And he braced himself with that dour refection in front of a bric-a-brac shop. At this high-water mark of what was once the London season, there was nothing to mark it out from any other except a grey top hat or two, and the sun. Jon moved on, and turning the corner into Piccadilly, ran into Val Dartie moving toward the Iseeum Club, to which he had just been elected.
"Hallo! young man! Where are you off to?"Jon gushed. "I've just been to my tailor's."Val looked him up and down. "That's good! I'm going in here to order some cigarettes; then come and have some lunch."Jon thanked him. He might get news of her from Val!
The condition of England, that nightmare of its Press and Public men, was seen in different perspective within the tobacconist's which they now entered.
"Yes, sir; precisely the cigarette I used to supply your father with.
Bless me! Mr. Montague Dartie was a customer here from--let me see--the year Melton won the Derby. One of my very best customers he was." A faint smile illumined the tobacconist's face. "Many's the tip he's given me, to be sure! I suppose he took a couple of hundred of these every week, year in, year out, and never changed his cigarette. Very affable gentleman, brought me a lot of custom. Iwas sorry he met with that accident. One misses an old customer like him."Val smiled. His father's decease had closed an account which had been running longer, probably, than any other; and in a ring of smoke puffed out from that time-honoured cigarette he seemed to see again his father's face, dark, good-looking, moustachioed, a little puffy, in the only halo it had earned. His father had his fame here, anyway--a man who smoked two hundred cigarettes a week, who could give tips, and run accounts for ever! To his tobacconist a hero!
Even that was some distinction to inherit!
"I pay cash," he said; "how much?"
"To his son, sir, and cash--ten and six. I shall never forget Mr.
Montague Dartie. I've known him stand talkin' to me half an hour.
We don't get many like him now, with everybody in such a hurry. The War was bad for manners, sir--it was bad for manners. You were in it, I see.""No," said Val, tapping his knee, "I got this in the war before.
Saved my life, I expect. Do you want any cigarettes, Jon?"Rather ashamed, Jon murmured, "I don't smoke, you know," and saw the tobacconist's lips twisted, as if uncertain whether to say "Good God!" or "Now's your chance, sir!""That's right," said Val; "keep off it while you can. You'll want it when you take a knock. This is really the same tobacco, then?""Identical, sir; a little dearer, that's all. Wonderful staying power--the British Empire, I always say.""Send me down a hundred a week to this address, and invoice it monthly. Come on, Jon."Jon entered the Iseeum with curiosity. Except to lunch now and then at the Hotch-Potch with his father, he had never been in a London Club. The Iseeum, comfortable and unpretentious, did not move, could not, so long as George Forsyte sat on its Committee, where his culinary acumen was almost the controlling force. The Club had made a stand against the newly rich, and it had taken all George Forsyte's prestige, and praise of him as a "good sportsman," to bring in Prosper Profond.
The two were lunching together when the half-brothers-in-law entered the dining-room, and attracted by George's forefinger, sat down at their table, Val with his shrewd eyes and charming smile, Jon with solemn lips and an attractive shyness in his glance. There was an air of privilege around that corner table, as though past masters were eating there. Jon was fascinated by the hypnotic atmosphere.
The waiter, lean in the chaps, pervaded with such free-masonical deference. He seemed to hang on George Forsyte's lips, to watch the gloat in his eye with a kind of sympathy, to follow the movements of the heavy club-marked silver fondly. His liveried arm and confidential voice alarmed Jon, they came so secretly over his shoulder.
Except for George's "Your grandfather tipped me once; he was a deuced good judge of a cigar!" neither he nor the other past master took any notice of him, and he was grateful for this. The talk was all about the breeding, points, and prices of horses, and he listened to it vaguely at first, wondering how it was possible to retain so much knowledge in a head. He could not take his eyes off the dark past master--what he said was so deliberate and discouraging--such heavy, queer, smiled-out words. Jon was thinking of butterflies, when he heard him say:
"I want to see Mr. Soames Forsyde take an interest in 'orses.""Old Soames! He's too dry a file!"With all his might Jon tried not to grow red, while the dark past master went on.
"His daughter's an attractive small girl. Mr. Soames Forsyde is a bit old-fashioned. I want to see him have a pleasure some day."George Forsyte grinned.
"Don't you worry; he's not so miserable as he looks. He'll never show he's enjoying anything--they might try and take it from him.
Old Soames! Once bit, twice shy!"
"Well, Jon," said Val, hastily, "if you've finished, we'll go and have coffee.""Who were those?" Jon asked, on the stairs. "I didn't quite---""Old George Forsyte is a first cousin of your father's and of my Uncle Soames. He's always been here. The other chap, Profond, is a queer fish. I think he's hanging round Soames' wife, if you ask me!"Jon looked at him, startled. "But that's awful," he said: "I mean--for Fleur.""Don't suppose Fleur cares very much; she's very up-to-date.""Her mother!""You're very green, Jon."
Jon grew red. "Mothers," he stammered angrily, "are different.""You're right," said Val suddenly; "but things aren't what they were when I was your age. There's a 'To-morrow we die' feeling. That's what old George meant about my Uncle Soames. He doesn't mean to die to-morrow."Jon said, quickly: "What's the matter between him and my father?""Stable secret, Jon. Take my advice, and bottle up. You'll do no good by knowing. Have a liqueur?"Jon shook his head.