you

inney, "women

-bottom of Soames's heart; he had

stopped, but added, with an uncontrollable burst of

ot a bad thin

violated his best instincts, letting other people into the se

ge rose amongst a clump of trees at the border of a thick wood. Tussocks of feathery grass covered the rough surface of the ground, and out o

e he stopped. It was the chosen site; but now that he was

d; "he'll give us some lunch-we'd better

beard, welcomed them. During lunch, which Soames hardly touched, he kept looking at Bosinney, and once or twic

" he said; "I'll just go and nose about a bit

pany, looking at ground-plans and discussing the Nicholl and other mortgages; it wa

down in their price to me, considerin

shook h

on, Sir, he said, "is

f the slope are de

d; it's quite possible I shan't build

Sir. There's not a bit of land near London with such a view as this, nor one that's che

plainly: 'I respect you as a man of business; a

o off!" With these words, taking up his umbrella, he put his chilly hand into t

agent had said was true. A cheap site. And the beauty of it was, that he knew the agent did

I mean to have

m the wild grasses. The sappy scent of the bracken stole forth from the wood, where, hidden in the de

us morsel. But when he arrived at the site, Bosinney was nowhere to be seen. After waiting some little time, h

ence only broken by the rustle of rabbits bolt

wilderness, felt his spirit daunted by the loneliness, by the invisible singing, and the

whose trunk, with a huge spread of bough and folia

him on the shoulder

id, "I've found the ver

k h

d looked, then

but this site will cost

t, man. Look

e beyond. A plain of fields and hedges spread to the distant grey-bluedo

edown floated round them, enraptured by the serenity, of the ether. The heat danced over the corn, and, perva

sinking into his senses as, four years before, Irene's beauty had sunk into his senses and made him long for her. He stole a glance at Bosinney, whose eyes, the eyes of the coachman's 'half-tame leopard,' seemed running wild over the land

ed over the corn, and brought a

r here," said Bosinney, br

oames, drily. "You have

housand I could bu

gle was going on within him. He dro

't aff

sing walk, he led the wa

rticulars of the projected house, and th

n hour, and, joining Bosinn

ing his lips, "I've taken th

ow it was that this fellow, whom by habit he d