At the great dining-table,shortened to its utmost,under which so many fashionable legs had rested,James sat at one end,Emily at the other,Val half-way between them;and something of the loneliness of his grandparents,now that all their four children were flown,reached the boy's spirit.'I hope I shall kick the bucket long before I'm as old as grandfather,'he thought.'Poor old chap,he's as thin as a rail!'And lowering his voice while his grandfather and Warmson were in discussion about sugar in the soup,he said to Emily:
"It's pretty brutal at home,Granny.I suppose you know.""Yes,dear boy."
"Uncle Soames was there when I left.I say,isn't there anything to be done to prevent a divorce?Why is he so beastly keen on it?""Hush,my dear!"murmured Emily;"we're keeping it from your grandfather."James'voice sounded from the other end.
"What's that?What are you talking about?"
"About Val's college,"returned Emily."Young Pariser was there,James;you remember--he nearly broke the Bank at Monte Carlo afterwards."James muttered that he did not know--Val must look after himself up there,or he'd get into bad ways.And he looked at his grandson with gloom,out of which affection distrustfully glimmered.
"What I'm afraid of,"said Val to his plate,"is of being hard up,you know."By instinct he knew that the weak spot in that old man was fear of insecurity for his grandchildren.
"Well,"said James,and the soup in his spoon dribbled over,"you'll have a good allowance;but you must keep within it.""Of course,"murmured Val;"if it is good.How much will it be,Grandfather?""Three hundred and fifty;it's too much.I had next to nothing at your age."Val sighed.He had hoped for four,and been afraid of three."Idon't know what your young cousin has,"said James;"he's up there.
His father's a rich man."
"Aren't you?"asked Val hardily.
"I?"replied James,flustered."I've got so many expenses.Your father."and he was silent.
"Cousin Jolyon's got an awfully jolly place.I went down there with Uncle Soames--ripping stables.""Ah!"murmured James profoundly."That house--I knew how it would be!"And he lapsed into gloomy meditation over his fish-bones.
His son's tragedy,and the deep cleavage it had caused in the Forsyte family,had still the power to draw him down into a whirlpool of doubts and misgivings.Val,who hankered to talk of Robin Hill,because Robin Hill meant Holly,turned to Emily and said:
"Was that the house built for Uncle Soames?"And,receiving her nod,went on:"I wish you'd tell me about him,Granny.What became of Aunt Irene?Is she still going?He seems awfully worked-up about something to-night."Emily laid her finger on her lips,but the word Irene had caught James'ear.
"What's that?"he said,staying a piece of mutton close to his lips."Who's been seeing her?I knew we hadn't heard the last of that.""Now,James,"said Emily,"eat your dinner.Nobody's been seeing anybody."James put down his fork.
"There you go,"he said."I might die before you'd tell me of it.
Is Soames getting a divorce?"
"Nonsense,"said Emily with incomparable aplomb;"Soames is much too sensible."James had sought his own throat,gathering the long white whiskers together on the skin and bone of it.
"She--she was always."he said,and with that enigmatic remark the conversation lapsed,for Warmson had returned.But later,when the saddle of mutton had been succeeded by sweet,savoury,and dessert,and Val had received a cheque for twenty pounds and his grandfather's kiss--like no other kiss in the world,from lips pushed out with a sort of fearful suddenness,as if yielding to weakness--he returned to the charge in the hall.
"Tell us about Uncle Soames,Granny.Why is he so keen on mother's getting a divorce?""Your Uncle Soames,"said Emily,and her voice had in it an exaggerated assurance,"is a lawyer,my dear boy.He's sure to know best.""Is he?"muttered Val."But what did become of Aunt Irene?Iremember she was jolly good-looking."
"She--er."said Emily,"behaved very badly.We don't talk about it.""Well,I don't want everybody at Oxford to know about our affairs,"ejaculated Val;"it's a brutal idea.Why couldn't father be pre-vented without its being made public?"
Emily sighed.She had always lived rather in an atmosphere of divorce,owing to her fashionable proclivities--so many of those whose legs had been under her table having gained a certain notor-iety.When,however,it touched her own family,she liked it no better than other people.But she was eminently practical,and a woman of courage,who never pursued a shadow in preference to its substance.
"Your mother,"she said,"will be happier if she's quite free,Val.
Good-night,my dear boy;and don't wear loud waistcoats up at Oxford,they're not the thing just now.Here's a little present."With another five pounds in his hand,and a little warmth in his heart,for he was fond of his grandmother,he went out into Park Lane.A wind had cleared the mist,the autumn leaves were rustling,and the stars were shining.With all that money in his pocket an impulse to 'see life'beset him;but he had not gone forty yards in the direction of Piccadilly when Holly's shy face,and her eyes with an imp dancing in their gravity,came up before him,and his hand seemed to be tingling again from the pressure of her warm gloved hand.'No,dash it!'he thought,'I'm going home!'