sidle round, and take a look at him.
June stood in front, fending off this idle curiosityâa little bit of a thing, as somebody once said, âall hair and spirit,â with fearless blue eyes, a firm jaw, and a bright colour, whose face and body seemed too slender for her crown of red-gold hair.
A tall woman, with a beautiful figure, which some member of the family had once compared to a heathen goddess, stood looking at these two with a shadowy smile.
Her hands, gloved in French grey, were crossed one over the other, her grave, charming face held to one side, and the eyes of all men near were fastened on it. Her figure swayed, so balanced that the very air seemed to set it moving. There was warmth, but little colour, in her cheeks; her large, dark eyes were soft.
But it was at her lipsâasking a question, giving an answer, with that shadowy smileâthat men looked; they were sensitive lips, sensuous and sweet, and through them seemed to come warmth and perfume like the warmth and perfume of a flower.
The engaged couple thus scrutinized were unconscious of this passive goddess. It was Bosinney who first noticed her, and asked her name.
June took her lover up to the woman with the beautiful figure.
âIrene is my greatest chum,â she said: âPlease be good friends, you two!â
At the little ladyâs command they all three smiled; and while they were smiling, Soames Forsyte, silently appearing from behind the woman with the beautiful figure, who was his wife, said:
âAh! introduce me too!â
He was seldom, indeed, far from Ireneâs side at public functions, and even when separated by the exigencies of social intercourse, could be seen following her about with his eyes, in which were strange expressions of watchfulness and longing.
At the window his father, James, was still scrutinizing the marks on the piece of china.
âI wonder at Jolyonâs allowing this engagement,â he said to Aunt Ann. âThey tell me thereâs no chance of their getting married for years. This young Bosinneyâ (he made the word a dactyl in opposition to general usage of a short o) âhas got nothing. When Winifred married Dartie, I made him bring every penny into settlementâlucky thing, tooâtheyâd haâ had nothing by this time!â
Aunt Ann looked up from her velvet chair. Grey curls banded her forehead, curls that, unchanged for decades, had extinguished in the family all sense of time. She made no reply, for she rarely spoke, husbanding her aged voice; but to James, uneasy of conscience, her look was as good as an answer.
âWell,â he said, âI couldnât help Ireneâs having no money. Soames was in such a hurry; he got quite thin dancing attendance on her.â
Putting the bowl pettishly down on the piano, he let his eyes wander to the group by the door.
âItâs my opinion,â he said unexpectedly, âthat itâs just as well as it is.â
Aunt Ann did not ask him to explain this strange utterance. She knew what he was thinking. If Irene had no money she would not be so foolish as to do anything wrong; for they saidâthey saidâshe had been asking for a separate room; but, of course, Soames had not. . . .
James interrupted her reverie:
âBut where,â he asked, âwas Timothy? Hadnât he come with them?â
Through Aunt Annâs compressed lips a tender smile forced its way:
âNo, he didnât think it wise, with so much of this diphtheria about; and he so liable to take things.â
James answered:
âWell,
he
takes good care of himself. I canât afford to take the care of myself that he does.â
Nor was it easy to say which, of admiration, envy, or contempt, was dominant in that remark.
Timothy, indeed, was seldom seen. The baby of the family, a publisher by profession, he had some years before, when business was at full tide, scented out the stagnation which,