Unless it were Roger,who had once refused to stand for Parliament,and--oh,irony!--Jolyon,hung on the line,there had never been a distinguished Forsyte.But that very lack of distinction was the name's greatest asset.It was a private name,intensely individual,and his own property;it had never been exploited for good or evil by intrusive report.He and each member of his family owned it wholly,sanely,secretly,without any more interference from the public than had been necessitated by their births,their marriages,their deaths.And during these weeks of waiting and preparing to drop the Law,he conceived for that Law a bitter distaste,so deeply did he resent its coming violation of his name,forced on him by the need he felt to perpetuate that name in a lawful manner.The monstrous injustice of the whole thing excited in him a perpetual suppressed fury.He had asked no better than to live in spotless domesticity,and now he must go into the witness box,after all these futile,barren years,and proclaim his failure to keep his wife--incur the pity,the amusement,the contempt of his kind.It was all upside down.She and that fellow ought to be the sufferers,and they--were in Italy!In these weeks the Law he had served so faithfully,looked on so reverently as the guardian of all property,seemed to him quite pitiful.What could be more insane than to tell a man that he owned his wife,and punish him when someone unlawfully took her away from him?Did the Law not know that a man's name was to him the apple of his eye,that it was far harder to be regarded as cuckold than as seducer?He actually envied Jolyon the reputation of succeeding where he,Soames,had failed.The question of damages worried him,too.He wanted to make that fellow suffer,but he remembered his cousin's words,"Ishall be very happy,"with the uneasy feeling that to claim damages would make not Jolyon but himself suffer;he felt uncannily that Jolyon would rather like to pay them--the chap was so loose.
Besides,to claim damages was not the thing to do.The claim,indeed,had been made almost mechanically;and as the hour drew near Soames saw in it just another dodge of this insensitive and topsy-turvy Law to make him ridiculous;so that people might sneer and say:"Oh,yes,he got quite a good price for her!"And he gave instructions that his Counsel should state that the money would be given to a Home for Fallen Women.He was a long time hitting off exactly the right charity;but,having pitched on it,he used to wake up in the night and think:'It won't do,too lurid;it'll draw attention.Something quieter--better taste.'He did not care for dogs,or he would have named them;and it was in desperation at last--for his knowledge of charities was limited--that he decided on the blind.That could not be inappropriate,and it would make the Jury assess the damages high.
A good many suits were dropping out of the list,which happened to be exceptionally thin that summer,so that his case would be reached before August.As the day grew nearer,Winifred was his only comfort.She showed the fellow-feeling of one who had been through the mill,and was the 'femme-sole'in whom he confided,well knowing that she would not let Dartie into her confidence.
That ruffian would be only too rejoiced!At the end of July,on the afternoon before the case,he went in to see her.They had not yet been able to leave town,because Dartie had already spent their summer holiday,and Winifred dared not go to her father for more money while he was waiting not to be told anything about this affair of Soames.
Soames found her with a letter in her hand.
"That from Val,"he asked gloomily."What does he say?""He says he's married,"said Winifred.
"Whom to,for Goodness'sake?"
Winifred looked up at him.
"To Holly Forsyte,Jolyon's daughter."
"What?"
"He got leave and did it.I didn't even know he knew her.
Awkward,isn't it?"
Soames uttered a short laugh at that characteristic minimisation.
"Awkward!Well,I don't suppose they'll hear about this till they come back.They'd better stay out there.That fellow will give her money.""But I want Val back,"said Winifred almost piteously;"I miss him,he helps me to get on.""I know,"murmured Soames."How's Dartie behaving now?""It might be worse;but it's always money.Would you like me to come down to the Court to-morrow,Soames?"Soames stretched out his hand for hers.The gesture so betrayed the loneliness in him that she pressed it between her two.
"Never mind,old boy.You'll feel ever so much better when it's all over.""I don't know what I've done,"said Soames huskily;"I never have.
It's all upside down.I was fond of her;I've always been."Winifred saw a drop of blood ooze out of his lip,and the sight stirred her profoundly.
"Of course,"she said,"it's been too bad of her all along!But what shall I do about this marriage of Val's,Soames?I don't know how to write to him,with this coming on.You've seen that child.
Is she pretty?"
"Yes,she's pretty,"said Soames."Dark--lady-like enough."'That doesn't sound so bad,'thought Winifred.'Jolyon had style.'
"It is a coil,"she said."What will father say ?
"Mustn't be told,"said Soames."The war'll soon be over now,you'd better let Val take to farming out there."It was tantamount to saying that his nephew was lost.
"I haven't told Monty,"Winifred murmured desolately.
The case was reached before noon next day,and was over in little more than half an hour.Soames--pale,spruce,sad-eyed in the witness-box--had suffered so much beforehand that he took it all like one dead.The moment the decree nisi was pronounced he left the Courts of Justice.