Man of Property

Book Excerpt: ...nge, disreputable cat--Tommy had such disgraceful friends! She was disturbed when it did not move. Like an artist for ever seeking to discover the significant trifle which embodies the whole character of a scene, or place, or person, so those unconscious artists--the Forsytes had fastened by intuition on this hat; it was their significant trifle, the detail in which was embedded the meaning of the whole matter; for each had asked himself: "Come, now, should I have paid that visit in that hat?" and each had answered "No!" and some, with more imagination than others, had added: "It would never have come into my head!"George, on hearing the story, grinned. The hat had obviously been worn as a practical joke! He himself was a connoisseur of such. "Very haughty!" he said, "the wild Buccaneer."And this mot, the 'Buccaneer, ' was bandied from mouth to mouth, till it became the favourite mode of alluding to Bosinney. Her aunts reproached June afterwards about the hat."We don't think you ought to l..