Читать книгу The Forsyte Saga онлайн

220 страница из 340

Now, however, that such a thing—or rather the rumour, the breath of it—had come near him personally, he felt as in a fog, which filled his mouth full of a bad, thick flavour, and made it difficult to draw breath.

A scandal! A possible scandal!

To repeat this word to himself thus was the only way in which he could focus or make it thinkable. He had forgotten the sensations necessary for understanding the progress, fate, or meaning of any such business; he simply could no longer grasp the possibilities of people running any risk for the sake of passion.

Amongst all those persons of his acquaintance, who went into the City day after day and did their business there, whatever it was, and in their leisure moments bought shares, and houses, and ate dinners, and played games, as he was told, it would have seemed to him ridiculous to suppose that there were any who would run risks for the sake of anything so recondite, so figurative, as passion.

Passion! He seemed, indeed, to have heard of it, and rules such as “A young man and a young woman ought never to be trusted together” were fixed in his mind as the parallels of latitude are fixed on a map (for all Forsytes, when it comes to “bed-rock” matters of fact, have quite a fine taste in realism); but as to anything else—well, he could only appreciate it at all through the catch-word “scandal.”