And the thought of
how to keep June's name out of the business kept whirring in his brain.
James had his son to support him! Why should he not send for Jo?
Taking out his card-case, he pencilled the following message:
'Come round at once. I've sent the carriage for you.'
On getting out he gave this card to his coachman, telling him to
drive--as fast as possible to the Hotch Potch Club, and if Mr. Jolyon
Forsyte were there to give him the card and bring him at once. If not
there yet, he was to wait till he came.
He followed the others slowly up the steps, leaning on his umbrella,
and stood a moment to get his breath. The Inspector said: "This is the
mortuary, sir. But take your time."
In the bare, white-walled room, empty of all but a streak of sunshine
smeared along the dustless floor, lay a form covered by a sheet. With
a huge steady hand the Inspector took the hem and turned it back. A
sightless face gazed up at them, and on either side of that sightless
defiant face the three Forsytes gazed down; in each one of them the
secret emotions, fears, and pity of his own nature rose and fell like
the rising, falling waves of life, whose wish those white walls barred
out now for ever from Bosinney. And in each one of them the trend of his
nature, the odd essential spring, which moved him in fashions minutely,
unalterably different from those of every other human being, forced him
to a different attitude of thought.
Pages:
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471