Editing The Forsyte Saga (section)

===''The White Monkey'' (1924)===
Fleur Forsyte has settled into married life with Michael Mont, following her aborted romance with Jon Forsyte. Unbeknownst to Michael, his best friend Wilfred Desert has also fallen in love with Fleur. Fleur seems to treat Wilfred’s affection as an amusement in her otherwise dull life.

Michael works for a publishing firm and catches one of his employees, Bickett, stealing books and is forced to fire him. Feeling bad for a man who was trying to help his sick wife, Michael helps Bickett’s wife Victorine gain a job posing as a nude model for various artists. Victorine eventually gains enough money for the two of them to move to Australia.

Soames Forsyte, Fleur’s father, is on the board for a company with extensive capital invested overseas. A young man comes to him and advises that he has overheard that the Chairman of the Board, Mr Emerson, has been taking commissions to invest in failing stock, losing a considerable amount of the shareholders’ money in the process. Soames and Lawrence Mont, Michael’s father, attempt to bring this to the attention of the Board but are too late to stop Mr Emerson escaping prosecution. They both resign in protest.

Soames also visits his cousin George shortly before his death and secures a Chinese painting, the titular ‘White Monkey’. He gives the painting to Fleur and Michael.

Eventually, Wilfred tires of Fleur tormenting him and leaves to go to the East. A depressed Fleur turns to Michael and falls pregnant and eventually gives birth to a son, Christopher (or Kit).