The Forsyte Saga, Volume 3(192)
‘Well, old man,’ said Michael, ‘that must have been a hearty scrap.’
‘It was. Whisky?’
‘No, thanks.’
He watched Wilfrid take up the letters and turn his back to open them.
‘I ought to have known he’d do that,’ thought Michael; ‘there goes my chance! He’s bound to pretend to be in love with her!’
Before turning round again Wilfrid made himself a drink and finished it. Then, facing Michael, he said: ‘Well?’
Disconcerted by the abruptness of that word, and by the knowledge that he had come to pump his friend, Michael did not answer.
‘What d’you want to know?’
Michael said abruptly: ‘Whether you’re in love with Dinny.’
Wilfrid laughed. ‘Really, Michael!’
‘I know. But things can’t go on like this. Damn it! Wilfrid, you ought to think of her.’
‘I do.’ He said it with a face so withdrawn and unhappy that Michael thought: ‘He means that.’
‘Then for God’s sake,’ he said, ‘show it! Don’t let her eat her heart out like this!’
Wilfrid had turned to the window. Without looking round he said:
‘You’ve never had occasion to try and prove yourself the opposite of yellow. Well, don’t! You won’t find the chance. It comes when you don’t want it, not when you do.’
‘Naturally! But, my dear fellow, that’s not Dinny’s fault.’
‘Her misfortune.’
‘Well, then?’
Wilfrid wheeled round.
‘Oh! damn you, Michael! Go away! No one can interfere in this. It’s much too intimate.’
Michael rose and clutched his hat. Wilfrid had said exactly what he himself had really been thinking ever since he came.
‘You’re quite right,’ he said humbly, ‘Good night, old man! That’s a nice dog.’
‘I’m sorry,’ said Wilfrid; ‘you meant well, but you can’t help. No one can. Good night!’
Michael got out, and all the way downstairs he looked for the tail between his legs.
When he reached home Dinny had gone up, but Fleur was waiting down for him. He had not meant to speak of his visit, but, after looking at him keenly, she said:
‘You haven’t been to the House, Michael. You’ve been to see Wilfrid.’
Michael nodded.
‘Well?’
‘No go!’
‘I could have told you that. If you come across a man and woman quarrelling in the street, what do you do?’
‘Pass by on the other side, if you can get there in time.’
‘Well?’
‘They’re not quarrelling.’
‘No, but they’ve got a special world no one else can enter.’
‘That’s what Wilfrid said.’
‘Naturally.’
Michael stared. Yes, of course. She had once had her special world, and not with – him!
‘It was stupid of me. But I am stupid.’
‘No, not stupid; well-intentioned. Are you going up?’
‘Yes.’
As he went upstairs he had the peculiar feeling that it was she who wanted to go to bed with him rather than he with her. And yet, once in bed, that would all change, for of such was the nature of man!
Dinny, in her room above theirs, through her open window could hear the faint murmur of their voices, and, bowing her face on her hands, gave way to a feeling of despair. The stars in their courses fought against her! External opposition one could cut through or get round; but this deep spiritual unease in the loved one’s soul, that – ah! that – one could not reach; and the unreachable could not be pushed away, cut through, or circumvented. She looked up at the stars that fought against her. Did the ancients really believe that, or was it, with them, as with her, just a manner of speaking? Did those bright wheeling jewels on the indigo velvet of all space really concern themselves with little men, the lives and loves of human insects, who, born from an embrace, met and clung and died and became dust? Those candescent worlds, circled by little offsplit planets – were their names taken in vain, or were they really in their motions and their relative positions the writing on the wall for men to read?
No! That was only human self-importance! To his small wheel man bound the Universe. Swing low, sweet chariots! But they didn’t! Man swung with them – in space….
Chapter Twenty-seven
TWO days later the Cherrell family met in conclave because of a sudden summons received by Hubert to rejoin his regiment in the Soudan. He wished to have something decided about Dinny before he left. The four Cherrell brothers, Sir Lawrence, Michael, and himself, gathered, therefore, in Adrian’s room at the Museum after Mr Justice Cherrell’s Court had risen. They all knew that the meeting might be futile, because, as even Governments find, to decide is useless if decision cannot be carried out.