第55章

Aunt Juley thought Francie ought not to say such a thing.Dear Mrs.MacAnder's boy,Charlie MacAnder,was one,and no one could call him grasping.At this Francie uttered one of her mots,scandalising,and so frequently repeated:

"Well,his father's a Scotchman,and his mother's a cat."Aunt Juley covered her ears,too late,but Aunt Hester smiled;as for Nicholas,he pouted -witticism of which he was not the author was hardly to his taste.Just then Marian Tweetyman arrived,followed almost immediately by young Nicholas.On seeing his son,Nicholas rose.

"Well,I must be going,"he said,"Nick here will tell you what'll win the race."And with this hit at his eldest,who,as a pillar of accountancy,and director of an insurance company,was no more addicted to sport than his father had ever been,he departed.Dear Nicholas!What race was that?Or was it only one of his jokes?

He was a wonderful man for his age!How many lumps would dear Marian take?And how were Giles and Jesse?Aunt Juley supposed their Yeomanry would be very busy now,guarding the coast,though of course the Boers had no ships.But one never knew what the French might do if they had the chance,especially since that dreadful Fashoda scare,which had upset Timothy so terribly that he had made no investments for months afterwards.It was the ingratitude of the Boers that was so dreadful,after everything had been done for them--Dr.Jameson imprisoned,and he was so nice,Mrs.MacAnder had always said.And Sir Alfred Milner sent out to talk to them--such a clever man!She didn't know what they wanted.

But at this moment occurred one of those sensations--so precious at Timothy's--which great occasions sometimes bring forth:

"Miss June Forsyte."

Aunts Juley and Hester were on their feet at once,trembling from smothered resentment,and old affection bubbling up,and pride at the return of a prodigal June!Well,this was a surprise!Dear June--after all these years!And how well she was looking!Not changed at all!It was almost on their lips to add,'And how is your dear grandfather?'forgetting in that giddy moment that poor dear Jolyon had been in his grave for seven years now.

Ever the most courageous and downright of all the Forsytes,June,with her decided chin and her spirited eyes and her hair like flame,sat down,slight and short,on a gilt chair with a bead-worked seat,for all the world as if ten years had not elapsed since she had been to see them--ten years of travel and independence and devotion to lame ducks.Those ducks of late had been all definitely painters,etchers,or sculptors,so that her impatience with the Forsytes and their hopelessly inartistic outlook had become intense.Indeed,she had almost ceased to believe that her family existed,and looked round her now with a sort of challenging directness which brought exquisite discomfort to the roomful.She had not expected to meet any of them but 'the poor old things';and why she had come to see them she hardly knew,except that,while on her way from Oxford Street to a studio in Latimer Road,she had suddenly remembered them with compunction as two long-neglected old lame ducks.

Aunt Juley broke the hush again."We've just been saying,dear,how dreadful it is about these Boers!And what an impudent thing of that old Kruger!""Impudent!"said June."I think he's quite right.What business have we to meddle with them?If he turned out all those wretched Uitlanders it would serve them right.They're only after money."The silence of sensation was broken by Francie saying:

"What?Are you a pro-Boer?"(undoubtedly the first use of that expression).

"Well!Why can't we leave them alone?"said June,just as,in the open doorway,the maid said "Mr.Soames Forsyte."Sensation on sensation!Greeting was almost held up by curiosity to see how June and he would take this encounter,for it was shrewdly suspected,if not quite known,that they had not met since that old and lamentable affair of her fiance Bosinney with Soames'wife.

They were seen to just touch each other's hands,and look each at the other's left eye only.Aunt Juley came at once to the rescue:

"Dear June is so original.Fancy,Soames,she thinks the Boers are not to blame.""They only want their independence,"said June;"and why shouldn't they have it?""Because,"answered Soames,with his smile a little on one side,"they happen to have agreed to our suzerainty.""Suzerainty!"repeated June scornfully;"we shouldn't like anyone's suzerainty over us.""They got advantages in payment,"replied Soames;"a contract is a contract.""Contracts are not always just,"fumed out June,"and when they're not,they ought to be broken.The Boers are much the weaker.We could afford to be generous."Soames sniffed."That's mere sentiment,"he said.

Aunt Hester,to whom nothing was more awful than any kind of disagreement,here leaned forward and remarked decisively: