h as sea air on weekdays. Even since
his migration to Mapledurham he had maintained those habits until--he had
known Annette.

Whether Annette had produced the revolution in his outlook, or that
outlook had produced Annette, he knew no more than we know where a circle
begins. It was intricate and deeply involved with the growing
consciousness that property without anyone to leave it to is the negation
of true Forsyteism. To have an heir, some continuance of self, who would
begin where he left off--ensure, in fact, that he would not leave
off--had quite obsessed him for the last year and more. After buying a
bit of Wedgwood one evening in April, he had dropped into Malta Street to
look at a house of his father's which had been turned into a
restaurant--a risky proceeding, and one not quite in accordance with the
terms of the lease. He had stared for a little at the outside painted a
good cream colour, with two peacock-blue tubs containing little bay-trees
in a recessed doorway--and at the words 'Restaurant Bretagne' above them
in gold letters, rather favourably impressed. Entering, he had noticed
that several people were already seated at little round green tables with
little pots of fresh flowers on them and Brittany-ware plates, and had
asked of a trim waitress to see the proprietor. They had shown him into
a back room, where a girl was sitting at a simple bureau covered with
papers, and a small round, table was laid for two. The impression of
cleanliness, order, and good taste was confirmed when the girl got up,
saying, "You wish to see Maman, Monsieur?" in a broken accent.

"Yes," Soames had answered, "I represent your landlord; in fact, I'm his
son."

"Won't you sit down, sir, please? Tell Maman to come to this gentleman."

He was pleased that the girl seemed impressed, because it showed business
instinct; and suddenly he noticed that she was remarkably pretty--so
remarkably pretty that his eyes found a difficulty in leaving her face.
When she moved to put a chair for him, she swayed in a curious subtle
way, as if she had been put together by someone with a special secret
skill; and her face and neck, which was a little bared, looked as fresh
as if they had been sprayed with dew. Probably at this moment Soames
decided that the lease had not been violated; though to himself and his
father he based the decision on the efficiency of those illicit
adaptations in the building, on the signs of prosperity, an