--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.

"Very pretty!" he said.

He heard the fellow murmur:

"This is hardly the place--we'll go to the study, if you don't mind."
And they both passed him through the curtain opening. In the little
room to which he followed them, Irene stood by the open window, and the
'fellow' close to her by a big chair. Soames pulled the door to behind
him with a slam; the sound carried him back all those years to the day
when he had shut out Jolyon--shut him out for meddling with his affairs.

"Well," he said, "what have you to say for yourselves?"

The fellow had the effrontery to smile.

"What we have received to-day has taken away your right to ask. I should
imagine you will be glad to have your neck out of chancery."

"Oh!" said Soames; "you think so! I came to tel