The Man of Property [antikvár]

ONETHE FORSYTES MEET PHILIP BOSINNEY.June I5thj 1886, was an important day for the Forsyte family. It was a day they would always remember. For the first time in twelve years. Old Jolyon Forsyte, the head of i' the family, was giving an afternoon party in his great house at Stanhope Gate. The party was to celebrate the engagement' of Old Jolyon's grand-daughter, June, to Mr Philip Bosinney.The day was important for a different reason too. Philip Bosinney, the man who planned to marry June Forsyte, was going to change the lives of many people in the Forsyte family.It was four o'clock in the afternoon of that June day in 1886. Many carriages^ were making their way to the house where Old Jolyon had lived for so many years. Stanhope Gate was a wealthy and respectable' part of London and Old Jolyon's house was one of the biggest in the district. High steps led up to the front door and the tall house seemed to look down on passers-by. Such a house made Old Jolyon's position in the world quite clear. Only a man of the greatest wealth could afford to live there.All the Forsytes lived in London at that time, and they were all people of wealth and good taste'. They lived in fine-looking houses which they had filled with beautiful and expensive things. The Forsytes were collectors; they liked to own property of all kinds. Money was important to them for this reason. With money, they could buy houses, old paintings and fine china. They could dress in the most fashionable' clothes.