第39章

To return from a long travel in Spain to a darkened house,to a little daughter bewildered with tears,to the sight of a loved father lying peaceful in his last sleep,had never been,was never likely to be,forgotten by so impressionable and warm-hearted a man as Jolyon.A sense as of mystery,too,clung to that sad day,and about the end of one whose life had been so well-ordered,balanced,and above-board.It seemed incredible that his father could thus have vanished without,as it were,announcing his intention,without last words to his son,and due farewells.And those incoherent allusions of little Holly to 'the lady in grey,'of Mademoiselle Beauce to a Madame Errant (as it sounded)involved all things in a mist,lifted a little when he read his father's will and the codicil thereto.It had been his duty as executor of that will and codicil to inform Irene,wife of his cousin Soames,of her life interest in fifteen thousand pounds.He had called on her to explain that the existing investment in India Stock,ear-marked to meet the charge,would produce for her the interesting net sum of ?430odd a year,clear of income tax.This was but the third time he had seen his cousin Soames'wife--if indeed she was still his wife,of which he was not quite sure.He remembered having seen her sitting in the Botanical Gardens waiting for Bosinney--a passive,fascinating figure,reminding him of Titian's 'Heavenly Love,'and again,when,charged by his father,he had gone to Montpellier Square on the afternoon when Bosinney's death was known.He still recalled vividly her sudden appearance in the drawing-room doorway on that occasion--her beautiful face,passing from wild eagerness of hope to stony despair;remembered the compassion he had felt,Soames'snarling smile,his words,"We are not at home!"and the slam of the front door.

This third time he saw a face and form more beautiful--freed from that warp of wild hope and despair.Looking at her,he thought:

'Yes,you are just what the Dad would have admired!'And the strange story of his father's Indian summer became slowly clear to him.She spoke of old Jolyon with reverence and tears in her eyes.

"He was so wonderfully kind to me;I don't know why.He looked so beautiful and peaceful sitting in that chair under the tree;it was I who first came on him sitting there,you know.Such a lovely day.I don't think an end could have been happier.We should all like to go out like that."'Quite right I'he had thought.'We should all a like to go out in full summer with beauty stepping towards us across a lawn.'And looking round the little,almost empty drawing-room,he had asked her what she was going to do now.

"I am going to live again a little,Cousin Jolyon.It's wonderful to have money of one's own.I've never had any.I shall keep this flat,I think;I'm used to it;but I shall be able to go to Italy."Exactly!"Jolyon had murmured,looking at her faintly smiling lips;and he had gone away thinking:'A fascinating woman!What a waste!I'm glad the Dad left her that money.'He had not seen her again,but every quarter he had signed her cheque,forwarding it to her bank,with a note to the Chelsea flat to say that he had done so;and always he had received a note in acknowledgment,generally from the flat,but sometimes from Italy;so that her personality had become embodied in slightly scented grey paper,an upright fine handwriting,and the words,'Dear Cousin Jolyon.'Man of property that he now was,the slender cheque he signed often gave rise to the thought:'Well,I suppose she just manages';sliding into a vague wonder how she was faring otherwise in a world of men not wont to let beauty go unpossessed.At first Holly had spoken of her sometimes,but 'ladies in grey'soon fade from children's memories;and the tightening of June's lips in those first weeks after her grandfather's death whenever her former friend's name was mentioned,had discouraged allusion.Only once,indeed,had June spoken definitely:"I've forgiven her.I'm frightfully glad she's independent now."On receiving Soames'card,Jolyon said to the maid--for he could not abide butlers--"Show him into the study,please,and say I'll be there in a minute";and then he looked at Holly and asked:

"Do you remember 'the lady in grey,'who used to give you music-lessons?"

"Oh yes,why?Has she come?"

Jolyon shook his head,and,changing his holland blouse for a coat,was silent,perceiving suddenly that such history was not for those young ears.His face,in fact,became whimsical perplexity incarnate while he journeyed towards the study.