FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   677   678   679   680   681   682   683   684   685   686   687   688   689   690   691   692   693   694   695   696   697   698   699   700   701  
702   703   704   705   706   707   708   709   710   711   712   713   714   715   716   717   718   719   720   721   722   723   724   725   726   >>   >|  
n. He got up and went out into the air. The stars were very bright. He passed along the terrace round the corner of the house, till, through the window of the music-room, he could see Irene at the piano, with lamp-light falling on her powdery hair; withdrawn into herself she seemed, her dark eyes staring straight before her, her hands idle. Jolyon saw her raise those hands and clasp them over her breast. 'It's Jon, with her,' he thought; 'all Jon! I'm dying out of her--it's natural!' And, careful not to be seen, he stole back. Next day, after a bad night, he sat down to his task. He wrote with difficulty and many erasures. "MY DEAREST BOY, "You are old enough to understand how very difficult it is for elders to give themselves away to their young. Especially when--like your mother and myself, though I shall never think of her as anything but young--their hearts are altogether set on him to whom they must confess. I cannot say we are conscious of having sinned exactly--people in real life very seldom are, I believe--but most persons would say we had, and at all events our conduct, righteous or not, has found us out. The truth is, my dear, we both have pasts, which it is now my task to make known to you, because they so grievously and deeply affect your future. Many, very many years ago, as far back indeed as 1883, when she was only twenty, your mother had the great and lasting misfortune to make an unhappy marriage--no, not with me, Jon. Without money of her own, and with only a stepmother--closely related to Jezebel--she was very unhappy in her home life. It was Fleur's father that she married, my cousin Soames Forsyte. He had pursued her very tenaciously and to do him justice was deeply in love with her. Within a week she knew the fearful mistake she had made. It was not his fault; it was her error of judgment--her misfortune." So far Jolyon had kept some semblance of irony, but now his subject carried him away. "Jon, I want to explain to you if I can--and it's very hard--how it is that an unhappy marriage such as this can so easily come about. You will of course say: 'If she didn't really love him how could she ever have married him?' You would be right if it were not for one or two rather terrible considerations. From this initial mistake of hers all the subsequent trouble, sorrow, and tragedy have come, and so I must make it clear to you if I can. You see, Jon, in those days and even to thi
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   677   678   679   680   681   682   683   684   685   686   687   688   689   690   691   692   693   694   695   696   697   698   699   700   701  
702   703   704   705   706   707   708   709   710   711   712   713   714   715   716   717   718   719   720   721   722   723   724   725   726   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
unhappy
 

marriage

 

married

 

mistake

 

misfortune

 

mother

 
deeply
 

Jolyon

 

closely

 

related


Jezebel
 

stepmother

 

Without

 
father
 
Forsyte
 
pursued
 

tenaciously

 
Soames
 

sorrow

 

tragedy


cousin

 

corner

 

future

 

grievously

 

affect

 
lasting
 

passed

 
bright
 

terrace

 

twenty


justice

 

easily

 

subsequent

 

terrible

 
considerations
 

judgment

 
fearful
 

Within

 

explain

 

trouble


carried

 

subject

 

semblance

 
initial
 

difficult

 
elders
 
understand
 

DEAREST

 
straight
 
staring