Julia+Lambert+and+Tom+Fennell

The main characters of the novel are Julia and Tom Fennel. Going through the novel we can see the development of their relationships. For the first time Julia met Tom at the office of her husband. He was an articled clerk. Julia’s husband wanted to take him back with them and give him a spot of lunch. Julia referred to this idea with the faint irony. But the young man was so shy that Julia couldn’t refuse him. During the lunch the young man didn’t know how to behave and blushed scarlet all the time. We couldn’t unnotice the fact that they both didn’t know the name of the young clerk. But Julia payed her attention on Tom when he told that he was he great admirer. His admira­tion made her feel a little larger than life-size. She noticed that he was quiet handsome. He was not particularly good- look­ing, but he had a frank, open face and his shyness was attractive. He had curly light brown hair, but it was plastered down and Julia thought how much better he would look if, instead of trying to smooth out the wave with brilliantine, he made the most of it. He had a fresh colour a good skin and small well-shaped teeth. She noticed with approval that his clothes fitted and that he wore them well. He looked nice and clean. At the end of the lunch she decided to give him her photograph. The boy was so young, so shy, he looked as if he had such a nice nature, and she would never see him again, she wanted him //to have his money’s worth.// She wanted him to look back on this as one of the great moments of his life. She sat at the desk and with her bold, flowing hand wrote: Yours sincerely, Julia Lambert. She thought it was the last time she saw Tom. Once she was sitting in her dressing-room and noticed some fresh flowers in a vase. Here was the card. Julia looked at it. Mr. Thomas Fennell. Tavistock Square. Though she had no notion who it was she sat down at her desk and in her straggling bold hand wrote to Mr. Thomas Fennell a gushing note of thanks for his beautiful flowers. That evening when she came back home she heard the telephone ringing. The sound of his voice and the words told her who it was. It was the blushing young man whose name she did not know. He wanted her to have tea with him at his place. It was nice of him to have suggested that. He might so easily have mentioned some fashionable place where people would stare at her. It proved that he didn’t just want to be seen with her. That is why Julia agreed. When she arrived at him he met her near the door. The room reminded her very much of some of the lodgings she had lived in when she was first on the stage. They talked. He seemed shy, much shyer than he had seemed over the telephone. They talked of the theatre. He had seen her in every play she had acted in since he was twelve years old. He was sweet with his blue eyes and pale brown hair. She turned to him, standing by her side. He put his arm round her waist and kissed her full on the lips. No woman was ever more surprised in her life. She was so taken aback that she never thought of doing anything. His lips were soft and there was a perfume of youth about him which was really rather delightful. But what he was doing was preposterous. She did not feel angry, she did not feel inclined to laugh, she did not know what she felt. Julia felt a strange pang in her heart. She took his head in her hands and kissed his lips. A few minutes later she was standing at the chimney piece, in front of the looking-glass, making herself tidy. Of course she had no intention of seeing him again. He might be tiresome if she told him that the incident would have no sequel. But their meetings continued. He began to come to her theatre. Once he invited her to dinner at a luxury restaurant. She hated to let him pay the bill, she had an inkling that it was costing pretty well his week’s salary, but she knew it would hurt his pride if she offered to pay it her-self. She asked casually what the time was and instinctively he looked at his wrist. But there was not watch. Julia understood that he had pawned it. She knew that he had pawned his watch in order to take her out to supper. A lump came into her throat. She could have taken him in her arms then and there and kissed his blue eyes. She adored him. Next day Julia went to Cartier’s and bought a watch to send to Tom Fennell instead of the one he had pawned, and two or three weeks later, discovering that it was his birthday, she sent him a gold cigarette-case. Then, on one excuse and another, she sent him pearl studs and sleeve-links and waistcoat buttons. It thrilled her to make him presents. Julia confessed to herself that she had fallen in love with Tom. It came to her as a shock. But she was exhilarated. They had a grand party at Stanhope Place. Julia decided that Tom must come. She thought it would please him to meet some of the people he had known only from their pictures. For Julia was shrewd, and she knew very well that Tom was not in love with her. To have an affair with her flattered his vanity. But she never felt so light-hearted as in his company. Her feelings told her now that she must never tell Tom that she loved him. She was careful to make it plain to him that she laid no claims on him and that he was free to do whatever he liked. She took up the attitude that the whole thing was a bit of nonsense to which neither of them must attach importance. But she left nothing undone to bind him to her. He liked parties and she took him to parties. Once Michael and Julia asked him to come and spend his holiday with them. But one day Julia noticed that he was unusually silent. She knew that something was wrong, but he would not tell her what it was. At last she forced him to confess that he had got into debt and was being dunned by tradesmen. The life into which she had led him had made him spend more money than he could afford. He had backed a horse hoping to make enough money to get square and the horse was beaten. To Julia it was a very small sum that he owed and she said at once that she would give it to him. It was true; it gave her a thrill to give him money. Tom had arranged to come on the following Saturday. Julia was waiting for these holidays but all gone in a wrong way. Tom spent all his time with her son Roger and payed very little attention on her. His behaviour had nothing of the chivalrous courtesy a young man might show to a fascinating woman; it was the tolerant kindness he might display to a maiden aunt. His relation to her made her angry. Julia decided to revenge him. She knew where he was most sensitive and how she could most cruelly wound him. That would get him on the raw. She felt a faint sensation of relief as she turned the scheme over in her mind. She got four single pounds out of her bag and a ten-shilling note. She wrote a brief letter,where she told him that she gave money for his tips. But Tom gave her back all the presents and wanted to stop their relationships. Julia realized that he began to pay attention on young actresses, she understood that she was a woman from another century for him but she couldn’t live without him. She had to throw away her pride and apologize to Tom for her behaviour and their relations continued…