The Forsyte Saga - Volume 2 - Page 88/238

"Your mother," she said, "will be happier if she's quite free, Val.

Good-night, my dear boy; and don't wear loud waistcoats up at Oxford,

they're not the thing just now. Here's a little present."

With another five pounds in his hand, and a little warmth in his heart,

for he was fond of his grandmother, he went out into Park Lane. A wind

had cleared the mist, the autumn leaves were rustling, and the stars

were shining. With all that money in his pocket an impulse to 'see

life' beset him; but he had not gone forty yards in the direction of

Piccadilly when Holly's shy face, and her eyes with an imp dancing in

their gravity, came up before him, and his hand seemed to be tingling

again from the pressure of her warm gloved hand. 'No, dash it!' he

thought, 'I'm going home!'