London had already begun to disgorge its workers as he neared Putney
Bridge; the ant-heap was on the move outwards. What a lot of ants, all
with a living to get, holding on by their eyelids in the great scramble!
Perhaps for the first time in his life Soames thought: 'I could let go
if I liked! Nothing could touch me; I could snap my fingers, live as I
wished--enjoy myself!' No! One could not live as he had and just drop
it all--settle down in Capua, to spend the money and reputation he had
made. A man's life was what he possessed and sought to possess. Only
fools thought otherwise--fools, and socialists, and libertines!
The cab was passing villas now, going a great pace. 'Fifteen miles an
hour, I should think!' he mused; 'this'll take people out of town to
live!' and he thought of its bearing on the portions of London owned by
his father--he himself had never taken to that form of investment, the
gambler in him having all the outlet needed in his pictures. And the cab
sped on, down the hill past Wimbledon Common. This interview! Surely a
man of fifty-two with grown-up children, and hung on the line, would not
be reckless. 'He won't want to disgrace the family,' he thought; 'he
was as fond of his father as I am of mine, and they were brothers. That
woman brings destruction--what is it in her? I've never known.' The
cab branched off, along the side of a wood, and he heard a late cuckoo
calling, almost the first he had heard that year. He was now almost
opposite the site he had originally chosen for his house, and which
had been so unceremoniously rejected by Bosinney in favour of his own
choice. He began passing his handkerchief over his face and hands,
taking deep breaths to give him steadiness. 'Keep one's head,' he
thought, 'keep one's head!'
The cab turned in at the drive which might have been his own, and the
sound of music met him. He had forgotten the fellow's daughters.
"I may be out again directly," he said to the driver, "or I may be kept
some time"; and he rang the bell.
Following the maid through the curtains into the inner hall, he felt
relieved that the impact of this meeting would be broken by June or
Holly, whichever was playing in there, so that with complete surprise
he saw Irene at the piano, and Jolyon sitting in an armchair listening.
They both stood up. Blood surged into Soames' brain, and all his
resolution to be guided by this or that left him utterly. The look of
his farmer forbears--dogged Forsytes down by the sea, from 'Superior
Dosset' back--grinned out of his face.