One may as well begin with Helens letters to her sister
Howards End
Tuesday
Dearest Meg
It isnt going to be what we expected It is old and little and altogether delightfulred brick We can scarcely pack in as it is and the dear knows what will happen when Paul younger son arrives tomorrow From hall you go right or left into diningroom or drawingroom Hall itself is practically a room You open another door in it and there are the stairs going up in a sort of tunnel to the firstfloor Three bedrooms in a row there and three attics in a row above That isnt all the house really but its all that one noticesnine windows as you look up from the front garden
Then theres a very big wychelmto the left as you look upleaning a little over the house and standing on the boundary between the garden and meadow I quite love that tree already Also ordinary elms oaksno nastier than ordinary oakspeartrees appletrees and a vine No silver birches though However I must get on to my host and hostess I only wanted to show that it isnt the least what we expected Why did we settle that their house would be all gables and wiggles and their garden all gambogecoloured paths I believe simply because we associate them with expensive hotelsMrs Wilcox trailing in beautiful dresses down long corridors Mr Wilcox bullying porters etc We females are that unjust
I shall be back Saturday will let you know train later They are as angry as I am that you did not come too really Tibby is too tiresome he starts a new mortal disease every month How could he have got hay fever in London and even if he could it seems hard that you should give up a visit to hear a schoolboy sneeze Tell him that Charles Wilcox the son who is here has hay fever too but hes brave and gets quite cross when we inquire after it Men like the Wilcoxes would do Tibby a power of good But you wont agree and Id better change the subject
This long letter is because Im writing before breakfast Oh the beautiful vine leaves The house is covered with a vine I looked out earlier and Mrs Wilcox was already in the garden She evidently loves it No wonder she sometimes looks tired She was watching the large red poppies come out Then she walked off the lawn to the meadow whose corner to the right I can just see Trail trail went her long dress over the sopping grass and she came back with her hands full of the hay that was cut yesterdayI suppose for rabbits or something as she kept on smelling it The air here is delicious Later on I heard the noise of croquet balls and looked out again and it was Charles Wilcox practising they are keen on all games Presently he started sneezing and had to stop Then I hear more clicketing and it is Mr Wilcox practising and then atissue atissue he has to stop too Then Evie comes out and does some calisthenic exercises on a machine that is tacked on to a greengagetreethey put everything to useand then she says atissue and in she goes And finally Mrs Wilcox reappears trail trail still smelling hay and looking at the flowers I inflict all this on you because once you said that life is sometimes life and sometimes only a drama and one must learn to distinguish tother from which and up to now I have always put that down as Megs clever nonsense But this morning it really does seem not life but a play and it did amuse me enormously to watch the Ws Now Mrs Wilcox has come in
I am going to wear omission Last night Mrs Wilcox wore an omission and Evie omission So it isnt exactly a goasyouplease place and if you shut your eyes it still seems the wiggly hotel that we expected Not if you open them The dogroses are too sweet There is a great hedge of them over the lawnmagnificently tall so that they fall down in garlands and nice and thin at the bottom so that you can see ducks through it and a cow These belong to the farm which is the only house near us There goes the breakfast gong Much love Modified love to Tibby Love to Aunt Juley how good of her to come and keep you company but what a bore Burn this Will write again Thursday
Helen
Howards End
Friday
Dearest Meg
I am having a glorious time I like them all Mrs Wilcox if quieter than in Germany is sweeter than ever and I never saw anything like her steady unselfishness and the best of it is that the others do not take advantage of her They are the very happiest jolliest family that you can imagine I do really feel that we are making friends The fun of it is that they think me a noodle and say soat least Mr Wilcox doesand when that happens and one doesnt mind its a pretty sure test isnt it He says the most horrid things about womens suffrage so nicely and when I said I believed in equality he just folded his arms and gave me such a setting down as Ive never had Meg shall we ever learn to talk less I never felt so ashamed of myself in my life I couldnt point to a time when men had been equal nor even to a time when the wish to be equal had made them happier in other ways I couldnt say a word I had just picked up the notion that equality is good from some bookprobably from poetry or you Anyhow its been knocked into pieces and like all people who are really strong Mr Wilcox did it without hurting me On the other hand I laugh at them for catching hay fever We live like fightingcocks and Charles takes us out every day in the motora tomb with trees in it a hermits house a wonderful road that was made by the Kings of Merciatennisa cricket matchbridgeand at night we squeeze up in this lovely house The whole clans here nowits like a rabbit warren Evie is a dear They want me to stop over SundayI suppose it wont matter if I do Marvellous weather and the views marvellousviews westward to the high ground Thank you for your letter Burn this
Your affectionate
Helen
Howards End
Sunday
Dearest dearest MegI do not know what you will say Paul and I are in lovethe younger son who only came here Wednesday
Chapter 2
Margaret glanced at her sisters note and pushed it over the breakfasttable to her aunt There was a moments hush and then the floodgates opened
I can tell you nothing Aunt Juley I know no more than you do We metwe only met the father and mother abroad last spring I know so little that I didnt even know their sons name Its all so She waved her hand and laughed a little
In that case it is far too sudden
Who knows Aunt Juley who knows
But Margaret dear I mean we mustnt be unpractical now that weve come to facts It is too sudden surely
Who knows
But Margaret dear
Ill go for her other letters said Margaret No I wont Ill finish my breakfast In fact I havent them We met the Wilcoxes on an awful expedition that we made from Heidelberg to Speyer Helen and I had got it into our heads that there was a grand old cathedral at Speyerthe Archbishop of Speyer was one of the seven electorsyou knowSpeyer Maintz and Köln Those three sees once commanded the Rhine Valley and got it the name of Priest Street
I still feel quite uneasy about this business Margaret
The train crossed by a bridge of boats and at first sight it looked quite fine But oh in five minutes we had seen the whole thing The cathedral had been ruined absolutely ruined by restoration not an inch left of the original structure We wasted a whole day and came across the Wilcoxes as we were eating our sandwiches in the public gardens They too poor things had been taken inthey were actually stopping at Speyerand they rather liked Helen insisting that they must fly with us to Heidelberg As a matter of fact they did come on next day We all took some drives together They knew us well enough to ask Helen to come and see themat least I was asked too but Tibbys illness prevented me so last Monday she went alone Thats all You know as much as I do now Its a young man out the unknown She was to have come back Saturday but put off till Monday perhaps on account ofI dont know
She broke off and listened to the sounds of a London morning Their house was in Wickham Place and fairly quiet for a lofty promontory of buildings separated it from the main thoroughfare One had the sense of a backwater or rather of an estuary whose waters flowed in from the invisible sea and ebbed into a profound silence while the waves without were still beating Though the promontory consisted of flatsexpensive with cavernous entrance halls full of concierges and palmsit fulfilled its purpose and gained for the older houses opposite a certain measure of peace These too would be swept away in time and another promontory would rise upon their site as humanity piled itself higher and higher on the precious soil of London
Mrs Munt had her own method of interpreting her nieces She decided that Margaret was a little hysterical and was trying to gain time by a torrent of talk Feeling very diplomatic she lamented the fate of Speyer and declared that never never should she be so misguided as to visit it and added of her own accord that the principles of restoration were ill understood in Germany The Germans she said are too thorough and this is all very well sometimes but at other times it does not do
Exactly said Margaret Germans are too thorough And her eyes began to shine
Of course I regard you Schlegels as English said Mrs Munt hastilyEnglish to the backbone
Margaret leaned forward and stroked her hand
And that reminds meHelens letter
Oh yes Aunt Juley I am thinking all right about Helens letter I knowI must go down and see her I am thinking about her all right I am meaning to go down
But go with some plan said Mrs Munt admitting into her kindly voice a note of exasperation Margaret if I may interfere dont be taken by surprise What do you think of the Wilcoxes Are they our sort Are they likely people Could they appreciate Helen who is to my mind a very special sort of person Do they care about Literature and Art That is most important when you come to think of it Literature and Art Most important How old would the son be She says younger son Would he be in a position to marry Is he likely to make Helen happy Did you gather
I gathered nothing
They began to talk at once
Then in that case
In that case I can make no plans dont you see
On the contrary
I hate plans I hate lines of action Helen isnt a baby
Then in that case my dear why go down
Margaret was silent If her aunt could not see why she must go down she was not going to tell her She was not going to say I love my dear sister I must be near her at this crisis of her life The affections are more reticent than the passions and their expression more subtle If she herself should ever fall in love with a man she like Helen would proclaim it from the housetops but as she only loved a sister she used the voiceless language of sympathy
I consider you odd girls continued Mrs Munt and very wonderful girls and in many ways far older than your years Butyou wont be offended frankly I feel you are not up to this business It requires an older person Dear I have nothing to call me back to Swanage She spread out her plump arms I am all at your disposal Let me go down to this house whose name I forget instead of you
Aunt Juleyshe jumped up and kissed herI must must go to Howards End myself You dont exactly understand though I can never thank you properly for offering
I do understand retorted Mrs Munt with immense confidence I go down in no spirit of interference but to make inquiries Inquiries are necessary Now I am going to be rude You would say the wrong thing to a certainty you would In your anxiety for Helens happiness you would offend the whole of these Wilcoxes by asking one of your impetuous questionsnot that one minds offending them
I shall ask no questions I have it in Helens writing that she and a man are in love There is no question to ask as long as she keeps to that All the rest isnt worth a straw A long engagement if you like but inquiries questions plans lines of actionno Aunt Juley no
Away she hurried not beautiful not supremely brilliant but filled with something that took the place of both qualitiessomething best described as a profound vivacity a continual and sincere response to all that she encountered in her path through life
If Helen had written the same to me about a shopassistant or a penniless clerk
Dear Margaret do come into the library and shut the door Your good maids are dusting the banisters
or if she had wanted to marry the man who calls for Carter Paterson I should have said the same Then with one of those turns that convinced her aunt that she was not mad really and convinced observers of another type that she was not a barren theorist she added Though in the case of Carter Paterson I should want it to be a very long engagement indeed I must say
I should think so said Mrs Munt and indeed I can scarcely follow you Now just imagine if you said anything of that sort to the Wilcoxes I understand it but most good people would think you mad Imagine how disconcerting for Helen What is wanted is a person who will go slowly slowly in this business and see how things are and where they are likely to lead to
Margaret was down on this
But you implied just now that the engagement must be broken off
I think probably it must but slowly
Can you break an engagement off slowly Her eyes lit up Whats an engagement made of do you suppose I think its made of some hard stuff that may snap but cant break It is different to the other ties of life They stretch or bend They admit of degree Theyre different
Exactly so But wont you let me just run down to Howards House and save you all the discomfort I will really not interfere but I do so thoroughly understand the kind of thing you Schlegels want that one quiet look round will be enough for me
Margaret again thanked her again kissed her and then ran upstairs to see her brother
He was not so well
The hay fever had worried him a good deal all night His head ached his eyes were wet his mucous membrane he informed her was in a most unsatisfactory condition The only thing that made life worth living was the thought of Walter Savage Landor from whose Imaginary Conversations she had promised to read at frequent intervals during the day
It was rather difficult Something must be done about Helen She must be assured that it is not a criminal offence to love at first sight A telegram to this effect would be cold and cryptic a personal visit seemed each moment more impossible Now the doctor arrived and said that Tibby was quite bad Might it really be best to accept Aunt Juleys kind offer and to send her down to Howards End with a note
Certainly Margaret was impulsive She did swing rapidly from one decision to another Running downstairs into the library she criedYes I have changed my mind I do wish that you would go
There was a train from Kings Cross at eleven At halfpast ten Tibby with rare selfeffacement fell asleep and Margaret was able to drive her aunt to the station
You will remember Aunt Juley not to be drawn into discussing the engagement Give my letter to Helen and say whatever you feel yourself but do keep clear of the relatives We have scarcely got their names straight yet and besides that sort of thing is so uncivilized and wrong
So uncivilized queried Mrs Munt fearing that she was losing the point of some brilliant remark
Oh I used an affected word I only meant would you please only talk the thing over with Helen
Only with Helen
Because But it was no moment to expound the personal nature of love Even Margaret shrank from it and contented herself with stroking her good aunts hand and with meditating half sensibly and half poetically on the journey that was about to begin from Kings Cross
Like many others who have lived long in a great capital she had strong feelings about the various railway termini They are our gates to the glorious and the unknown Through them we pass out into adventure and sunshine to them alas we return In Paddington all Cornwall is latent and the remoter west down the inclines of Liverpool Street lie fenlands and the illimitable Broads Scotland is through the pylons of Euston Wessex behind the poised chaos of Waterloo Italians realize this as is natural those of them who are so unfortunate as to serve as waiters in Berlin call the Anhalt Bahnhof the Stazione dItalia because by it they must return to their homes And he is a chilly Londoner who does not endow his stations with some personality and extend to them however shyly the emotions of fear and love
To MargaretI hope that it will not set the reader against herthe station of Kings Cross had always suggested Infinity Its very situationwithdrawn a little behind the facile splendours of St Pancrasimplied a comment on the materialism of life Those two great arches colourless indifferent shouldering between them an unlovely clock were fit portals for some eternal adventure whose issue might be prosperous but would certainly not be expressed in the ordinary language of prosperity If you think this ridiculous remember that it is not Margaret who is telling you about it and let me hasten to add that they were in plenty of time for the train that Mrs Munt though she took a secondclass ticket was put by the guard into a first only two seconds on the train one smoking and the other babiesone cannot be expected to travel with babies and that Margaret on her return to Wickham Place was confronted with the following telegram
All over Wish I had never written Tell no one
Helen
But Aunt Juley was gonegone irrevocably and no power on earth could stop her
Chapter 3
Most complacently did Mrs Munt rehearse her mission Her nieces were independent young women and it was not often that she was able to help them Emilys daughters had never been quite like other girls They had been left motherless when Tibby was born when Helen was five and Margaret herself but thirteen It was before the passing of the Deceased Wifes Sister Bill so Mrs Munt could without impropriety offer to go and keep house at Wickham Place But her brotherinlaw who was peculiar and a German had referred the question to Margaret who with the crudity of youth had answered No they could manage much better alone Five years later Mr Schlegel had died too and Mrs Munt had repeated her offer Margaret crude no longer had been grateful and extremely nice but the substance of her answer had been the same I must not interfere a third time thought Mrs Munt However of course she did She learnt to her horror that Margaret now of age was taking her money out of the old safe investments and putting it into Foreign Things which always smash Silence would have been criminal Her own fortune was invested in Home Rails and most ardently did she beg her niece to imitate her Then we should be together dear Margaret out of politeness invested a few hundreds in the Nottingham and Derby Railway and though the Foreign Things did admirably and the Nottingham and Derby declined with the steady dignity of which only Home Rails are capable Mrs Munt never ceased to rejoice and to say I did manage that at all events When the smash comes poor Margaret will have a nestegg to fall back upon This year Helen came of age and exactly the same thing happened in Helens case she also would shift her money out of Consols but she too almost without being pressed consecrated a fraction of it to the Nottingham and Derby Railway So far so good but in social matters their aunt had accomplished nothing Sooner or later the girls would enter on the process known as throwing themselves away and if they had delayed hitherto it was only that they might throw themselves more vehemently in the future They saw too many people at Wickham Placeunshaven musicians an actress even German cousins one knows what foreigners are acquaintances picked up at Continental hotels one knows what they are too It was interesting and down at Swanage no one appreciated culture more than Mrs Munt but it was dangerous and disaster was bound to come How right she was and how lucky to be on the spot when the disaster came
The train sped northward under innumerable tunnels It was only an hours journey but Mrs Munt had to raise and lower the window again and again She passed through the South Welwyn Tunnel saw light for a moment and entered the North Welwyn Tunnel of tragic fame She traversed the immense viaduct whose arches span untroubled meadows and the dreamy flow of Tewin Water She skirted the parks of politicians At times the Great North Road accompanied her more suggestive of infinity than any railway awakening after a nap of a hundred years to such life as is conferred by the stench of motorcars and to such culture as is implied by the advertisements of antibilious pills To history to tragedy to the past to the future Mrs Munt remained equally indifferent hers but to concentrate on the end of her journey and to rescue poor Helen from this dreadful mess
The station for Howards End was at Hilton one of the large villages that are strung so frequently along the North Road and that owe their size to the traffic of coaching and precoaching days Being near London it had not shared in the rural decay and its long High Street had budded out right and left into residential estates For about a mile a series of tiled and slated houses passed before Mrs Munts inattentive eyes a series broken at one point by six Danish tumuli that stood shoulder to shoulder along the highroad tombs of soldiers Beyond these tumuli habitations thickened and the train came to a standstill in a tangle that was almost a town
The station like the scenery like Helens letters struck an indeterminate note Into which country will it lead England or Suburbia It was new it had island platforms and a subway and the superficial comfort exacted by business men But it held hints of local life personal intercourse as even Mrs Munt was to discover
I want a house she confided to the ticket boy Its name is Howards Lodge Do you know where it is
Mr Wilcox the boy called
A young man in front of them turned round
Shes wanting Howards End
There was nothing for it but to go forward though Mrs Munt was too much agitated even to stare at the stranger But remembering that there were two brothers she had the sense to say to him Excuse me asking but are you the younger Mr Wilcox or the elder
The younger Can I do anything for you
Oh wellshe controlled herself with difficulty Really Are you I She moved away from the ticket boy and lowered her voice I am Miss Schlegels aunt I ought to introduce myself oughtnt I My name is Mrs Munt
She was conscious that he raised his cap and said quite coolly Oh rather Miss Schlegel is stopping with us Did you want to see her
Possibly
Ill call you a cab No wait a mo He thought Our motors here Ill run you up in it
That is very kind
Not at all if youll just wait till they bring out a parcel from the office This way
My niece is not with you by any chance
No I came over with my father He has gone on north in your train Youll see Miss Schlegel at lunch Youre coming up to lunch I hope
I should like to come up said Mrs Munt not committing herself to nourishment until she had studied Helens lover a little more He seemed a gentleman but had so rattled her round that her powers of observation were numbed She glanced at him stealthily To a feminine eye there was nothing amiss in the sharp depressions at the corners of his mouth nor in the rather boxlike construction of his forehead He was dark cleanshaven and seemed accustomed to command
In front or behind Which do you prefer It may be windy in front
In front if I may then we can talk
But excuse me one momentI cant think what theyre doing with that parcel He strode into the bookingoffice and called with a new voice Hi hi you there Are you going to keep me waiting all day Parcel for Wilcox Howards End Just look sharp Emerging he said in quieter tones This stations abominably organized if I had my way the whole lot of em should get the sack May I help you in
This is very good of you said Mrs Munt as she settled herself into a luxurious cavern of red leather and suffered her person to be padded with rugs and shawls She was more civil than she had intended but really this young man was very kind Moreover she was a little afraid of him his selfpossession was extraordinary Very good indeed she repeated adding It is just what I should have wished
Very good of you to say so he replied with a slight look of surprise which like most slight looks escaped Mrs Munts attention I was just tooling my father over to catch the down train
You see we heard from Helen this morning
Young Wilcox was pouring in petrol starting his engine and performing other actions with which this story has no concern The great car began to rock and the form of Mrs Munt trying to explain things sprang agreeably up and down among the red cushions The mater will be very glad to see you he mumbled Hi I say Parcel for Howards End Bring it out Hi
A bearded porter emerged with the parcel in one hand and an entry book in the other With the gathering whir of the motor these ejaculations mingled Sign must I Why theshould I sign after all this bother Not even got a pencil on you Remember next time I report you to the stationmaster My times of value though yours maynt be Herehere being a tip
Extremely sorry Mrs Munt
Not at all Mr Wilcox
And do you object to going through the village It is rather a longer spin but I have one or two commissions
I should love going through the village Naturally I am very anxious to talk things over with you
As she said this she felt ashamed for she was disobeying Margarets instructions Only disobeying them in the letter surely Margaret had only warned her against discussing the incident with outsiders Surely it was not uncivilized or wrong to discuss it with the young man himself since chance had thrown them together
A reticent fellow he made no reply Mounting by her side he put on gloves and spectacles and off they drove the bearded porterlife is a mysterious businesslooking after them with admiration
The wind was in their faces down the station road blowing the dust into Mrs Munts eyes But as soon as they turned into the Great North Road she opened fire You can well imagine she said that the news was a great shock to us
What news
Mr Wilcox she said frankly Margaret has told me everythingeverything I have seen Helens letter
He could not look her in the face as his eyes were fixed on his work he was travelling as quickly as he dared down the High Street But he inclined his head in her direction and said I beg your pardon I didnt catch
About Helen Helen of course Helen is a very exceptional personI am sure you will let me say this feeling towards her as you doindeed all the Schlegels are exceptional I come in no spirit of interference but it was a great shock
They drew up opposite a drapers Without replying he turned round in his seat and contemplated the cloud of dust that they had raised in their passage through the village It was settling again but not all into the road from which he had taken it Some of it had percolated through the open windows some had whitened the roses and gooseberries of the wayside gardens while a certain proportion had entered the lungs of the villagers I wonder when theyll learn wisdom and tar the roads was his comment Then a man ran out of the drapers with a roll of oilcloth and off they went again
Margaret could not come herself on account of poor Tibby so I am here to represent her and to have a good talk
Im sorry to be so dense said the young man again drawing up outside a shop But I still havent quite understood
Helen Mr Wilcoxmy niece and you
He pushed up his goggles and gazed at her absolutely bewildered Horror smote her to the heart for even she began to suspect that they were at crosspurposes and that she had commenced her mission by some hideous blunder
Miss Schlegel and myself he asked compressing his lips
I trust there has been no misunderstanding quavered Mrs Munt Her letter certainly read that way
What way
That you and she She paused then drooped her eyelids
I think I catch your meaning he said stickily What an extraordinary mistake
Then you didnt the least she stammered getting bloodred in the face and wishing she had never been born
Scarcely as I am already engaged to another lady There was a moments silence and then he caught his breath and exploded with Oh good God Dont tell me its some silliness of Pauls
But you are Paul
Im not
Then why did you say so at the station
I said nothing of the sort
I beg your pardon you did
I beg your pardon I did not My name is Charles
Younger may mean son as opposed to father or second brother as opposed to first There is much to be said for either view and later on they said it But they had other questions before them now
Do you mean to tell me that Paul
But she did not like his voice He sounded as if he was talking to a porter and certain that he had deceived her at the station she too grew angry
Do you mean to tell me that Paul and your niece
Mrs Muntsuch is human naturedetermined that she would champion the lovers She was not going to be bullied by a severe young man Yes they care for one another very much indeed she said I dare say they will tell you about it byandby We heard this morning
And Charles clenched his fist and cried The idiot the idiot the little fool
Mrs Munt tried to divest herself of her rugs If that is your attitude Mr Wilcox I prefer to walk
I beg you will do no such thing Ill take you up this moment to the house Let me tell you the things impossible and must be stopped
Mrs Munt did not often lose her temper and when she did it was only to protect those whom she loved On this occasion she blazed out I quite agree sir The thing is impossible and I will come up and stop it My niece is a very exceptional person and I am not inclined to sit still while she throws herself away on those who will not appreciate her
Charles worked his jaws
Considering she has only known your brother since Wednesday and only met your father and mother at a stray hotel
Could you possibly lower your voice The shopman will overhear
Esprit de classeif one may coin the phrasewas strong in Mrs Munt She sat quivering while a member of the lower orders deposited a metal funnel a saucepan and a garden squirt beside the roll of oilcloth
Right behind
Yes sir And the lower orders vanished in a cloud of dust
I warn you Paul hasnt a penny its useless
No need to warn us Mr Wilcox I assure you The warning is all the other way My niece has been very foolish and I shall give her a good scolding and take her back to London with me
He has to make his way out in Nigeria He couldnt think of marrying for years and when he does it must be a woman who can stand the climate and is in other waysWhy hasnt he told us Of course hes ashamed He knows hes been a fool And so he hasa damned fool
She grew furious
Whereas Miss Schlegel has lost no time in publishing the news
If I were a man Mr Wilcox for that last remark Id box your ears Youre not fit to clean my nieces boots to sit in the same room with her and you dareyou actually dareI decline to argue with such a person
All I know is shes spread the thing and he hasnt and my fathers away and I
And all that I know is
Might I finish my sentence please
No
Charles clenched his teeth and sent the motor swerving all over the lane
She screamed
So they played the game of Capping Families a round of which is always played when love would unite two members of our race But they played it with unusual vigour stating in so many words that Schlegels were better than Wilcoxes Wilcoxes better than Schlegels They flung decency aside The man was young the woman deeply stirred in both a vein of coarseness was latent Their quarrel was no more surprising than are most quarrelsinevitable at the time incredible afterwards But it was more than usually futile A few minutes and they were enlightened The motor drew up at Howards End and Helen looking very pale ran out to meet her aunt
Aunt Juley I have just had a telegram from Margaret II meant to stop your coming It isntits over
The climax was too much for Mrs Munt She burst into tears
Aunt Juley dear dont Dont let them know Ive been so silly It wasnt anything Do bear up for my sake
Paul cried Charles Wilcox pulling his gloves off
Dont let them know They are never to know
Oh my darling Helen
Paul Paul
A very young man came out of the house
Paul is there any truth in this
I didntI dont
Yes or no man plain question plain answer Did or didnt Miss Schlegel
Charles dear said a voice from the garden Charles dear Charles one doesnt ask plain questions There arent such things
They were all silent It was Mrs Wilcox
She approached just as Helens letter had described her trailing noiselessly over the lawn and there was actually a wisp of hay in her hands She seemed to belong not to the young people and their motor but to the house and to the tree that overshadowed it One knew that she worshipped the past and that the instinctive wisdom the past can alone bestow had descended upon herthat wisdom to which we give the clumsy name of aristocracy High born she might not be But assuredly she cared about her ancestors and let them help her When she saw Charles angry Paul frightened and Mrs Munt in tears she heard her ancestors say Separate those human beings who will hurt each other most The rest can wait So she did not ask questions Still less did she pretend that nothing had happened as a competent society hostess would have done She said Miss Schlegel would you take your aunt up to your room or to my room whichever you think best Paul do find Evie and tell her lunch for six but Im not sure whether we shall all be downstairs for it And when they had obeyed her she turned to her elder son who still stood in the throbbing stinking car and smiled at him with tenderness and without a word turned away from him towards her flowers
Mother he called are you aware that Paul has been playing the fool again
Its all right dear They have broken off the engagement
Engagement
They do not love any longer if you prefer it put that way said Mrs Wilcox stooping down to smell a rose
Chapter 4
Helen and her aunt returned to Wickham Place in a state of collapse and for a little time Margaret had three invalids on her hands Mrs Munt soon recovered She possessed to a remarkable degree the power of distorting the past and before many days were over she had forgotten the part played by her own imprudence in the catastrophe Even at the crisis she had cried Thank goodness poor Margaret is saved this which during the journey to London evolved into It had to be gone through by someone which in its turn ripened into the permanent form of The one time I really did help Emilys girls was over the Wilcox business But Helen was a more serious patient New ideas had burst upon her like a thunder clap and by them and by her reverberations she had been stunned
The truth was that she had fallen in love not with an individual but with a family
Before Paul arrived she had as it were been tuned up into his key The energy of the Wilcoxes had fascinated her had created new images of beauty in her responsive mind To be all day with them in the open air to sleep at night under their roof had seemed the supreme joy of life and had led to that abandonment of personality that is a possible prelude to love She had liked giving in to Mr Wilcox or Evie or Charles she had liked being told that her notions of life were sheltered or academic that Equality was nonsense Votes for Women nonsense Socialism nonsense Art and Literature except when conducive to strengthening the character nonsense One by one the Schlegel fetiches had been overthrown and though professing to defend them she had rejoiced When Mr Wilcox said that one sound man of business did more good to the world than a dozen of your social reformers she had swallowed the curious assertion without a gasp and had leant back luxuriously among the cushions of his motorcar When Charles said Why be so polite to servants they dont understand it she had not given the Schlegel retort of If they dont understand it I do No she had vowed to be less polite to servants in the future I am swathed in cant she thought and it is good for me to be stripped of it And all that she thought or did or breathed was a quiet preparation for Paul Paul was inevitable Charles was taken up with another girl Mr Wilcox was so old Evie so young Mrs Wilcox so different Round the absent brother she began to throw the halo of Romance to irradiate him with all the splendour of those happy days to feel that in him she should draw nearest to the robust ideal He and she were about the same age Evie said Most people thought Paul handsomer than his brother He was certainly a better shot though not so good at golf And when Paul appeared flushed with the triumph of getting through an examination and ready to flirt with any pretty girl Helen met him halfway or more than halfway and turned towards him on the Sunday evening
He had been talking of his approaching exile in Nigeria and he should have continued to talk of it and allowed their guest to recover But the heave of her bosom flattered him Passion was possible and he became passionate Deep down in him something whispered This girl would let you kiss her you might not have such a chance again
That was how it happened or rather how Helen described it to her sister using words even more unsympathetic than my own But the poetry of that kiss the wonder of it the magic that there was in life for hours after itwho can describe that It is so easy for an Englishman to sneer at these chance collisions of human beings To the insular cynic and the insular moralist they offer an equal opportunity It is so easy to talk of passing emotion and how to forget how vivid the emotion was ere it passed Our impulse to sneer to forget is at root a good one We recognize that emotion is not enough and that men and women are personalities capable of sustained relations not mere opportunities for an electrical discharge Yet we rate the impulse too highly We do not admit that by collisions of this trivial sort the doors of heaven may be shaken open To Helen at all events her life was to bring nothing more intense than the embrace of this boy who played no part in it He had drawn her out of the house where there was danger of surprise and light he had led her by a path he knew until they stood under the column of the vast wychelm A man in the darkness he had whispered I love you when she was desiring love In time his slender personality faded the scene that he had evoked endured In all the variable years that followed she never saw the like of it again
I understand said Margaretat least I understand as much as ever is understood of these things Tell me now what happened on the Monday morning
It was over at once
How Helen
I was still happy while I dressed but as I came downstairs I got nervous and when I went into the diningroom I knew it was no good There was EvieI cant explainmanaging the teaurn and Mr Wilcox reading the Times
Was Paul there
Yes and Charles was talking to him about Stocks and Shares and he looked frightened
By slight indications the sisters could convey much to each other Margaret saw horror latent in the scene and Helens next remark did not surprise her
Somehow when that kind of man looks frightened it is too awful It is all right for us to be frightened or for men of another sortfather for instance but for men like that When I saw all the others so placid and Paul mad with terror in case I said the wrong thing I felt for a moment that the whole Wilcox family was a fraud just a wall of newspapers and motorcars and golfclubs and that if it fell I should find nothing behind it but panic and emptiness
I dont think that The Wilcoxes struck me as being genuine people particularly the wife
No I dont really think that But Paul was so broadshouldered all kinds of extraordinary things made it worse and I knew that it would never donever I said to him after breakfast when the others were practising strokes We rather lost our heads and he looked better at once though frightfully ashamed He began a speech about having no money to marry on but it hurt him to make it and Istopped him Then he said I must beg your pardon over this Miss Schlegel I cant think what came over me last night And I said Nor what over me never mind And then we partedat least until I remembered that I had written straight off to tell you the night before and that frightened him again I asked him to send a telegram for me for he knew you would be coming or something and he tried to get hold of the motor but Charles and Mr Wilcox wanted it to go to the station and Charles offered to send the telegram for me and then I had to say that the telegram was of no consequence for Paul said Charles might read it and though I wrote it out several times he always said people would suspect something He took it himself at last pretending that he must walk down to get cartridges and what with one thing and the other it was not handed in at the Post Office until too late It was the most terrible morning Paul disliked me more and more and Evie talked cricket averages till I nearly screamed I cannot think how I stood her all the other days At last Charles and his father started for the station and then came your telegram warning me that Aunt Juley was coming by that train and Pauloh rather horriblesaid that I had muddled it But Mrs Wilcox knew
Knew what
Everything though we neither of us told her a word and had known all along I think
Oh she must have overheard you
I suppose so but it seemed wonderful When Charles and Aunt Juley drove up calling each other names Mrs Wilcox stepped in from the garden and made everything less terrible Ugh but it has been a disgusting business To think that She sighed
To think that because you and a young man meet for a moment there must be all these telegrams and anger supplied Margaret
Helen nodded
Ive often thought about it Helen Its one of the most interesting things in the world The truth is that there is a great outer life that you and I have never toucheda life in which telegrams and anger count Personal relations that we think supreme are not supreme there There love means marriage settlements death death duties So far Im clear But here my difficulty This outer life though obviously horrid often seems the real onetheres grit in it It does breed character Do personal relations lead to sloppiness in the end
Oh Meg thats what I felt only not so clearly when the Wilcoxes were so competent and seemed to have their hands on all the ropes
Dont you feel it now
I remember Paul at breakfast said Helen quietly I shall never forget him He had nothing to fall back upon I know that personal relations are the real life for ever and ever
Amen
So the Wilcox episode fell into the background leaving behind it memories of sweetness and horror that mingled and the sisters pursued the life that Helen had commended They talked to each other and to other people they filled the tall thin house at Wickham Place with those whom they liked or could befriend They even attended public meetings In their own fashion they cared deeply about politics though not as politicians would have us care they desired that public life should mirror whatever is good in the life within Temperance tolerance and sexual equality were intelligible cries to them whereas they did not follow our Forward Policy in Thibet with the keen attention that it merits and would at times dismiss the whole British Empire with a puzzled if reverent sigh Not out of them are the shows of history erected the world would be a grey bloodless place were it entirely composed of Miss Schlegels But the world being what it is perhaps they shine out in it like stars
A word on their origin They were not English to the backbone as their aunt had piously asserted But on the other band they were not Germans of the dreadful sort Their father had belonged to a type that was more prominent in Germany fifty years ago than now He was not the aggressive German so dear to the English journalist nor the domestic German so dear to the English wit If one classed him at all it would be as the countryman of Hegel and Kant as the idealist inclined to be dreamy whose Imperialism was the Imperialism of the air Not that his life had been inactive He had fought like blazes against Denmark Austria France But he had fought without visualizing the results of victory A hint of the truth broke on him after Sedan when he saw the dyed moustaches of Napoleon going grey another when he entered Paris and saw the smashed windows of the Tuileries Peace cameit was all very immense one had turned into an Empirebut he knew that some quality had vanished for which not all AlsaceLorraine could compensate him Germany a commercial Power Germany a naval Power Germany with colonies here and a Forward Policy there and legitimate aspirations in the other place might appeal to others and be fitly served by them for his own part he abstained from the fruits of victory and naturalized himself in England The more earnest members of his family never forgave him and knew that his children though scarcely English of the dreadful sort would never be German to the backbone He had obtained work in one of our provincial Universities and there married Poor Emily or Die Engländerin as the case may be and as she had money they proceeded to London and came to know a good many people But his gaze was always fixed beyond the sea It was his hope that the clouds of materialism obscuring the Fatherland would part in time and the mild intellectual light reemerge Do you imply that we Germans are stupid Uncle Ernst exclaimed a haughty and magnificent nephew Uncle Ernst replied To my mind You use the intellect but you no longer care about it That I call stupidity As the haughty nephew did not follow he continued You only care about the things that you can use and therefore arrange them in the following order Money supremely useful intellect rather useful imagination of no use at all Nofor the other had protestedyour PanGermanism is no more imaginative than is our Imperialism over here It is the vice of a vulgar mind to be thrilled by bigness to think that a thousand square miles are a thousand times more wonderful than one square mile and that a million square miles are almost the same as heaven That is not imagination No it kills it When their poets over here try to celebrate bigness they are dead at once and naturally Your poets too are dying your philosophers your musicians to whom Europe has listened for two hundred years Gone Gone with the little courts that nurtured themgone with Esterhaz and Weimar What Whats that Your Universities Oh yes you have learned men who collect more facts than do the learned men of England They collect facts and facts and empires of facts But which of them will rekindle the light within
To all this Margaret listened sitting on the haughty nephews knee
It was a unique education for the little girls The haughty nephew would be at Wickham Place one day bringing with him an even haughtier wife both convinced that Germany was appointed by God to govern the world Aunt Juley would come the next day convinced that Great Britain had been appointed to the same post by the same authority Were both these loudvoiced parties right On one occasion they had met and Margaret with clasped hands had implored them to argue the subject out in her presence Whereat they blushed and began to talk about the weather Papa she criedshe was a most offensive childwhy will they not discuss this most clear question Her father surveying the parties grimly replied that he did not know Putting her head on one side Margaret then remarked To me one of two things is very clear either God does not know his own mind about England and Germany or else these do not know the mind of God A hateful little girl but at thirteen she had grasped a dilemma that most people travel through life without perceiving Her brain darted up and down it grew pliant and strong Her conclusion was that any human being lies nearer to the unseen than any organization and from this she never varied
Helen advanced along the same lines though with a more irresponsible tread In character she resembled her sister but she was pretty and so apt to have a more amusing time People gathered round her more readily especially when they were new acquaintances and she did enjoy a little homage very much When their father died and they ruled alone at Wickham Place she often absorbed the whole of the company while Margaretboth were tremendous talkersfell flat Neither sister bothered about this Helen never apologized afterwards Margaret did not feel the slightest rancour But looks have their influence upon character The sisters were alike as little girls but at the time of the Wilcox episode their methods were beginning to diverge the younger was rather apt to entice people and in enticing them to be herself enticed the elder went straight ahead and accepted an occasional failure as part of the game
Little need be premised about Tibby He was now an intelligent man of sixteen but dyspeptic and difficile
Chapter 5
It will be generally admitted that Beethovens Fifth Symphony is the most sublime noise that has ever penetrated into the ear of man All sorts and conditions are satisfied by it Whether you are like Mrs Munt and tap surreptitiously when the tunes comeof course not so as to disturb the others or like Helen who can see heroes and shipwrecks in the musics flood or like Margaret who can only see the music or like Tibby who is profoundly versed in counterpoint and holds the full score open on his knee or like their cousin Fräulein Mosebach who remembers all the time that Beethoven is echt Deutsch or like Fräulein Mosebachs young man who can remember nothing but Fräulein Mosebach in any case the passion of your life becomes more vivid and you are bound to admit that such a noise is cheap at two shillings It is cheap even if you hear it in the Queens Hall dreariest musicroom in London though not as dreary as the Free Trade Hall Manchester and even if you sit on the extreme left of that hall so that the brass bumps at you before the rest of the orchestra arrives it is still cheap
Who is Margaret talking to said Mrs Munt at the conclusion of the first movement She was again in London on a visit to Wickham Place
Helen looked down the long line of their party and said that she did not know
Would it be some young man or other whom she takes an interest in
I expect so Helen replied Music enwrapped her and she could not enter into the distinction that divides young men whom one takes an interest in from young men whom one knows
You girls are so wonderful in always havingOh dear one mustnt talk
For the Andante had begunvery beautiful but bearing a family likeness to all the other beautiful Andantes that Beethoven had written and to Helens mind rather disconnecting the heroes and shipwrecks of the first movement from the heroes and goblins of the third She heard the tune through once and then her attention wandered and she gazed at the audience or the organ or the architecture Much did she censure the attenuated Cupids who encircle the ceiling of the Queens Hall inclining each to each with vapid gesture and clad in sallow pantaloons on which the October sunlight struck How awful to marry a man like those Cupids thought Helen Here Beethoven started decorating his tune so she heard him through once more and then she smiled at her cousin Frieda But Frieda listening to Classical Music could not respond Herr Liesecke too looked as if wild horses could not make him inattentive there were lines across his forehead his lips were parted his pincenez at right angles to his nose and he had laid a thick white hand on either knee And next to her was Aunt Juley so British and wanting to tap How interesting that row of people was What diverse influences had gone to the making Here Beethoven after humming and hawing with great sweetness said Heigho and the Andante came to an end Applause and a round of wunderschöning and prachtvolleying from the German contingent Margaret started talking to her new young man Helen said to her aunt Now comes the wonderful movement first of all the goblins and then a trio of elephants dancing and Tibby implored the company generally to look out for the transitional passage on the drum
On the what dear
On the drum Aunt Juley
No look out for the part where you think you have done with the goblins and they come back breathed Helen as the music started with a goblin walking quietly over the universe from end to end Others followed him They were not aggressive creatures it was that that made them so terrible to Helen They merely observed in passing that there was no such thing as splendour or heroism in the world After the interlude of elephants dancing they returned and made the observation for the second time Helen could not contradict them for once at all events she had felt the same and had seen the reliable walls of youth collapse Panic and emptiness Panic and emptiness The goblins were right
Her brother raised his finger it was the transitional passage on the drum
For as if things were going too far Beethoven took hold of the goblins and made them do what he wanted He appeared in person He gave them a little push and they began to walk in major key instead of in a minor and thenhe blew with his mouth and they were scattered Gusts of splendour gods and demigods contending with vast swords colour and fragrance broadcast on the field of battle magnificent victory magnificent death Oh it all burst before the girl and she even stretched out her gloved hands as if it was tangible Any fate was titanic any contest desirable conqueror and conquered would alike be applauded by the angels of the utmost stars
And the goblinsthey had not really been there at all They were only the phantoms of cowardice and unbelief One healthy human impulse would dispel them Men like the Wilcoxes or President Roosevelt would say yes Beethoven knew better The goblins really had been there They might returnand they did It was as if the splendour of life might boil overand waste to steam and froth In its dissolution one heard the terrible ominous note and a goblin with increased malignity walked quietly over the universe from end to end Panic and emptiness Panic and emptiness Even the flaming ramparts of the world might fall
Beethoven chose to make all right in the end He built the ramparts up He blew with his mouth for the second time and again the goblins were scattered He brought back the gusts of splendour the heroism the youth the magnificence of life and of death and amid vast roarings of a superhuman joy he led his Fifth Symphony to its conclusion But the goblins were there They could return He had said so bravely and that is why one can trust Beethoven when he says other things
Helen pushed her way out during the applause She desired to be alone The music summed up to her all that had happened or could happen in her career She read it as a tangible statement which could never be superseded The notes meant this and that to her and they could have no other meaning and life could have no other meaning She pushed right out of the building and walked slowly down the outside staircase breathing the autumnal air and then she strolled home
Margaret called Mrs Munt is Helen all right
Oh yes
She is always going away in the middle of a programme said Tibby
The music has evidently moved her deeply said Fräulein Mosebach
Excuse me said Margarets young man who had for some time been preparing a sentence but that lady has quite inadvertently taken my umbrella
Oh good gracious me I am so sorry Tibby run after Helen
I shall miss the Four Serious Songs if I do
Tibby love you must go
It isnt of any consequence said the young man in truth a little uneasy about his umbrella
But of course it is Tibby Tibby
Tibby rose to his feet and wilfully caught his person on the backs of the chairs By the time he had tipped up the seat and had found his hat and had deposited his full score in safety it was too late to go after Helen The Four Serious Songs had begun and one could not move during their performance
My sister is so careless whispered Margaret
Not at all replied the young man but his voice was dead and cold
If you would give me your address
Oh not at all not at all and he wrapped his greatcoat over his knees
Then the Four Serious Songs rang shallow in Margarets ears Brahms for all his grumbling and grizzling had never guessed what it felt like to be suspected of stealing an umbrella For this fool of a young man thought that she and Helen and Tibby had been playing the confidence trick on him and that if he gave his address they would break into his rooms some midnight or other and steal his walkingstick too Most ladies would have laughed but Margaret really minded for it gave her a glimpse into squalor To trust people is a luxury in which only the wealthy can indulge the poor cannot afford it As soon as Brahms had grunted himself out she gave him her card and said That is where we live if you preferred you could call for the umbrella after the concert but I didnt like to trouble you when it has all been our fault
His face brightened a little when he saw that Wickham Place was W It was sad to see him corroded with suspicion and yet not daring to be impolite in case these welldressed people were honest after all She took it as a good sign that he said to her Its a fine programme this afternoon is it not for this was the remark with which he had originally opened before the umbrella intervened
The Beethovens fine said Margaret who was not a female of the encouraging type I dont like the Brahms though nor the Mendelssohn that came firstand ugh I dont like this Elgar thats coming
What what called Herr Liesecke overhearing The Pomp and Circumstance will not be fine
Oh Margaret you tiresome girl cried her aunt Here have I been persuading Herr Liesecke to stop for Pomp and Circumstance and you are undoing all my work I am so anxious for him to hear what we are doing in music Oh you mustnt run down our English composers Margaret
For my part I have heard the composition at Stettin said Fräulein Mosebach On two occasions It is dramatic a little
Frieda you despise English music You know you do And English art And English Literature except Shakespeare and hes a German Very well Frieda you may go
The lovers laughed and glanced at each other Moved by a common impulse they rose to their feet and fled from Pomp and Circumstance
We have this call to play in Finsbury Circus it is true said Herr Liesecke as he edged past her and reached the gangway just as the music started
Margaret loudly whispered by Aunt Juley Margaret Margaret Fräulein Mosebach has left her beautiful little bag behind her on the seat
Sure enough there was Friedas reticule containing her address book her pocket dictionary her map of London and her money
Oh what a botherwhat a family we are FrFrieda
Hush said all those who thought the music fine
But its the number they want in Finsbury Circus
Might Icouldnt I said the suspicious young man and got very red
Oh I would be so grateful
He took the bagmoney clinking inside itand slipped up the gangway with it He was just in time to catch them at the swingdoor and he received a pretty smile from the German girl and a fine bow from her cavalier He returned to his seat upsides with the world The trust that they had reposed in him was trivial but he felt that it cancelled his mistrust for them and that probably he would not be had over his umbrella This young man had been had in the pastbadly perhaps overwhelminglyand now most of his energies went in defending himself against the unknown But this afternoonperhaps on account of musiche perceived that one must slack off occasionally or what is the good of being alive Wickham Place W though a risk was as safe as most things and he would risk it
So when the concert was over and Margaret said We live quite near I am going there now Could you walk around with me and well find your umbrella he said Thank you peaceably and followed her out of the Queens Hall She wished that he was not so anxious to hand a lady downstairs or to carry a ladys programme for herhis class was near enough her own for its manners to vex her But she found him interesting on the wholeevery one interested the Schlegels on the whole at that timeand while her lips talked culture her heart was planning to invite him to tea
How tired one gets after music she began
Do you find the atmosphere of Queens Hall oppressive
Yes horribly
But surely the atmosphere of Covent Garden is even more oppressive
Do you go there much
When my work permits I attend the gallery for the Royal Opera
Helen would have exclaimed So do I I love the gallery and thus have endeared herself to the young man Helen could do these things But Margaret had an almost morbid horror of drawing people out of making things go She had been to the gallery at Covent Garden but she did not attend it preferring the more expensive seats still less did she love it So she made no reply
This year I have been three timesto Faust Tosca and Was it Tannhouser or Tannhoyser Better not risk the word
Margaret disliked Tosca and Faust And so for one reason and another they walked on in silence chaperoned by the voice of Mrs Munt who was getting into difficulties with her nephew
I do in a way remember the passage Tibby but when every instrument is so beautiful it is difficult to pick out one thing rather than another I am sure that you and Helen take me to the very nicest concerts Not a dull note from beginning to end I only wish that our German friends would have stayed till it finished
But surely you havent forgotten the drum steadily beating on the low C Aunt Juley came Tibbys voice No one could Its unmistakable
A specially loud part hazarded Mrs Munt Of course I do not go in for being musical she added the shot failing I only care for musica very different thing But still I will say this for myselfI do know when I like a thing and when I dont Some people are the same about pictures They can go into a picture galleryMiss Conder canand say straight off what they feel all round the wall I never could do that But music is so different to pictures to my mind When it comes to music I am as safe as houses and I assure you Tibby I am by no means pleased by everything There was a thingsomething about a faun in Frenchwhich Helen went into ecstasies over but I thought it most tinkling and superficial and said so and I held to my opinion too
Do you agree asked Margaret Do you think music is so different to pictures
II should have thought so kind of he said
So should I Now my sister declares theyre just the same We have great arguments over it She says Im dense I say shes sloppy Getting under way she cried Now doesnt it seem absurd to you What is the good of the Arts if they are interchangeable What is the good of the ear if it tells you the same as the eye Helens one aim is to translate tunes into the language of painting and pictures into the language of music Its very ingenious and she says several pretty things in the process but whats gained Id like to know Oh its all rubbish radically false If Monets really Debussy and Debussys really Monet neither gentleman is worth his saltthats my opinion
Evidently these sisters quarrelled
Now this very symphony that weve just been havingshe wont let it alone She labels it with meanings from start to finish turns it into literature I wonder if the day will ever return when music will be treated as music Yet I dont know Theres my brotherbehind us He treats music as music and oh my goodness He makes me angrier than anyone simply furious With him I darent even argue
An unhappy family if talented
But of course the real villain is Wagner He has done more than any man in the nineteenth century towards the muddling of arts I do feel that music is in a very serious state just now though extraordinarily interesting Every now and then in history there do come these terrible geniuses like Wagner who stir up all the wells of thought at once For a moment its splendid Such a splash as never was But afterwardssuch a lot of mud and the wellsas it were they communicate with each other too easily now and not one of them will run quite clear Thats what Wagners done
Her speeches fluttered away from the young man like birds If only he could talk like this he would have caught the world Oh to acquire culture Oh to pronounce foreign names correctly Oh to be well informed discoursing at ease on every subject that a lady started But it would take one years With an hour at lunch and a few shattered hours in the evening how was it possible to catch up with leisured women who had been reading steadily from childhood His brain might be full of names he might have even heard of Monet and Debussy the trouble was that he could not string them together into a sentence he could not make them tell he could not quite forget about his stolen umbrella Yes the umbrella was the real trouble Behind Monet and Debussy the umbrella persisted with the steady beat of a drum I suppose my umbrella will be all right he was thinking I dont really mind about it I will think about music instead I suppose my umbrella will be all right Earlier in the afternoon he had worried about seats Ought he to have paid as much as two shillings Earlier still he had wondered Shall I try to do without a programme There had always been something to worry him ever since he could remember always something that distracted him in the pursuit of beauty For he did pursue beauty and therefore Margarets speeches did flutter away from him like birds
Margaret talked ahead occasionally saying Dont you think so dont you feel the same And once she stopped and said Oh do interrupt me which terrified him She did not attract him though she filled him with awe Her figure was meagre her face seemed all teeth and eyes her references to her sister and brother were uncharitable For all her cleverness and culture she was probably one of those soulless atheistical women who have been so shown up by Miss Corelli It was surprising and alarming that she should suddenly say I do hope that youll come in and have some tea
I do hope that youll come in and have some tea We should be so glad I have dragged you so far out of your way
They had arrived at Wickham Place The sun had set and the backwater in deep shadow was filling with a gentle haze To the right of the fantastic skyline of the flats towered black against the hues of evening to the left the older houses raised a squarecut irregular parapet against the grey Margaret fumbled for her latchkey Of course she had forgotten it So grasping her umbrella by its ferrule she leant over the area and tapped at the diningroom window
Helen Let us in
All right said a voice
Youve been taking this gentlemans umbrella
Taken a what said Helen opening the door Oh whats that Do come in How do you do
Helen you must not be so ramshackly You took this gentlemans umbrella away from Queens Hall and he has had the trouble of coming for it
Oh I am so sorry cried Helen all her hair flying She had pulled off her hat as soon as she returned and had flung herself into the big diningroom chair I do nothing but steal umbrellas I am so very sorry Do come in and choose one Is yours a hooky or a nobbly Mines a nobblyat least I think it is
The light was turned on and they began to search the hall Helen who had abruptly parted with the Fifth Symphony commenting with shrill little cries
Dont you talk Meg You stole an old gentlemans silk tophat Yes she did Aunt Juley It is a positive fact She thought it was a muff Oh heavens Ive knocked the In and Out card down Wheres Frieda Tibby why dont you everNo I cant remember what I was going to say That wasnt it but do tell the maids to hurry tea up What about this umbrella She opened it No its all gone along the seams Its an appalling umbrella It must be mine
But it was not
He took it from her murmured a few words of thanks and then fled with the lilting step of the clerk
But if you will stop cried Margaret Now Helen how stupid youve been
Whatever have I done
Dont you see that youve frightened him away I meant him to stop to tea You oughtnt to talk about stealing or holes in an umbrella I saw his nice eyes getting so miserable No its not a bit of good now For Helen had darted out into the street shouting Oh do stop
I dare say it is all for the best opined Mrs Munt We know nothing about the young man Margaret and your drawingroom is full of very tempting little things
But Helen cried Aunt Juley how can you You make me more and more ashamed Id rather he had been a thief and taken all the apostle spoons than that IWell I must shut the frontdoor I suppose One more failure for Helen
Yes I think the apostle spoons could have gone as rent said Margaret Seeing that her aunt did not understand she added You remember rent It was one of fathers wordsRent to the ideal to his own faith in human nature You remember how he would trust strangers and if they fooled him he would say Its better to be fooled than to be suspiciousthat the confidence trick is the work of man but the wantofconfidencetrick is the work of the devil
I remember something of the sort now said Mrs Munt rather tartly for she longed to add It was lucky that your father married a wife with money But this was unkind and she contented herself with Why he might have stolen the little Ricketts picture as well
Better that he had said Helen stoutly
No I agree with Aunt Juley said Margaret Id rather mistrust people than lose my little Ricketts There are limits
Their brother finding the incident commonplace had stolen upstairs to see whether there were scones for tea He warmed the teapotalmost too deftlyrejected the Orange Pekoe that the parlourmaid had provided poured in five spoonfuls of a superior blend filled up with really boiling water and now called to the ladies to be quick or they would lose the aroma
All right Auntie Tibby called Helen while Margaret thoughtful again said In a way I wish we had a real boy in the housethe kind of boy who cares for men It would make entertaining so much easier
So do I said her sister Tibby only cares for cultured females singing Brahms And when they joined him she said rather sharply Why didnt you make that young man welcome Tibby You must do the host a little you know You ought to have taken his hat and coaxed him into stopping instead of letting him be swamped by screaming women
Tibby sighed and drew a long strand of hair over his forehead
Oh its no good looking superior I mean what I say
Leave Tibby alone said Margaret who could not bear her brother to be scolded
Heres the house a regular hencoop grumbled Helen
Oh my dear protested Mrs Munt How can you say such dreadful things The number of men you get here has always astonished me If there is any danger its the other way round
Yes but its the wrong sort of men Helen means
No I dont corrected Helen We get the right sort of man but the wrong side of him and I say thats Tibbys fault There ought to be a something about the houseanI dont know what
A touch of the Ws perhaps
Helen put out her tongue
Who are the Ws asked Tibby
The Ws are things I and Meg and Aunt Juley know about and you dont so there
I suppose that ours is a female house said Margaret and one must just accept it No Aunt Juley I dont mean that this house is full of women I am trying to say something much more clever I mean that it was irrevocably feminine even in fathers time Now Im sure you understand Well Ill give you another example Itll shock you but I dont care Suppose Queen Victoria gave a dinnerparty and that the guests had been Leighton Millais Swinburne Rossetti Meredith Fitzgerald etc Do you suppose that the atmosphere of that dinner would have been artistic Heavens no The very chairs on which they sat would have seen to that So with our houseit must be feminine and all we can do is to see that it isnt effeminate Just as another house that I can mention but I wont sounded irrevocably masculine and all its inmates can do is to see that it isnt brutal
That house being the Ws house I presume said Tibby
Youre not going to be told about the Ws my child Helen cried so dont you think it And on the other hand I dont the least mind if you find out so dont you think youve done anything clever in either case Give me a cigarette
You do what you can for the house said Margaret The drawingroom reeks of smoke
If you smoked too the house might suddenly turn masculine Atmosphere is probably a question of touch and go Even at Queen Victorias dinnerpartyif something had been just a little differentperhaps if shed worn a clinging Liberty teagown instead of a magenta satin
With an Indian shawl over her shoulders
Fastened at the bosom with a Cairngormpin
Bursts of disloyal laughteryou must remember that they are half Germangreeted these suggestions and Margaret said pensively How inconceivable it would be if the Royal Family cared about Art And the conversation drifted away and away and Helens cigarette turned to a spot in the darkness and the great flats opposite were sown with lighted windows which vanished and were relit again and vanished incessantly Beyond them the thoroughfare roared gentlya tide that could never be quiet while in the east invisible behind the smokes of Wapping the moon was rising
That reminds me Margaret We might have taken that young man into the diningroom at all events Only the majolica plateand that is so firmly set in the wall I am really distressed that he had no tea
For that little incident had impressed the three women more than might be supposed It remained as a goblin football as a hint that all is not for the best in the best of all possible worlds and that beneath these superstructures of wealth and art there wanders an illfed boy who has recovered his umbrella indeed but who has left no address behind him and no name
Chapter 6
We are not concerned with the very poor They are unthinkable and only to be approached by the statistician or the poet This story deals with gentlefolk or with those who are obliged to pretend that they are gentlefolk
The boy Leonard Bast stood at the extreme verge of gentility He was not in the abyss but he could see it and at times people whom he knew had dropped in and counted no more He knew that he was poor and would admit it he would have died sooner than confess any inferiority to the rich This may be splendid of him But he was inferior to most rich people there is not the least doubt of it He was not as courteous as the average rich man nor as intelligent nor as healthy nor as lovable His mind and his body had been alike underfed because he was poor and because he was modern they were always craving better food Had he lived some centuries ago in the brightly coloured civilizations of the past he would have had a definite status his rank and his income would have corresponded But in his day the angel of Democracy had arisen enshadowing the classes with leathern wings and proclaiming All men are equalall men that is to say who possess umbrellas and so he was obliged to assert gentility lest he slipped into the abyss where nothing counts and the statements of Democracy are inaudible
As he walked away from Wickham Place his first care was to prove that he was as good as the Miss Schlegels Obscurely wounded in his pride he tried to wound them in return They were probably not ladies Would real ladies have asked him to tea They were certainly illnatured and cold At each step his feeling of superiority increased Would a real lady have talked about stealing an umbrella Perhaps they were thieves after all and if he had gone into the house they could have clapped a chloroformed handkerchief over his face He walked on complacently as far as the Houses of Parliament There an empty stomach asserted itself and told him he was a fool
Evening Mr Bast
Evening Mr Dealtry
Nice evening
Evening
Mr Dealtry a fellow clerk passed on and Leonard stood wondering whether he would take the tram as far as a penny would take him or whether he would walk He decided to walkit is no good giving in and he had spent money enough at Queens Halland he walked over Westminster Bridge in front of St Thomass Hospital and through the immense tunnel that passes under the SouthWestern main line at Vauxhall In the tunnel he paused and listened to the roar of the trains A sharp pain darted through his head and he was conscious of the exact form of his eye sockets He pushed on for another mile and did not slacken speed until he stood at the entrance of a road called Camelia Road which was at present his home
Here he stopped again and glanced suspiciously to right and left like a rabbit that is going to bolt into its hole A block of flats constructed with extreme cheapness towered on either hand Farther down the road two more blocks were being built and beyond these an old house was being demolished to accommodate another pair It was the kind of scene that may be observed all over London whatever the localitybricks and mortar rising and falling with the restlessness of the water in a fountain as the city receives more and more men upon her soil Camelia Road would soon stand out like a fortress and command for a little an extensive view Only for a little Plans were out for the erection of flats in Magnolia Road also And again a few years and all the flats in either road might be pulled down and new buildings of a vastness at present unimaginable might arise where they had fallen
Evening Mr Bast
Evening Mr Cunningham
Very serious thing this decline of the birthrate in Manchester
I beg your pardon
Very serious thing this decline of the birthrate in Manchester repeated Mr Cunningham tapping the Sunday paper in which the calamity in question had just been announced to him
Ah yes said Leonard who was not going to let on that he had not bought a Sunday paper
If this kind of thing goes on the population of England will be stationary in 1960
You dont say so
I call it a very serious thing eh
Goodevening Mr Cunningham
Goodevening Mr Bast
Then Leonard entered Block B of the flats and turned not upstairs but down into what is known to house agents as a semibasement and to other men as a cellar He opened the door and cried Hullo with the pseudogeniality of the Cockney There was no reply Hullo he repeated The sittingroom was empty though the electric light had been left burning A look of relief came over his face and he flung himself into the armchair
The sittingroom contained besides the armchair two other chairs a piano a threelegged table and a cosy corner Of the walls one was occupied by the window the other by a draped mantelshelf bristling with Cupids Opposite the window was the door and beside the door a bookcase while over the piano there extended one of the masterpieces of Maud Goodman It was an amorous and not unpleasant little hole when the curtains were drawn and the lights turned on and the gasstove unlit But it struck that shallow makeshift note that is so often heard in the modem dwellingplace It had been too easily gained and could be relinquished too easily
As Leonard was kicking off his boots he jarred the threelegged table and a photograph frame honourably poised upon it slid sideways fell off into the fireplace and smashed He swore in a colourless sort of way and picked the photograph up It represented a young lady called Jacky and had been taken at the time when young ladies called Jacky were often photographed with their mouths open Teeth of dazzling whiteness extended along either of Jackys jaws and positively weighted her head sideways so large were they and so numerous Take my word for it that smile was simply stunning and it is only you and I who will be fastidious and complain that true joy begins in the eyes and that the eyes of Jacky did not accord with her smile but were anxious and hungry
Leonard tried to pull out the fragments of glass and cut his fingers and swore again A drop of blood fell on the frame another followed spilling over on to the exposed photograph He swore more vigorously and dashed to the kitchen where he bathed his hands The kitchen was the same size as the sitting room through it was a bedroom This completed his home He was renting the flat furnished of all the objects that encumbered it none were his own except the photograph frame the Cupids and the books
Damn damn damnation he murmured together with such other words as he had learnt from older men Then he raised his hand to his forehead and said Oh damn it all which meant something different He pulled himself together He drank a little tea black and silent that still survived upon an upper shelf He swallowed some dusty crumbs of cake Then he went back to the sittingroom settled himself anew and began to read a volume of Ruskin
Seven miles to the north of Venice
How perfectly the famous chapter opens How supreme its command of admonition and of poetry The rich man is speaking to us from his gondola
Seven miles to the north of Venice the banks of sand which nearer the city rise little above lowwater mark attain by degrees a higher level and knit themselves at last into fields of salt morass raised here and there into shapeless mounds and intercepted by narrow creeks of sea
Leonard was trying to form his style on Ruskin he understood him to be the greatest master of English Prose He read forward steadily occasionally making a few notes
Let us consider a little each of these characters in succession and first for of the shafts enough has been said already what is very peculiar to this churchits luminousness
Was there anything to be learnt from this fine sentence Could he adapt it to the needs of daily life Could he introduce it with modifications when he next wrote a letter to his brother the layreader For example
Let us consider a little each of these characters in succession and first for of the absence of ventilation enough has been said already what is very peculiar to this flatits obscurity
Something told him that the modifications would not do and that something had he known it was the spirit of English Prose My flat is dark as well as stuffy Those were the words for him
And the voice in the gondola rolled on piping melodiously of Effort and SelfSacrifice full of high purpose full of beauty full even of sympathy and the love of men yet somehow eluding all that was actual and insistent in Leonards life For it was the voice of one who had never been dirty or hungry and had not guessed successfully what dirt and hunger are
Leonard listened to it with reverence He felt that he was being done good to and that if he kept on with Ruskin and the Queens Hall Concerts and some pictures by Watts he would one day push his head out of the grey waters and see the universe He believed in sudden conversion a belief which may be right but which is peculiarly attractive to a halfbaked mind It is the bias of much popular religion in the domain of business it dominates the Stock Exchange and becomes that bit of luck by which all successes and failures are explained If only I had a bit of luck the whole thing would come straight Hes got a most magnificent place down at Streatham and a 20 hp Fiat but then mind you hes had luck Im sorry the wifes so late but she never has any luck over catching trains Leonard was superior to these people he did believe in effort and in a steady preparation for the change that he desired But of a heritage that may expand gradually he had no conception he hoped to come to Culture suddenly much as the Revivalist hopes to come to Jesus Those Miss Schlegels had come to it they had done the trick their hands were upon the ropes once and for all And meanwhile his flat was dark as well as stuffy
Presently there was a noise on the staircase He shut up Margarets card in the pages of Ruskin and opened the door A woman entered of whom it is simplest to say that she was not respectable Her appearance was awesome She seemed all strings and bellpullsribbons chains bead necklaces that clinked and caughtand a boa of azure feathers hung round her neck with the ends uneven Her throat was bare wound with a double row of pearls her arms were bare to the elbows and might again be detected at the shoulder through cheap lace Her hat which was flowery resembled those punnets covered with flannel which we sowed with mustard and cress in our childhood and which germinated here yes and there no She wore it on the back of her head As for her hair or rather hairs they are too complicated to describe but one system went down her back lying in a thick pad there while another created for a lighter destiny rippled around her forehead The facethe face does not signify It was the face of the photograph but older and the teeth were not so numerous as the photographer had suggested and certainly not so white Yes Jacky was past her prime whatever that prime may have been She was descending quicker than most women into the colourless years and the look in her eyes confessed it
What ho said Leonard greeting that apparition with much spirit and helping it off with its boa
Jacky in husky tones replied What ho
Been out he asked The question sounds superfluous but it cannot have been really for the lady answered No adding Oh I am so tired
You tired
Eh
Im tired said he hanging the boa up
Oh Len I am so tired
Ive been to that classical concert I told you about said Leonard
Whats that
I came back as soon as it was over
Any one been round to our place asked Jacky
Not that Ive seen I met Mr Cunningham outside and we passed a few remarks
What not Mr Cunnginham
Yes
Oh you mean Mr Cunningham
Yes Mr Cunningham
Ive been out to tea at a lady friends
Her secret being at last given to the world and the name of the ladyfriend being even adumbrated Jacky made no further experiments in the difficult and tiring art of conversation She never had been a great talker Even in her photographic days she had relied upon her smile and her figure to attract and now that she was
On the shelf
On the shelf
Boys boys Im on the shelf
she was not likely to find her tongue Occasional bursts of song of which the above is an example still issued from her lips but the spoken word was rare
She sat down on Leonards knee and began to fondle him She was now a massive woman of thirtythree and her weight hurt him but he could not very well say anything Then she said Is that a book youre reading and he said Thats a book and drew it from her unreluctant grasp Margarets card fell out of it It fell face downwards and he murmured Bookmarker
Len
What is it he asked a little wearily for she only had one topic of conversation when she sat upon his knee
You do love me
Jacky you know that I do How can you ask such questions
But you do love me Len dont you
Of course I do
A pause The other remark was still due
Len
Well What is it
Len you will make it all right
I cant have you ask me that again said the boy flaring up into a sudden passion Ive promised to marry you when Im of age and thats enough My words my word Ive promised to marry you as soon as ever Im twentyone and I cant keep on being worried Ive worries enough It isnt likely Id throw you over let alone my word when Ive spent all this money Besides Im an Englishman and I never go back on my word Jacky do be reasonable Of course Ill marry you Only do stop badgering me
Whens your birthday Len
Ive told you again and again the eleventh of November next Now get off my knee a bit someone must get supper I suppose
Jacky went through to the bedroom and began to see to her hat This meant blowing at it with short sharp puffs Leonard tidied up the sittingroom and began to prepare their evening meal He put a penny into the slot of the gasmeter and soon the flat was reeking with metallic fumes Somehow he could not recover his temper and all the time he was cooking he continued to complain bitterly
It really is too bad when a fellow isnt trusted It makes one feel so wild when Ive pretended to the people here that youre my wifeall right you shall be my wifeand Ive bought you the ring to wear and Ive taken this flat furnished and its far more than I can afford and yet you arent content and Ive also not told the truth when Ive written home He lowered his voice Hed stop it In a tone of horror that was a little luxurious he repeated My brotherd stop it Im going against the whole world Jacky
Thats what I am Jacky I dont take any heed of what anyone says I just go straight forward I do Thats always been my way Im not one of your weak knockkneed chaps If a womans in trouble I dont leave her in the lurch Thats not my street No thank you
Ill tell you another thing too I care a good deal about improving myself by means of Literature and Art and so getting a wider outlook For instance when you came in I was reading Ruskins Stones of Venice I dont say this to boast but just to show you the kind of man I am I can tell you I enjoyed that classical concert this afternoon
To all his moods Jacky remained equally indifferent When supper was readyand not beforeshe emerged from the bedroom saying But you do love me dont you
They began with a soup square which Leonard had just dissolved in some hot water It was followed by the tonguea freckled cylinder of meat with a little jelly at the top and a great deal of yellow fat at the bottomending with another square dissolved in water jelly pineapple which Leonard had prepared earlier in the day Jacky ate contentedly enough occasionally looking at her man with those anxious eyes to which nothing else in her appearance corresponded and which yet seemed to mirror her soul And Leonard managed to convince his stomach that it was having a nourishing meal
After supper they smoked cigarettes and exchanged a few statements She observed that her likeness had been broken He found occasion to remark for the second time that he had come straight back home after the concert at Queens Hall Presently she sat upon his knee The inhabitants of Camelia Road tramped to and fro outside the window just on a level with their heads and the family in the flat on the groundfloor began to sing Hark my soul it is the Lord
That tune fairly gives me the hump said Leonard
Jacky followed this and said that for her part she thought it a lovely tune
No Ill play you something lovely Get up dear for a minute
He went to the piano and jingled out a little Grieg He played badly and vulgarly but the performance was not without its effect for Jacky said she thought shed be going to bed As she receded a new set of interests possessed the boy and he began to think of what had been said about music by that odd Miss Schlegelthe one that twisted her face about so when she spoke Then the thoughts grew sad and envious There was the girl named Helen who had pinched his umbrella and the German girl who had smiled at him pleasantly and Herr someone and Aunt someone and the brotherall all with their hands on the ropes They had all passed up that narrow rich staircase at Wickham Place to some ample room whither he could never follow them not if he read for ten hours a day Oh it was not good this continual aspiration Some are born cultured the rest had better go in for whatever comes easy To see life steadily and to see it whole was not for the likes of him
From the darkness beyond the kitchen a voice called Len
You in bed he asked his forehead twitching
Mm
All right
Presently she called him again
I must clean my boots ready for the morning he answered
Presently she called him again
I rather want to get this chapter done
What
He closed his ears against her
Whats that
All right Jacky nothing Im reading a book
What
What he answered catching her degraded deafness
Presently she called him again
Ruskin had visited Torcello by this time and was ordering his gondoliers to take him to Murano It occurred to him as he glided over the whispering lagoons that the power of Nature could not be shortened by the folly nor her beauty altogether saddened by the misery of such as Leonard
Chapter 7
Oh Margaret cried her aunt next morning such a most unfortunate thing has happened I could not get you alone
The most unfortunate thing was not very serious One of the flats in the ornate block opposite had been taken furnished by the Wilcox family coming up no doubt in the hope of getting into London society That Mrs Munt should be the first to discover the misfortune was not remarkable for she was so interested in the flats that she watched their every mutation with unwearying care In theory she despised themthey took away that oldworld lookthey cut off the sunflats house a flashy type of person But if the truth had been known she found her visits to Wickham Place twice as amusing since Wickham Mansions had arisen and would in a couple of days learn more about them than her nieces in a couple of months or her nephew in a couple of years She would stroll across and make friends with the porters and inquire what the rents were exclaiming for example What a hundred and twenty for a basement Youll never get it And they would answer One can but try madam The passenger lifts the provision lifts the arrangement for coals a great temptation for a dishonest porter were all familiar matters to her and perhaps a relief from the politicoeconomicalæsthetic atmosphere that reigned at the Schlegels
Margaret received the information calmly and did not agree that it would throw a cloud over poor Helens life
Oh but Helen isnt a girl with no interests she explained She has plenty of other things and other people to think about She made a false start with the Wilcoxes and shell be as willing as we are to have nothing more to do with them
For a clever girl dear how very oddly you do talk Helenll have to have something more to do with them now that theyre all opposite She may meet that Paul in the street She cannot very well not bow
Of course she must bow But look here lets do the flowers I was going to say the will to be interested in him has died and what else matters I look on that disastrous episode over which you were so kind as the killing of a nerve in Helen Its dead and shell never be troubled with it again The only things that matter are the things that interest one Bowing even calling and leaving cards even a dinnerpartywe can do all those things to the Wilcoxes if they find it agreeable but the other thing the one important thingnever again Dont you see
Mrs Munt did not see and indeed Margaret was making a most questionable statementthat any emotion any interest once vividly aroused can wholly die
I also have the honour to inform you that the Wilcoxes are bored with us I didnt tell you at the timeit might have made you angry and you had enough to worry youbut I wrote a letter to Mrs W and apologized for the trouble that Helen had given them She didnt answer it
How very rude
I wonder Or was it sensible
No Margaret most rude
In either case one can class it as reassuring
Mrs Munt sighed She was going back to Swanage on the morrow just as her nieces were wanting her most Other regrets crowded upon her for instance how magnificently she would have cut Charles if she had met him face to face She had already seen him giving an order to the porterand very common he looked in a tall hat But unfortunately his back was turned to her and though she had cut his back she could not regard this as a telling snub
But you will be careful wont you she exhorted
Oh certainly Fiendishly careful
And Helen must be careful too
Careful over what cried Helen at that moment coming into the room with her cousin
Nothing said Margaret seized with a momentary awkwardness
Careful over what Aunt Juley
Mrs Munt assumed a cryptic air It is only that a certain family whom we know by name but do not mention as you said yourself last night after the concert have taken the flat opposite from the Mathesonswhere the plants are in the balcony
Helen began some laughing reply and then disconcerted them all by blushing Mrs Munt was so disconcerted that she exclaimed What Helen you dont mind them coming do you and deepened the blush to crimson
Of course I dont mind said Helen a little crossly It is that you and Meg are both so absurdly grave about it when theres nothing to be grave about at all
Im not grave protested Margaret a little cross in her turn
Well you look grave doesnt she Frieda
I dont feel grave thats all I can say youre going quite on the wrong tack
No she does not feel grave echoed Mrs Munt I can bear witness to that She disagrees
Hark interrupted Fräulein Mosebach I hear Bruno entering the hall
For Herr Liesecke was due at Wickham Place to call for the two younger girls He was not entering the hallin fact he did not enter it for quite five minutes But Frieda detected a delicate situation and said that she and Helen had much better wait for Bruno down below and leave Margaret and Mrs Munt to finish arranging the flowers Helen acquiesced But as if to prove that the situation was not delicate really she stopped in the doorway and said
Did you say the Mathesons flat Aunt Juley How wonderful you are I never knew that the woman who laced too tightlys name was Matheson
Come Helen said her cousin
Go Helen said her aunt and continued to Margaret almost in the same breath Helen cannot deceive me She does mind
Oh hush breathed Margaret Friedall hear you and she can be so tiresome
She minds persisted Mrs Munt moving thoughtfully about the room and pulling the dead chrysanthemums out of the vases I knew shed mindand Im sure a girl ought to Such an experience Such awful coarsegrained people I know more about them than you do which you forget and if Charles had taken you that motor drivewell youd have reached the house a perfect wreck Oh Margaret you dont know what you are in for Theyre all bottled up against the drawingroom window Theres Mrs WilcoxIve seen her Theres Paul Theres Evie who is a minx Theres CharlesI saw him to start with And who would an elderly man with a moustache and a coppercoloured face be
Mr Wilcox possibly
I knew it And theres Mr Wilcox
Its a shame to call his face copper colour complained Margaret He has a remarkably good complexion for a man of his age
Mrs Munt triumphant elsewhere could afford to concede Mr Wilcox his complexion She passed on from it to the plan of campaign that her nieces should pursue in the future Margaret tried to stop her
Helen did not take the news quite as I expected but the Wilcox nerve is dead in her really so theres no need for plans
Its as well to be prepared
Noits as well not to be prepared
Because
Her thought drew being from the obscure borderland She could not explain in so many words but she felt that those who prepare for all the emergencies of life beforehand may equip themselves at the expense of joy It is necessary to prepare for an examination or a dinnerparty or a possible fall in the price of stock those who attempt human relations must adopt another method or fail Because Id sooner risk it was her lame conclusion
But imagine the evenings exclaimed her aunt pointing to the Mansions with the spout of the wateringcan Turn the electric light on her or there and its almost the same room One evening they may forget to draw their blinds down and youll see them and the next you yours and theyll see you Impossible to sit out on the balconies Impossible to water the plants or even speak Imagine going out of the frontdoor and they come out opposite at the same moment And yet you tell me that plans are unnecessary and youd rather risk it
I hope to risk things all my life
Oh Margaret most dangerous
But after all she continued with a smile theres never any great risk as long as you have money
Oh shame What a shocking speech
Money pads the edges of things said Miss Schlegel God help those who have none
But this is something quite new said Mrs Munt who collected new ideas as a squirrel collects nuts and was especially attracted by those that are portable
New for me sensible people have acknowledged it for years You and I and the Wilcoxes stand upon money as upon islands It is so firm beneath our feet that we forget its very existence Its only when we see someone near us tottering that we realize all that an independent income means Last night when we were talking up here round the fire I began to think that the very soul of the world is economic and that the lowest abyss is not the absence of love but the absence of coin
I call that rather cynical
So do I But Helen and I we ought to remember when we are tempted to criticize others that we are standing on these islands and that most of the others are down below the surface of the sea The poor cannot always reach those whom they want to love and they can hardly ever escape from those whom they love no longer We rich can Imagine the tragedy last June if Helen and Paul Wilcox had been poor people and couldnt invoke railways and motorcars to part them
Thats more like Socialism said Mrs Munt suspiciously
Call it what you like I call it going through life with ones hand spread open on the table Im tired of these rich people who pretend to be poor and think it shows a nice mind to ignore the piles of money that keep their feet above the waves I stand each year upon six hundred pounds and Helen upon the same and Tibby will stand upon eight and as fast as our pounds crumble away into the sea they are renewedfrom the sea yes from the sea And all our thoughts are the thoughts of sixhundredpounders and all our speeches and because we dont want to steal umbrellas ourselves we forget that below the sea people do want to steal them and do steal them sometimes and that whats a joke up here is down there reality
There they gothere goes Fräulein Mosebach Really for a German she does dress charmingly Oh
What is it
Helen was looking up at the Wilcoxes flat
Why shouldnt she
I beg your pardon I interrupted you What was it you were saying about reality
I had worked round to myself as usual answered Margaret in tones that were suddenly preoccupied
Do tell me this at all events Are you for the rich or for the poor
Too difficult Ask me another Am I for poverty or for riches For riches Hurrah for riches
For riches echoed Mrs Munt having as it were at last secured her nut
Yes For riches Money for ever
So am I and so I am afraid are most of my acquaintances at Swanage but I am surprised that you agree with us
Thank you so much Aunt Juley While I have talked theories you have done the flowers
Not at all dear I wish you would let me help you in more important things
Well would you be very kind Would you come round with me to the registry office Theres a housemaid who wont say yes but doesnt say no
On their way thither they too looked up at the Wilcoxes flat Evie was in the balcony staring most rudely according to Mrs Munt Oh yes it was a nuisance there was no doubt of it Helen was proof against a passing encounter butMargaret began to lose confidence Might it reawake the dying nerve if the family were living close against her eyes And Frieda Mosebach was stopping with them for another fortnight and Frieda was sharp abominably sharp and quite capable of remarking You love one of the young gentlemen opposite yes The remark would be untrue but of the kind which if stated often enough may become true just as the remark England and Germany are bound to fight renders war a little more likely each time that it is made and is therefore made the more readily by the gutter press of either nation Have the private emotions also their gutter press Margaret thought so and feared that good Aunt Juley and Frieda were typical specimens of it They might by continual chatter lead Helen into a repetition of the desires of June Into a repetitionthey could not do more they could not lead her into lasting love They wereshe saw it clearlyJournalism her father with all his defects and wrongheadedness had been Literature and had he lived he would have persuaded his daughter rightly
The registry office was holding its morning reception A string of carriages filled the street Miss Schlegel waited her turn and finally had to be content with an insidious temporary being rejected by genuine housemaids on the ground of her numerous stairs Her failure depressed her and though she forgot the failure the depression remained On her way home she again glanced up at the Wilcoxes flat and took the rather matronly step of speaking about the matter to Helen
Helen you must tell me whether this thing worries you
If what said Helen who was washing her hands for lunch
The Ws coming
No of course not
Really
Really Then she admitted that she was a little worried on Mrs Wilcoxs account she implied that Mrs Wilcox might reach backward into deep feelings and be pained by things that never touched the other members of that clan I shant mind if Paul points at our house and says There lives the girl who tried to catch me But she might
If even that worries you we could arrange something Theres no reason we should be near people who displease us or whom we displease thanks to our money We might even go away for a little
Well I am going away Friedas just asked me to Stettin and I shant be back till after the New Year Will that do Or must I fly the country altogether Really Meg what has come over you to make such a fuss
Oh Im getting an old maid I suppose I thought I minded nothing but really II should be bored if you fell in love with the same man twice andshe cleared her throatyou did go red you know when Aunt Juley attacked you this morning I shouldnt have referred to it otherwise
But Helens laugh rang true as she raised a soapy hand to heaven and swore that never nowhere and nohow would she again fall in love with any of the Wilcox family down to its remotest collaterals
Chapter 8
The friendship between Margaret and Mrs Wilcox which was to develop soquickly and with such strange results may perhaps have had its beginnings at Speyer in the spring Perhaps the elder lady as she gazed at the vulgar ruddy cathedral and listened to the talk of Helen and her husband may have detected in the other and less charming of the sisters a deeper sympathy a sounder judgment She was capable of detecting such things Perhaps it was she who had desired the Miss Schlegels to be invited to Howards End and Margaret whose presence she had particularly desired All this is speculation Mrs Wilcox has left few clear indications behind her It is certain that she came to call at Wickham Place a fortnight later the very day that Helen was going with her cousin to Stettin
Helen cried Fräulein Mosebach in awestruck tones she was now in her cousins confidencehis mother has forgiven you And then remembering that in England the newcomer ought not to call before she is called upon she changed her tone from awe to disapproval and opined that Mrs Wilcox was keine Dame
Bother the whole family snapped Margaret Helen stop giggling and pirouetting and go and finish your packing Why cant the woman leave us alone
I dont know what I shall do with Meg Helen retorted collapsing upon the stairs Shes got Wilcox and Box upon the brain Meg Meg I dont love the young gentleman I dont love the young gentleman Meg Meg Can a body speak plainer
Most certainly her love has died asserted Fräulein Mosebach
Most certainly it has Frieda but that will not prevent me from being bored with the Wilcoxes if I return the call
Then Helen simulated tears and Fräulein Mosebach who thought her extremely amusing did the same Oh boo hoo boo hoo hoo Megs going to return the call and I cant Cos why Cos Im going to Germaneye
If you are going to Germany go and pack if you arent go and call on the Wilcoxes instead of me
But Meg Meg I dont love the young gentleman I dont love the young0 lud whos that coming down the stairs I vow tis my brother 0 crimini
A maleeven such a male as Tibbywas enough to stop the foolery The barrier of sex though decreasing among the civilized is still high and higher on the side of women Helen could tell her sister all and her cousin much about Paul she told her brother nothing It was not prudishness for she now spoke of the Wilcox ideal with laughter and even with a growing brutality Nor was it precaution for Tibby seldom repeated any news that did not concern himself It was rather the feeling that she betrayed a secret into the camp of men and that however trivial it was on this side of the barrier it would become important on that So she stopped or rather began to fool on other subjects until her longsuffering relatives drove her upstairs Fräulein Mosebach followed her but lingered to say heavily over the banisters to Margaret It is all rightshe does not love the young manhe has not been worthy of her
Yes I know thanks very much
I thought I did right to tell you
Ever so many thanks
Whats that asked Tibby No one told him and he proceeded into the diningroom to eat Elvas plums
That evening Margaret took decisive action The house was very quiet and the fogwe are in November nowpressed against the windows like an excluded ghost Frieda and Helen and all their luggage had gone Tibby who was not feeling well lay stretched on a sofa by the fire Margaret sat by him thinking Her mind darted from impulse to impulse and finally marshalled them all in review The practical person who knows what he wants at once and generally knows nothing else will excuse her of indecision But this was the way her mind worked And when she did act no one could accuse her of indecision then She hit out as lustily as if she had not considered the matter at all The letter that she wrote Mrs Wilcox glowed with the native hue of resolution The pale cast of thought was with her a breath rather than a tarnish a breath that leaves the colours all the more vivid when it has been wiped away
Dear Mrs Wilcox
I have to write something discourteous It would be better if we did not meet Both my sister and my aunt have given displeasure to your family and in my sisters case the grounds for displeasure might recur As far as I know she no longer occupies her thoughts with your son But it would not be fair either to her or to you if they met and it is therefore right that our acquaintance which began so pleasantly should end
I fear that you will not agree with this indeed I know that you will not since you have been good enough to call on us It is only an instinct on my part and no doubt the instinct is wrong My sister would undoubtedly say that it is wrong I write without her knowledge and I hope that you will not associate her with my discourtesy
Believe me
Yours truly
M J Schlegel
Margaret sent this letter round by post Next morning she received the following reply by hand
Dear Miss Schlegel
You should not have written me such a letter I called to tell you that Paul has gone abroad
Ruth Wilcox
Margarets cheeks burnt She could not finish her breakfast She was on fire with shame Helen had told her that the youth was leaving England but other things had seemed more important and she had forgotten All her absurd anxieties fell to the ground and in their place arose the certainty that she had been rude to Mrs Wilcox Rudeness affected Margaret like a bitter taste in the mouth It poisoned life At times it is necessary but woe to those who employ it without due need She flung on a hat and shawl just like a poor woman and plunged into the fog which still continued Her lips were compressed the letter remained in her hand and in this state she crossed the street entered the marble vestibule of the flats eluded the concierges and ran up the stairs till she reached the secondfloor
She sent in her name and to her surprise was shown straight into Mrs Wilcoxs bedroom
Oh Mrs Wilcox I have made the baddest blunder I am more more ashamed and sorry than I can say
Mrs Wilcox bowed gravely She was offended and did not pretend to the contrary She was sitting up in bed writing letters on an invalid table that spanned her knees A breakfast tray was on another table beside her The light of the fire the light from the window and the light of a candlelamp which threw a quivering halo round her hands combined to create a strange atmosphere of dissolution
I knew he was going to India in November but I forgot
He sailed on the 17th for Nigeria in Africa
I knewI know I have been too absurd all through I am very much ashamed
Mrs Wilcox did not answer
I am more sorry than I can say and I hope that you will forgive me
It doesnt matter Miss Schlegel It is good of you to have come round so promptly
It does matter cried Margaret I have been rude to you and my sister is not even at home so there was not even that excuse
Indeed
She has just gone to Germany
She gone as well murmured the other Yes certainly it is quite safesafe absolutely now
Youve been worrying too exclaimed Margaret getting more and more excited and taking a chair without invitation How perfectly extraordinary I can see that you have You felt as I do Helen mustnt meet him again
I did think it best
Now why
Thats a most difficult question said Mrs Wilcox smiling and a little losing her expression of annoyance I think you put it best in your letterit was an instinct which may be wrong
It wasnt that your son still
Oh no he oftenmy Paul is very young you see
Then what was it
She repeated An instinct which may be wrong
In other words, they belong to types that can fall in love but couldnt live together Thats dreadfully probable Im afraid that in nine cases out of ten Nature pulls one way and human nature another
These are indeed other words said Mrs Wilcox I had nothing so coherent in my head I was merely alarmed when I knew that my boy cared for your sister
Ah I have always been wanting to ask you How did you know Helen was so surprised when our aunt drove up and you stepped forward and arranged things Did Paul tell you
There is nothing to be gained by discussing that said Mrs Wilcox after a moments pause
Mrs Wilcox were you very angry with us last June I wrote you a letter and you didnt answer it
I was certainly against taking Mrs Mathesons flat I knew it was opposite your house
But its all right now
I think so
You only think You arent sure I do love these little muddles tidied up
Oh yes Im sure said Mrs Wilcox moving with uneasiness beneath the clothes I always sound uncertain over things It is my way of speaking
Thats all right and Im sure too
Here the maid came in to remove the breakfasttray They were interrupted and when they resumed conversation it was on more normal lines
I must say goodbye nowyou will be getting up
Noplease stop a little longerI am taking a day in bed Now and then I do
I thought of you as one of the early risers
At Howards Endyes there is nothing to get up for in London
Nothing to get up for cried the scandalized Margaret When there are all the autumn exhibitions and Ysaye playing in the afternoon Not to mention people
The truth is I am a little tired First came the wedding and then Paul went off and instead of resting yesterday I paid a round of calls
A wedding
Yes Charles my elder son is married
Indeed
We took the flat chiefly on that account and also that Paul could get his African outfit The flat belongs to a cousin of my husbands and she most kindly offered it to us So before the day came we were able to make the acquaintance of Dollys people which we had not yet done
Margaret asked who Dollys people were
Fussell The father is in the Indian armyretired the brother is in the army The mother is dead
So perhaps these were the chinless sunburnt men whom Helen had espied one afternoon through the window Margaret felt mildly interested in the fortunes of the Wilcox family She had acquired the habit on Helens account and it still clung to her She asked for more information about Miss Dolly Fussell that was and was given it in even unemotional tones Mrs Wilcoxs voice though sweet and compelling had little range of expression It suggested that pictures concerts and people are all of small and equal value Only once had it quickenedwhen speaking of Howards End
Charles and Albert Fussell have known one another some time They belong to the same club and are both devoted to golf Dolly plays golf too though I believe not so well and they first met in a mixed foursome We all like her and are very much pleased They were married on the 11th a few days before Paul sailed Charles was very anxious to have his brother as best man so he made a great point of having it on the 11th The Fussells would have preferred it after Christmas but they were very nice about it There is Dollys photographin that double frame
Are you quite certain that Im not interrupting Mrs Wilcox
Yes quite
Then I will stay Im enjoying this
Dollys photograph was now examined It was signed For dear Mims which Mrs Wilcox interpreted as the name she and Charles had settled that she should call me Dolly looked silly and had one of those triangular faces that so often prove attractive to a robust man She was very pretty From her Margaret passed to Charles whose features prevailed opposite She speculated on the forces that had drawn the two together till God parted them She found time to hope that they would be happy
They have gone to Naples for their honeymoon
Lucky people
I can hardly imagine Charles in Italy
Doesnt he care for travelling
He likes travel but he does see through foreigners so What he enjoys most is a motor tour in England and I think that would have carried the day if the weather had not been so abominable His father gave him a car of his own for a wedding present which for the present is being stored at Howards End
I suppose you have a garage there
Yes My husband built a little one only last month to the west of the house not far from the wychelm in what used to be the paddock for the pony
The last words had an indescribable ring about them
Wheres the pony gone asked Margaret after a pause
The pony Oh dead ever so long ago The wychelm I remember Helen spoke of it as a very splendid tree
It is the finest wychelm in Hertfordshire Did your sister tell you about the teeth
No
Oh it might interest you There are pigs teeth stuck into the trunk about four feet from the ground The country people put them in long ago and they think that if they chew a piece of the bark it will cure the toothache The teeth are almost grown over now and no one comes to the tree
I should I love folklore and all festering superstitions
Do you think that the tree really did cure toothache if one believed in it
Of course it did It would cure anythingonce
Certainly I remember casesyou see I lived at Howards End long long before Mr Wilcox knew it I was born there
The conversation again shifted At the time it seemed little more than aimless chatter She was interested when her hostess explained that Howards End was her own property She was bored when too minute an account was given of the Fussell family of the anxieties of Charles concerning Naples of the movements of Mr Wilcox and Evie who were motoring in Yorkshire Margaret could not bear being bored She grew inattentive played with the photograph frame dropped it smashed Dollys glass apologized was pardoned cut her finger thereon was pitied and finally said she must be goingthere was all the housekeeping to do and she had to interview Tibbys ridingmaster
Then the curious note was struck again
Goodbye Miss Schlegel goodbye Thank you for coming You have cheered me up
Im so glad
II wonder whether you ever think about yourself
I think of nothing else said Margaret blushing but letting her hand remain in that of the invalid
I wonder I wondered at Heidelberg
Im sure
I almost think
Yes asked Margaret for there was a long pausea pause that was somehow akin to the flicker of the fire the quiver of the readinglamp upon their hands the white blur from the window a pause of shifting and eternal shadows
I almost think you forget youre a girl
Margaret was startled and a little annoyed Im twentynine she remarked That not so wildly girlish
Mrs Wilcox smiled
What makes you say that Do you mean that I have been gauche and rude
A shake of the head I only meant that I am fiftyone and that to me both of youRead it all in some book or other I cannot put things clearly
Oh Ive got itinexperience Im no better than Helen you mean and yet I presume to advise her
Yes You have got it Inexperience is the word
Inexperience repeated Margaret in serious yet buoyant tones Of course I have everything to learnabsolutely everythingjust as much as Helen Lifes very difficult and full of surprises At all events Ive got as far as that To be humble and kind to go straight ahead to love people rather than pity them to remember the submergedwell one cant do all these things at once worse luck because theyre so contradictory Its then that proportion comes into live by proportion Dont begin with proportion Only prigs do that Let proportion come in as a last resource when the better things have failed and a deadlockGracious me Ive started preaching
Indeed you put the difficulties of life splendidly said Mrs Wilcox withdrawing her hand into the deeper shadows It is just what I should have liked to say about them myself
Chapter 9
Mrs Wilcox cannot be accused of giving Margaret much information about life And Margaret on the other hand has made a fair show of modesty and has pretended to an inexperience that she certainly did not feel She had kept house for over ten years she had entertained almost with distinction she had brought up a charming sister and was bringing up a brother Surely if experience is attainable she had attained it
Yet the little luncheonparty that she gave in Mrs Wilcoxs honour was not a success The new friend did not blend with the one or two delightful people who had been asked to meet her and the atmosphere was one of polite bewilderment Her tastes were simple her knowledge of culture slight and she was not interested in the New English Art Club nor in the dividingline between Journalism and Literature which was started as a conversational hare The delightful people darted after it with cries of joy Margaret leading them and not till the meal was half over did they realize that the principal guest had taken no part in the chase There was no common topic Mrs Wilcox whose life had been spent in the service of husband and sons had little to say to strangers who had never shared it and whose age was half her own Clever talk alarmed her and withered her delicate imaginings it was the social counterpart of a motorcar all jerks and she was a wisp of hay a flower Twice she deplored the weather twice criticized the train service on the Great Northern Railway They vigorously assented and rushed on and when she inquired whether there was any news of Helen her hostess was too much occupied in placing Rothenstein to answer The question was repeated I hope that your sister is safe in Germany by now Margaret checked herself and said Yes thank you I heard on Tuesday But the demon of vociferation was in her and the next moment she was off again
Only on Tuesday for they live right away at Stettin Did you ever know any one living at Stettin
Never said Mrs Wilcox gravely while her neighbour a young man low down in the Education Office began to discuss what people who lived at Stettin ought to look like Was there such a thing as Stettininity Margaret swept on
People at Stettin drop things into boats out of overhanging warehouses At least our cousins do but arent particularly rich The town isnt interesting except for a clock that rolls its eyes and the view of the Oder which truly is something special Oh Mrs Wilcox you would love the Oder The river or rather riversthere seem to be dozens of themare intense blue and the plain they run through an intensest green
Indeed That sounds like a most beautiful view Miss Schlegel
So I say but Helen who will muddle things says no its like music The course of the Oder is to be like music Its obliged to remind her of a symphonic poem The part by the landingstage is in B minor if I remember rightly but lower down things get extremely mixed There is a slodgy theme in several keys at once meaning mudbanks and another for the navigable canal and the exit into the Baltic is in C sharp major pianissimo
What do the overhanging warehouses make of that asked the man laughing
They make a great deal of it replied Margaret unexpectedly rushing off on a new track I think its affectation to compare the Oder to music and so do you but the overhanging warehouses of Stettin take beauty seriously which we dont and the average Englishman doesnt and despises all who do Now dont say Germans have no taste or I shall scream They havent Butbutsuch a tremendous but they take poetry seriously They do take poetry seriously
Is anything gained by that
Yes yes The German is always on the lookout for beauty He may miss it through stupidity or misinterpret it but he is always asking beauty to enter his life and I believe that in the end it will come At Heidelberg I met a fat veterinary surgeon whose voice broke with sobs as he repeated some mawkish poetry So easy for me to laughI who never repeat poetry good or bad and cannot remember one fragment of verse to thrill myself with My blood boilswell Im half German so put it down to patriotismwhen I listen to the tasteful contempt of the average islander for things Teutonic whether theyre Böcklin or my veterinary surgeon Oh Böcklin they say he strains after beauty he peoples Nature with gods too consciously Of course Böcklin strains because he wants somethingbeauty and all the other intangible gifts that are floating about the world So his landscapes dont come off and Leaders do
I am not sure that I agree Do you said he turning to Mrs Wilcox
She replied I think Miss Schlegel puts everything splendidly and a chill fell on the conversation
Oh Mrs Wilcox say something nicer than that Its such a snub to be told you put things splendidly
I do not mean it as a snub Your last speech interested me so much Generally people do not seem quite to like Germany I have long wanted to hear what is said on the other side
The other side Then you do disagree Oh good Give us your side
I have no side But my husbandher voice softened the chill increasedhas very little faith in the Continent and our children have all taken after him
On what grounds Do they feel that the Continent is in bad form
Mrs Wilcox had no idea she paid little attention to grounds She was not intellectual nor even alert and it was odd that all the same she should give the idea of greatness Margaret zigzagging with her friends over Thought and Art was conscious of a personality that transcended their own and dwarfed their activities There was no bitterness in Mrs Wilcox there was not even criticism she was lovable and no ungracious or uncharitable word had passed her lips Yet she and daily life were out of focus one or the other must show blurred And at lunch she seemed more out of focus than usual and nearer the line that divides life from a life that may be of greater importance
You will admit though that the Continentit seems silly to speak of the Continent but really it is all more like itself than any part of it is like England England is unique Do have another jelly first I was going to say that the Continent for good or for evil is interested in ideas Its Literature and Art have what one might call the kink of the unseen about them and this persists even through decadence and affectation There is more liberty of action in England but for liberty of thought go to bureaucratic Prussia People will there discuss with humility vital questions that we here think ourselves too good to touch with tongs
I do not want to go to Prussian said Mrs Wilcoxnot even to see that interesting view that you were describing And for discussing with humility I am too old We never discuss anything at Howards End
Then you ought to said Margaret Discussion keeps a house alive It cannot stand by bricks and mortar alone
It cannot stand without them said Mrs Wilcox unexpectedly catching on to the thought and rousing for the first and last time a faint hope in the breasts of the delightful people It cannot stand without them and I sometimes thinkBut I cannot expect your generation to agree for even my daughter disagrees with me here
Never mind us or her Do say
I sometimes think that it is wiser to leave action and discussion to men
There was a little silence
One admits that the arguments against the suffrage are extraordinarily strong said a girl opposite leaning forward and crumbling her bread
Are they I never follow any arguments I am only too thankful not to have a vote myself
We didnt mean the vote though did we supplied Margaret Arent we differing on something much wider Mrs Wilcox Whether women are to remain what they have been since the dawn of history or whether since men have moved forward so far they too may move forward a little now I say they may I would even admit a biological change
I dont know I dont know
I must be getting back to my overhanging warehouse said the man Theyve turned disgracefully strict
Mrs Wilcox also rose
Oh but come upstairs for a little Miss Quested plays Do you like MacDowell Do you mind him only having two noises If you must really go Ill see you out Wont you even have coffee
They left the diningroom closing the door behind them and as Mrs Wilcox buttoned up her jacket she said What an interesting life you all lead in London
No we dont said Margaret with a sudden revulsion We lead the lives of gibbering monkeys Mrs WilcoxreallyWe have something quiet and stable at the bottom We really have All my friends have Dont pretend you enjoyed lunch for you loathed it but forgive me by coming again alone or by asking me to you
I am used to young people said Mrs Wilcox and with each word she spoke the outlines of known things grew dim I hear a great deal of chatter at home for we like you entertain a great deal With us it is more sport and politics butI enjoyed my lunch very much Miss Schlegel dear and am not pretending and only wish I could have joined in more For one thing Im not particularly well just today For another you younger people move so quickly that it dazes me Charles is the same Dolly the same But we are all in the same boat old and young I never forget that
They were silent for a moment Then with a newborn emotion they shook hands The conversation ceased suddenly when Margaret reentered the diningroom her friends had been talking over her new friend and had dismissed her as uninteresting
Chapter 10
Several days passed
Was Mrs Wilcox one of the unsatisfactory peoplethere are many of themwho dangle intimacy and then withdraw it They evoke our interests and affections and keep the life of the spirit dawdling round them Then they withdraw When physical passion is involved there is a definite name for such behaviourflirtingand if carried far enough it is punishable by law But no lawnot public opinion evenpunishes those who coquette with friendship though the dull ache that they inflict the sense of misdirected effort and exhaustion may be as intolerable Was she one of these
Margaret feared so at first for with a Londoners impatience she wanted everything to be settled up immediately She mistrusted the periods of quiet that are essential to true growth Desiring to book Mrs Wilcox as a friend she pressed on the ceremony pencil as it were in hand pressing the more because the rest of the family were away and the opportunity seemed favourable But the elder woman would not be hurried She refused to fit in with the Wickham Place set or to reopen discussion of Helen and Paul whom Margaret would have utilized as a shortcut She took her time or perhaps let time take her and when the crisis did come all was ready
The crisis opened with a message would Miss Schlegel come shopping Christmas was nearing and Mrs Wilcox felt behindhand with the presents She had taken some more days in bed and must make up for lost time Margaret accepted and at eleven oclock one cheerless morning they started out in a brougham
First of all began Margaret we must make a list and tick off the peoples names My aunt always does and this fog may thicken up any moment Have you any ideas
I thought we would go to Harrods or the Haymarket Stores said Mrs Wilcox rather hopelessly Everything is sure to be there I am not a good shopper The din is so confusing and your aunt is quite rightone ought to make a list Take my notebook then and write your own name at the top of the page
Oh hooray said Margaret writing it How very kind of you to start with me But she did not want to receive anything expensive Their acquaintance was singular rather than intimate and she divined that the Wilcox clan would resent any expenditure on outsiders the more compact families do She did not want to be thought a second Helen who would snatch presents since she could not snatch young men nor to be exposed like a second Aunt Juley to the insults of Charles A certain austerity of demeanour was best and she added I dont really want a Yuletide gift though In fact Id rather not
Why
Because Ive odd ideas about Christmas Because I have all that money can buy I want more people but no more things
I should like to give you something worth your acquaintance Miss Schlegel in memory of your kindness to me during my lonely fortnight It has so happened that I have been left alone and you have stopped me from brooding I am too apt to brood
If that is so said Margaret if I have happened to be of use to you which I didnt know you cannot pay me back with anything tangible
I suppose not but one would like to Perhaps I shall think of something as we go about
Her name remained at the head of the list but nothing was written opposite it They drove from shop to shop The air was white and when they alighted it tasted like cold pennies At times they passed through a clot of grey Mrs Wilcoxs vitality was low that morning and it was Margaret who decided on a horse for this little girl a golliwog for that for the rectors wife a copper warmingtray We always give the servants money Yes do you yes much easier replied Margaret but felt the grotesque impact of the unseen upon the seen and saw issuing from a forgotten manger at Bethlehem this torrent of coins and toys Vulgarity reigned Publichouses besides their usual exhortation against temperance reform invited men to Join our Christmas goose clubone bottle of gin etc or two according to subscription A poster of a woman in tights heralded the Christmas pantomime and little red devils who had come in again that year were prevalent upon the Christmascards Margaret was no morbid idealist She did not wish this spate of business and selfadvertisement checked It was only the occasion of it that struck her with amazement annually How many of these vacillating shoppers and tired shopassistants realized that it was a divine event that drew them together She realized it though standing outside in the matter She was not a Christian in the accepted sense she did not believe that God had ever worked among us as a young artisan These people or most of them believed it and if pressed would affirm it in words But the visible signs of their belief were Regent Street or Drury Lane a little mud displaced a little money spent a little food cooked eaten and forgotten Inadequate But in public who shall express the unseen adequately It is private life that holds out the mirror to infinity personal intercourse and that alone that ever hints at a personality beyond our daily vision
No I do like Christmas on the whole she announced In its clumsy way it does approach Peace and Goodwill But oh it is clumsier every year
Is it I am only used to country Christmases
We are usually in London and play the game with vigourcarols at the Abbey clumsy midday meal clumsy dinner for the maids followed by Christmastree and dancing of poor children with songs from Helen The drawingroom does very well for that We put the tree in the powdercloset and draw a curtain when the candles are lighted and with the lookingglass behind it looks quite pretty I wish we might have a powdercloset in our next house Of course the tree has to be very small and the presents dont hang on it No the presents reside in a sort of rocky landscape made of crumpled brown paper
You spoke of your next house Miss Schlegel Then are you leaving Wickham Place
Yes in two or three years when the lease expires We must
Have you been there long
All our lives
You will be very sorry to leave it
I suppose so We scarcely realize it yet My father She broke off for they had reached the stationery department of the Haymarket Stores and Mrs Wilcox wanted to order some private greeting cards
If possible something distinctive she sighed At the counter she found a friend bent on the same errand and conversed with her insipidly wasting much time My husband and our daughter are motoring
Bertha too Oh fancy what a coincidence Margaret though not practical could shine in such company as this While they talked she went through a volume of specimen cards and submitted one for Mrs Wilcoxs inspection Mrs Wilcox was delightedso original words so sweet she would order a hundred like that and could never be sufficiently grateful Then just as the assistant was booking the order she said Do you know Ill wait On second thoughts Ill wait Theres plenty of time still isnt there and I shall be able to get Evies opinion
They returned to the carriage by devious paths when they were in she said But couldnt you get it renewed
I beg your pardon asked Margaret
The lease I mean
Oh the lease Have you been thinking of that all the time How very kind of you
Surely something could be done
No values have risen too enormously They mean to pull down Wickham Place and build flats like yours
But how horrible
Landlords are horrible
Then she said vehemently It is monstrous Miss Schlegel it isnt right I had no idea that this was hanging over you I do pity you from the bottom of my heart To be parted from your house your fathers houseit oughtnt to be allowed It is worse than dying I would rather die thanOh poor girls Can what they call civilization be right if people maynt die in the room where they were born My dear I am so sorry
Margaret did not know what to say Mrs Wilcox had been overtired by the shopping and was inclined to hysteria
Howards End was nearly pulled down once It would have killed me
Howards End must be a very different house to ours We are fond of ours but there is nothing distinctive about it As you saw it is an ordinary London house We shall easily find another
So you think
Again my lack of experience I suppose said Margaret easing away from the subject I cant say anything when you take up that line Mrs Wilcox I wish I could see myself as you see meforeshortened into a backfisch Quite the ingénue Very charmingwonderfully well read for my age but incapable
Mrs Wilcox would not be deterred Come down with me to Howards End now she said more vehemently than ever I want you to see it You have never seen it I want to hear what you say about it for you do put things so wonderfully
Margaret glanced at the pitiless air and then at the tired face of her companion Later on I should love it she continued but its hardly the weather for such an expedition and we ought to start when were fresh Isnt the house shut up too
She received no answer Mrs Wilcox appeared to be annoyed
Might I come some other day
Mrs Wilcox bent forward and tapped the glass Back to Wickham Place please was her order to the coachman Margaret had been snubbed
A thousand thanks Miss Schlegel for all your help
Not at all
It is such a comfort to get the presents off my mindthe Christmascards especially I do admire your choice
It was her turn to receive no answer In her turn Margaret became annoyed
My husband and Evie will be back the day after tomorrow That is why I dragged you out shopping today I stayed in town chiefly to shop but got through nothing and now he writes that they must cut their tour short the weather is so bad and the policetraps have been so badnearly as bad as in Surrey Ours is such a careful chauffeur and my husband feels it particularly hard that they should be treated like roadhogs
Why
Well naturally hehe isnt a roadhog
He was exceeding the speedlimit I conclude He must expect to suffer with the lower animals
Mrs Wilcox was silenced In growing discomfort they drove homewards The city seemed Satanic the narrower streets oppressing like the galleries of a mine No harm was done by the fog to trade for it lay high and the lighted windows of the shops were thronged with customers It was rather a darkening of the spirit which fell back upon itself to find a more grievous darkness within Margaret nearly spoke a dozen times but something throttled her She felt petty and awkward and her meditations on Christmas grew more cynical Peace It may bring other gifts but is there a single Londoner to whom Christmas is peaceful The craving for excitement and for elaboration has ruined that blessing Goodwill Had she seen any example of it in the hordes of purchasers Or in herself She had failed to respond to this invitation merely because it was a little queer and imaginativeshe whose birthright it was to nourish imagination Better to have accepted to have tired themselves a little by the journey than coldly to reply Might I come some other day Her cynicism left her There would be no other day This shadowy woman would never ask her again
They parted at the Mansions Mrs Wilcox went in after due civilities and Margaret watched the tall lonely figure sweep up the hall to the lift As the glass doors closed on it she had the sense of an imprisonment The beautiful head disappeared first still buried in the muff the long trailing skirt followed A woman of undefinable rarity was going up heavenward like a specimen in a bottle And into what a heavena vault as of hell sooty black from which soots descended
At lunch her brother seeing her inclined for silence insisted on talking Tibby was not illnatured but from babyhood something drove him to do the unwelcome and the unexpected Now he gave her a long account of the dayschool that he sometimes patronized The account was interesting and she had often pressed him for it before but she could not attend now for her mind was focussed on the invisible She discerned that Mrs Wilcox though a loving wife and mother had only one passion in lifeher houseand that the moment was solemn when she invited a friend to share this passion with her To answer another day was to answer as a fool Another day will do for brick and mortar but not for the Holy of Holies into which Howards End had been transfigured Her own curiosity was slight She had heard more than enough about it in the summer The nine windows the vine and the wychelm had no pleasant connections for her and she would have preferred to spend the afternoon at a concert But imagination triumphed While her brother held forth she determined to go at whatever cost and to compel Mrs Wilcox to go too When lunch was over she stepped over to the flats
Mrs Wilcox had just gone away for the night
Margaret said that it was of no consequence hurried downstairs and took a hansom to Kings Cross She was convinced that the escapade was important though it would have puzzled her to say why There was a question of imprisonment and escape and though she did not know the time of the train she strained her eyes for the St Pancras clock
Then the clock of Kings Cross swung into sight a second moon in that infernal sky and her cab drew up at the station There was a train for Hilton in five minutes She took a ticket asking in her agitation for a single As she did so a grave and happy voice saluted her and thanked her
I will come if I still may said Margaret laughing nervously
You are coming to sleep dear too It is in the morning that my house is most beautiful You are coming to stop I cannot show you my meadow properly except at sunrise These fogsshe pointed at the station roofnever spread far I dare say they are sitting in the sun in Hertfordshire and you will never repent joining them
I shall never repent joining you
It is the same
They began the walk up the long platform Far at its end stood the train breasting the darkness without They never reached it Before imagination could triumph there were cries of Mother Mother and a heavybrowed girl darted out of the cloakroom and seized Mrs Wilcox by the arm
Evie she gasped Evie my pet
The girl called Father I say look whos here
Evie dearest girl why arent you in Yorkshire
Nomotor smashchanged plansFathers coming
Why Ruth cried Mr Wilcox joining them What in the name of all thats wonderful are you doing here Ruth
Mrs Wilcox had recovered herself
Oh Henry dear heres a lovely surprisebut let me introducebut I think you know Miss Schlegel
Oh yes he replied not greatly interested But hows yourself Ruth
Fit as a fiddle she answered gaily
So are we and so was our car which ran A1 as far as Ripon but there a wretched horse and cart which a fool of a driver
Miss Schlegel our little outing must be for another day
I was saying that this fool of a driver as the policeman himself admits
Another day Mrs Wilcox Of course
But as weve insured against third party risks it wont so much matter
Cart and car being practically at right angles
The voices of the happy family rose high Margaret was left alone No one wanted her Mrs Wilcox walked out of Kings Cross between her husband and her daughter listening to both of them
Chapter 11
The funeral was over The carriages rolled away through the soft mud and only the poor remained They approached to the newlydug shaft and looked their last at the coffin now almost hidden beneath the spadefuls of clay It was their moment Most of them were women from the dead womans district to whom black garments had been served out by Mr Wilcoxs orders Pure curiosity had brought others They thrilled with the excitement of a death and of a rapid death and stood in groups or moved between the graves like drops of ink The son of one of them a woodcutter was perched high above their heads pollarding one of the churchyard elms From where he sat he could see the village of Hilton strung upon the North Road with its accreting suburbs the sunset beyond scarlet and orange winking at him beneath brows of grey the church the plantations and behind him an unspoilt country of fields and farms But he too was rolling the event luxuriously in his mouth He tried to tell his mother down below all that he had felt when he saw the coffin approaching how he could not leave his work and yet did not like to go on with it how he had almost slipped out of the tree he was so upset the rooks had cawed and no wonderit was as if rooks knew too His mother claimed the prophetic power herselfshe had seen a strange look about Mrs Wilcox for some time London had done the mischief said others She had been a kind lady her grandmother had been kind tooa plainer person but very kind Ah the old sort was dying out Mr Wilcox he was a kind gentleman They advanced to the topic again and again dully but with exaltation The funeral of a rich person was to them what the funeral of Alcestis or Ophelia is to the educated It was Art though remote from life it enhanced lifes values and they witnessed it avidly
The gravediggers who had kept up an undercurrent of disapprovalthey disliked Charles it was not a moment to speak of such things but they did not like Charles Wilcoxthe gravediggers finished their work and piled up the wreaths and crosses above it The sun set over Hilton the grey brows of the evening flushed a little and were cleft with one scarlet frown Chattering sadly to each other the mourners passed through the lychgate and traversed the chestnut avenues that led down to the village The young woodcutter stayed a little longer poised above the silence and swaying rhythmically At last the bough fell beneath his saw With a grunt he descended his thoughts dwelling no longer on death but on love for he was mating He stopped as he passed the new grave a sheaf of tawny chrysanthemums had caught his eye They didnt ought to have coloured flowers at buryings he reflected Trudging on a few steps he stopped again looked furtively at the dusk turned back wrenched a chrysanthemum from the sheaf and hid it in his pocket
After him came silence absolute The cottage that abutted on the churchyard was empty and no other house stood near Hour after hour the scene of the interment remained without an eye to witness it Clouds drifted over it from the west or the church may have been a ship highprowed steering with all its company towards infinity Towards morning the air grew colder the sky clearer the surface of the earth hard and sparkling above the prostrate dead The woodcutter returning after a night of joy reflected They lilies they chrysants its a pity I didnt take them all
Up at Howards End they were attempting breakfast Charles and Evie sat in the diningroom with Mrs Charles Their father who could not bear to see a face breakfasted upstairs He suffered acutely Pain came over him in spasms as if it was physical and even while he was about to eat his eyes would fill with tears and he would lay down the morsel untasted
He remembered his wifes even goodness during thirty years Not anything in detailnot courtship or early rapturesbut just the unvarying virtue that seemed to him a womans noblest quality So many women are capricious breaking into odd flaws of passion or frivolity Not so his wife Year after year summer and winter as bride and mother she had been the same he had always trusted her Her tenderness Her innocence The wonderful innocence that was hers by the gift of God Ruth knew no more of worldly wickedness and wisdom than did the flowers in her garden or the grass in her field Her idea of businessHenry why do people who have enough money try to get more money Her idea of politicsI am sure that if the mothers of various nations could meet there would be no more wars Her idea of religionah this had been a cloud but a cloud that passed She came of Quaker stock and he and his family formerly Dissenters were now members of the Church of England The rectors sermons had at first repelled her and she had expressed a desire for a more inward light adding not so much for myself as for baby Charles Inward light must have been granted for he heard no complaints in later years They brought up their three children without dispute They had never disputed
She lay under the earth now She had gone and as if to make her going the more bitter had gone with a touch of mystery that was all unlike her Why didnt you tell me you knew of it he had moaned and her faint voice had answered I didnt want to HenryI might have been wrongand every one hates illnesses He had been told of the horror by a strange doctor whom she had consulted during his absence from town Was this altogether just Without fully explaining she had died It was a fault on her part andtears rushed into his eyeswhat a little fault It was the only time she had deceived him in those thirty years
He rose to his feet and looked out of the window for Evie had come in with the letters and he could meet no ones eye Ah yesshe had been a good womanshe had been steady He chose the word deliberately To him steadiness included all praise
He himself gazing at the wintry garden is in appearance a steady man His face was not as square as his sons and indeed the chin though firm enough in outline retreated a little and the lips ambiguous were curtained by a moustache But there was no external hint of weakness The eyes if capable of kindness and goodfellowship if ruddy for the moment with tears were the eyes of one who could not be driven The forehead too was like Charless High and straight brown and polished merging abruptly into temples and skull it has the effect of a bastion that protected his head from the world At times it had the effect of a blank wall He had dwelt behind it intact and happy for fifty years
The posts come Father said Evie awkwardly
Thanks Put it down
Has the breakfast been all right
Yes thanks
The girl glanced at him and at it with constraint She did not know what to do
Charles says do you want the Times
No Ill read it later
Ring if you want anything Father wont you
Ive all I want
Having sorted the letters from the circulars she went back to the diningroom
Fathers eaten nothing she announced sitting down with wrinkled brows behind the teaurn
Charles did not answer but after a moment he ran quickly upstairs opened the door and said Look here Father you must eat you know and having paused for a reply that did not come stole down again Hes going to read his letters first I think he said evasively I dare say he will go on with his breakfast afterwards Then he took up the Times and for some time there was no sound except the clink of cup against saucer and of knife on plate
Poor Mrs Charles sat between her silent companions terrified at the course of events and a little bored She was a rubbishy little creature and she knew it A telegram had dragged her from Naples to the deathbed of a woman whom she had scarcely known A word from her husband had plunged her into mourning She desired to mourn inwardly as well but she wished that Mrs Wilcox since fated to die could have died before the marriage for then less would have been expected of her Crumbling her toast and too nervous to ask for the butter she remained almost motionless thankful only for this that her fatherinlaw was having his breakfast upstairs
At last Charles spoke They had no business to be pollarding those elms yesterday he said to his sister
No indeed
I must make a note of that he continued I am surprised that the rector allowed it
Perhaps it may not be the rectors affair
Whose else could it be
The lord of the manor
Impossible
Butter Dolly
Thank you Evie dear Charles
Yes dear
I didnt know one could pollard elms I thought one only pollarded willows
Oh no one can pollard elms
Then why oughtnt the elms in the churchyard to be pollarded
Charles frowned a little and turned again to his sister Another point I must speak to Chalkeley
Yes rather you must complain to Chalkeley
Its no good him saying he is not responsible for those men He is responsible
Yes rather
Brother and sister were not callous They spoke thus partly because they desired to keep Chalkeley up to the marka healthy desire in its waypartly because they avoided the personal note in life All Wilcoxes did It did not seem to them of supreme importance Or it may be as Helen supposed they realized its importance but were afraid of it Panic and emptiness could one glance behind They were not callous and they left the breakfasttable with aching hearts Their mother never had come in to breakfast It was in the other rooms and especially in the garden that they felt her loss most As Charles went out to the garage he was reminded at every step of the woman who had loved him and whom he could never replace What battles he had fought against her gentle conservatism How she had disliked improvements yet how loyally she had accepted them when made He and his fatherwhat trouble they had had to get this very garage With what difficulty had they persuaded her to yield them to the paddock for itthe paddock that she loved more dearly than the garden itself The vineshe had got her way about the vine It still encumbered the south wall with its unproductive branches And so with Evie as she stood talking to the cook Though she could take up her mothers work inside the house just as the man could take it up without she felt that something unique had fallen out of her life Their grief though less poignant than their fathers grew from deeper roots for a wife may be replaced a mother never
Charles would go back to the office There was little to do at Howards End The contents of his mothers will had been long known to them There were no legacies no annuities none of the posthumous bustle with which some of the dead prolong their activities Trusting her husband she had left him everything without reserve She was quite a poor womanthe house had been all her dowry and the house would come to Charles in time Her watercolours Mr Wilcox intended to reserve for Paul while Evie would take the jewellery and lace How easily she slipped out of life Charles thought the habit laudable though he did not intend to adopt it himself whereas Margaret would have seen in it an almost culpable indifference to earthly fame Cynicismnot the superficial cynicism that snarls and sneers but the cynicism that can go with courtesy and tendernessthat was the note of Mrs Wilcoxs will She wanted not to vex people That accomplished the earth might freeze over her for ever
No there was nothing for Charles to wait for He could not go on with his honeymoon so he would go up to London and workhe felt too miserable hanging about He and Dolly would have the furnished flat while his father rested quietly in the country with Evie He could also keep an eye on his own little house which was being painted and decorated for him in one of the Surrey suburbs and in which he hoped to install himself soon after Christmas Yes he would go up after lunch in his new motor and the town servants who had come down for the funeral would go up by train
He found his fathers chauffeur in the garage said Morning without looking at the mans face and bending over the car continued Hullo my new cars been driven
Has it sir
Yes said Charles getting rather red and whoevers driven it hasnt cleaned it properly for theres mud on the axle Take it off
The man went for the cloths without a word He was a chauffeur as ugly as sinnot that this did him disservice with Charles who thought charm in a man rather rot and had soon got rid of the little Italian beast with whom they had started
Charles His bride was tripping after him over the hoarfrost a dainty black column her little face and elaborate mourning hat forming the capital thereof
One minute Im busy Well Crane whos been driving it do you suppose
Dont know Im sure sir No ones driven it since Ive been back but of course theres the fortnight Ive been away with the other car in Yorkshire
The mud came off easily
Charles your fathers down Somethings happened He wants you in the house at once Oh Charles
Wait dear wait a minute Who had the key to the garage while you were away Crane
The gardener sir
Do you mean to tell me that old Penny can drive a motor
No sir no ones had the motor out sir
Then how do you account for the mud on the axle
I cant of course say for the time Ive been in Yorkshire No more mud now sir
Charles was vexed The man was treating him as a fool and if his heart had not been so heavy he would have reported him to his father But it was not a morning for complaints Ordering the motor to be round after lunch he joined his wife who had all the while been pouring out some incoherent story about a letter and a Miss Schlegel
Now Dolly I can attend to you Miss Schlegel What does she want
When people wrote a letter Charles always asked what they wanted Want was to him the only cause of action And the question in this case was correct for his wife replied She wants Howards End
Howards End Now Crane just dont forget to put on the Stepney wheel
No sir
Now mind you dont forget for ICome little woman When they were out of the chauffeurs sight he put his arm around her waist and pressed her against him All his affection and half his attentionit was what he granted her throughout their happy married life
But you havent listened Charles
Whats wrong
I keep on telling youHowards End Miss Schlegels got it
Got what asked Charles unclasping her What the dickens are you talking about
Now Charles you promised not to say those naughty
Look here Im in no mood for foolery Its no morning for it either
I tell youI keep on telling youMiss Schlegelshes got ityour mothers left it to herand youve all got to move out
Howards End
Howards End she screamed mimicking him and as she did so Evie came dashing out of the shrubbery
Dolly go back at once My fathers much annoyed with you Charlesshe hit herself wildlycome in at once to Father Hes had a letter thats too awful
Charles began to run but checked himself and stepped heavily across the gravel path There the house wasthe nine windows the unprolific vine He exclaimed Schlegels again and as if to complete chaos Dolly said Oh no the matron of the nursing home has written instead of her
Come in all three of you cried his father no longer inert Dolly why have you disobeyed me
Oh Mr Wilcox
I told you not to go out to the garage Ive heard you all shouting in the garden I wont have it Come in
He stood in the porch transformed letters in his hand
Into the diningroom every one of you We cant discuss private matters in the middle of all the servants Here Charles here read these See what you make
Charles took two letters and read them as he followed the procession The first was a covering note from the matron Mrs Wilcox had desired her when the funeral should be over to forward the enclosed The enclosedit was from his mother herself She had written To my husband I should like Miss Schlegel Margaret to have Howards End
I suppose were going to have a talk about this he remarked ominously calm
Certainly I was coming out to you when Dolly
Well lets sit down
Come Evie dont waste time sit down
In silence they drew up to the breakfasttable The events of yesterdayindeed of this morningsuddenly receded into a past so remote that they seemed scarcely to have lived in it Heavy breathings were heard They were calming themselves Charles to steady them further read the enclosure out loud A note in my mothers handwriting in an envelope addressed to my father sealed Inside I should like Miss Schlegel Margaret to have Howards End No date no signature Forwarded through the matron of that nursing home Now the question is
Dolly interrupted him But I say that note isnt legal Houses ought to be done by a lawyer Charles surely
Her husband worked his jaw severely Little lumps appeared in front of either eara symptom that she had not yet learnt to respect and she asked whether she might see the note Charles looked at his father for permission who said abstractedly Give it her She seized it and at once exclaimed Why its only in pencil I said so Pencil never counts
We know that it is not legally binding Dolly said Mr Wilcox speaking from out of his fortress We are aware of that Legally I should be justified in tearing it up and throwing it into the fire Of course my dear we consider you as one of the family but it will be better if you do not interfere with what you do not understand
Charles vexed both with his father and his wife then repeated The question is He had cleared a space of the breakfasttable from plates and knives so that he could draw patterns on the tablecloth The question is whether Miss Schlegel during the fortnight we were all away whether she unduly He stopped
I dont think that said his father whose nature was nobler than his sons
Dont think what
That she would havethat it is a case of undue influence No to my mind the question is thethe invalids condition at the time she wrote
My dear father consult an expert if you like but I dont admit it is my mothers writing
Why you just said it was cried Dolly
Never mind if I did he blazed out and hold your tongue
The poor little wife coloured at this and drawing her handkerchief from her pocket shed a few tears No one noticed her Evie was scowling like an angry boy The two men were gradually assuming the manner of the committeeroom They were both at their best when serving on committees They did not make the mistake of handling human affairs in the bulk but disposed of them item by item sharply Calligraphy was the item before them now and on it they turned their welltrained brains Charles after a little demur accepted the writing as genuine and they passed on to the next point It is the bestperhaps the onlyway of dodging emotion They were the average human article and had they considered the note as a whole it would have driven them miserable or mad Considered item by item the emotional content was minimized and all went forward smoothly The clock ticked the coals blazed higher and contended with the white radiance that poured in through the windows Unnoticed the sun occupied his sky and the shadows of the tree stems extraordinarily solid fell like trenches of purple across the frosted lawn It was a glorious winter morning Evies fox terrier who had passed for white was only a dirty grey dog now so intense was the purity that surrounded him He was discredited but the blackbirds that he was chasing glowed with Arabian darkness for all the conventional colouring of life had been altered Inside the clock struck ten with a rich and confident note Other clocks confirmed it and the discussion moved towards its close
To follow it is unnecessary It is rather a moment when the commentator should step forward Ought the Wilcoxes to have offered their home to Margaret I think not The appeal was too flimsy It was not legal it had been written in illness and under the spell of a sudden friendship it was contrary to the dead womans intentions in the past contrary to her very nature so far as that nature was understood by them To them Howards End was a house they could not know that to her it had been a spirit for which she sought a spiritual heir Andpushing one step farther in these mistsmay they not have decided even better than they supposed Is it credible that the possessions of the spirit can be bequeathed at all Has the soul offspring A wychelm tree a vine a wisp of hay with dew on itcan passion for such things be transmitted where there is no bond of blood No the Wilcoxes are not to be blamed The problem is too terrific and they could not even perceive a problem No it is natural and fitting that after due debate they should tear the note up and throw it on to their diningroom fire The practical moralist may acquit them absolutely He who strives to look deeper may acquit themalmost For one hard fact remains They did neglect a personal appeal The woman who had died did say to them Do this and they answered We will not
The incident made a most painful impression on them Grief mounted into the brain and worked there disquietingly Yesterday they had lamented She was a dear mother a true wife in our absence she neglected her health and died Today they thought She was not as true as dear as we supposed The desire for a more inward light had found expression at last the unseen had impacted on the seen and all that they could say was Treachery Mrs Wilcox had been treacherous to the family to the laws of property to her own written word How did she expect Howards End to be conveyed to Miss Schlegel Was her husband to whom it legally belonged to make it over to her as a free gift Was the said Miss Schlegel to have a life interest in it or to own it absolutely Was there to be no compensation for the garage and other improvements that they had made under the assumption that all would be theirs some day Treacherous treacherous and absurd When we think the dead both treacherous and absurd we have gone far towards reconciling ourselves to their departure That note scribbled in pencil sent through the matron was unbusinesslike as well as cruel and decreased at once the value of the woman who had written it
Ah well said Mr Wilcox rising from the table I shouldnt have thought it possible
Mother couldnt have meant it said Evie still frowning
No my girl of course not
Mother believed so in ancestors tooit isnt like her to leave anything to an outsider whod never appreciate
The whole thing is unlike her he announced If Miss Schlegel had been poor if she had wanted a house I could understand it a little But she has a house of her own Why should she want another She wouldnt have any use of Howards End
That time may prove murmured Charles
How asked his sister
Presumably she knowsmother will have told her She got twice or three times into the nursing home Presumably she is awaiting developments
What a horrid woman And Dolly who had recovered cried Why she may be coming down to turn us out now
Charles put her right I wish she would he said ominously I could then deal with her
So could I echoed his father who was feeling rather in the cold Charles had been kind in undertaking the funeral arrangements and in telling him to eat his breakfast but the boy as he grew up was a little dictatorial and assumed the post of chairman too readily I could deal with her if she comes but she wont come Youre all a bit hard on Miss Schlegel
That Paul business was pretty scandalous though
I want no more of the Paul business Charles as I said at the time and besides it is quite apart from this business Margaret Schlegel has been officious and tiresome during this terrible week and we have all suffered under her but upon my soul shes honest Shes not in collusion with the matron Im absolutely certain of it Nor was she with the doctor Im equally certain of that She did not hide anything from us for up to that very afternoon she was as ignorant as we are She like ourselves was a dupe He stopped for a moment You see Charles in her terrible pain your poor mother put us all in false positions Paul would not have left England you would not have gone to Italy nor Evie and I into Yorkshire if only we had known Well Miss Schlegels position has been equally false Take all in all she has not come out of it badly
Evie said But those chrysanthemums
Or coming down to the funeral at all echoed Dolly
Why shouldnt she come down She had the right to and she stood far back among the Hilton women The flowerscertainly we should not have sent such flowers but they may have seemed the right thing to her Evie and for all you know they may be the custom in Germany
Oh I forget she isnt really English cried Evie That would explain a lot
Shes a cosmopolitan said Charles looking at his watch I admit Im rather down on cosmopolitans My fault doubtless I cannot stand them and a German cosmopolitan is the limit I think thats about all isnt it I want to run down and see Chalkeley A bicycle will do And by the way I wish youd speak to Crane some time Im certain hes had my new car out
Has he done it any harm
No
In that case I shall let it pass Its not worth while having a row
Charles and his father sometimes disagreed But they always parted with an increased regard for one another and each desired no doughtier comrade when it was necessary to voyage for a little past the emotions So the sailors of Ulysses voyaged past the Sirens having first stopped one anothers ears with wool
Chapter 12
Charles need not have been anxious Miss Schlegel had never heard of his mothers strange request She was to hear of it in after years when she had built up her life differently and it was to fit into position as the headstone of the corner Her mind was bent on other questions now and by her also it would have been rejected as the fantasy of an invalid
She was parting from these Wilcoxes for the second time Paul and his mother ripple and great wave had flowed into her life and ebbed out of it for ever The ripple had left no traces behind the wave had strewn at her feet fragments torn from the unknown A curious seeker she stood for a while at the verge of the sea that tells so little but tells a little and watched the outgoing of this last tremendous tide Her friend had vanished in agony but not she believed in degradation Her withdrawal had hinted at other things besides disease and pain Some leave our life with tears others with an insane frigidity Mrs Wilcox had taken the middle course which only rarer natures can pursue She had kept proportion She had told a little of her grim secret to her friends but not too much she had shut up her heartalmost but not entirely It is thus if there is any rule that we ought to dieneither as victim nor as fanatic but as the seafarer who can greet with an equal eye the deep that he is entering and the shore that he must leave
The last wordwhatever it would behad certainly not been said in Hilton churchyard She had not died there A funeral is not death any more than baptism is birth or marriage union All three are the clumsy devices coming now too late now too early by which Society would register the quick motions of man In Margarets eyes Mrs Wilcox had escaped registration She had gone out of life vividly her own way and no dust was so truly dust as the contents of that heavy coffin lowered with ceremonial until it rested on the dust of the earth no flowers so utterly wasted as the chrysanthemums that the frost must have withered before morning Margaret had once said she loved superstition It was not true Few women had tried more earnestly to pierce the accretions in which body and soul are enwrapped The death of Mrs Wilcox had helped her in her work She saw a little more clearly than hitherto what a human being is and to what he may aspire Truer relationships gleamed Perhaps the last word would be hopehope even on this side of the grave
Meanwhile she could take an interest in the survivors In spite of her Christmas duties in spite of her brother the Wilcoxes continued to play a considerable part in her thoughts She had seen so much of them in the final week They were not her sort they were often suspicious and stupid and deficient where she excelled but collision with them stimulated her and she felt an interest that verged into liking even for Charles She desired to protect them and often felt that they could protect her excelling where she was deficient Once past the rocks of emotion they knew so well what to do whom to send for their hands were on all the ropes they had grit as well as grittiness and she valued grit enormously They led a life that she could not attain tothe outer life of telegrams and anger which had detonated when Helen and Paul had touched in June and had detonated again the other week To Margaret this life was to remain a real force She could not despise it as Helen and Tibby affected to do It fostered such virtues as neatness decision and obedience virtues of the second rank no doubt but they have formed our civilization They form character too Margaret could not doubt it they keep the soul from becoming sloppy How dare Schlegels despise Wilcoxes when it takes all sorts to make a world
Dont brood too much she wrote to Helen on the superiority of the unseen to the seen Its true but to brood on it is mediaeval Our business is not to contrast the two but to reconcile them
Helen replied that she had no intention of brooding on such a dull subject What did her sister take her for The weather was magnificent She and the Mosebachs had gone tobogganing on the only hill that Pomerania boasted It was fun but overcrowded for the rest of Pomerania had gone there too Helen loved the country and her letter glowed with physical exercise and poetry She spoke of the scenery quiet yet august of the snowclad fields with their scampering herds of deer of the river and its quaint entrance into the Baltic Sea of the Oderberge only three hundred feet high from which one slid all too quickly back into the Pomeranian plains and yet these Oderberge were real mountains with pineforests streams and views complete It isnt size that counts so much as the way things are arranged In another paragraph she referred to Mrs Wilcox sympathetically but the news had not bitten into her She had not realized the accessories of death which are in a sense more memorable than death itself The atmosphere of precautions and recriminations and in the midst a human body growing more vivid because it was in pain the end of that body in Hilton churchyard the survival of something that suggested hope vivid in its turn against lifes workaday cheerfulnessall these were lost to Helen who only felt that a pleasant lady could now be pleasant no longer She returned to Wickham Place full of her own affairsshe had had another proposaland Margaret after a moments hesitation was content that this should be so
The proposal had not been a serious matter It was the work of Fräulein Mosebach who had conceived the large and patriotic notion of winning back her cousins to the Fatherland by matrimony England had played Paul Wilcox and lost Germany played Herr Förstmeister someoneHelen could not remember his name
Herr Förstmeister lived in a wood and standing on the summit of the Oderberge he had pointed out his house to Helen or rather had pointed out the wedge of pines in which it lay She had exclaimed Oh how lovely Thats the place for me and in the evening Frieda appeared in her bedroom I have a message dear Helen etc and so she had but had been very nice when Helen laughed quite understooda forest too solitary and dampquite agreed but Herr Förstmeister believed he had assurance to the contrary Germany had lost but with goodhumour holding the manhood of the world she felt bound to win And there will even be someone for Tibby concluded Helen There now Tibby think of that Frieda is saving up a little girl for you in pigtails and white worsted stockings but the feet of the stockings are pink as if the little girl had trodden in strawberries Ive talked too much My head aches Now you talk
Tibby consented to talk He too was full of his own affairs for he had just been up to try for a scholarship at Oxford The men were down and the candidates had been housed in various colleges and had dined in hall Tibby was sensitive to beauty the experience was new and he gave a description of his visit that was almost glowing The august and mellow University soaked with the richness of the western counties that it has served for a thousand years appealed at once to the boys taste it was the kind of thing he could understand and he understood it all the better because it was empty Oxford isOxford not a mere receptacle for youth like Cambridge Perhaps it wants its inmates to love it rather than to love one another such at all events was to be its effect on Tibby His sisters sent him there that he might make friends for they knew that his education had been cranky and had severed him from other boys and men He made no friends His Oxford remained Oxford empty and he took into life with him not the memory of a radiance but the memory of a colour scheme
It pleased Margaret to hear her brother and sister talking They did not get on overwell as a rule For a few moments she listened to them feeling elderly and benign Then something occurred to her and she interrupted
Helen I told you about poor Mrs Wilcox that sad business
Yes
I have had a correspondence with her son He was winding up the estate and wrote to ask me whether his mother had wanted me to have anything I thought it good of him considering I knew her so little I said that she had once spoken of giving me a Christmas present but we both forgot about it afterwards
I hope Charles took the hint
Yesthat is to say her husband wrote later on and thanked me for being a little kind to her and actually gave me her silver vinaigrette Dont you think that is extraordinarily generous It has made me like him very much He hopes that this will not be the end of our acquaintance but that you and I will go and stop with Evie some time in the future I like Mr Wilcox He is taking up his workrubberit is a big business I gather he is launching out rather Charles is in it too Charles is marrieda pretty little creature but she doesnt seem wise They took on the flat but now they have gone off to a house of their own
Helen after a decent pause continued her account of Stettin How quickly a situation changes In June she had been in a crisis even in November she could blush and be unnatural now it was January and the whole affair lay forgotten Looking back on the past six months Margaret realized the chaotic nature of our daily life and its difference from the orderly sequence that has been fabricated by historians Actual life is full of false clues and signposts that lead nowhere With infinite effort we nerve ourselves for a crisis that never comes The most successful career must show a waste of strength that might have removed mountains and the most unsuccessful is not that of the man who is taken unprepared but of him who has prepared and is never taken On a tragedy of that kind our national morality is duly silent It assumes that preparation against danger is in itself a good and that men like nations are the better for staggering through life fully armed The tragedy of preparedness has scarcely been handled save by the Greeks Life is indeed dangerous but not in the way morality would have us believe It is indeed unmanageable but the essence of it is not a battle It is unmanageable because it is a romance and its essence is romantic beauty
Margaret hoped that for the future she would be less cautious not more cautious than she had been in the past
Chapter 13
Over two years passed and the Schlegel household continued to lead its life of cultured but not ignoble ease still swimming gracefully on the grey tides of London Concerts and plays swept past them money had been spent and renewed reputations won and lost and the city herself emblematic of their lives rose and fell in a continual flux while her shallows washed more widely against the hills of Surrey and over the fields of Hertfordshire This famous building had arisen that was doomed Today Whitehall had been transformed it would be the turn of Regent Street tomorrow And month by month the roads smelt more strongly of petrol and were more difficult to cross and human beings heard each other speak with greater difficulty breathed less of the air and saw less of the sky Nature withdrew the leaves were falling by midsummer the sun shone through dirt with an admired obscurity
To speak against London is no longer fashionable The Earth as an artistic cult has had its day and the literature of the near future will probably ignore the country and seek inspiration from the town One can understand the reaction Of Pan and the elemental forces the public has heard a little too muchthey seem Victorian while London is Georgianand those who care for the earth with sincerity may wait long ere the pendulum swings back to her again Certainly London fascinates One visualizes it as a tract of quivering grey intelligent without purpose and excitable without love as a spirit that has altered before it can be chronicled as a heart that certainly beats but with no pulsation of humanity It lies beyond everything Nature with all her cruelty comes nearer to us than do these crowds of men A friend explains himself the earth is explicablefrom her we came and we must return to her But who can explain Westminster Bridge Road or Liverpool Street in the morningthe city inhalingor the same thoroughfares in the eveningthe city exhaling her exhausted air We reach in desperation beyond the fog beyond the very stars the voids of the universe are ransacked to justify the monster and stamped with a human face London is religions opportunitynot the decorous religion of theologians but anthropomorphic crude Yes the continuous flow would be tolerable if a man of our own sortnot anyone pompous or tearfulwere caring for us up in the sky
The Londoner seldom understands his city until it sweeps him too away from his moorings and Margarets eyes were not opened until the lease of Wickham Place expired She had always known that it must expire but the knowledge only became vivid about nine months before the event Then the house was suddenly ringed with pathos It had seen so much happiness Why had it to be swept away In the streets of the city she noted for the first time the architecture of hurry and heard the language of hurry on the mouths of its inhabitantsclipped words formless sentences potted expressions of approval or disgust Month by month things were stepping livelier but to what goal The population still rose but what was the quality of the men born The particular millionaire who owned the freehold of Wickham Place and desired to erect Babylonian flats upon itwhat right had he to stir so large a portion of the quivering jelly He was not a foolshe had heard him expose Socialismbut true insight began just where his intelligence ended and one gathered that this was the case with most millionaires What right had such menBut Margaret checked herself That way lies madness Thank goodness she too had some money and could purchase a new home
Tibby now in his second year at Oxford was down for the Easter vacation and Margaret took the opportunity of having a serious talk with him Did he at all know where he wanted to live Tibby didnt know that he did know Did he at all know what he wanted to do He was equally uncertain but when pressed remarked that he should prefer to be quite free of any profession Margaret was not shocked but went on sewing for a few minutes before she replied
I was thinking of Mr Vyse He never strikes me as particularly happy
Yees said Tibby and then held his mouth open in a curious quiver as if he too had thoughts of Mr Vyse had seen round through over and beyond Mr Vyse had weighed Mr Vyse grouped him and finally dismissed him as having no possible bearing on the subject under discussion That bleat of Tibbys infuriated Helen But Helen was now down in the diningroom preparing a speech about political economy At times her voice could be heard declaiming through the floor
But Mr Vyse is rather a wretched weedy man dont you think Then theres Guy That was a pitiful business Besidesshifting to the general every one is the better for some regular work
Groans
I shall stick to it she continued smiling I am not saying it to educate you it is what I really think I believe that in the last century men have developed the desire for work and they must not starve it Its a new desire It goes with a great deal thats bad but in itself its good and I hope that for women too not to work will soon become as shocking as not to be married was a hundred years ago
I have no experience of this profound desire to which you allude enunciated Tibby
Then well leave the subject till you do Im not going to rattle you round Take your time Only do think over the lives of the men you like most and see how theyve arranged them
I like Guy and Mr Vyse most said Tibby faintly and leant so far back in his chair that he extended in a horizontal line from knees to throat
And dont think Im not serious because I dont use the traditional argumentsmaking money a sphere awaiting you and so onall of which are for various reasons cant She sewed on Im only your sister I havent any authority over you and I dont want to have any Just to put before you what I think the truth You seeshe shook off the pincenez to which she had recently takenin a few years we shall be the same age practically and I shall want you to help me Men are so much nicer than women
Labouring under such a delusion why do you not marry
I sometimes jolly well think I would if I got the chance
Has nobody arst you
Only ninnies
Do people ask Helen
Plentifully
Tell me about them
No
Tell me about your ninnies then
They were men who had nothing better to do said his sister feeling that she was entitled to score this point So take warning you must work or else you must pretend to work which is what I do Work work work if youd save your soul and your body It is honestly a necessity dear boy Look at the Wilcoxes look at Mr Pembroke With all their defects of temper and understanding such men give me more pleasure than many who are better equipped and I think it is because they have worked regularly and honestly
Spare me the Wilcoxes he moaned
I shall not They are the right sort
Oh goodness me Meg he protested suddenly sitting up alert and angry Tibby for all his defects had a genuine personality
Well theyre as near the right sort as you can imagine
No nooh no
I was thinking of the younger son whom I once classed as a ninny but who came back so ill from Nigeria Hes gone out there again Evie Wilcox tells meout to his duty
Duty always elicited a groan
He doesnt want the money it is work he wants though it is beastly workdull country dishonest natives an eternal fidget over fresh water and food A nation who can produce men of that sort may well be proud No wonder England has become an Empire
Empire
I cant bother over results said Margaret a little sadly They are too difficult for me I can only look at the men An Empire bores me so far but I can appreciate the heroism that builds it up London bores me but what thousands of splendid people are labouring to make London
What it is he sneered
What it is worse luck I want activity without civilization How paradoxical Yet I expect that is what we shall find in heaven
And I said Tibby want civilization without activity which I expect is what we shall find in the other place
You neednt go as far as the other place Tibbikins if you want that You can find it at Oxford
Stupid
If Im stupid get me back to the househunting Ill even live in Oxford if you likeNorth Oxford Ill live anywhere except Bournemouth Torquay and Cheltenham Oh yes or Ilfracombe and Swanage and Tunbridge Wells and Surbiton and Bedford There on no account
London then
I agree but Helen rather wants to get away from London However theres no reason we shouldnt have a house in the country and also a flat in town provided we all stick together and contribute Though of courseOh how one does maunder on and to think to think of the people who are really poor How do they live Not to move about the world would kill me
As she spoke the door was flung open and Helen burst in in a state of extreme excitement
Oh my dears what do you think Youll never guess A womans been here asking me for her husband Her what Helen was fond of supplying her own surprise Yes for her husband and it really is so
Not anything to do with Bracknell cried Margaret who had lately taken on an unemployed of that name to clean the knives and boots
I offered Bracknell and he was rejected So was Tibby Cheer up Tibby Its no one we know I said Hunt my good woman have a good look round hunt under the tables poke up the chimney shake out the antimacassars Husband husband Oh and she so magnificently dressed and tinkling like a chandelier
Now Helen what did happen really
What I say I was as it were orating my speech Annie opens the door like a fool and shows a female straight in on me with my mouth open Then we beganvery civilly I want my husband what I have reason to believe is here Nohow unjust one is She said whom not what She got it perfectly So I said Name please and she said Lan Miss and there we were
Lan
Lan or Len We were not nice about our vowels Lanoline
But what an extraordinary
I said My good Mrs Lanoline we have some grave misunderstanding here Beautiful as I am my modesty is even more remarkable than my beauty and never never has Mr Lanoline rested his eyes on mine
I hope you were pleased said Tibby
Of course Helen squeaked A perfectly delightful experience Oh Mrs Lanolines a dearshe asked for a husband as if he was an umbrella She mislaid him Saturday afternoonand for a long time suffered no inconvenience But all night and all this morning her apprehensions grew Breakfast didnt seem the sameno no more did lunch and so she strolled up to 2 Wickham Place as being the most likely place for the missing article
But how on earth
Dont begin how on earthing I know what I know she kept repeating not uncivilly but with extreme gloom In vain I asked her what she did know Some knew what others knew and others didnt and if they didnt then others again had better be careful Oh dear she was incompetent She had a face like a silkworm and the diningroom reeks of orrisroot We chatted pleasantly a little about husbands and I wondered where hers was too and advised her to go to the police She thanked me We agreed that Mr Lanolines a notty notty man and hasnt no business to go on the lardyda But I think she suspected me up to the last Bags I writing to Aunt Juley about this Now Meg rememberbags I
Bag it by all means murmured Margaret putting down her work Im not sure that this is so funny Helen It means some horrible volcano smoking somewhere doesnt it
I dont think soshe doesnt really mind The admirable creature isnt capable of tragedy
Her husband may be though said Margaret moving to the window
Oh no not likely No one capable of tragedy could have married Mrs Lanoline
Was she pretty
Her figure may have been good once
The flats their only outlook hung like an ornate curtain between Margaret and the welter of London Her thoughts turned sadly to househunting Wickham Place had been so safe She feared fantastically that her own little flock might be moving into turmoil and squalor into nearer contact with such episodes as these
Tibby and I have again been wondering where well live next September she said at last
Tibby had better first wonder what hell do retorted Helen and that topic was resumed but with acrimony Then tea came and after tea Helen went on preparing her speech and Margaret prepared one too for they were going out to a discussion society on the morrow But her thoughts were poisoned Mrs Lanoline had risen out of the abyss like a faint smell a goblin football telling of a life where love and hatred had both decayed
Chapter 14
The mystery like so many mysteries was explained Next day just as they were dressed to go out to dinner a Mr Bast called He was a clerk in the employment of the Porphyrion Fire Insurance Company Thus much from his card He had come about the lady yesterday Thus much from Annie who had shown him into the diningroom
Cheers children cried Helen Its Mrs Lanoline
Tibby was interested The three hurried downstairs to find not the gay dog they expected but a young man colourless toneless who had already the mournful eyes above a drooping moustache that are so common in London and that haunt some streets of the city like accusing presences One guessed him as the third generation grandson to the shepherd or ploughboy whom civilization had sucked into the town as one of the thousands who have lost the life of the body and failed to reach the life of the spirit Hints of robustness survived in him more than a hint of primitive good looks and Margaret noting the spine that might have been straight and the chest that might have broadened wondered whether it paid to give up the glory of the animal for a tail coat and a couple of ideas Culture had worked in her own case but during the last few weeks she had doubted whether it humanized the majority so wide and so widening is the gulf that stretches between the natural and the philosophic man so many the good chaps who are wrecked in trying to cross it She knew this type very wellthe vague aspirations the mental dishonesty the familiarity with the outsides of books She knew the very tones in which he would address her She was only unprepared for an example of her own visitingcard
You wouldnt remember giving me this Miss Schlegel said he uneasily familiar
No I cant say I do
Well that was how it happened you see
Where did we meet Mr Bast For the minute I dont remember
It was a concert at the Queens Hall I think you will recollect he added pretentiously when I tell you that it included a performance of the Fifth Symphony of Beethoven
We hear the Fifth practically every time its done so Im not suredo you remember Helen
Was it the time the sandy cat walked round the balustrade
He thought not
Then I dont remember Thats the only Beethoven I ever remember specially
And you if I may say so took away my umbrella inadvertently of course
Likely enough Helen laughed for I steal umbrellas even oftener than I hear Beethoven Did you get it back
Yes thank you Miss Schlegel
The mistake arose out of my card did it interposed Margaret
Yes the mistake aroseit was a mistake
The lady who called here yesterday thought that you were calling too and that she could find you she continued pushing him forward for though he had promised an explanation he seemed unable to give one
Thats so calling tooa mistake
Then why began Helen but Margaret laid a hand on her arm
I said to my wife he continued more rapidlyI said to Mrs Bast I have to pay a call on some friends and Mrs Bast said to me Do go While I was gone however she wanted me on important business and thought I had come here owing to the card and so came after me and I beg to tender my apologies and hers as well for any inconvenience we may have inadvertently caused you
No inconvenience said Helen but I still dont understand
An air of evasion characterized Mr Bast He explained again but was obviously lying and Helen didnt see why he should get off She had the cruelty of youth Neglecting her sisters pressure she said I still dont understand When did you say you paid this call
Call What call said he staring as if her question had been a foolish one a favourite device of those in midstream
This afternoon call
In the afternoon of course he replied and looked at Tibby to see how the repartee went But Tibby himself a repartee was unsympathetic and said Saturday afternoon or Sunday afternoon
SSaturday
Really said Helen and you were still calling on Sunday when your wife came here A long visit
I dont call that fair said Mr Bast going scarlet and handsome There was fight in his eyes I know what you mean and it isnt so
Oh dont let us mind said Margaret distressed again by odours from the abyss
It was something else he asserted his elaborate manner breaking down I was somewhere else to what you think so there
It was good of you to come and explain she said The rest is naturally no concern of ours
Yes but I wantI wantedhave you ever read The Ordeal of Richard Feverel
Margaret nodded
Its a beautiful book I wanted to get back to the Earth dont you see like Richard does in the end Or have you ever read Stevensons Prince Otto
Helen and Tibby groaned gently
Thats another beautiful book You get back to the Earth in that I wanted He mouthed affectedly Then through the mists of his culture came a hard fact hard as a pebble I walked all the Saturday night said Leonard I walked A thrill of approval ran through the sisters But culture closed in again He asked whether they had ever read E V Lucass Open Road
Said Helen No doubt its another beautiful book but Id rather hear about your road
Oh I walked
How far
I dont know nor for how long It got too dark to see my watch
Were you walking alone may I ask
Yes he said straightening himself but wed been talking it over at the office Theres been a lot of talk at the office lately about these things The fellows there said one steers by the Pole Star and I looked it up in the celestial atlas but once out of doors everything gets so mixed
Dont talk to me about the Pole Star interrupted Helen who was becoming interested I know its little ways It goes round and round and you go round after it
Well I lost it entirely First of all the street lamps then the trees and towards morning it got cloudy
Tibby who preferred his comedy undiluted slipped from the room He knew that this fellow would never attain to poetry and did not want to hear him trying Margaret and Helen remained Their brother influenced them more than they knew in his absence they were stirred to enthusiasm more easily
Where did you start from cried Margaret Do tell us more
I took the Underground to Wimbledon As I came out of the office I said to myself I must have a walk once in a way If I dont take this walk now I shall never take it I had a bit of dinner at Wimbledon and then
But not good country there is it
It was gaslamps for hours Still I had all the night and being out was the great thing I did get into woods too presently
Yes go on said Helen
Youve no idea how difficult uneven ground is when its dark
Did you actually go off the roads
Oh yes I always meant to go off the roads but the worst of it is that its more difficult to find ones way
Mr Bast youre a born adventurer laughed Margaret No professional athlete would have attempted what youve done Its a wonder your walk didnt end in a broken neck Whatever did your wife say
Professional athletes never move without lanterns and compasses said Helen Besides they cant walk It tires them Go on
I felt like R L S You probably remember how in Virginibus
Yes but the wood This ere wood How did you get out of it
I managed one wood and found a road the other side which went a good bit uphill I rather fancy it was those North Downs for the road went off into grass and I got into another wood That was awful with gorse bushes I did wish Id never come but suddenly it got lightjust while I seemed going under one tree Then I found a road down to a station and took the first train I could back to London
But was the dawn wonderful asked Helen
With unforgettable sincerity he replied No The word flew again like a pebble from the sling Down toppled all that had seemed ignoble or literary in his talk down toppled tiresome R L S and the love of the earth and his silk tophat In the presence of these women Leonard had arrived and he spoke with a flow an exultation that he had seldom known
The dawn was only grey it was nothing to mention
Just a grey evening turned upside down I know
and I was too tired to lift up my head to look at it and so cold too Im glad I did it and yet at the time it bored me more than I can say And besidesyou can believe me or not as you chooseI was very hungry That dinner at WimbledonI meant it to last me all night like other dinners I never thought that walking would make such a difference Why when youre walking you want as it were a breakfast and luncheon and tea during the night as well and Id nothing but a packet of Woodbines Lord I did feel bad Looking back it wasnt what you may call enjoyment It was more a case of sticking to it I did stick II was determined Oh hang it all whats the goodI mean the good of living in a room for ever There one goes on day after day same old game same up and down to town until you forget there is any other game You ought to see once in a way whats going on outside if its only nothing particular after all
I should just think you ought said Helen sitting on the edge of the table
The sound of a ladys voice recalled him from sincerity and he said Curious it should all come about from reading something of Richard Jefferies
Excuse me Mr Bast but youre wrong there It didnt It came from something far greater
But she could not stop him Borrow was imminent after JefferiesBorrow Thoreau and sorrow R L S brought up the rear and the outburst ended in a swamp of books No disrespect to these great names The fault is ours not theirs They mean us to use them for signposts and are not to blame if in our weakness we mistake the signpost for the destination And Leonard had reached the destination He had visited the county of Surrey when darkness covered its amenities and its cosy villas had reentered ancient night Every twelve hours this miracle happens but he had troubled to go and see for himself Within his cramped little mind dwelt something that was greater than Jefferies booksthe spirit that led Jefferies to write them and his dawn though revealing nothing but monotones was part of the eternal sunrise that shows George Borrow Stonehenge
Then you dont think I was foolish he asked becoming again the naïve and sweettempered boy for whom Nature had intended him
Heavens no replied Margaret
Heaven help us if we do replied Helen
Im very glad you say that Now my wife would never understandnot if I explained for days
No it wasnt foolish cried Helen her eyes aflame Youve pushed back the boundaries I think it splendid of you
Youve not been content to dream as we have
Though we have walked too
I must show you a picture upstairs
Here the doorbell rang The hansom had come to take them to their evening party
Oh bother not to say dashI had forgotten we were dining out but do do come round again and have a talk
Yes you mustdo echoed Margaret
Leonard with extreme sentiment replied No I shall not Its better like this
Why better asked Margaret
No it is better not to risk a second interview I shall always look back on this talk with you as one of the finest things in my life Really I mean this We can never repeat It has done me real good and there we had better leave it
Thats rather a sad view of life surely
Things so often get spoiled
I know flashed Helen but people dont
He could not understand this He continued in a vein which mingled true imagination and false What he said wasnt wrong but it wasnt right and a false note jarred One little twist they felt and the instrument might be in tune One little strain and it might be silent for ever He thanked the ladies very much but he would not call again There was a moments awkwardness and then Helen said Go then perhaps you know best but never forget youre better than Jefferies And he went Their hansom caught him up at the corner passed with a waving of hands and vanished with its accomplished load into the evening
London was beginning to illuminate herself against the night Electric lights sizzled and jagged in the main thoroughfares gaslamps in the side streets glimmered a canary gold or green The sky was a crimson battlefield of spring but London was not afraid Her smoke mitigated the splendour and the clouds down Oxford Street were a delicately painted ceiling which adorned while it did not distract She has never known the clearcut armies of the purer air Leonard hurried through her tinted wonders very much part of the picture His was a grey life and to brighten it he had ruled off a few corners for romance The Miss Schlegelsor to speak more accurately his interview with themwere to fill such a corner nor was it by any means the first time that he had talked intimately to strangers The habit was analogous to a debauch an outlet though the worst of outlets for instincts that would not be denied Terrifying him it would beat down his suspicions and prudence until he was confiding secrets to people whom he had scarcely seen It brought him many fears and some pleasant memories Perhaps the keenest happiness he had ever known was during a railway journey to Cambridge where a decentmannered undergraduate had spoken to him They had got into conversation and gradually Leonard flung reticence aside told some of his domestic troubles and hinted at the rest The undergraduate supposing they could start a friendship asked him to coffee after hall which he accepted but afterwards grew shy and took care not to stir from the commercial hotel where he lodged He did not want Romance to collide with the Porphyrion still less with Jacky and people with fuller happier lives are slow to understand this To the Schlegels as to the undergraduate he was an interesting creature of whom they wanted to see more But they to him were denizens of Romance who must keep to the corner he had assigned them pictures that must not walk out of their frames
His behaviour over Margarets visitingcard had been typical His had scarcely been a tragic marriage Where there is no money and no inclination to violence tragedy cannot be generated He could not leave his wife and he did not want to hit her Petulance and squalor were enough Here that card had come in Leonard though furtive was untidy and left it lying about Jacky found it and then began Whats that card eh Yes dont you wish you knew what that card was Len whos Miss Schlegel etc Months passed and the card now as a joke now as a grievance was handed about getting dirtier and dirtier It followed them when they moved from Cornelia Road to Tulse Hill It was submitted to third parties A few inches of pasteboard it became the battlefield on which the souls of Leonard and his wife contended Why did he not say A lady took my umbrella another gave me this that I might call for my umbrella Because Jacky would have disbelieved him Partly but chiefly because he was sentimental No affection gathered round the card but it symbolized the life of culture that Jacky should never spoil At night he would say to himself Well at all events she doesnt know about that card Yah done her there
Poor Jacky she was not a bad sort and had a great deal to bear She drew her own conclusionshe was only capable of drawing one conclusionand in the fulness of time she acted upon it All the Friday Leonard had refused to speak to her and had spent the evening observing the stars On the Saturday he went up as usual to town but he came not back Saturday night nor Sunday morning nor Sunday afternoon The inconvenience grew intolerable and though she was now of a retiring habit and shy of women she went up to Wickham Place Leonard returned in her absence The card the fatal card was gone from the pages of Ruskin and he guessed what had happened
Well he had exclaimed greeting her with peals of laughter I know where youve been but you dont know where Ive been
Jacky sighed said Len I do think you might explain and resumed domesticity
Explanations were difficult at this stage and Leonard was too sillyor it is tempting to write too sound a chap to attempt them His reticence was not entirely the shoddy article that a business life promotes the reticence that pretends that nothing is something and hides behind the Daily Telegraph The adventurer also is reticent and it is an adventure for a clerk to walk for a few hours in darkness You may laugh at him you who have slept nights on the veldt with your rifle beside you and all the atmosphere of adventure past And you also may laugh who think adventures silly But do not be surprised if Leonard is shy whenever he meets you and if the Schlegels rather than Jacky hear about the dawn
That the Schlegels had not thought him foolish became a permanent joy He was at his best when he thought of them It buoyed him as he journeyed home beneath fading heavens Somehow the barriers of wealth had fallen and there had beenhe could not phrase ita general assertion of the wonder of the world My conviction says the mystic gains infinitely the moment another soul will believe in it and they had agreed that there was something beyond lifes daily grey He took off his tophat and smoothed it thoughtfully He had hitherto supposed the unknown to be books literature clever conversation culture One raised oneself by study and got upsides with the world But in that quick interchange a new light dawned Was that something walking in the dark among the surburban hills
He discovered that he was going bareheaded down Regent Street London came back with a rush Few were about at this hour but all whom he passed looked at him with a hostility that was the more impressive because it was unconscious He put his hat on It was too big his head disappeared like a pudding into a basin the ears bending outwards at the touch of the curly brim He wore it a little backwards and its effect was greatly to elongate the face and to bring out the distance between the eyes and the moustache Thus equipped he escaped criticism No one felt uneasy as he titupped along the pavements the heart of a man ticking fast in his chest
Chapter 15
The sisters went out to dinner full of their adventure and when they were both full of the same subject there were few dinnerparties that could stand up against them This particular one which was all ladies had more kick in it than most but succumbed after a struggle Helen at one part of the table Margaret at the other would talk of Mr Bast and of no one else and somewhere about the entree their monologues collided fell ruining and became common property Nor was this all The dinnerparty was really an informal discussion club there was a paper after it read amid coffeecups and laughter in the drawingroom but dealing more or less thoughtfully with some topic of general interest After the paper came a debate and in this debate Mr Bast also figured appearing now as a bright spot in civilization now as a dark spot according to the temperament of the speaker The subject of the paper had been How ought I to dispose of my money the reader professing to be a millionaire on the point of death inclined to bequeath her fortune for the foundation of local art galleries but open to conviction from other sources The various parts had been assigned beforehand and some of the speeches were amusing The hostess assumed the ungrateful role of the millionaires eldest son and implored her expiring parent not to dislocate Society by allowing such vast sums to pass out of the family Money was the fruit of selfdenial and the second generation had a right to profit by the selfdenial of the first What right had Mr Bast to profit The National Gallery was good enough for the likes of him After property had had its saya saying that is necessarily ungraciousthe various philanthropists stepped forward Something must be done for Mr Bast his conditions must be improved without impairing his independence he must have a free library or free tenniscourts his rent must be paid in such a way that he did not know it was being paid it must be made worth his while to join the Territorials he must be forcibly parted from his uninspiring wife the money going to her as compensation he must be assigned a Twin Star some member of the leisured classes who would watch over him ceaselessly groans from Helen he must be given food but no clothes clothes but no food a thirdreturn ticket to Venice without either food or clothes when he arrived there In short he might be given anything and everything so long as it was not the money itself
And here Margaret interrupted
Order order Miss Schlegel said the reader of the paper You are here I understand to advise me in the interests of the Society for the Preservation of Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty I cannot have you speaking out of your role It makes my poor head go round and I think you forget that I am very ill
Your head wont go round if only youll listen to my argument said Margaret Why not give him the money itself Youre supposed to have about thirty thousand a year
Have I I thought I had a million
Wasnt a million your capital Dear me we ought to have settled that Still it doesnt matter Whatever youve got I order you to give as many poor men as you can three hundred a year each
But that would be pauperizing them said an earnest girl who liked the Schlegels but thought them a little unspiritual at times
Not if you gave them so much A big windfall would not pauperize a man It is these little driblets distributed among too many that do the harm Moneys educational Its far more educational than the things it buys There was a protest In a sense added Margaret but the protest continued Well isnt the most civilized thing going the man who has learnt to wear his income properly
Exactly what your Mr Basts wont do
Give them a chance Give them money Dont dole them out poetrybooks and railwaytickets like babies Give them the wherewithal to buy these things When your Socialism comes it may be different and we may think in terms of commodities instead of cash Till it comes give people cash for it is the warp of civilization whatever the woof may be The imagination ought to play upon money and realize it vividly for its thethe second most important thing in the world It is so sluffed over and hushed up there is so little clear thinkingoh political economy of course but so few of us think clearly about our own private incomes and admit that independent thoughts are in nine cases out of ten the result of independent means Money give Mr Bast money and dont bother about his ideals Hell pick up those for himself
She leant back while the more earnest members of the club began to misconstrue her The female mind though cruelly practical in daily life cannot bear to hear ideals belittled in conversation and Miss Schlegel was asked however she could say such dreadful things and what it would profit Mr Bast if he gained the whole world and lost his own soul She answered Nothing but he would not gain his soul until he had gained a little of the world Then they said No they did not believe it and she admitted that an overworked clerk may save his soul in the superterrestrial sense where the effort will be taken for the deed but she denied that he will ever explore the spiritual resources of this world will ever know the rarer joys of the body or attain to clear and passionate intercourse with his fellows Others had attacked the fabric of SocietyProperty Interest etc she only fixed her eyes on a few human beings to see how under present conditions they could be made happier Doing good to humanity was useless the manycoloured efforts thereto spreading over the vast area like films and resulting in an universal grey To do good to one or as in this case to a few was the utmost she dare hope for
Between the idealists and the political economists Margaret had a bad time Disagreeing elsewhere they agreed in disowning her and in keeping the administration of the millionaires money in their own hands The earnest girl brought forward a scheme of personal supervision and mutual help the effect of which was to alter poor people until they became exactly like people who were not so poor The hostess pertinently remarked that she as eldest son might surely rank among the millionaires legatees Margaret weakly admitted the claim and another claim was at once set up by Helen who declared that she had been the millionaires housemaid for over forty years overfed and underpaid was nothing to be done for her so corpulent and poor The millionaire then read out her last will and testament in which she left the whole of her fortune to the Chancellor of the Exchequer Then she died The serious parts of the discussion had been of higher merit than the playfulin a mens debate is the reverse more general but the meeting broke up hilariously enough and a dozen happy ladies dispersed to their homes
Helen and Margaret walked the earnest girl as far as Battersea Bridge Station arguing copiously all the way When she had gone they were conscious of an alleviation and of the great beauty of the evening They turned back towards Oakley Street The lamps and the planetrees following the line of the embankment struck a note of dignity that is rare in English cities The seats almost deserted were here and there occupied by gentlefolk in evening dress who had strolled out from the houses behind to enjoy fresh air and the whisper of the rising tide There is something continental about Chelsea Embankment It is an open space used rightly a blessing more frequent in Germany than here As Margaret and Helen sat down the city behind them seemed to be a vast theatre an operahouse in which some endless trilogy was performing and they themselves a pair of satisfied subscribers who did not mind losing a little of the second act
Cold
No
Tired
Doesnt matter
The earnest girls train rumbled away over the bridge
I say Helen
Well
Are we really going to follow up Mr Bast
I dont know
I think we wont
As you like
Its no good I think unless you really mean to know people The discussion brought that home to me We got on well enough with him in a spirit of excitement but think of rational intercourse We mustnt play at friendship No its no good
Theres Mrs Lanoline too Helen yawned So dull
Just so and possibly worse than dull
I should like to know how he got hold of your card
But he saidsomething about a concert and an umbrella
Then did the card see the wife
Helen come to bed
No just a little longer it is so beautiful Tell me oh yes did you say money is the warp of the world
Yes
Then whats the woof
Very much what one chooses said Margaret Its something that isnt moneyone cant say more
Walking at night
Probably
For Tibby Oxford
It seems so
For you
Now that we have to leave Wickham Place I begin to think its that For Mrs Wilcox it was certainly Howards End
Ones own name will carry immense distances Mr Wilcox who was sitting with friends many seats away heard his rose to his feet and strolled along towards the speakers
It is sad to suppose that places may ever be more important than people continued Margaret
Why Meg Theyre so much nicer generally Id rather think of that foresters house in Pomerania than of the fat Herr Förstmeister who lived in it
I believe we shall come to care about people less and less Helen The more people one knows the easier it becomes to replace them Its one of the curses of London I quite expect to end my life caring most for a place
Here Mr Wilcox reached them It was several weeks since they had met
How do you do he cried I thought I recognized your voices Whatever are you both doing down here
His tones were protective He implied that one ought not to sit out on Chelsea Embankment without a male escort Helen resented this but Margaret accepted it as part of the good mans equipment
What an age it is since Ive seen you Mr Wilcox I met Evie in the Tube though lately I hope you have good news of your son
Paul said Mr Wilcox extinguishing his cigarette and sitting down between them Oh Pauls all right We had a line from Madeira Hell be at work again by now
Ugh said Helen shuddering from complex causes
I beg your pardon
Isnt the climate of Nigeria too horrible
Someones got to go he said simply England will never keep her trade overseas unless she is prepared to make sacrifices Unless we get firm in West Africa Geruntold complications may follow Now tell me all your news
Oh weve had a splendid evening cried Helen who always woke up at the advent of a visitor We belong to a kind of club that reads papers Margaret and Iall women but there is a discussion after This evening it was on how one ought to leave ones moneywhether to ones family or to the poor and if so howoh most interesting
The man of business smiled Since his wifes death he had almost doubled his income He was an important figure at last a reassuring name on company prospectuses and life had treated him very well The world seemed in his grasp as he listened to the River Thames which still flowed inland from the sea So wonderful to the girls it held no mysteries for him He had helped to shorten its long tidal trough by taking shares in the lock at Teddington and if he and other capitalists thought good some day it could be shortened again With a good dinner inside him and an amiable but academic woman on either flank he felt that his hands were on all the ropes of life and that what he did not know could not be worth knowing
Sounds a most original entertainment he exclaimed and laughed in his pleasant way I wish Evie would go to that sort of thing But she hasnt the time Shes taken to breed Aberdeen terriersjolly little dogs
I expect wed better be doing the same really
We pretend were improving ourselves you see said Helen a little sharply for the Wilcox glamour is not of the kind that returns and she had bitter memories of the days when a speech such as he had just made would have impressed her favourably We suppose it is a good thing to waste an evening once a fortnight over a debate but as my sister says it may be better to breed dogs
Not at all I dont agree with your sister Theres nothing like a debate to teach one quickness I often wish I had gone in for them when I was a youngster It would have helped me no end
Quickness
Yes Quickness in argument Time after time Ive missed scoring a point because the other man has had the gift of the gab and I havent Oh I believe in these discussions
The patronizing tone thought Margaret came well enough from a man who was old enough to be their father She had always maintained that Mr Wilcox had a charm In times of sorrow or emotion his inadequacy had pained her but it was pleasant to listen to him now and to watch his thick brown moustache and high forehead confronting the stars But Helen was nettled The aim of their debates she implied was Truth
Oh yes it doesnt much matter what subject you take said he
Margaret laughed and said But this is going to be far better than the debate itself Helen recovered herself and laughed too No I wont go on she declared Ill just put our special case to Mr Wilcox
About Mr Bast Yes do Hell be more lenient to a special case
But Mr Wilcox do first light another cigarette Its this Weve just come across a young fellow whos evidently very poor and who seems interest
Whats his profession
Clerk
What in
Do you remember Margaret
Porphyrion Fire Insurance Company
Oh yes the nice people who gave Aunt Juley a new hearthrug He seems interesting in some ways very and one wishes one could help him He is married to a wife whom he doesnt seem to care for much He likes books and what one may roughly call adventure and if he had a chanceBut he is so poor He lives a life where all the money is apt to go on nonsense and clothes One is so afraid that circumstances will be too strong for him and that he will sink Well he got mixed up in our debate He wasnt the subject of it but it seemed to bear on his point Suppose a millionaire died and desired to leave money to help such a man How should he be helped Should he be given three hundred pounds a year direct which was Margarets plan Most of them thought this would pauperize him Should he and those like him be given free libraries I said No He doesnt want more books to read but to read books rightly My suggestion was he should be given something every year towards a summer holiday but then there is his wife and they said she would have to go too Nothing seemed quite right Now what do you think Imagine that you were a millionaire and wanted to help the poor What would you do
Mr Wilcox whose fortune was not so very far below the standard indicated laughed exuberantly My dear Miss Schlegel I will not rush in where your sex has been unable to tread I will not add another plan to the numerous excellent ones that have been already suggested My only contribution is this let your young friend clear out of the Porphyrion Fire Insurance Company with all possible speed
Why said Margaret
He lowered his voice This is between friends Itll be in the Receivers hands before Christmas Itll smash he added thinking that she had not understood
Dear me Helen listen to that And hell have to get another place
Will have Let him leave the ship before it sinks Let him get one now
Rather than wait to make sure
Decidedly
Whys that
Again the Olympian laugh and the lowered voice Naturally the man whos in a situation when he applies stands a better chance is in a stronger position than the man who isnt It looks as if hes worth something I know by myselfthis is letting you into the State secretsit affects an employer greatly Human nature Im afraid
I hadnt thought of that murmured Margaret while Helen said Our human nature appears to be the other way round We employ people because theyre unemployed The boot man for instance
And how does he clean the boots
Not well confessed Margaret
There you are
Then do you really advise us to tell this youth
I advise nothing he interrupted glancing up and down the Embankment in case his indiscretion had been overheard I oughtnt to have spokenbut I happen to know being more or less behind the scenes The Porphyrions a bad bad concernNow dont say I said so Its outside the Tariff Ring
Certainly I wont say In fact I dont know what that means
I thought an insurance company never smashed was Helens contribution Dont the others always run in and save them
Youre thinking of reinsurance said Mr Wilcox mildly It is exactly there that the Porphyrion is weak It has tried to undercut has been badly hit by a long series of small fires and it hasnt been able to reinsure Im afraid that public companies dont save one another for love
Human nature I suppose quoted Helen and he laughed and agreed that it was When Margaret said that she supposed that clerks like every one else found it extremely difficult to get situations in these days he replied Yes extremely and rose to rejoin his friends He knew by his own officeseldom a vacant post and hundreds of applicants for it at present no vacant post
And hows Howards End looking said Margaret wishing to change the subject before they parted Mr Wilcox was a little apt to think one wanted to get something out of him
Its let
Really And you wandering homeless in longhaired Chelsea How strange are the ways of Fate
No its let unfurnished Weve moved
Why I thought of you both as anchored there for ever Evie never told me
I dare say when you met Evie the thing wasnt settled We only moved a week ago Paul has rather a feeling for the old place and we held on for him to have his holiday there but really it is impossibly small Endless drawbacks I forget whether youve been up to it
As far as the house never
Well Howards End is one of those converted farms They dont really do spend what you will on them We messed away with a garage all among the wychelm roots and last year we enclosed a bit of the meadow and attempted a mockery Evie got rather keen on Alpine plants But it didnt dono it didnt do You remember or your sister will remember the farm with those abominable guineafowls and the hedge that the old woman never would cut properly so that it all went thin at the bottom And inside the house the beamsand the staircase through a doorpicturesque enough but not a place to live in He glanced over the parapet cheerfully Full tide And the position wasnt right either The neighbourhoods getting suburban Either be in London or out of it I say so weve taken a house in Ducie Street close to Sloane Street and a place right down in ShropshireOniton Grange Ever heard of Oniton Do come and see usright away from everywhere up towards Wales
What a change said Margaret But the change was in her own voice which had become most sad I cant imagine Howards End or Hilton without you
Hilton isnt without us he replied Charles is there still
Still said Margaret who had not kept up with the Charles But I thought he was still at Epsom They were furnishing that Christmasone Christmas How everything alters I used to admire Mrs Charles from our windows very often Wasnt it Epsom
Yes but they moved eighteen months ago Charles the good chaphis voice droppedthought I should be lonely I didnt want him to move but he would and took a house at the other end of Hilton down by the Six Hills He had a motor too There they all are a very jolly partyhe and she and the two grandchildren
I manage other peoples affairs so much better than they manage them themselves said Margaret as they shook hands When you moved out of Howards End I should have moved Mr Charles Wilcox into it I should have kept so remarkable a place in the family
So it is he replied I havent sold it and dont mean to
No but none of you are there
Oh weve got a splendid tenantHamar Bryce an invalid If Charles ever wanted itbut he wont Dolly is so dependent on modern conveniences No we have all decided against Howards End We like it in a way but now we feel that it is neither one thing nor the other One must have one thing or the other
And some people are lucky enough to have both Youre doing yourself proud Mr Wilcox My congratulations
And mine said Helen
Do remind Evie to come and see ustwo Wickham Place We shant be there very long either
You too on the move
Next September Margaret sighed
Every one moving Goodbye
The tide had begun to ebb Margaret leant over the parapet and watched it sadly Mr Wilcox had forgotten his wife Helen her lover she herself was probably forgetting Every one moving Is it worth while attempting the past when there is this continual flux even in the hearts of men
Helen roused her by saying What a prosperous vulgarian Mr Wilcox has grown I have very little use for him in these days However he did tell us about the Porphyrion Let us write to Mr Bast as soon as ever we get home and tell him to clear out of it at once
Do yes thats worth doing Let us
Lets ask him to tea
Chapter 16
Leonard accepted the invitation to tea next Saturday But he was right the visit proved a conspicuous failure
Sugar said Margaret
Cake said Helen The big cake or the little deadlies Im afraid you thought my letter rather odd but well explainwe arent odd reallynot affected really Were overexpressive thats all
As a ladys lapdog Leonard did not excel He was not an Italian still less a Frenchman in whose blood there runs the very spirit of persiflage and of gracious repartee His wit was the Cockneys it opened no doors into imagination and Helen was drawn up short by The more a lady has to say the better administered waggishly
Oh yes she said
Ladies brighten
Yes I know The darlings are regular sunbeams Let me give you a plate
How do you like your work interposed Margaret
He too was drawn up short He would not have these women prying into his work They were Romance and so was the room to which he had at last penetrated with the queer sketches of people bathing upon its walls and so were the very teacups with their delicate borders of wild strawberries But he would not let Romance interfere with his life There is the devil to pay then
Oh well enough he answered
Your company is the Porphyrion isnt it
Yes thats sobecoming rather offended Its funny how things get round
Why funny asked Helen who did not follow the workings of his mind It was written as large as life on your card and considering we wrote to you there and that you replied on the stamped paper
Would you call the Porphyrion one of the big Insurance Companies pursued Margaret
It depends what you call big
I mean by big a solid wellestablished concern that offers a reasonably good career to its employés
I couldnt saysome would tell you one thing and others another said the employe uneasily For my own parthe shook his headI only believe half I hear Not that even its safer Those clever ones come to the worse grief Ive often noticed Ah you cant be too careful
He drank and wiped his moustache which was going to be one of those moustaches that always droop into teacupsmore bother than theyre worth surely and not fashionable either
I quite agree and thats why I was curious to know is it a solid wellestablished concern
Leonard had no idea He understood his own corner of the machine but nothing beyond it He desired to confess neither knowledge nor ignorance and under these circumstances another motion of the head seemed safest To him as to the British public the Porphyrion was the Porphyrion of the advertisementa giant in the classical style but draped sufficiently who held in one hand a burning torch and pointed with the other to St Pauls and Windsor Castle A large sum of money was inscribed below and you drew your own conclusions This giant caused Leonard to do arithmetic and write letters to explain the regulations to new clients and reexplain them to old ones A giant was of an impulsive moralityone knew that much He would pay for Mrs Munts hearthrug with ostentatious haste a large claim he would repudiate quietly and fight court by court But his true fighting weight his antecedents his amours with other members of the commercial Pantheonall these were as uncertain to ordinary mortals as were the escapades of Zeus While the gods are powerful we learn little about them It is only in the days of their decadence that a strong light beats into heaven
We were told the Porphyrions no go blurted Helen We wanted to tell you thats why we wrote
A friend of ours did think that it is unsufficiently reinsured said Margaret
Now Leonard had his clue He must praise the Porphyrion You can tell your friend he said that hes quite wrong
Oh good
The young man coloured a little In his circle to be wrong was fatal The Miss Schlegels did not mind being wrong They were genuinely glad that they had been misinformed To them nothing was fatal but evil
Wrong so to speak he added
How so to speak
I mean I wouldnt say hes right altogether
But this was a blunder Then he is right partly said the elder woman quick as lightning
Leonard replied that every one was right partly if it came to that
Mr Bast I dont understand business and I dare say my questions are stupid but can you tell me what makes a concern right or wrong
Leonard sat back with a sigh
Our friend who is also a business man was so positive He said before Christmas
And advised you to clear out of it concluded Helen But I dont see why he should know better than you do
Leonard rubbed his hands He was tempted to say that he knew nothing about the thing at all But a commercial training was too strong for him Nor could he say it was a bad thing for this would be giving it away nor yet that it was good for this would be giving it away equally He attempted to suggest that it was something between the two with vast possibilities in either direction but broke down under the gaze of four sincere eyes As yet he scarcely distinguished between the two sisters One was more beautiful and more lively but the Miss Schlegels still remained a composite Indian god whose waving arms and contradictory speeches were the product of a single mind
One can but see he remarked adding as Ibsen says things happen He was itching to talk about books and make the most of his romantic hour Minute after minute slipped away while the ladies with imperfect skill discussed the subject of reinsurance or praised their anonymous friend Leonard grew annoyedperhaps rightly He made vague remarks about not being one of those who minded their affairs being talked over by others but they did not take the hint Men might have shown more tact Women however tactful elsewhere are heavyhanded here They cannot see why we should shroud our incomes and our prospects in a veil How much exactly have you and how much do you expect to have next June And these were women with a theory who held that reticence about money matters is absurd and that life would be truer if each would state the exact size of the golden island upon which he stands the exact stretch of warp over which he throws the woof that is not money How can we do justice to the pattern otherwise
And the precious minutes slipped away and Jacky and squalor came nearer At last he could bear it no longer and broke in reciting the names of books feverishly There was a moment of piercing joy when Margaret said So you like Carlyle and then the door opened and Mr Wilcox Miss Wilcox entered preceded by two prancing puppies
Oh the dears Oh Evie how too impossibly sweet screamed Helen falling on her hands and knees
We brought the little fellows round said Mr Wilcox
I bred em myself
Oh really Mr Bast come and play with puppies
Ive got to be going now said Leonard sourly
But play with puppies a little first
This is Ahab thats Jezebel said Evie who was one of those who name animals after the less successful characters of Old Testament history
Ive got to be going
Helen was too much occupied with puppies to notice him
Mr Wilcox Mr BaMust you be really Goodbye
Come again said Helen from the floor
Then Leonards gorge arose Why should he come again What was the good of it He said roundly No I shant I knew it would be a failure
Most people would have let him go A little mistake We tried knowing another classimpossible But the Schlegels had never played with life They had attempted friendship and they would take the consequences Helen retorted I call that a very rude remark What do you want to turn on me like that for and suddenly the drawingroom reechoed to a vulgar row
You ask me why I turn on you
Yes
What do you want to have me here for
To help you you silly boy cried Helen And dont shout
I dont want your patronage I dont want your tea I was quite happy What do you want to unsettle me for He turned to Mr Wilcox I put it to this gentleman I ask you sir am to have my brain picked
Mr Wilcox turned to Margaret with the air of humorous strength that he could so well command Are we intruding Miss Schlegel Can we be of any use or shall we go
But Margaret ignored him
Im connected with a leading insurance company sir I receive what I take to be an invitation from theseladies he drawled the word I come and its to have my brain picked I ask you is it fair
Highly unfair said Mr Wilcox drawing a gasp from Evie who knew that her father was becoming dangerous
There you hear that Most unfair the gentleman says There Not content withpointing at Margaretyou cant deny it His voice rose he was falling into the rhythm of a scene with Jacky But as soon as Im useful its a very different thing Oh yes send for him Crossquestion him Pick his brains Oh yes Now take me on the whole Im a quiet fellow Im lawabiding I dont wish any unpleasantness but II
You said Margaretyouyou
Laughter from Evie as at a repartee
You are the man who tried to walk by the Pole Star
More laughter
You saw the sunrise
Laughter
You tried to get away from the fogs that are stifling us allaway past books and houses to the truth You were looking for a real home
I fail to see the connection said Leonard hot with stupid anger
So do I There was a pause You were that last Sundayyou are this today Mr Bast I and my sister have talked you over We wanted to help you we also supposed you might help us We did not have you here out of charitywhich bores usbut because we hoped there would be a connection between last Sunday and other days What is the good of your stars and trees your sunrise and the wind if they do not enter into our daily lives They have never entered into mine but into yours we thoughtHavent we all to struggle against lifes daily greyness against pettiness against mechanical cheerfulness against suspicion I struggle by remembering my friends others I have known by remembering some placesome beloved place or treewe thought you one of these
Of course if theres been any misunderstanding mumbled Leonard all I can do is to go But I beg to state He paused Ahab and Jezebel danced at his boots and made him look ridiculous You were picking my brain for official informationI can prove itIHe blew his nose and left them
Can I help you now said Mr Wilcox turning to Margaret May I have one quiet word with him in the hall
Helen go after himdo anythinganythingto make the noodle understand
Helen hesitated
But really said their visitor Ought she to
At once she went
He resumed I would have chimed in but I felt that you could polish him off for yourselvesI didnt interfere You were splendid Miss Schlegelabsolutely splendid You can take my word for it but there are very few women who could have managed him
Oh yes said Margaret distractedly
Bowling him over with those long sentences was what fetched me cried Evie
Yes indeed chuckled her father all that part about mechanical cheerfulnessoh fine
Im very sorry said Margaret collecting herself Hes a nice creature really I cannot think what set him off It has been most unpleasant for you
Oh I didnt mind Then he changed his mood He asked if he might speak as an old friend and permission given said Oughtnt you really to be more careful
Margaret laughed though her thoughts still strayed after Helen Do you realize that its all your fault she said Youre responsible
I
This is the young man whom we were to warn against the Porphyrion We warn him andlook
Mr Wilcox was annoyed I hardly consider that a fair deduction he said
Obviously unfair said Margaret I was only thinking how tangled things are Its our fault mostlyneither yours nor his
Not his
No
Miss Schlegel you are too kind
Yes indeed nodded Evie a little contemptuously
You behave much too well to people and then they impose on you I know the world and that type of man and as soon as I entered the room I saw you had not been treating him properly You must keep that type at a distance Otherwise they forget themselves Sad but true They arent our sort and one must face the fact
Yees
Do admit that we should never have had the outburst if he was a gentleman
I admit it willingly said Margaret who was pacing up and down the room A gentleman would have kept his suspicions to himself
Mr Wilcox watched her with a vague uneasiness
What did he suspect you of
Of wanting to make money out of him
Intolerable brute But how were you to benefit
Exactly How indeed Just horrible corroding suspicion One touch of thought or of goodwill would have brushed it away Just the senseless fear that does make men intolerable brutes
I come back to my original point You ought to be more careful Miss Schlegel Your servants ought to have orders not to let such people in
She turned to him frankly Let me explain exactly why we like this man and want to see him again
Thats your clever way of thinking I shall never believe you like him
I do Firstly because he cares for physical adventure just as you do Yes you go motoring and shooting he would like to go camping out Secondly he cares for something special in adventure It is quickest to call that special something poetry
Oh hes one of that writer sort
Nooh no I mean he may be but it would be loathsome stiff His brain is filled with the husks of books culturehorrible we want him to wash out his brain and go to the real thing We want to show him how he may get upsides with life As I said either friends or the country someshe hesitatedeither some very dear person or some very dear place seems necessary to relieve lifes daily grey and to show that it is grey If possible one should have both
Some of her words ran past Mr Wilcox He let them run past Others he caught and criticized with admirable lucidity
Your mistake is this and it is a very common mistake This young bounder has a life of his own What right have you to conclude it is an unsuccessful life or as you call it grey
Because
One minute You know nothing about him He probably has his own joys and interestswife children snug little home Thats where we practical fellowshe smiledare more tolerant than you intellectuals We live and let live and assume that things are jogging on fairly well elsewhere and that the ordinary plain man may be trusted to look after his own affairs I quite grantI look at the faces of the clerks in my own office and observe them to be dull but I dont know whats going on beneath So by the way with London I have heard you rail against London Miss Schlegel and it seems a funny thing to say but I was very angry with you What do you know about London You only see civilization from the outside I dont say in your case but in too many cases that attitude leads to morbidity discontent and Socialism
She admitted the strength of his position though it undermined imagination As he spoke some outposts of poetry and perhaps of sympathy fell ruining and she retreated to what she called her second lineto the special facts of the case
His wife is an old bore she said simply He never came home last Saturday night because he wanted to be alone and she thought he was with us
With you
Yes Evie tittered He hasnt got the cosy home that you assumed He needs outside interests
Naughty young man cried the girl
Naughty said Margaret who hated naughtiness more than sin When youre married Miss Wilcox wont you want outside interests
He has apparently got them put in Mr Wilcox slyly
Yes indeed Father
He was tramping in Surrey if you mean that said Margaret pacing away rather crossly
Oh I dare say
Miss Wilcox he was
Mmmm from Mr Wilcox who thought the episode amusing if risqué With most ladies he would not have discussed it but he was trading on Margarets reputation as an emanicipated woman
He said so and about such a thing he wouldnt lie
They both began to laugh
Thats where I differ from you Men lie about their positions and prospects but not about a thing of that sort
He shook his head Miss Schlegel excuse me but I know the type
I said beforehe isnt a type He cares about adventures rightly Hes certain that our smug existence isnt all Hes vulgar and hysterical and bookish but I dont think that sums him up Theres manhood in him as well Yes thats what Im trying to say Hes a real man
As she spoke their eyes met and it was as if Mr Wilcoxs defences fell She saw back to the real man in him Unwittingly she had touched his emotions A woman and two menthey had formed the magic triangle of sex and the male was thrilled to jealousy in case the female was attracted by another male Love say the ascetics reveals our shameful kinship with the beasts Be it so one can bear that jealousy is the real shame It is jealousy not love that connects us with the farmyard intolerably and calls up visions of two angry cocks and a complacent hen Margaret crushed complacency down because she was civilized Mr Wilcox uncivilized continued to feel anger long after he had rebuilt his defences and was again presenting a bastion to the world
Miss Schlegel youre a pair of dear creatures but you really must be careful in this uncharitable world What does your brother say
I forget
Surely he has some opinion
He laughs if I remember correctly
Hes very clever isnt he said Evie who had met and detested Tibby at Oxford
Yes pretty wellbut I wonder what Helens doing
She is very young to undertake this sort of thing said Mr Wilcox
Margaret went out into the landing She heard no sound and Mr Basts topper was missing from the hall
Helen she called
Yes replied a voice from the library
You in there
Yeshes gone some time
Margaret went to her Why youre all alone she said
Yesits all right MegPoor poor creature
Come back to the Wilcoxes and tell me laterMr W much concerned and slightly titillated
Oh Ive no patience with him I hate him Poor dear Mr Bast he wanted to talk literature and we would talk business Such a muddle of a man and yet so worth pulling through I like him extraordinarily
Well done said Margaret kissing her but come into the drawingroom now and dont talk about him to the Wilcoxes Make light of the whole thing
Helen came and behaved with a cheerfulness that reassured their visitorthis hen at all events was fancyfree
Hes gone with my blessing she cried and now for puppies
As they drove away Mr Wilcox said to his daughter
I am really concerned at the way those girls go on They are as clever as you make em but unpracticalGod bless me One of these days theyll go too far Girls like that oughtnt to live alone in London Until they marry they ought to have someone to look after them We must look in more oftenwere better than no one You like them dont you Evie
Evie replied Helens right enough but I cant stand the toothy one And I shouldnt have called either of them girls
Evie had grown up handsome Darkeyed with the glow of youth under sunburn built firmly and firmlipped she was the best the Wilcoxes could do in the way of feminine beauty For the present puppies and her father were the only things she loved but the net of matrimony was being prepared for her and a few days later she was attracted to a Mr Percy Cahill an uncle of Mrs Charles and he was attracted to her
Chapter 17
The Age of Property holds bitter moments even for a proprietor When a move is imminent furniture becomes ridiculous and Margaret now lay awake at nights wondering where where on earth they and all their belongings would be deposited in September next Chairs tables pictures books that had rumbled down to them through the generations must rumble forward again like a slide of rubbish to which she longed to give the final push and send toppling into the sea But there were all their fathers booksthey never read them but they were their fathers and must be kept There was the marbletopped chiffoniertheir mother had set store by it they could not remember why Round every knob and cushion in the house sentiment gathered a sentiment that was at times personal but more often a faint piety to the dead a prolongation of rites that might have ended at the grave
It was absurd if you came to think of it Helen and Tibby came to think of it Margaret was too busy with the houseagents The feudal ownership of land did bring dignity whereas the modern ownership of movables is reducing us again to a nomadic horde We are reverting to the civilization of luggage and historians of the future will note how the middle classes accreted possessions without taking root in the earth and may find in this the secret of their imaginative poverty The Schlegels were certainly the poorer for the loss of Wickham Place It had helped to balance their lives and almost to counsel them Nor is their groundlandlord spiritually the richer He has built flats on its site his motorcars grow swifter his exposures of Socialism more trenchant But he has spilt the precious distillation of the years and no chemistry of his can give it back to society again
Margaret grew depressed she was anxious to settle on a house before they left town to pay their annual visit to Mrs Munt She enjoyed this visit and wanted to have her mind at ease for it Swanage though dull was stable and this year she longed more than usual for its fresh air and for the magnificent downs that guard it on the north But London thwarted her in its atmosphere she could not concentrate London only stimulates it cannot sustain and Margaret hurrying over its surface for a house without knowing what sort of a house she wanted was paying for many a thrilling sensation in the past She could not even break loose from culture and her time was wasted by concerts which it would be a sin to miss and invitations which it would never do to refuse At last she grew desperate she resolved that she would go nowhere and be at home to no one until she found a house and broke the resolution in half an hour
Once she had humorously lamented that she had never been to Simpsons restaurant in the Strand Now a note arrived from Miss Wilcox asking her to lunch there Mr Cahill was coming and the three would have such a jolly chat and perhaps end up at the Hippodrome Margaret had no strong regard for Evie and no desire to meet her fiancé and she was surprised that Helen who had been far funnier about Simpsons had not been asked instead But the invitation touched her by its intimate tone She must know Evie Wilcox better than she supposed and declaring that she simply must she accepted
But when she saw Evie at the entrance of the restaurant staring fiercely at nothing after the fashion of athletic women her heart failed her anew Miss Wilcox had changed perceptibly since her engagement Her voice was gruffer her manner more downright and she was inclined to patronize the more foolish virgin Margaret was silly enough to be pained at this Depressed at her isolation she saw not only houses and furniture but the vessel of life itself slipping past her with people like Evie and Mr Cahill on board
There are moments when virtue and wisdom fail us and one of them came to her at Simpsons in the Strand As she trod the staircase narrow but carpeted thickly as she entered the eatingroom where saddles of mutton were being trundled up to expectant clergymen she had a strong if erroneous conviction of her own futility and wished she had never come out of her backwater where nothing happened except art and literature and where no one ever got married or succeeded in remaining engaged Then came a little surprise Father might be of the partyyes Father was With a smile of pleasure she moved forward to greet him and her feeling of loneliness vanished
I thought Id get round if I could said he Evie told me of her little plan so I just slipped in and secured a table Always secure a table first Evie dont pretend you want to sit by your old father because you dont Miss Schlegel come in my side out of pity My goodness but you look tired Been worrying round after your young clerks
No after houses said Margaret edging past him into the box Im hungry not tired I want to eat heaps
Thats good Whatll you have
Fish pie said she with a glance at the menu
Fish pie Fancy coming for fish pie to Simpsons Its not a bit the thing to go for here
Go for something for me then said Margaret pulling off her gloves Her spirits were rising and his reference to Leonard Bast had warmed her curiously
Saddle of mutton said he after profound reflection and cider to drink Thats the type of thing I like this place for a joke once in a way It is so thoroughly Old English Dont you agree
Yes said Margaret who didnt The order was given the joint rolled up and the carver under Mr Wilcoxs direction cut the meat where it was succulent and piled their plates high Mr Cahill insisted on sirloin but admitted that he had made a mistake later on He and Evie soon fell into a conversation of the No I didnt yes you did typeconversation which though fascinating to those who are engaged in it neither desires nor deserves the attention of others
Its a golden rule to tip the carver Tip everywheres my motto
Perhaps it does make life more human
Then the fellows know one again Especially in the East if you tip they remember you from years end to years end
Have you been in the East
Oh Greece and the Levant I used to go out for sport and business to Cyprus some military society of a sort there A few piastres properly distributed help to keep ones memory green But you of course think this shockingly cynical Hows your discussion society getting on Any new Utopias lately
No Im househunting Mr Wilcox as Ive already told you once Do you know of any houses
Afraid I dont
Well whats the point of being practical if you cant find two distressed females a house We merely want a small house with large rooms and plenty of them
Evie I like that Miss Schlegel expects me to turn house agent for her
Whats that Father
I want a new home in September and someone must find it I cant
Percy do you know of anything
I cant say I do said Mr Cahill
How like you Youre never any good
Never any good Just listen to her Never any good Oh come
Well you arent Miss Schlegel is he
The torrent of their love having splashed these drops at Margaret swept away on its habitual course She sympathized with it now for a little comfort had restored her geniality Speech and silence pleased her equally and while Mr Wilcox made some preliminary inquiries about cheese her eyes surveyed the restaurant and admired its wellcalculated tributes to the solidity of our past Though no more Old English than the works of Kipling it had selected its reminiscences so adroitly that her criticism was lulled and the guests whom it was nourishing for imperial purposes bore the outer semblance of Parson Adams or Tom Jones Scraps of their talk jarred oddly on the ear Right you are Ill cable out to Uganda this evening came from the table behind Their Emperor wants war well let him have it was the opinion of a clergyman She smiled at such incongruities Next time she said to Mr Wilcox you shall come to lunch with me at Mr Eustace Miless
With pleasure
No youd hate it she said pushing her glass towards him for some more cider Its all proteids and bodybuildings and people come up to you and beg your pardon but you have such a beautiful aura
A what
Never heard of an aura Oh happy happy man I scrub at mine for hours Nor of an astral plane
He had heard of astral planes and censured them
Just so Luckily it was Helens aura not mine and she had to chaperone it and do the politenesses I just sat with my handkerchief in my mouth till the man went
Funny experiences seem to come to you two girls No ones ever asked me about mywhat dye call it Perhaps Ive not got one
Youre bound to have one but it may be such a terrible colour that no one dares mention it
Tell me though Miss Schlegel do you really believe in the supernatural and all that
Too difficult a question
Whys that Gruyère or Stilton
Gruyère please
Better have Stilton
Stilton Because though I dont believe in auras and think Theosophys only a halfwayhouse
Yet there may be something in it all the same he concluded with a frown
Not even that It may be halfway in the wrong direction I cant explain I dont believe in all these fads and yet I dont like saying that I dont believe in them
He seemed unsatisfied and said So you wouldnt give me your word that you dont hold with astral bodies and all the rest of it
I could said Margaret surprised that the point was of any importance to him Indeed I will When I talked about scrubbing my aura I was only trying to be funny But why do you want this settled
I dont know
Now Mr Wilcox you do know
Yes I am No youre not burst from the lovers opposite Margaret was silent for a moment and then changed the subject
Hows your house
Much the same as when you honoured it last week
I dont mean Ducie Street Howards End of course
Why of course
Cant you turn out your tenant and let it to us Were nearly demented
Let me think I wish I could help you But I thought you wanted to be in town One bit of advice fix your district then fix your price and then dont budge Thats how I got both Ducie Street and Oniton I said to myself I mean to be exactly here and I was and Onitons a place in a thousand
But I do budge Gentlemen seem to mesmerize housescow them with an eye and up they come trembling Ladies cant Its the houses that are mesmerizing me Ive no control over the saucy things Houses are alive No
Im out of my depth he said and added Didnt you talk rather like that to your office boy
Did I I mean I did more or less I talk the same way to every oneor try to
Yes I know And how much do you suppose that he understood of it
Thats his lookout I dont believe in suiting my conversation to my company One can doubtless hit upon some medium of exchange that seems to do well enough but its no more like the real thing than money is like food Theres no nourishment in it You pass it to the lower classes and they pass it back to you and this you call social intercourse or mutual endeavour when its mutual priggishness if its anything Our friends at Chelsea dont see this They say one ought to be at all costs intelligible and sacrifice
Lower classes interrupted Mr Wilcox as it were thrusting his hand into her speech Well you do admit that there are rich and poor Thats something
Margaret could not reply Was he incredibly stupid or did he understand her better than she understood herself
You do admit that if wealth was divided up equally in a few years there would be rich and poor again just the same The hardworking man would come to the top the wastrel sink to the bottom
Every one admits that
Your Socialists dont
My Socialists do Yours maynt but I strongly suspect yours of being not Socialists but ninepins which you have constructed for your own amusement I cant imagine any living creature who would bowl over quite so easily
He would have resented this had she not been a woman But women may say anythingit was one of his holiest beliefsand he only retorted with a gay smile I dont care Youve made two damaging admissions and Im heartily with you in both
In time they finished lunch and Margaret who had excused herself from the Hippodrome took her leave Evie had scarcely addressed her and she suspected that the entertainment had been planned by the father He and she were advancing out of their respective families towards a more intimate acquaintance It had begun long ago She had been his wifes friend and as such he had given her that silver vinaigrette as a memento It was pretty of him to have given that vinaigrette and he had always preferred her to Helenunlike most men But the advance had been astonishing lately They had done more in a week than in two years and were really beginning to know each other
She did not forget his promise to sample Eustace Miles and asked him as soon as she could secure Tibby as his chaperon He came and partook of bodybuilding dishes with humility
Next morning the Schlegels left for Swanage They had not succeeded in finding a new home
Chapter 18
As they were seated at Aunt Juleys breakfasttable at The Bays parrying her excessive hospitality and enjoying the view of the bay a letter came for Margaret and threw her into perturbation It was from Mr Wilcox It announced an important change in his plans Owing to Evies marriage he had decided to give up his house in Ducie Street and was willing to let it on a yearly tenancy It was a businesslike letter and stated frankly what he would do for them and what he would not do Also the rent If they approved Margaret was to come up at oncethe words were underlined as is necessary when dealing with womenand to go over the house with him If they disapproved a wire would oblige as he should put it into the hands of an agent
The letter perturbed because she was not sure what it meant If he liked her if he had manoeuvred to get her to Simpsons might this be a manoeuvre to get her to London and result in an offer of marriage She put it to herself as indelicately as possible in the hope that her brain would cry Rubbish youre a selfconscious fool But her brain only tingled a little and was silent and for a time she sat gazing at the mincing waves and wondering whether the news would seem strange to the others
As soon as she began speaking the sound of her own voice reassured her There could be nothing in it The replies also were typical and in the buff of conversation her fears vanished
You neednt go though began her hostess
I neednt but hadnt I better Its really getting rather serious We let chance after chance slip and the end of it is we shall be bundled out bag and baggage into the street We dont know what we want thats the mischief with us
No we have no real ties said Helen helping herself to toast
Shant I go up to town today take the house if its the least possible and then come down by the afternoon train tomorrow and start enjoying myself I shall be no fun to myself or to others until this business is off my mind
But you wont do anything rash Margaret
Theres nothing rash to do
Who are the Wilcoxes said Tibby a question that sounds silly but was really extremely subtle as his aunt found to her cost when she tried to answer it I dont manage the Wilcoxes I dont see where they come in
No more do I agreed Helen Its funny that we just dont lose sight of them Out of all our hotel acquaintances Mr Wilcox is the only one who has stuck It is now over three years and we have drifted away from far more interesting people in that time
Interesting people dont get one houses
Meg if you start in your honestEnglish vein I shall throw the treacle at you
Its a better vein than the cosmopolitan said Margaret getting up Now children which is it to be You know the Ducie Street house Shall I say yes or shall I say no Tibby lovewhich Im specially anxious to pin you both
It all depends what meaning you attach to the word possi
It depends on nothing of the sort Say yes
Say no
Then Margaret spoke rather seriously I think she said that our race is degenerating We cannot settle even this little thing what will it be like when we have to settle a big one
It will be as easy as eating returned Helen
I was thinking of Father How could he settle to leave Germany as he did when he had fought for it as a young man and all his feelings and friends were Prussian How could he break loose with Patriotism and begin aiming at something else It would have killed me When he was nearly forty he could change countries and idealsand we at our age cant change houses Its humiliating
Your father may have been able to change countries said Mrs Munt with asperity and that may or may not be a good thing But he could change houses no better than you can in fact much worse Never shall I forget what poor Emily suffered in the move from Manchester
I knew it cried Helen I told you so It is the little things one bungles at The big real ones are nothing when they come
Bungle my dear You are too little to recollectin fact you werent there But the furniture was actually in the vans and on the move before the lease for Wickham Place was signed and Emily took train with babywho was Margaret thenand the smaller luggage for London without so much as knowing where her new home would be Getting away from that house may be hard but it is nothing to the misery that we all went through getting you into it
Helen with her mouth full cried And thats the man who beat the Austrians and the Danes and the French and who beat the Germans that were inside himself And were like him
Speak for yourself said Tibby Remember that I am cosmopolitan please
Helen may be right
Of course shes right said Helen
Helen might be right but she did not go up to London Margaret did that An interrupted holiday is the worst of the minor worries and one may be pardoned for feeling morbid when a business letter snatches one away from the sea and friends She could not believe that her father had ever felt the same Her eyes had been troubling her lately so that she could not read in the train and it bored her to look at the landscape which she had seen but yesterday At Southampton she waved to Frieda Frieda was on her way down to join them at Swanage and Mrs Munt had calculated that their trains would cross But Frieda was looking the other way and Margaret travelled on to town feeling solitary and oldmaidish How like an old maid to fancy that Mr Wilcox was courting her She had once visited a spinsterpoor silly and unattractivewhose mania it was that every man who approached her fell in love How Margarets heart had bled for the deluded thing How she had lectured reasoned and in despair acquiesced I may have been deceived by the curate my dear but the young fellow who brings the midday post really is fond of me and has as a matter fact It had always seemed to her the most hideous corner of old age yet she might be driven into it herself by the mere pressure of virginity
Mr Wilcox met her at Waterloo himself She felt certain that he was not the same as usual for one thing he took offence at everything she said
This is awfully kind of you she began but Im afraid its not going to do The house has not been built that suits the Schlegel family
What Have you come up determined not to deal
Not exactly
Not exactly In that case lets be starting
She lingered to admire the motor which was new and a fairer creature than the vermilion giant that had borne Aunt Juley to her doom three years before
Presumably its very beautiful she said How do you like it Crane
Come lets be starting repeated her host How on earth did you know that my chauffeur was called Crane
Why I know Crane Ive been for a drive with Evie once I know that youve got a parlourmaid called Milton I know all sorts of things
Evie he echoed in injured tones You wont see her Shes gone out with Cahill Its no fun I can tell you being left so much alone Ive got my work all dayindeed a great deal too much of itbut when I come home in the evening I tell you I cant stand the house
In my absurd way Im lonely too Margaret replied Its heartbreaking to leave ones old home I scarcely remember anything before Wickham Place and Helen and Tibby were born there Helen says
You too feel lonely
Horribly Hullo Parliaments back
Mr Wilcox glanced at Parliament contemptuously The more important ropes of life lay elsewhere Yes they are talking again said he But you were going to say
Only some rubbish about furniture Helen says it alone endures while men and houses perish and that in the end the world will be a desert of chairs and sofasjust imagine it rolling through infinity with no one to sit upon them
Your sister always likes her little joke
She says Yes my brother says No to Ducie Street Its no fun helping us Mr Wilcox I assure you
You are not as unpractical as you pretend I shall never believe it
Margaret laughed But she wasquite as unpractical She could not concentrate on details Parliament the Thames the irresponsive chauffeur would flash into the field of househunting and all demand some comment or response It is impossible to see modern life steadily and see it whole and she had chosen to see it whole Mr Wilcox saw steadily He never bothered over the mysterious or the private The Thames might run inland from the sea the chauffeur might conceal all passion and philosophy beneath his unhealthy skin They knew their own business and he knew his
Yet she liked being with him He was not a rebuke but a stimulus and banished morbidity Some twenty years her senior he preserved a gift that she supposed herself to have already lostnot youths creative power but its selfconfidence and optimism He was so sure that it was a very pleasant world His complexion was robust his hair had receded but not thinned the thick moustache and the eyes that Helen had compared to brandyballs had an agreeable menace in them whether they were turned towards the slums or towards the stars Some dayin the millenniumthere may be no need for his type At present homage is due to it from those who think themselves superior and who possibly are
At all events you responded to my telegram promptly he remarked
Oh even I know a good thing when I see it
Im glad you dont despise the goods of this world
Heavens no Only idiots and prigs do that
I am glad very glad he repeated suddenly softening and turning to her as if the remark had pleased him There is so much cant talked in wouldbe intellectual circles I am glad you dont share it Selfdenial is all very well as a means of strengthening the character But I cant stand those people who run down comforts They have usually some axe to grind Can you
Comforts are of two kinds said Margaret who was keeping herself in handthose we can share with others like fire weather or music and those we cantfood for instance It depends
I mean reasonable comforts of course I shouldnt like to think that you He bent nearer the sentence died unfinished Margarets head turned very stupid and the inside of it seemed to revolve like the beacon in a lighthouse He did not kiss her for the hour was halfpast twelve and the car was passing by the stables of Buckingham Palace But the atmosphere was so charged with emotion that people only seemed to exist on her account and she was surprised that Crane did not realize this and turn round Idiot though she might be surely Mr Wilcox was morehow should one put it more psychological than usual Always a good judge of character for business purposes he seemed this afternoon to enlarge his field and to note qualities outside neatness obedience and decision
I want to go over the whole house she announced when they arrived As soon as I get back to Swanage which will be tomorrow afternoon Ill talk it over once more with Helen and Tibby and wire you yes or no
Right The diningroom And they began their survey
The diningroom was big but overfurnished Chelsea would have moaned aloud Mr Wilcox had eschewed those decorative schemes that wince and relent and refrain and achieve beauty by sacrificing comfort and pluck After so much selfcolour and selfdenial Margaret viewed with relief the sumptuous dado the frieze the gilded wallpaper amid whose foliage parrots sang It would never do with her own furniture but those heavy chairs that immense sideboard loaded with presentation plate stood up against its pressure like men The room suggested men and Margaret keen to derive the modern capitalist from the warriors and hunters of the past saw it as an ancient guesthall where the lord sat at meat among his thanes Even the Biblethe Dutch Bible that Charles had brought back from the Boer Warfell into position Such a room admitted loot
Now the entrancehall
The entrancehall was paved
Here we fellows smoke
We fellows smoked in chairs of maroon leather It was as if a motorcar had spawned Oh jolly said Margaret sinking into one of them
You do like it he said fixing his eyes on her upturned face and surely betraying an almost intimate note Its all rubbish not making oneself comfortable Isnt it
Yees Semirubbish Are those Cruikshanks
Gillrays Shall we go on upstairs
Does all this furniture come from Howards End
The Howards End furniture has all gone to Oniton
DoesHowever Im concerned with the house not the furniture How big is this smokingroom
Thirty by fifteen No wait a minute Fifteen and a half
Ah well Mr Wilcox arent you ever amused at the solemnity with which we middle classes approach the subject of houses
They proceeded to the drawingroom Chelsea managed better here It was sallow and ineffective One could visualize the ladies withdrawing to it while their lords discussed lifes realities below to the accompaniment of cigars Had Mrs Wilcoxs drawingroom looked thus at Howards End Just as this thought entered Margarets brain Mr Wilcox did ask her to be his wife and the knowledge that she had been right so overcame her that she nearly fainted
But the proposal was not to rank among the worlds great love scenes
Miss Schlegelhis voice was firmI have had you up on false pretences I want to speak about a much more serious matter than a house
Margaret almost answered I know
Could you be induced to share myis it probable
Oh Mr Wilcox she interrupted holding the piano and averting her eyes I see I see I will write to you afterwards if I may
He began to stammer Miss SchlegelMargaretyou dont understand
Oh yes Indeed yes said Margaret
I am asking you to be my wife
So deep already was her sympathy that when he said I am asking you to be my wife she made herself give a little start She must show surprise if he expected it An immense joy came over her It was indescribable It had nothing to do with humanity and most resembled the allpervading happiness of fine weather Fine weather is due to the sun but Margaret could think of no central radiance here She stood in his drawingroom happy and longing to give happiness On leaving him she realized that the central radiance had been love
You arent offended Miss Schlegel
How could I be offended
There was a moments pause He was anxious to get rid of her and she knew it She had too much intuition to look at him as he struggled for possessions that money cannot buy He desired comradeship and affection but he feared them and she who had taught herself only to desire and could have clothed the struggle with beauty held back and hesitated with him
Goodbye she continued You will have a letter from meI am going back to Swanage tomorrow
Thank you
Goodbye and its you I thank
I may order the motor round maynt I
That would be most kind
I wish I had written instead Ought I to have written
Not at all
Theres just one question
She shook her head He looked a little bewildered and they parted
They parted without shaking hands she had kept the interview for his sake in tints of the quietest grey Yet she thrilled with happiness ere she reached her own house Others had loved her in the past if one may apply to their brief desires so grave a word but those others had been ninniesyoung men who had nothing to do old men who could find nobody better And she had often loved too but only so far as the facts of sex demanded mere yearnings for the masculine to be dismissed for what they were worth with a smile Never before had her personality been touched She was not young or very rich and it amazed her that a man of any standing should take her seriously As she sat trying to do accounts in her empty house amidst beautiful pictures and noble books waves of emotion broke as if a tide of passion was flowing through the night air She shook her head tried to concentrate her attention and failed In vain did she repeat But Ive been through this sort of thing before She had never been through it the big machinery as opposed to the little had been set in motion and the idea that Mr Wilcox loved obsessed her before she came to love him in return
She would come to no decision yet Oh sir this is so suddenthat prudish phrase exactly expressed her when her time came Premonitions are not preparation She must examine more closely her own nature and his she must talk it over judicially with Helen It had been a strange lovescenethe central radiance unacknowledged from first to last She in his place would have said Ich liebe dich but perhaps it was not his habit to open the heart He might have done it if she had pressed himas a matter of duty perhaps England expects every man to open his heart once but the effort would have jarred him and never if she could avoid it should he lose those defences that he had chosen to raise against the world He must never be bothered with emotional talk or with a display of sympathy He was an elderly man now and it would be futile and impudent to correct him
Mrs Wilcox strayed in and out ever a welcome ghost surveying the scene thought Margaret without one hint of bitterness
Chapter 19
If one wanted to show a foreigner England perhaps the wisest course would be to take him to the final section of the Purbeck Hills and stand him on their summit a few miles to the east of Corfe Then system after system of our island would roll together under his feet Beneath him is the valley of the Frome and all the wild lands that come tossing down from Dorchester black and gold to mirror their gorse in the expanses of Poole The valley of the Stour is beyond unaccountable stream dirty at Blandford pure at Wimbornethe Stour sliding out of fat fields to marry the Avon beneath the tower of Christchurch The valley of the Avoninvisible but far to the north the trained eye may see Clearbury Ring that guards it and the imagination may leap beyond that on to Salisbury Plain itself and beyond the Plain to all the glorious downs of Central England Nor is Suburbia absent Bournemouths ignoble coast cowers to the right heralding the pinetrees that mean for all their beauty red houses and the Stock Exchange and extend to the gates of London itself So tremendous is the Citys trail But the cliffs of Freshwater it shall never touch and the island will guard the Islands purity till the end of time Seen from the west the Wight is beautiful beyond all laws of beauty It is as if a fragment of England floated forward to greet the foreignerchalk of our chalk turf of our turf epitome of what will follow And behind the fragment lies Southampton hostess to the nations and Portsmouth a latent fire and all around it with double and treble collision of tides swirls the sea How many villages appear in this view How many castles How many churches vanished or triumphant How many ships railways and roads What incredible variety of men working beneath that lucent sky to what final end The reason fails like a wave on the Swanage beach the imagination swells spreads and deepens until it becomes geographic and encircles England
So Frieda Mosebach now Frau Architect Liesecke and mother to her husbands baby was brought up to these heights to be impressed and after a prolonged gaze she said that the hills were more swelling here than in Pomerania which was true but did not seem to Mrs Munt apposite Poole Harbour was dry which led her to praise the absence of muddy foreshore at Friedrich Wilhelms Bad Rügen where beechtrees hang over the tideless Baltic and cows may contemplate the brine Rather unhealthy Mrs Munt thought this would be water being safer when it moved about
And your English lakesVindermere Grasmereare they then unhealthy
No Frau Liesecke but that is because they are fresh water and different Salt water ought to have tides and go up and down a great deal or else it smells Look for instance at an aquarium
An aquarium Oh Meesis Munt you mean to tell me that fresh aquariums stink less than salt Why when Victor my brotherinlaw collected many tadpoles
You are not to say stink interrupted Helen at least you may say it but you must pretend you are being funny while you say it
Then smell And the mud of your Pool down theredoes it not smell or may I say stink ha ha
There always has been mud in Poole Harbour said Mrs Munt with a slight frown The rivers bring it down and a most valuable oysterfishery depends upon it
Yes that is so conceded Frieda and another international incident was closed
Bournemouth is resumed their hostess quoting a local rhyme to which she was much attached Bournemouth is Poole was and Swanage is to be the most important town of all and biggest of the three Now Frau Liesecke I have shown you Bournemouth and I have shown you Poole so let us walk backward a little and look down again at Swanage
Aunt Juley wouldnt that be Megs train
A tiny puff of smoke had been circling the harbour and now was bearing southwards towards them over the black and the gold
Oh dearest Margaret I do hope she wont be overtired
Oh I do wonderI do wonder whether shes taken the house
I hope she hasnt been hasty
So do Ioh so do I
Will it be as beautiful as Wickham Place Frieda asked
I should think it would Trust Mr Wilcox for doing himself proud All those Ducie Street houses are beautiful in their modern way and I cant think why he doesnt keep on with it But its really for Evie that he went there and now that Evies going to be married
Ah
Youve never seen Miss Wilcox Frieda How absurdly matrimonial you are
But sister to that Paul
Yes
And to that Charles said Mrs Munt with feeling Oh Helen Helen what a time that was
Helen laughed Meg and I havent got such tender hearts If theres a chance of a cheap house we go for it
Now look Frau Liesecke at my nieces train You see it is coming towards uscoming coming and when it gets to Corfe it will actually go through the downs on which we are standing so that if we walk over as I suggested and look down on Swanage we shall see it coming on the other side Shall we
Frieda assented and in a few minutes they had crossed the ridge and exchanged the greater view for the lesser Rather a dull valley lay below backed by the slope of the coastward downs They were looking across the Isle of Purbeck and on to Swanage soon to be the most important town of all and ugliest of the three Margarets train reappeared as promised and was greeted with approval by her aunt It came to a standstill in the middle distance and there it had been planned that Tibby should meet her and drive her and a teabasket up to join them
You see continued Helen to her cousin the Wilcoxes collect houses as your Victor collects tadpoles They have one Ducie Street two Howards End where my great rumpus was three a country seat in Shropshire four Charles has a house in Hilton and five another near Epsom and six Evie will have a house when she marries and probably a piedàterre in the countrywhich makes seven Oh yes and Paul a hut in Africa makes eight I wish we could get Howards End That was something like a dear little house Didnt you think so Aunt Juley
I had too much to do dear to look at it said Mrs Munt with a gracious dignity I had everything to settle and explain and Charles Wilcox to keep in his place besides It isnt likely I should remember much I just remember having lunch in your bedroom
Yes so do I But oh dear dear how dead it all seems And in the autumn there began this antiPauline movementyou and Frieda and Meg and Mrs Wilcox all obsessed with the idea that I might yet marry Paul
You yet may said Frieda despondently
Helen shook her head The Great Wilcox Peril will never return If Im certain of anything its of that
One is certain of nothing but the truth of ones own emotions
The remark fell damply on the conversation But Helen slipped her arm round her cousin somehow liking her the better for making it It was not an original remark nor had Frieda appropriated it passionately for she had a patriotic rather than a philosophic mind Yet it betrayed that interest in the universal which the average Teuton possesses and the average Englishman does not It was however illogically the good the beautiful the true as opposed to the respectable the pretty the adequate It was a landscape of Böcklins beside a landscape of Leaders strident and illconsidered but quivering into supernatural life It sharpened idealism stirred the soul It may have been a bad preparation for what followed
Look cried Aunt Juley hurrying away from generalities over the narrow summit of the down Stand where I stand and you will see the ponycart coming I see the ponycart coming
They stood and saw the ponycart coming Margaret and Tibby were presently seen coming in it Leaving the outskirts of Swanage it drove for a little through the budding lanes and then began the ascent
Have you got the house they shouted long before she could possibly hear
Helen ran down to meet her The highroad passed over a saddle and a track went thence at right angles along the ridge of the down
Have you got the house
Margaret shook her head
Oh what a nuisance So were as we were
Not exactly
She got out looking tired
Some mystery said Tibby We are to be enlightened presently
Margaret came close up to her and whispered that she had had a proposal of marriage from Mr Wilcox
Helen was amused She opened the gate on to the downs so that her brother might lead the pony through Its just like a widower she remarked Theyve cheek enough for anything and invariably select one of their first wifes friends
Margarets face flashed despair
That type She broke off with a cry Meg not anything wrong with you
Wait one minute said Margaret whispering always
But youve never conceivablyyouve never She pulled herself together Tibby hurry up through I cant hold this gate indefinitely Aunt Juley I say Aunt Juley make the tea will you and Frieda weve got to talk houses and Ill come on afterwards And then turning her face to her sisters she burst into tears
Margaret was stupefied She heard herself saying Oh really She felt herself touched with a hand that trembled
Dont sobbed Helen dont dont Meg dont She seemed incapable of saying any other word Margaret trembling herself led her forward up the road till they strayed through another gate on to the down
Dont dont do such a thing I tell you not todont I knowdont
What do you know
Panic and emptiness sobbed Helen Dont
Then Margaret thought Helen is a little selfish I have never behaved like this when there has seemed a chance of her marrying She said But we would still see each other very often and
Its not a thing like that sobbed Helen And she broke right away and wandered distractedly upwards stretching her hands towards the view and crying
Whats happened to you called Margaret following through the wind that gathers at sundown on the northern slopes of hills But its stupid And suddenly stupidity seized her and the immense landscape was blurred But Helen turned back
Meg
I dont know whats happened to either of us said Margaret wiping her eyes We must both have gone mad Then Helen wiped hers and they even laughed a little
Look here sit down
All right Ill sit down if youll sit down
There One kiss Now whatever whatever is the matter
I do mean what I said Dont it wouldnt do
Oh Helen stop saying dont Its ignorant Its as if your head wasnt out of the slime Dont is probably what Mrs Bast says all the day to Mr Bast
Helen was silent
Well
Tell me about it first and meanwhile perhaps Ill have got my head out of the slime
Thats better Well where shall I begin When I arrived at Waterloono Ill go back before that because Im anxious you should know everything from the first The first was about ten days ago It was the day Mr Bast came to tea and lost his temper I was defending him and Mr Wilcox became jealous about me however slightly I thought it was the involuntary thing which men cant help any more than we can You knowat least I know in my own casewhen a man has said to me Soandsos a pretty girl I am seized with a momentary sourness against Soandso and long to tweak her ear Its a tiresome feeling but not an important one and one easily manages it But it wasnt only this in Mr Wilcoxs case I gather now
Then you love him
Margaret considered It is wonderful knowing that a real man cares for you she said The mere fact of that grows more tremendous Remember Ive known and liked him steadily for nearly three years
But loved him
Margaret peered into her past It is pleasant to analyze feelings while they are still only feelings and unembodied in the social fabric With her arm round Helen and her eyes shifting over the view as if this county or that could reveal the secret of her own heart she meditated honestly and said No
But you will
Yes said Margaret of that Im pretty sure Indeed I began the moment he spoke to me
And have settled to marry him
I had but am wanting a long talk about it now What is it against him Helen You must try and say
Helen in her turn looked outwards It is ever since Paul she said finally
But what has Mr Wilcox to do with Paul
But he was there they were all there that morning when I came down to breakfast and saw that Paul was frightenedthe man who loved me frightened and all his paraphernalia fallen so that I knew it was impossible because personal relations are the important thing for ever and ever and not this outer life of telegrams and anger
She poured the sentence forth in one breath but her sister understood it because it touched on thoughts that were familiar between them
Thats foolish In the first place I disagree about the outer life Well weve often argued that The real point is that there is the widest gulf between my lovemaking and yours Yourswas romance mine will be prose Im not running it downa very good kind of prose but well considered well thought out For instance I know all Mr Wilcoxs faults Hes afraid of emotion He cares too much about success too little about the past His sympathy lacks poetry and so isnt sympathy really Id even sayshe looked at the shining lagoonsthat spiritually hes not as honest as I am Doesnt that satisfy you
No it doesnt said Helen It makes me feel worse and worse You must be mad
Margaret made a movement of irritation
I dont intend him or any man or any woman to be all my lifegood heavens no There are heaps of things in me that he doesnt and shall never understand
Thus she spoke before the wedding ceremony and the physical union before the astonishing glass shade had fallen that interposes between married couples and the world She was to keep her independence more than do most women as yet Marriage was to alter her fortunes rather than her character and she was not far wrong in boasting that she understood her future husband Yet he did alter her charactera little There was an unforeseen surprise a cessation of the winds and odours of life a social pressure that would have her think conjugally
So with him she continued There are heaps of things in himmore especially things that he doesthat will always be hidden from me He has all those public qualities which you so despise and enable all this She waved her hand at the landscape which confirmed anything If Wilcoxes hadnt worked and died in England for thousands of years you and I couldnt sit here without having our throats cut There would be no trains no ships to carry us literary people about in no fields even Just savagery Noperhaps not even that Without their spirit life might never have moved out of protoplasm More and more do I refuse to draw my income and sneer at those who guarantee it There are times when it seems to me
And to me and to all women So one kissed Paul
Thats brutal said Margaret Mine is an absolutely different case Ive thought things out
It makes no difference thinking things out They come to the same
Rubbish
There was a long silence during which the tide returned into Poole Harbour One would lose something murmured Helen apparently to herself The water crept over the mudflats towards the gorse and the blackened heather Branksea Island lost its immense foreshores and became a sombre episode of trees Frome was forced inward towards Dorchester Stour against Wimborne Avon towards Salisbury and over the immense displacement the sun presided leading it to triumph ere he sank to rest England was alive throbbing through all her estuaries crying for joy through the mouths of all her gulls and the north wind with contrary motion blew stronger against her rising seas What did it mean For what end are her fair complexities her changes of soil her sinuous coast Does she belong to those who have moulded her and made her feared by other lands or to those who have added nothing to her power but have somehow seen her seen the whole island at once lying as a jewel in a silver sea sailing as a ship of souls with all the brave worlds fleet accompanying her towards eternity
Chapter 20
Margaret had often wondered at the disturbance that takes place in the worlds waters when Love who seems so tiny a pebble slips in Whom does Love concern beyond the beloved and the lover Yet his impact deluges a hundred shores No doubt the disturbance is really the spirit of the generations welcoming the new generation and chafing against the ultimate Fate who holds all the seas in the palm of her hand But Love cannot understand this He cannot comprehend anothers infinity he is conscious only of his ownflying sunbeam falling rose pebble that asks for one quiet plunge below the fretting interplay of space and time. He knows that he will survive at the end of things and be gathered by Fate as a jewel from the slime and be handed with admiration round the assembly of the gods Men did produce this they will say and saying they will give men immortality But meanwhilewhat agitations meanwhile The foundations of Property and Propriety are laid bare twin rocks Family Pride flounders to the surface puffing and blowing and refusing to be comforted Theology vaguely ascetic gets up a nasty ground swell Then the lawyers are arousedcold broodand creep out of their holes They do what they can they tidy up Property and Propriety reassure Theology and Family Pride Halfguineas are poured on the troubled waters the lawyers creep back and if all has gone well Love joins one man and woman together in Matrimony
Margaret had expected the disturbance and was not irritated by it For a sensitive woman she had steady nerves and could bear with the incongruous and the grotesque and besides there was nothing excessive about her loveaffair Goodhumour was the dominant note of her relations with Mr Wilcox or as I must now call him Henry Henry did not encourage romance and she was no girl to fidget for it An acquaintance had become a lover might become a husband but would retain all that she had noted in the acquaintance and love must confirm an old relation rather than reveal a new one
In this spirit she promised to marry him
He was in Swanage on the morrow bearing the engagementring They greeted one another with a hearty cordiality that impressed Aunt Juley Henry dined at The Bays but he had engaged a bedroom in the principal hotel he was one of those men who knew the principal hotel by instinct After dinner he asked Margaret if she wouldnt care for a turn on the Parade She accepted and could not repress a little tremor it would be her first real love scene But as she put on her hat she burst out laughing Love was so unlike the article served up in books the joy though genuine was different the mystery an unexpected mystery For one thing Mr Wilcox still seemed a stranger
For a time they talked about the ring then she said
Do you remember the Embankment at Chelsea It cant be ten days ago
Yes he said laughing And you and your sister were head and ears deep in some Quixotic scheme Ah well
I little thought then certainly Did you
I dont know about that I shouldnt like to say
Why was it earlier she cried Did you think of me this way earlier How extraordinarily interesting Henry Tell me
But Henry had no intention of telling Perhaps he could not have told for his mental states became obscure as soon as he had passed through them He misliked the very word interesting connoting it with wasted energy and even with morbidity Hard facts were enough for him
I didnt think of it she pursued No when you spoke to me in the drawingroom that was practically the first It was all so different from what its supposed to be On the stage or in books a proposal ishow shall I put it a fullblown affair a kind of bouquet it loses its literal meaning But in life a proposal really is a proposal
By the way
a suggestion a seed she concluded and the thought flew away into darkness
I was thinking if you didnt mind that we ought to spend this evening in a business talk there will be so much to settle
I think so too Tell me in the first place how did you get on with Tibby
With your brother
Yes during cigarettes
Oh very well
I am so glad she answered a little surprised What did you talk about Me presumably
About Greece too
Greece was a very good card Henry Tibbys only a boy still and one has to pick and choose subjects a little Well done
I was telling him I have shares in a currantfarm near Calamata
What a delightful thing to have shares in Cant we go there for our honeymoon
What to do
To eat the currants And isnt there marvellous scenery
Moderately but its not the kind of place one could possibly go to with a lady
Why not
No hotels
Some ladies do without hotels Are you aware that Helen and I have walked alone over the Apennines with our luggage on our backs
I wasnt aware and if I can manage it you will never do such a thing again
She said more gravely You havent found time for a talk with Helen yet I suppose
No
Do before you go I am so anxious you two should be friends
Your sister and I have always hit it off he said negligently But were drifting away from our business Let me begin at the beginning You know that Evie is going to marry Percy Cahill
Dollys uncle
Exactly The girls madly in love with him A very good sort of fellow but he demandsand rightlya suitable provision with her And in the second place you will naturally understand there is Charles Before leaving town I wrote Charles a very careful letter You see he has an increasing family and increasing expenses and the I and W A is nothing particular just now though capable of development
Poor fellow murmured Margaret looking out to sea and not understanding
Charles being the elder son some day Charles will have Howards End but I am anxious in my own happiness not to be unjust to others
Of course not she began and then gave a little cry You mean money How stupid I am Of course not
Oddly enough he winced a little at the word Yes Money since you put it so frankly I am determined to be just to alljust to you just to them I am determined that my children shall have no case against me
Be generous to them she said sharply Bother justice
I am determinedand have already written to Charles to that effect
But how much have you got
What
How much have you a year Ive six hundred
My income
Yes We must begin with how much you have before we can settle how much you can give Charles Justice and even generosity depend on that
I must say youre a downright young woman he observed patting her arm and laughing a little What a question to spring on a fellow
Dont you know your income Or dont you want to tell it me
I
Thats all rightnow she patted himdont tell me I dont want to know I can do the sum just as well by proportion Divide your income into ten parts How many parts would you give to Evie how many to Charles how many to Paul
The fact is my dear I hadnt any intention of bothering you with details I only wanted to let you know thatwell that something must be done for the others and youve understood me perfectly so lets pass on to the next point
Yes weve settled that said Margaret undisturbed by his strategic blunderings Go ahead give away all you can bearing in mind Ive a clear six hundred What a mercy it is to have all this money about one
Weve none too much I assure you youre marrying a poor man
Helen wouldnt agree with me here she continued Helen darent slang the rich being rich herself but she would like to Theres an odd notion that I havent yet got hold of running about at the back of her brain that poverty is somehow real She dislikes all organization and probably confuses wealth with the technique of wealth Sovereigns in a stocking wouldnt bother her cheques do Helen is too relentless One cant deal in her highhanded manner with the world
Theres this other point and then I must go back to my hotel and write some letters Whats to be done now about the house in Ducie Street
Keep it onat least it depends When do you want to marry me
She raised her voice as too often and some youths who were also taking the evening air overheard her Getting a bit hot eh said one Mr Wilcox turned on them and said sharply I say There was silence Take care I dont report you to the police They moved away quietly enough but were only biding their time and the rest of the conversation was punctuated by peals of ungovernable laughter
Lowering his voice and infusing a hint of reproof into it he said Evie will probably be married in September We could scarcely think of anything before then
The earlier the nicer Henry Females are not supposed to say such things but the earlier the nicer
How about September for us too he asked rather dryly
Right Shall we go into Ducie Street ourselves in September Or shall we try to bounce Helen and Tibby into it Thats rather an idea They are so unbusinesslike we could make them do anything by judicious management Look hereyes Well do that And we ourselves could live at Howards End or Shropshire
He blew out his cheeks Heavens how you women do fly round My heads in a whirl Point by point Margaret Howards Ends impossible I let it to Hamar Bryce on a three years agreement last March Dont you remember Oniton Well that is much much too far away to rely on entirely You will be able to be down there entertaining a certain amount but we must have a house within easy reach of Town Only Ducie Street has huge drawbacks Theres a mews behind
Margaret could not help laughing It was the first she had heard of the mews behind Ducie Street When she was a possible tenant it had suppressed itself not consciously but automatically The breezy Wilcox manner though genuine lacked the clearness of vision that is imperative for truth When Henry lived in Ducie Street he remembered the mews when he tried to let he forgot it and if anyone had remarked that the mews must be either there or not he would have felt annoyed and afterwards have found some opportunity of stigmatizing the speaker as academic So does my grocer stigmatize me when I complain of the quality of his sultanas and he answers in one breath that they are the best sultanas and how can I expect the best sultanas at that price It is a flaw inherent in the business mind and Margaret may do well to be tender to it considering all that the business mind has done for England
Yes in summer especially the mews is a serious nuisance The smoking room too is an abominable little den The house opposite has been taken by operatic people Ducie Streets going down its my private opinion
How sad Its only a few years since they built those pretty houses
Shows things are moving Good for trade
I hate this continual flux of London It is an epitome of us at our worsteternal formlessness all the qualities good bad and indifferent streaming awaystreaming streaming for ever Thats why I dread it so I mistrust rivers even in scenery Now the sea
High tide yes
Hoy toidfrom the promenading youths
And these are the men to whom we give the vote observed Mr Wilcox omitting to add that they were also the men to whom he gave work as clerkswork that scarcely encouraged them to grow into other men However they have their own lives and interests Lets get on
He turned as he spoke and prepared to see her back to The Bays The business was over His hotel was in the opposite direction and if he accompanied her his letters would be late for the post She implored him not to come but he was obdurate
A nice beginning if your aunt saw you slip in alone
But I always do go about alone Considering Ive walked over the Apennines its common sense You will make me so angry I dont the least take it as a compliment
He laughed and lit a cigar It isnt meant as a compliment my dear I just wont have you going about in the dark Such people about too Its dangerous
Cant I look after myself I do wish
Come along Margaret no wheedling
A younger woman might have resented his masterly ways but Margaret had too firm a grip of life to make a fuss She was in her own way as masterly If he was a fortress she was a mountain peak whom all might tread but whom the snows made nightly virginal Disdaining the heroic outfit excitable in her methods garrulous episodical shrill she misled her lover much as she had misled her aunt He mistook her fertility for weakness He supposed her as clever as they make em but no more not realizing that she was penetrating to the depths of his soul and approving of what she found there
And if insight were sufficient if the inner life were the whole of life their happiness has been assured
They walked ahead briskly The parade and the road after it were well lighted but it was darker in Aunt Juleys garden As they were going up by the sidepaths through some rhododendrons Mr Wilcox who was in front said Margaret rather huskily turned dropped his cigar and took her in his arms
She was startled and nearly screamed but recovered herself at once and kissed with genuine love the lips that were pressed against her own It was their first kiss and when it was over he saw her safely to the door and rang the bell for her but disappeared into the night before the maid answered it On looking back the incident displeased her It was so isolated Nothing in their previous conversation had heralded it and worse still no tenderness had ensued If a man cannot lead up to passion he can at all events lead down from it and she had hoped after her complaisance for some interchange of gentle words But he had hurried away as if ashamed and for an instant she was reminded of Helen and Paul
Chapter 21
Charles had just been scolding his Dolly She deserved the scolding and had bent before it but her head though bloody was unsubdued and her chirrupings began to mingle with his retreating thunder
Youve woken the baby I knew you would Rumtifoo Racketytackety Tompkin Im not responsible for what Uncle Percy does nor for anybody else or anything so there
Who asked him while I was away Who asked my sister down to meet him Who sent them out in the motor day after day
Charles that reminds me of some poem
Does it indeed We shall all be dancing to a very different music presently Miss Schlegel has fairly got us on toast
I could simply scratch that womans eyes out and to say its my fault is most unfair
Its your fault and five months ago you admitted it
I didnt
You did
Tootle tootle playing on the pootle exclaimed Dolly suddenly devoting herself to the child
Its all very well to turn the conversation but Father would never have dreamt of marrying as long as Evie was there to make him comfortable But you must needs start matchmaking Besides Cahills too old
Of course if youre going to be rude to Uncle Percy
Miss Schlegel always meant to get hold of Howards End and thanks to you shes got it
I call the way you twist things round and make them hang together most unfair You couldnt have been nastier if youd caught me flirting Could he diddums
Were in a bad hole and must make the best of it I shall answer the paters letter civilly Hes evidently anxious to do the decent thing But I do not intend to forget these Schlegels in a hurry As long as theyre on their best behaviourDolly are you listening well behave too But if I find them giving themselves airs or monopolizing my father or at all illtreating him or worrying him with their artistic beastliness I intend to put my foot down yes firmly Taking my mothers place Heaven knows what poor old Paul will say when the news reaches him
The interlude closes It has taken place in Charless garden at Hilton He and Dolly are sitting in deckchairs and their motor is regarding them placidly from its garage across the lawn A shortfrocked edition of Charles also regards them placidly a perambulator edition is squeaking a third edition is expected shortly Nature is turning out Wilcoxes in this peaceful abode so that they may inherit the earth
Chapter 22
Margaret greeted her lord with peculiar tenderness on the morrow Mature as he was she might yet be able to help him to the building of the rainbow bridge that should connect the prose in us with the passion Without it we are meaningless fragments half monks half beasts unconnected arches that have never joined into a man With it love is born and alights on the highest curve glowing against the grey sober against the fire Happy the man who sees from either aspect the glory of these outspread wings The roads of his soul lie clear and he and his friends shall find easygoing
It was hardgoing in the roads of Mr Wilcoxs soul From boyhood he had neglected them I am not a fellow who bothers about my own inside Outwardly he was cheerful reliable and brave but within all had reverted to chaos ruled so far as it was ruled at all by an incomplete asceticism Whether as boy husband or widower he had always the sneaking belief that bodily passion is bad a belief that is desirable only when held passionately Religion had confirmed him The words that were read aloud on Sunday to him and to other respectable men were the words that had once kindled the souls of St Catharine and St Francis into a whitehot hatred of the carnal He couldnot be as the saints and love the Infinite with a seraphic ardour but he could be a little ashamed of loving a wife Amabat amare timebat And it was here that Margaret hoped to help him
It did not seem so difficult She need trouble him with no gift of her own She would only point out the salvation that was latent in his own soul and in the soul of every man Only connect That was the whole of her sermon Only connect the prose and the passion and both will be exalted and human love will be seen at its height Live in fragments no longer Only connect and the beast and the monk robbed of the isolation that is life to either will die
Nor was the message difficult to give It need not take the form of a good talking By quiet indications the bridge would be built and span their lives with beauty
But she failed For there was one quality in Henry for which she was never prepared however much she reminded herself of it his obtuseness He simply did not notice things and there was no more to be said He never noticed that Helen and Frieda were hostile or that Tibby was not interested in currant plantations he never noticed the lights and shades that exist in the grayest conversation the fingerposts the milestones the collisions the illimitable views Onceon another occasionshe scolded him about it He was puzzled but replied with a laugh My motto is Concentrate Ive no intention of frittering away my strength on that sort of thing It isnt frittering away the strength she protested Its enlarging the space in which you may be strong He answered Youre a clever little woman but my mottos Concentrate And this morning he concentrated with a vengeance
They met in the rhododendrons of yesterday In the daylight the bushes were inconsiderable and the path was bright in the morning sun She was with Helen who had been ominously quiet since the affair was settled Here we all are she cried and took him by one hand retaining her sisters in the other
Here we are Goodmorning Helen
Helen replied Goodmorning Mr Wilcox
Henry she has had such a nice letter from the queer cross boyDo you remember him He had a sad moustache but the back of his head was young
I have had a letter too Not a nice oneI want to talk it over with you for Leonard Bast was nothing to him now that she had given him her word the triangle of sex was broken for ever
Thanks to your hint hes clearing out of the Porphyrion
Not a bad business that Porphyrion he said absently as he took his own letter out of his pocket
Not a bad she exclaimed dropping his hand Surely on Chelsea Embankment
Heres our hostess Goodmorning Mrs Munt Fine rhododendrons Good morning Frau Liesecke we manage to grow flowers in England dont we
Not a bad business
No My letters about Howards End Bryce has been ordered abroad and wants to sublet it I am far from sure that I shall give him permission There was no clause in the agreement In my opinion subletting is a mistake If he can find me another tenant whom I consider suitable I may cancel the agreement Morning Schlegel Dont you think thats better than subletting
Helen had dropped her hand now and he had steered her past the whole party to the seaward side of the house Beneath them was the bourgeois little bay which must have yearned all through the centuries for just such a wateringplace as Swanage to be built on its margin The waves were colourless and the Bournemouth steamer gave a further touch of insipidity drawn up against the pier and hooting wildly for excursionists
When there is a sublet I find that damage
Do excuse me but about the Porphyrion I dont feel easymight I just bother you Henry
Her manner was so serious that he stopped and asked her a little sharply what she wanted
You said on Chelsea Embankment surely that it was a bad concern so we advised this clerk to clear out He writes this morning that hes taken our advice and now you say its not a bad concern
A clerk who clears out of any concern good or bad without securing a berth somewhere else first is a fool and Ive no pity for him
He has not done that Hes going into a bank in Camden Town he says The salarys much lower but he hopes to managea branch of Dempsters Bank Is that all right
Dempster My goodness me yes
More right than the Porphyrion
Yes yes yes safe as housessafer
Very many thanks Im sorryif you sublet
If he sublets I shant have the same control In theory there should be no more damage done at Howards End in practice there will be Things may be done for which no money can compensate For instance I shouldnt want that fine wychelm spoilt It hangsMargaret we must go and see the old place some time Its pretty in its way Well motor down and have lunch with Charles
I should enjoy that said Margaret bravely
What about next Wednesday
Wednesday No I couldnt well do that Aunt Juley expects us to stop here another week at least
But you can give that up now
Erno said Margaret after a moments thought
Oh thatll be all right Ill speak to her
This visit is a high solemnity My aunt counts on it year after year She turns the house upside down for us she invites our special friendsshe scarcely knows Frieda and we cant leave her on her hands I missed one day and she would be so hurt if I didnt stay the full ten
But Ill say a word to her Dont you bother
Henry I wont go Dont bully me
You want to see the house though
Very muchIve heard so much about it one way or the other Arent there pigs teeth in the wychelm
Pigs teeth
And you chew the bark for toothache
What a rum notion Of course not
Perhaps I have confused it with some other tree There are still a great number of sacred trees in England it seems
But he left her to intercept Mrs Munt whose voice could be heard in the distance to be intercepted himself by Helen
Oh Mr Wilcox about the Porphyrion she began and went scarlet all over her face
Its all right called Margaret catching them up Dempsters Banks better
But I think you told us the Porphyrion was bad and would smash before Christmas
Did I It was still outside the Tariff Ring and had to take rotten policies Lately it came insafe as houses now
In other words, Mr Bast need never have left it
No the fellow neednt
and neednt have started life elsewhere at a greatly reduced salary
He only says reduced corrected Margaret seeing trouble ahead
With a man so poor every reduction must be great I consider it a deplorable misfortune
Mr Wilcox intent on his business with Mrs Munt was going steadily on but the last remark made him say What Whats that Do you mean that Im responsible
Youre ridiculous Helen
You seem to think He looked at his watch Let me explain the point to you It is like this You seem to assume when a business concern is conducting a delicate negotiation it ought to keep the public informed stage by stage The Porphyrion according to you was bound to say I am trying all I can to get into the Tariff Ring I am not sure that I shall succeed but it is the only thing that will save me from insolvency and I am trying My dear Helen
Is that your point A man who had little money has lessthats mine
I am grieved for your clerk But it is all in the days work Its part of the battle of life
A man who had little money she repeated has less owing to us Under these circumstances I do not consider the battle of life a happy expression
Oh come come he protested pleasantly Youre not to blame No ones to blame
Is no one to blame for anything
I wouldnt say that but youre taking it far too seriously Who is this fellow
We have told you about the fellow twice already said Helen You have even met the fellow He is very poor and his wife is an extravagant imbecile He is capable of better things Wewe the upper classesthought we would help him from the height of our superior knowledgeand heres the result
He raised his finger Now a word of advice
I require no more advice
A word of advice Dont take up that sentimental attitude over the poor See that she doesnt Margaret The poor are poor and ones sorry for them but there it is As civilization moves forward the shoe is bound to pinch in places and its absurd to pretend that anyone is responsible personally Neither you nor I nor my informant nor the man who informed him nor the directors of the Porphyrion are to blame for this clerks loss of salary Its just the shoe pinchingno one can help it and it might easily have been worse
Helen quivered with indignation
By all means subscribe to charitiessubscribe to them largelybut dont get carried away by absurd schemes of Social Reform I see a good deal behind the scenes and you can take it from me that there is no Social Questionexcept for a few journalists who try to get a living out of the phrase There are just rich and poor as there always have been and always will be Point me out a time when men have been equal
I didnt say
Point me out a time when desire for equality has made them happier No no You cant There always have been rich and poor Im no fatalist Heaven forbid But our civilization is moulded by great impersonal forces his voice grew complacent it always did when he eliminated the personal and there always will be rich and poor You cant deny it and now it was a respectful voiceand you cant deny that in spite of all the tendency of civilization has on the whole been upward
Owing to God I suppose flashed Helen
He stared at her
You grab the dollars God does the rest
It was no good instructing the girl if she was going to talk about God in that neurotic modern way Fraternal to the last he left her for the quieter company of Mrs Munt He thought She rather reminds me of Dolly
Helen looked out at the sea
Dont even discuss political economy with Henry advised her sister Itll only end in a cry
But he must be one of those men who have reconciled science with religion said Helen slowly I dont like those men They are scientific themselves and talk of the survival of the fittest and cut down the salaries of their clerks and stunt the independence of all who may menace their comfort but yet they believe that somehow goodand it is always that sloppy somehowwill be the outcome and that in some mystical way the Mr Basts of the future will benefit because the Mr Basts of today are in pain
He is such a man in theory But oh Helen in theory
But oh Meg what a theory
Why should you put things so bitterly dearie
Because Im an old maid said Helen biting her lip I cant think why I go on like this myself She shook off her sisters hand and went into the house Margaret distressed at the days beginning followed the Bournemouth steamer with her eyes She saw that Helens nerves were exasperated by the unlucky Bast business beyond the bounds of politeness There might at any minute be a real explosion which even Henry would notice Henry must be removed
Margaret her aunt called Magsy It isnt true surely what Mr Wilcox says that you want to go away early next week
Not want was Margarets prompt reply but there is so much to be settled and I do want to see the Charles
But going away without taking the Weymouth trip or even the Lulworth said Mrs Munt coming nearer Without going once more up Nine Barrows Down
Im afraid so
Mr Wilcox rejoined her with Good I did the breaking of the ice
A wave of tenderness came over her She put a hand on either shoulder and looked deeply into the black bright eyes What was behind their competent stare She knew but was not disquieted
Chapter 23
Margaret had no intention of letting things slide and the evening before she left Swanage she gave her sister a thorough scolding She censured her not for disapproving of the engagement but for throwing over her disapproval a veil of mystery Helen was equally frank Yes she said with the air of one looking inwards there is a mystery I cant help it Its not my fault Its the way life has been made Helen in those days was overinterested in the subconscious self She exaggerated the Punch and Judy aspect of life and spoke of mankind as puppets whom an invisible showman twitches into love and war Margaret pointed out that if she dwelt on this she too would eliminate the personal Helen was silent for a minute and then burst into a queer speech which cleared the air Go on and marry him I think youre splendid and if anyone can pull it off you will Margaret denied that there was anything to pull off but she continued Yes there is and I wasnt up to it with Paul I can only do whats easy I can only entice and be enticed I cant and wont attempt difficult relations If I marry it will either be a man whos strong enough to boss me or whom Im strong enough to boss So I shant ever marry for there arent such men And Heaven help any one whom I do marry for I shall certainly run away from him before you can say Jack Robinson There Because Im uneducated But you youre different youre a heroine
Oh Helen Am I Will it be as dreadful for poor Henry as all that
You mean to keep proportion and thats heroic its Greek and I dont see why it shouldnt succeed with you Go on and fight with him and help him Dont ask me for help or even for sympathy Henceforward Im going my own way I mean to be thorough because thoroughness is easy I mean to dislike your husband and to tell him so I mean to make no concessions to Tibby If Tibby wants to live with me he must lump me I mean to love you more than ever Yes I do You and I have built up something real because it is purely spiritual Theres no veil of mystery over us Unreality and mystery begin as soon as one touches the body The popular view is as usual exactly the wrong one Our bothers are over tangible thingsmoney husbands househunting But Heaven will work of itself
Margaret was grateful for this expression of affection and answered Perhaps All vistas close in the unseenno one doubts itbut Helen closed them rather too quickly for her taste At every turn of speech one was confronted with reality and the absolute Perhaps Margaret grew too old for metaphysics perhaps Henry was weaning her from them but she felt that there was something a little unbalanced in the mind that so readily shreds the visible The business man who assumes that this life is everything and the mystic who asserts that it is nothing fail on this side and on that to hit the truth Yes I see dear its about halfway between Aunt Juley had hazarded in earlier years No truth being alive was not halfway between anything It was only to be found by continuous excursions into either realm and though proportion is the final secret to espouse it at the outset is to insure sterility
Helen agreeing here disagreeing there would have talked till midnight but Margaret with her packing to do focussed the conversation on Henry She might abuse Henry behind his back but please would she always be civil to him in company I definitely dislike him but Ill do what I can promised Helen Do what you can with my friends in return
This conversation made Margaret easier Their inner life was so safe that they could bargain over externals in a way that would have been incredible to Aunt Juley and impossible for Tibby or Charles There are moments when the inner life actually pays when years of selfscrutiny conducted for no ulterior motive are suddenly of practical use Such moments are still rare in the West that they come at all promises a fairer future Margaret though unable to understand her sister was assured against estrangement and returned to London with a more peaceful mind
The following morning at eleven oclock she presented herself at the offices of the Imperial and West African Rubber Company She was glad to go there for Henry had implied his business rather than described it and the formlessness and vagueness that one associates with Africa had hitherto brooded over the main sources of his wealth Not that a visit to the office cleared things up There was just the ordinary surface scum of ledgers and polished counters and brass bars that began and stopped for no possible reason of electriclight globes blossoming in triplets of little rabbit hutches faced with glass or wire of little rabbits And even when she penetrated to the inner depths she found only the ordinary table and Turkey carpet and though the map over the fireplace did depict a helping of West Africa it was a very ordinary map Another map hung opposite on which the whole continent appeared looking like a whale marked out for blubber and by its side was a door shut but Henrys voice came through it dictating a strong letter She might have been at the Porphyrion or Dempsters Bank or her own winemerchants Everything seems just alike in these days But perhaps she was seeing the Imperial side of the company rather than its West African and Imperialism always had been one of her difficulties
One minute called Mr Wilcox on receiving her name He touched a bell the effect of which was to produce Charles
Charles had written his father an adequate lettermore adequate than Evies through which a girlish indignation throbbed And he greeted his future stepmother with propriety
I hope that my wifehow do you do will give you a decent lunch was his opening I left instructions but we live in a roughandready way She expects you back to tea too after you have had a look at Howards End I wonder what youll think of the place I wouldnt touch it with tongs myself Do sit down Its a measly little place
I shall enjoy seeing it said Margaret feeling for the first time shy
Youll see it at its worst for Bryce decamped abroad last Monday without even arranging for a charwoman to clear up after him I never saw such a disgraceful mess Its unbelievable He wasnt in the house a month
Ive more than a little bone to pick with Bryce called Henry from the inner chamber
Why did he go so suddenly
Invalid type couldnt sleep
Poor fellow
Poor fiddlesticks said Mr Wilcox joining them He had the impudence to put up noticeboards without as much as saying with your leave or by your leave Charles flung them down
Yes I flung them down said Charles modestly
Ive sent a telegram after him and a pretty sharp one too He and he in person is responsible for the upkeep of that house for the next three years
The keys are at the farm we wouldnt have the keys
Quite right
Dolly would have taken them but I was in fortunately
Whats Mr Bryce like asked Margaret
But nobody cared Mr Bryce was the tenant who had no right to sublet to have defined him further was a waste of time On his misdeeds they descanted profusely until the girl who had been typing the strong letter came out with it Mr Wilcox added his signature Now well be off said he
A motordrive a form of felicity detested by Margaret awaited her Charles saw them in civil to the last and in a moment the offices of the Imperial and West African Rubber Company faded away But it was not an impressive drive Perhaps the weather was to blame being grey and banked high with weary clouds Perhaps Hertfordshire is scarcely intended for motorists Did not a gentleman once motor so quickly through Westmoreland that he missed it and if Westmoreland can be missed it will fare ill with a county whose delicate structure particularly needs the attentive eye Hertfordshire is England at its quietest with little emphasis of river and hill it is England meditative If Drayton were with us again to write a new edition of his incomparable poem he would sing the nymphs of Hertfordshire as indeterminate of feature with hair obfuscated by the London smoke Their eyes would be sad and averted from their fate towards the Northern flats their leader not Isis or Sabrina but the slowly flowing Lea No glory of raiment would be theirs no urgency of dance but they would be real nymphs
The chauffeur could not travel as quickly as he had hoped for the Great North Road was full of Easter traffic But he went quite quick enough for Margaret a poorspirited creature who had chickens and children on the brain
Theyre all right said Mr Wilcox Theyll learnlike the swallows and the telegraphwires
Yes but while theyre learning
The motors come to stay he answered One must get about Theres a pretty churchoh you arent sharp enough Well look out if the road worries youright outward at the scenery
She looked at the scenery It heaved and merged like porridge Presently it congealed They had arrived
Charless house on the left on the right the swelling forms of the Six Hills Their appearance in such a neighbourhood surprised her They interrupted the stream of residences that was thickening up towards Hilton Beyond them she saw meadows and a wood and beneath them she settled that soldiers of the best kind lay buried She hated war and liked soldiersit was one of her amiable inconsistencies
But here was Dolly dressed up to the nines standing at the door to greet them and here were the first drops of the rain They ran in gaily and after a long wait in the drawingroom sat down to the roughandready lunch every dish in which concealed or exuded cream Mr Bryce was the chief topic of conversation Dolly described his visit with the key while her fatherinlaw gave satisfaction by chaffing her and contradicting all she said It was evidently the custom to laugh at Dolly He chaffed Margaret too and Margaret roused from a grave meditation was pleased and chaffed him back Dolly seemed surprised and eyed her curiously After lunch the two children came down Margaret disliked babies but hit it off better with the twoyearold and sent Dolly into fits of laughter by talking sense to him Kiss them now and come away said Mr Wilcox She came but refused to kiss them it was such hard luck on the little things she said and though Dolly proffered Chorlyworly and Porglywoggles in turn she was obdurate
By this time it was raining steadily The car came round with the hood up and again she lost all sense of space In a few minutes they stopped and Crane opened the door of the car
Whats happened asked Margaret
What do you suppose said Henry
A little porch was close up against her face
Are we there already
We are
Well I never In years ago it seemed so far away
Smiling but somehow disillusioned she jumped out and her impetus carried her to the frontdoor She was about to open it when Henry said Thats no good its locked Whos got the key
As he had himself forgotten to call for the key at the farm no one replied He also wanted to know who had left the front gate open since a cow had strayed in from the road and was spoiling the croquet lawn Then he said rather crossly Margaret you wait in the dry Ill go down for the key It isnt a hundred yards
Maynt I come too
No I shall be back before Im gone
Then the car turned away and it was as if a curtain had risen For the second time that day she saw the appearance of the earth
There were the greengagetrees that Helen had once described there the tennis lawn there the hedge that would be glorious with dogroses in June but the vision now was of black and palest green Down by the dellhole more vivid colours were awakening and Lent Lilies stood sentinel on its margin or advanced in battalions over the grass Tulips were a tray of jewels She could not see the wychelm tree but a branch of the celebrated vine studded with velvet knobs had covered the porch She was struck by the fertility of the soil she had seldom been in a garden where the flowers looked so well and even the weeds she was idly plucking out of the porch were intensely green Why had poor Mr Bryce fled from all this beauty For she had already decided that the place was beautiful
Naughty cow Go away cried Margaret to the cow but without indignation
Harder came the rain pouring out of a windless sky and spattering up from the noticeboards of the houseagents which lay in a row on the lawn where Charles had hurled them She must have interviewed Charles in another worldwhere one did have interviews How Helen would revel in such a notion Charles dead all people dead nothing alive but houses and gardens The obvious dead the intangible alive andno connection at all between them Margaret smiled Would that her own fancies were as clearcut Would that she could deal as highhandedly with the world Smiling and sighing she laid her hand upon the door It opened The house was not locked up at all
She hesitated Ought she to wait for Henry He felt strongly about property and might prefer to show her over himself On the other hand he had told her to keep in the dry and the porch was beginning to drip So she went in and the drought from inside slammed the door behind
Desolation greeted her Dirty fingerprints were on the hallwindows flue and rubbish on its unwashed boards The civilization of luggage had been here for a month and then decamped Diningroom and drawing roomright and leftwere guessed only by their wallpapers They were just rooms where one could shelter from the rain Across the ceiling of each ran a great beam The diningroom and hall revealed theirs openly but the drawingrooms was matchboardedbecause the facts of life must be concealed from ladies Drawingroom diningroom and hallhow petty the names sounded Here were simply three rooms where children could play and friends shelter from the rain Yes and they were beautiful
Then she opened one of the doors oppositethere were twoand exchanged wallpapers for whitewash It was the servants part though she scarcely realized that just rooms again where friends might shelter The garden at the back was full of flowering cherries and plums Farther on were hints of the meadow and a black cliff of pines Yes the meadow was beautiful
Penned in by the desolate weather she recaptured the sense of space which the motor had tried to rob from her She remembered again that ten square miles are not ten times as wonderful as one square mile that a thousand square miles are not practically the same as heaven The phantom of bigness which London encourages was laid for ever when she paced from the hall at Howards End to its kitchen and heard the rains run this way and that where the watershed of the roof divided them
Now Helen came to her mind scrutinizing half Wessex from the ridge of the Purbeck Downs and saying You will have to lose something She was not so sure For instance she would double her kingdom by opening the door that concealed the stairs
Now she thought of the map of Africa of empires of her father of the two supreme nations streams of whose life warmed her blood but mingling had cooled her brain She paced back into the hall and as she did so the house reverberated
Is that you Henry she called
There was no answer but the house reverberated again
Henry have you got in
But it was the heart of the house beating faintly at first then loudly martially It dominated the rain
It is the starved imagination not the wellnourished that is afraid Margaret flung open the door to the stairs A noise as of drums seemed to deafen her A woman an old woman was descending with figure erect with face impassive with lips that parted and said dryly
Oh Well I took you for Ruth Wilcox
Margaret stammered IMrs WilcoxI
In fancy of coursein fancy You had her way of walking Goodday And the old woman passed out into the rain
Chapter 24
It gave her quite a turn said Mr Wilcox when retailing the incident to Dolly at teatime None of you girls have any nerves really Of course a word from me put it all right but silly old Miss Averyshe frightened you didnt she Margaret There you stood clutching a bunch of weeds She might have said something instead of coming down the stairs with that alarming bonnet on I passed her as I came in Enough to make the car shy I believe Miss Avery goes in for being a character some old maids do He lit a cigarette It is their last resource Heaven knows what she was doing in the place but thats Bryces business not mine
I wasnt as foolish as you suggest said Margaret She only startled me for the house had been silent so long
Did you take her for a spook asked Dolly for whom spooks and going to church summarized the unseen
Not exactly
She really did frighten you said Henry who was far from discouraging timidity in females Poor Margaret And very naturally Uneducated classes are so stupid
Is Miss Avery uneducated classes Margaret asked and found herself looking at the decoration scheme of Dollys drawingroom
Shes just one of the crew at the farm People like that always assume things She assumed youd know who she was She left all the Howards End keys in the front lobby and assumed that youd seen them as you came in that youd lock up the house when youd done and would bring them on down to her And there was her niece hunting for them down at the farm Lack of education makes people very casual Hilton was full of women like Miss Avery once
I shouldnt have disliked it perhaps
Or Miss Avery giving me a wedding present said Dolly
Which was illogical but interesting Through Dolly Margaret was destined to learn a good deal
But Charles said I must try not to mind because she had known his grandmother
As usual youve got the story wrong my good Dorothea
I mean greatgrandmotherthe one who left Mrs Wilcox the house Werent both of them and Miss Avery friends when Howards End too was a farm
Her fatherinlaw blew out a shaft of smoke His attitude to his dead wife was curious He would allude to her and hear her discussed but never mentioned her by name Nor was he interested in the dim bucolic past Dolly wasfor the following reason
Then hadnt Mrs Wilcox a brotheror was it an uncle Anyhow he popped the question and Miss Avery she said No Just imagine if shed said Yes she would have been Charless aunt Oh I saythats rather good Charlies Aunt I must chaff him about that this evening And the man went out and was killed Yes Im certain Ive got it right now Tom Howardhe was the last of them
I believe so said Mr Wilcox negligently
I say Howards EndHowards Ended cried Dolly Im rather on the spot this evening eh
I wish youd ask whether Cranes ended
Oh Mr Wilcox how can you
Because if he has had enough tea we ought to goDollys a good little woman he continued but a little of her goes a long way I couldnt live near her if you paid me
Margaret smiled Though presenting a firm front to outsiders no Wilcox could live near or near the possessions of any other Wilcox They had the colonial spirit and were always making for some spot where the white man might carry his burden unobserved Of course Howards End was impossible so long as the younger couple were established in Hilton His objections to the house were plain as daylight now
Crane had had enough tea and was sent to the garage where their car had been trickling muddy water over Charless The downpour had surely penetrated the Six Hills by now bringing news of our restless civilization Curious mounds said Henry but in with you now another time He had to be up in London by sevenif possible by sixthirty Once more she lost the sense of space once more trees houses people animals hills merged and heaved into one dirtiness and she was at Wickham Place
Her evening was pleasant The sense of flux which had haunted her all the year disappeared for a time She forgot the luggage and the motorcars and the hurrying men who know so much and connect so little She recaptured the sense of space which is the basis of all earthly beauty and starting from Howards End she attempted to realize England She failedvisions do not come when we try though they may come through trying But an unexpected love of the island awoke in her connecting on this side with the joys of the flesh on that with the inconceivable Helen and her father had known this love poor Leonard Bast was groping after it but it had been hidden from Margaret till this afternoon It had certainly come through the house and old Miss Avery Through them the notion of through persisted her mind trembled towards a conclusion which only the unwise have put into words Then veering back into warmth it dwelt on ruddy bricks flowering plumtrees and all the tangible joys of spring
Henry after allaying her agitation had taken her over his property and had explained to her the use and dimensions of the various rooms He had sketched the history of the little estate It is so unlucky ran the monologue that money wasnt put into it about fifty years ago Then it had fourfivetimes the landthirty acres at least One could have made something out of it thena small park or at all events shrubberies and rebuilt the house farther away from the road Whats the good of taking it in hand now Nothing but the meadow left and even that was heavily mortgaged when I first had to do with thingsyes and the house too Oh it was no joke She saw two women as he spoke one old the other young watching their inheritance melt away She saw them greet him as a deliverer Mismanagement did itbesides the days for small farms are over It doesnt payexcept with intensive cultivation Small holdings back to the landah philanthropic bunkum Take it as a rule that nothing pays on a small scale Most of the land you see they were standing at an upper window the only one which faced west belongs to the people at the Parkthey made their pile over coppergood chaps Averys Farm Sisheswhat they call the Common where you see that ruined oakone after the other fell in and so did this as near as is no matter But Henry had saved it without fine feelings or deep insight but he had saved it and she loved him for the deed When I had more control I did what I could sold off the two and a half animals and the mangy pony and the superannuated tools pulled down the outhouses drained thinned out I dont know how many guelderroses and eldertrees and inside the house I turned the old kitchen into a hall and made a kitchen behind where the dairy was Garage and so on came later But one could still tell its been an old farm And yet it isnt the place that would fetch one of your artistic crew No it wasnt and if he did not quite understand it the artistic crew would still less it was English and the wychelm that she saw from the window was an English tree No report had prepared her for its peculiar glory It was neither warrior nor lover nor god in none of these roles do the English excel It was a comrade bending over the house strength and adventure in its roots but in its utmost fingers tenderness and the girth that a dozen men could not have spanned became in the end evanescent till pale bud clusters seemed to float in the air It was a comrade House and tree transcended any similes of sex Margaret thought of them now and was to think of them through many a windy night and London day but to compare either to man to woman always dwarfed the vision Yet they kept within limits of the human Their message was not of eternity but of hope on this side of the grave As she stood in the one gazing at the other truer relationship had gleamed
Another touch and the account of her day is finished They entered the garden for a minute and to Mr Wilcoxs surprise she was right Teeth pigs teeth could be seen in the bark of the wychelm treejust the white tips of them showing Extraordinary he cried Who told you
I heard of it one winter in London was her answer for she too avoided mentioning Mrs Wilcox by name
Chapter 25
Evie heard of her fathers engagement when she was in for a tennis tournament and her play went simply to pot That she should marry and leave him had seemed natural enough that he left alone should do the same was deceitful and now Charles and Dolly said that it was all her fault But I never dreamt of such a thing she grumbled Dad took me to call now and then and made me ask her to Simpsons Well Im altogether off Dad It was also an insult to their mothers memory there they were agreed and Evie had the idea of returning Mrs Wilcoxs lace and jewellery as a protest Against what it would protest she was not clear but being only eighteen the idea of renunciation appealed to her the more as she did not care for jewellery or lace Dolly then suggested that she and Uncle Percy should pretend to break off their engagement and then perhaps Mr Wilcox would quarrel with Miss Schlegel and break off his or Paul might be cabled for But at this point Charles told them not to talk nonsense So Evie settled to marry as soon as possible it was no good hanging about with these Schlegels eyeing her The date of her wedding was consequently put forward from September to August and in the intoxication of presents she recovered much of her goodhumour
Margaret found that she was expected to figure at this function and to figure largely it would be such an opportunity said Henry for her to get to know his set Sir James Bidder would be there and all the Cahills and the Fussells and his sisterinlaw Mrs Warrington Wilcox had fortunately got back from her tour round the world Henry she loved but his set promised to be another matter He had not the knack of surrounding himself with nice peopleindeed for a man of ability and virtue his choice had been singularly unfortunate he had no guiding principle beyond a certain preference for mediocrity he was content to settle one of the greatest things in life haphazard and so while his investments went right his friends generally went wrong She would be told Oh Soandsos a good sorta thundering good sort and find on meeting him that he was a brute or a bore If Henry had shown real affection she would have understood for affection explains everything But he seemed without sentiment The thundering good sort might at any moment become a fellow for whom I never did have much use and have less now and be shaken off cheerily into oblivion Margaret had done the same as a schoolgirl Now she never forgot anyone for whom she had once cared she connected though the connection might be bitter and she hoped that some day Henry would do the same
Evie was not to be married from Ducie Street She had a fancy for something rural and besides no one would be in London then so she left her boxes for a few weeks at Oniton Grange and her banns were duly published in the parish church and for a couple of days the little town dreaming between the ruddy hills was roused by the clang of our civilization and drew up by the roadside to let the motors pass Oniton had been a discovery of Mr Wilcoxsa discovery of which he was not altogether proud It was up towards the Welsh border and so difficult of access that he had concluded it must be something special A ruined castle stood in the grounds But having got there what was one to do The shooting was bad the fishing indifferent and womenfolk reported the scenery as nothing much The place turned out to be in the wrong part of Shropshire damn it and though he never damned his own property aloud he was only waiting to get it off his hands and then to let fly Evies marriage was its last appearance in public As soon as a tenant was found it became a house for which he never had had much use and had less now and like Howards End faded into Limbo
But on Margaret Oniton was destined to make a lasting impression She regarded it as her future home and was anxious to start straight with the clergy etc and if possible to see something of the local life It was a markettownas tiny a one as England possessesand had for ages served that lonely valley and guarded our marches against the Kelt In spite of the occasion in spite of the numbing hilarity that greeted her as soon as she got into the reserved saloon at Paddington her senses were awake and watching and though Oniton was to prove one of her innumerable false starts she never forgot it nor the things that happened there
The London party only numbered eightthe Fussells father and son two AngloIndian ladies named Mrs Plynlimmon and Lady Edser Mrs Warrington Wilcox and her daughter and lastly the little girl very smart and quiet who figures at so many weddings and who kept a watchful eye on Margaret the brideelect Dolly was absenta domestic event detained her at Hilton Paul had cabled a humorous message Charles was to meet them with a trio of motors at Shrewsbury Helen had refused her invitation Tibby had never answered his The management was excellent as was to be expected with anything that Henry undertook one was conscious of his sensible and generous brain in the background They were his guests as soon as they reached the train a special label for their luggage a courier a special lunch they had only to look pleasant and where possible pretty Margaret thought with dismay of her own nuptialspresumably under the management of Tibby Mr Theobald Schlegel and Miss Helen Schlegel request the pleasure of Mrs Plynlimmons company on the occasion of the marriage of their sister Margaret The formula was incredible but it must soon be printed and sent and though Wickham Place need not compete with Oniton it must feed its guests properly and provide them with sufficient chairs Her wedding would either be ramshackly or bourgeoisshe hoped the latter Such an affair as the present staged with a deftness that was almost beautiful lay beyond her powers and those of her friends
The low rich purr of a Great Western express is not the worst background for conversation and the journey passed pleasantly enough Nothing could have exceeded the kindness of the two men They raised windows for some ladies and lowered them for others they rang the bell for the servant they identified the colleges as the train slipped past Oxford they caught books or bagpurses in the act of tumbling on to the floor Yet there was nothing finicky about their politeness it had the Public School touch and though sedulous was virile More battles than Waterloo have been won on our playingfields and Margaret bowed to a charm of which she did not wholly approve and said nothing when the Oxford colleges were identified wrongly Male and female created He them the journey to Shrewsbury confirmed this questionable statement and the long glass saloon that moved so easily and felt so comfortable became a forcinghouse for the idea of sex
At Shrewsbury came fresh air Margaret was all for sightseeing and while the others were finishing their tea at the Raven she annexed a motor and hurried over the astonishing city Her chauffeur was not the faithful Crane but an Italian who dearly loved making her late Charles watch in hand though with a level brow was standing in front of the hotel when they returned It was perfectly all right he told her she was by no means the last And then he dived into the coffeeroom and she heard him say For Gods sake hurry the women up we shall never be off and Albert Fussell reply Not I Ive done my share and Colonel Fussell opine that the ladies were getting themselves up to kill Presently Myra Mrs Warringtons daughter appeared and as she was his cousin Charles blew her up a little she had been changing her smart traveling hat for a smart motor hat Then Mrs Warrington herself leading the quiet child the two AngloIndian ladies were always last Maids courier heavy luggage had already gone on by a branchline to a station nearer Oniton but there were five hatboxes and four dressingbags to be packed and five dustcloaks to be put on and to be put off at the last moment because Charles declared them not necessary The men presided over everything with unfailing goodhumour By halfpast five the party was ready and went out of Shrewsbury by the Welsh Bridge
Shropshire had not the reticence of Hertfordshire Though robbed of half its magic by swift movement it still conveyed the sense of hills They were nearing the buttresses that force the Severn eastern and make it an English stream and the sun sinking over the Sentinels of Wales was straight in their eyes Having picked up another guest they turned southward avoiding the greater mountains but conscious of an occasional summit rounded and mild whose colouring differed in quality from that of the lower earth and whose contours altered more slowly Quiet mysteries were in progress behind those tossing horizons the West as ever was retreating with some secret which may not be worth the discovery but which no practical man will ever discover
They spoke of Tariff Reform
Mrs Warrington was just back from the Colonies Like many other critics of Empire her mouth had been stopped with food and she could only exclaim at the hospitality with which she had been received and warn the Mother Country against trifling with young Titans They threaten to cut the painter she cried and where shall we be then Miss Schlegel youll undertake to keep Henry sound about Tariff Reform It is our last hope
Margaret playfully confessed herself on the other side and they began to quote from their respective handbooks while the motor carried them deep into the hills Curious these were rather than impressive for their outlines lacked beauty and the pink fieldson their summits suggested the handkerchiefs of a giant spread out to dry An occasional outcrop of rock an occasional wood an occasional forest treeless and brown all hinted at wildness to follow but the main colour was an agricultural green The air grew cooler they had surmounted the last gradient and Oniton lay below them with its church its radiating houses its castle its rivergirt peninsula Close to the castle was a grey mansion unintellectual but kindly stretching with its grounds across the peninsulas neckthe sort of mansion that was built all over England in the beginning of the last century while architecture was still an expression of the national character That was the Grange remarked Albert over his shoulder and then he jammed the brake on and the motor slowed down and stopped Im sorry said he turning round Do you mind getting outby the door on the right Steady on
Whats happened asked Mrs Warrington
Then the car behind them drew up and the voice of Charles was heard saying Get out the women at once There was a concourse of males and Margaret and her companions were hustled out and received into the second car What had happened As it started off again the door of a cottage opened and a girl screamed wildly at them
What is it the ladies cried
Charles drove them a hundred yards without speaking Then he said Its all right Your car just touched a dog
But stop cried Margaret horrified
It didnt hurt him
Didnt really hurt him asked Myra
No
Do please stop said Margaret leaning forward She was standing up in the car the other occupants holding her knees to steady her I want to go back please
Charles took no notice
Weve left Mr Fussell behind said another and Angelo and Crane
Yes but no woman
I expect a little ofMrs Warrington scratched her palm will be more to the point than one of us
The insurance company sees to that remarked Charles and Albert will do the talking
I want to go back though I say repeated Margaret getting angry
Charles took no notice The motor loaded with refugees continued to travel very slowly down the hill The men are there chorused the others Men will see to it
The men cant see to it Oh this is ridiculous Charles I ask you to stop
Stoppings no good drawled Charles
Isnt it said Margaret and jumped straight out of the car
She fell on her knees cut her gloves shook her hat over her ear Cries of alarm followed her Youve hurt yourself exclaimed Charles jumping after her
Of course Ive hurt myself she retorted
May I ask what
Theres nothing to ask said Margaret
Your hands bleeding
I know
Im in for a frightful row from the pater
You should have thought of that sooner Charles
Charles had never been in such a position before It was a woman in revolt who was hobbling away from him and the sight was too strange to leave any room for anger He recovered himself when the others caught them up their sort he understood He commanded them to go back
Albert Fussell was seen walking towards them
Its all right he called It wasnt a dog it was a cat
There exclaimed Charles triumphantly Its only a rotten cat
Got room in your car for a little un I cut as soon as I saw it wasnt a dog the chauffeurs are tackling the girl But Margaret walked forward steadily Why should the chauffeurs tackle the girl Ladies sheltering behind men men sheltering behind servantsthe whole systems wrong and she must challenge it
Miss Schlegel Pon my word youve hurt your hand
Im just going to see said Margaret Dont you wait Mr Fussell
The second motor came round the corner lt is all right madam said Crane in his turn He had taken to calling her madam
Whats all right The cat
Yes madam The girl will receive compensation for it
She was a very ruda girla said Angelo from the third motor thoughtfully
Wouldnt you have been rude
The Italian spread out his hands implying that he had not thought of rudeness but would produce it if it pleased her The situation became absurd The gentlemen were again buzzing round Miss Schlegel with offers of assistance and Lady Edser began to bind up her hand She yielded apologizing slightly and was led back to the car and soon the landscape resumed its motion the lonely cottage disappeared the castle swelled on its cushion of turf and they had arrived No doubt she had disgraced herself But she felt their whole journey from London had been unreal They had no part with the earth and its emotions They were dust and a stink and cosmopolitan chatter and the girl whose cat had been killed had lived more deeply than they
Oh Henry she exclaimed I have been so naughty for she had decided to take up this line We ran over a cat Charles told me not to jump out but I would and look She held out her bandaged hand Your poor Meg went such a flop
Mr Wilcox looked bewildered In evening dress he was standing to welcome his guests in the hall
Thinking it was a dog added Mrs Warrington
Ah a dogs a companion said Colonel Fussell A dogll remember you
Have you hurt yourself Margaret
Not to speak about and its my left hand
Well hurry up and change
She obeyed as did the others Mr Wilcox then turned to his son
Now Charles whats happened
Charles was absolutely honest He described what he believed to have happened Albert had flattened out a cat and Miss Schlegel had lost her nerve as any woman might She had been got safely into the other car but when it was in motion had leapt outagain in spite of all that they could say After walking a little on the road she had calmed down and had said that she was sorry His father accepted this explanation and neither knew that Margaret had artfully prepared the way for it It fitted in too well with their view of feminine nature In the smokingroom after dinner the Colonel put forward the view that Miss Schlegel had jumped it out of devilry Well he remembered as a young man in the harbour of Gibraltar once how a girla handsome girl toohad jumped overboard for a bet He could see her now and all the lads overboard after her But Charles and Mr Wilcox agreed it was much more probably nerves in Miss Schlegels case Charles was depressed That woman had a tongue She would bring worse disgrace on his father before she had done with them He strolled out on to the castle mound to think the matter over The evening was exquisite On three sides of him a little river whispered full of messages from the west above his head the ruins made patterns against the sky He carefully reviewed their dealings with this family until he fitted Helen and Margaret and Aunt Juley into an orderly conspiracy Paternity had made him suspicious He had two children to look after and more coming and day by day they seemed less likely to grow up rich men It is all very well he reflected the pater saying that he will be just to all but one cant be just indefinitely Money isnt elastic Whats to happen if Evie has a family And come to that so may the pater Therell not be enough to go round for theres none coming in either through Dolly or Percy Its damnable He looked enviously at the Grange whose windows poured light and laughter First and last this wedding would cost a pretty penny Two ladies were strolling up and down the garden terrace and as the syllables Imperialism were wafted to his ears he guessed that one of them was his aunt She might have helped him if she too had not had a family to provide for Every one for himself he repeateda maxim which had cheered him in the past but which rang grimly enough among the ruins of Oniton He lacked his fathers ability in business and so had an ever higher regard for money unless he could inherit plenty he feared to leave his children poor
As he sat thinking one of the ladies left the terrace and walked into the meadow he recognized her as Margaret by the white bandage that gleamed on her arm and put out his cigar lest the gleam should betray him She climbed up the mound in zigzags and at times stooped down as if she was stroking the turf It sounds absolutely incredible but for a moment Charles thought that she was in love with him and had come out to tempt him Charles believed in temptresses who are indeed the strong mans necessary complement and having no sense of humour he could not purge himself of the thought by a smile Margaret who was engaged to his father and his sisters weddingguest kept on her way without noticing him and he admitted that he had wronged her on this point But what was she doing Why was she stumbling about amongst the rubble and catching her dress in brambles and burrs As she edged round the keep she must have got to leeward and smelt his cigarsmoke for she exclaimed Hullo Whos that
Charles made no answer
Saxon or Kelt she continued laughing in the darkness But it doesnt matter Whichever you are you will have to listen to me I love this place I love Shropshire I hate London I am glad that this will be my home Ah dearshe was now moving back towards the housewhat a comfort to have arrived
That woman means mischief thought Charles and compressed his lips In a few minutes he followed her indoors as the ground was getting damp Mists were rising from the river and presently it became invisible though it whispered more loudly There had been a heavy downpour in the Welsh hills
Chapter 26
Next morning a fine mist covered the peninsula The weather promised well and the outline of the castle mound grew clearer each moment that Margaret watched it Presently she saw the keep and the sun painted the rubble gold and charged the white sky with blue The shadow of the house gathered itself together and fell over the garden A cat looked up at her window and mewed Lastly the river appeared still holding the mists between its banks and its overhanging alders and only visible as far as a hill which cut off its upper reaches
Margaret was fascinated by Oniton She had said that she loved it but it was rather its romantic tension that held her The rounded Druids of whom she had caught glimpses in her drive the rivers hurrying down from them to England the carelessly modelled masses of the lower hills thrilled her with poetry The house was insignificant but the prospect from it would be an eternal joy and she thought of all the friends she would have to stop in it and of the conversion of Henry himself to a rural life Society too promised favourably The rector of the parish had dined with them last night and she found that he was a friend of her fathers and so knew what to find in her She liked him He would introduce her to the town While on her other side Sir James Bidder sat repeating that she only had to give the word and he would whip up the county families for twenty miles round Whether Sir James who was Garden Seeds had promised what he could perform she doubted but so long as Henry mistook them for the county families when they did call she was content
Charles and Albert Fussell now crossed the lawn They were going for a morning dip and a servant followed them with their bathingdresses She had meant to take a stroll herself before breakfast but saw that the day was still sacred to men and amused herself by watching their contretemps In the first place the key of the bathingshed could not be found Charles stood by the riverside with folded hands tragical while the servant shouted and was misunderstood by another servant in the garden Then came a difficulty about a springboard and soon three people were running backwards and forwards over the meadow with orders and counter orders and recriminations and apologies If Margaret wanted to jump from a motorcar she jumped if Tibby thought paddling would benefit his ankles he paddled if a clerk desired adventure he took a walk in the dark But these athletes seemed paralysed They could not bathe without their appliances though the morning sun was calling and the last mists were rising from the dimpling stream Had they found the life of the body after all Could not the men whom they despised as milksops beat them even on their own ground
She thought of the bathing arrangements as they should be in her dayno worrying of servants no appliances beyond good sense Her reflections were disturbed by the quiet child who had come out to speak to the cat but was now watching her watch the men She called Goodmorning dear a little sharply Her voice spread consternation Charles looked round and though completely attired in indigo blue vanished into the shed and was seen no more
Miss Wilcox is up the child whispered and then became unintelligible
Whats that
It sounded like cutyokesack back
I cant hear
On the bedtissuepaper
Gathering that the weddingdress was on view and that a visit would be seemly she went to Evies room All was hilarity here Evie in a petticoat was dancing with one of the AngloIndian ladies while the other was adoring yards of white satin They screamed they laughed they sang and the dog barked
Margaret screamed a little too but without conviction She could not feel that a wedding was so funny Perhaps something was missing in her equipment
Evie gasped Dolly is a rotter not to be here Oh we would rag just then Then Margaret went down to breakfast
Henry was already installed he ate slowly and spoke little and was in Margarets eyes the only member of their party who dodged emotion successfully She could not suppose him indifferent either to the loss of his daughter or to the presence of his future wife Yet he dwelt intact only issuing orders occasionallyorders that promoted the comfort of his guests He inquired after her hand he set her to pour out the coffee and Mrs Warrington to pour out the tea When Evie came down there was a moments awkwardness and both ladies rose to vacate their places Burton called Henry serve tea and coffee from the sideboard It wasnt genuine tact but it was tact of a sortthe sort that is as useful as the genuine and saves even more situations at Board meetings Henry treated a marriage like a funeral item by item never raising his eyes to the whole and Death where is thy sting Love where is thy victory one would exclaim at the close
After breakfast she claimed a few words with him It was always best to approach him formally She asked for the interview because he was going on to shoot grouse tomorrow and she was returning to Helen in town
Certainly dear said he Of course I have the time What do you want
Nothing
I was afraid something had gone wrong
No I have nothing to say but you may talk
Glancing at his watch he talked of the nasty curve at the lychgate She heard him with interest Her surface could always respond to his without contempt though all her deeper being might be yearning to help him She had abandoned any plan of action Love is the best and the more she let herself love him the more chance was there that he would set his soul in order Such a moment as this when they sat under fair weather by the walks of their future home was so sweet to her that its sweetness would surely pierce to him Each lift of his eyes each parting of the thatched lip from the cleanshaven must prelude the tenderness that kills the Monk and the Beast at a single blow Disappointed a hundred times she still hoped She loved him with too clear a vision to fear his cloudiness Whether he droned trivialities as today or sprang kisses on her in the twilight she could pardon him she could respond
If there is this nasty curve she suggested couldnt we walk to the church Not of course you and Evie but the rest of us might very well go on first and that would mean fewer carriages
One cant have ladies walking through the Market Square The Fussells wouldnt like it they were awfully particular at Charless wedding Mysheone of our party was anxious to walk and certainly the church was just round the corner and I shouldnt have minded but the Colonel made a great point of it
You men shouldnt be so chivalrous said Margaret thoughtfully
Why not
She knew why not but said that she did not know
He then announced that unless she had anything special to say he must visit the winecellar and they went off together in search of Burton Though clumsy and a little inconvenient Oniton was a genuine country house They clattered down flagged passages looking into room after room and scaring unknown maids from the performance of obscure duties The weddingbreakfast must be in readiness when they came back from church and tea would be served in the garden The sight of so many agitated and serious people made Margaret smile but she reflected that they were paid to be serious and enjoyed being agitated Here were the lower wheels of the machine that was tossing Evie up into nuptial glory A little boy blocked their way with pigtails His mind could not grasp their greatness and he said By your leave let me pass please Henry asked him where Burton was But the servants were so new that they did not know one anothers names In the stillroom sat the band who had stipulated for champagne as part of their fee and who were already drinking beer Scents of Araby came from the kitchen mingled with cries Margaret knew what had happened there for it happened at Wickham Place One of the wedding dishes had boiled over and the cook was throwing cedarshavings to hide the smell At last they came upon the butler Henry gave him the keys and handed Margaret down the cellarstairs Two doors were unlocked She who kept all her wine at the bottom of the linencupboard was astonished at the sight We shall never get through it she cried and the two men were suddenly drawn into brotherhood and exchanged smiles She felt as if she had again jumped out of the car while it was moving
Certainly Oniton would take some digesting It would be no small business to remain herself and yet to assimilate such an establishment She must remain herself for his sake as well as her own since a shadowy wife degrades the husband whom she accompanies and she must assimilate for reasons of common honesty since she had no right to marry a man and make him uncomfortable Her only ally was the power of Home The loss of Wickham Place had taught her more than its possession Howards End had repeated the lesson She was determined to create new sanctities among these hills
After visiting the winecellar she dressed and then came the wedding which seemed a small affair when compared with the preparations for it Everything went like one oclock Mr Cahill materialized out of space, and was waiting for his bride at the church door No one dropped the ring or mispronounced the responses or trod on Evies train or cried In a few minutesthe clergymen performed their duty the register was signed and they were back in their carriages negotiating the dangerous curve by the lychgate Margaret was convinced that they had not been married at all and that the Norman church had been intent all the time on other business
There were more documents to sign at the house and the breakfast to eat and then a few more people dropped in for the garden party There had been a great many refusals and after all it was not a very big affairnot as big as Margarets would be She noted the dishes and the strips of red carpet that outwardly she might give Henry what was proper But inwardly she hoped for something better than this blend of Sunday church and foxhunting If only someone had been upset But this wedding had gone off so particularly wellquite like a Durbar in the opinion of Lady Edser and she thoroughly agreed with her
So the wasted day lumbered forward the bride and bridegroom drove off yelling with laughter and for the second time the sun retreated towards the hills of Wales Henry who was more tired than he owned came up to her in the castle meadow and in tones of unusual softness said that he was pleased Everything had gone off so well She felt that he was praising her too and blushed certainly she had done all she could with his intractable friends and had made a special point of kowtowing to the men They were breaking camp this evening only the Warringtons and quiet child would stay the night and the others were already moving towards the house to finish their packing I think it did go off well she agreed Since I had to jump out of the motor Im thankful I lighted on my left hand I am so very glad about it Henry dear I only hope that the guests at ours may be half as comfortable You must all remember that we have no practical person among us except my aunt and she is not used to entertainments on a large scale
I know he said gravely Under the circumstances it would be better to put everything into the hands of Harrods or Whiteleys or even to go to some hotel
You desire a hotel
Yes becausewell I mustnt interfere with you No doubt you want to be married from your old home
My old homes falling into pieces Henry I only want my new Isnt it a perfect evening
The Alexandrina isnt bad
The Alexandrina she echoed more occupied with the threads of smoke that were issuing from their chimneys and ruling the sunlit slopes with parallels of grey
Its off Curzon Street
Is it Lets be married from off Curzon Street
Then she turned westward to gaze at the swirling gold Just where the river rounded the hill the sun caught it Fairyland must lie above the bend and its precious liquid was pouring towards them past Charless bathingshed She gazed so long that her eyes were dazzled and when they moved back to the house she could not recognize the faces of people who were coming out of it A parlourmaid was preceding them
Who are those people she asked
Theyre callers exclaimed Henry Its too late for callers
Perhaps theyre town people who want to see the wedding presents
Im not at home yet to townees
Well hide among the ruins and if I can stop them I will
He thanked her
Margaret went forward smiling socially She supposed that these were unpunctual guests who would have to be content with vicarious civility since Evie and Charles were gone Henry tired and the others in their rooms She assumed the airs of a hostess not for long For one of the group was HelenHelen in her oldest clothes and dominated by that tense wounding excitement that had made her a terror in their nursery days
What is it she called Oh whats wrong Is Tibby ill
Helen spoke to her two companions who fell back Then she bore forward furiously
Theyre starving she shouted I found them starving
Who Why have you come
The Basts
Oh Helen moaned Margaret Whatever have you done now
He has lost his place He has been turned out of his bank Yes hes done for We upper classes have ruined him and I suppose youll tell me its the battle of life Starving His wife is ill Starving She fainted in the train
Helen are you mad
Perhaps Yes If you like Im mad But Ive brought them Ill stand injustice no longer Ill show up the wretchedness that lies under this luxury this talk of impersonal forces this cant about God doing what were too slack to do ourselves
Have you actually brought two starving people from London to Shropshire Helen
Helen was checked She had not thought of this and her hysteria abated There was a restaurant car on the train she said
Dont be absurd They arent starving and you know it Now begin from the beginning I wont have such theatrical nonsense How dare you Yes how dare you she repeated as anger filled her bursting in to Evies wedding in this heartless way My goodness but youve a perverted notion of philanthropy Lookshe indicated the houseservants people out of the windows They think its some vulgar scandal and I must explain Oh no its only my sister screaming and only two hangerson of ours whom she has brought here for no conceivable reason
Kindly take back that word hangerson said Helen ominously calm
Very well conceded Margaret who for all her wrath was determined to avoid a real quarrel I too am sorry about them but it beats me why youve brought them here or why youre here yourself
Its our last chance of seeing Mr Wilcox
Margaret moved towards the house at this She was determined not to worry Henry
Hes going to Scotland I know he is I insist on seeing him
Yes tomorrow
I knew it was our last chance
How do you do Mr Bast said Margaret trying to control her voice This is an odd business What view do you take of it
There is Mrs Bast too prompted Helen
Jacky also shook hands She like her husband was shy and furthermore ill and furthermore so bestially stupid that she could not grasp what was happening She only knew that the lady had swept down like a whirlwind last night had paid the rent redeemed the furniture provided them with a dinner and breakfast and ordered them to meet her at Paddington next morning Leonard had feebly protested and when the morning came had suggested that they shouldnt go But she half mesmerized had obeyed The lady had told them to and they must and their bedsittingroom had accordingly changed into Paddington and Paddington into a railway carriage that shook and grew hot and grew cold and vanished entirely and reappeared amid torrents of expensive scent You have fainted said the lady in an awestruck voice Perhaps the air will do you good And perhaps it had for here she was feeling rather better among a lot of flowers
Im sure I dont want to intrude began Leonard in answer to Margarets question But you have been so kind to me in the past in warning me about the Porphyrion that I wonderedwhy I wondered whether
Whether we could get him back into the Porphyrion again supplied Helen Meg this has been a cheerful business A bright evenings work that was on Chelsea Embankment
Margaret shook her head and returned to Mr Bast
I dont understand You left the Porphyrion because we suggested it was a bad concern didnt you
Thats right
And went into a bank instead
I told you all that said Helen and they reduced their staff after he had been in a month and now hes penniless and I consider that we and our informant are directly to blame
I hate all this Leonard muttered
I hope you do Mr Bast But its no good mincing matters You have done yourself no good by coming here If you intend to confront Mr Wilcox and to call him to account for a chance remark you will make a very great mistake
I brought them I did it all cried Helen
I can only advise you to go at once My sister has put you in a false position and it is kindest to tell you so Its too late to get to town but youll find a comfortable hotel in Oniton where Mrs Bast can rest and I hope youll be my guests there
That isnt what I want Miss Schlegel said Leonard Youre very kind and no doubt its a false position but you make me miserable I seem no good at all
Its work he wants interpreted Helen Cant you see
Then he said Jacky lets go Were more bother than were worth Were costing these ladies pounds and pounds already to get work for us and they never will Theres nothing were good enough to do
We would like to find you work said Margaret rather conventionally We want toI like my sister Youre only down in your luck Go to the hotel have a good nights rest and some day you shall pay me back the bill if you prefer it
But Leonard was near the abyss and at such moments men see clearly You dont know what youre talking about he said I shall never get work now If rich people fail at one profession they can try another Not I I had my groove and Ive got out of it I could do one particular branch of insurance in one particular office well enough to command a salary but thats all Poetrys nothing Miss Schlegel Ones thoughts about this and that are nothing Your money too is nothing if youll understand me I mean if a man over twenty once loses his own particular job its all over with him I have seen it happen to others Their friends gave them money for a little but in the end they fall over the edge Its no good Its the whole world pulling There always will be rich and poor
He ceased
Wont you have something to eat said Margaret I dont know what to do It isnt my house and though Mr Wilcox would have been glad to see you at any other timeas I say I dont know what to do but I undertake to do what I can for you Helen offer them something Do try a sandwich Mrs Bast
They moved to a long table behind which a servant was still standing Iced cakes sandwiches innumerable coffee claretcup champagne remained almost intact their overfed guests could do no more Leonard refused Jacky thought she could manage a little Margaret left them whispering together and had a few more words with Helen
She said Helen I like Mr Bast I agree that hes worth helping I agree that we are directly responsible
No indirectly Via Mr Wilcox
Let me tell you once for all that if you take up that attitude Ill do nothing No doubt youre right logically and are entitled to say a great many scathing things about Henry Only I wont have it So choose
Helen looked at the sunset
If you promise to take them quietly to the George I will speak to Henry about themin my own way mind there is to be none of this absurd screaming about justice I have no use for justice If it was only a question of money we could do it ourselves But he wants work and that we cant give him but possibly Henry can
Its his duty to grumbled Helen
Nor am I concerned with duty Im concerned with the characters of various people whom we know and how things being as they are things may be made a little better Mr Wilcox hates being asked favours all business men do But I am going to ask him at the risk of a rebuff because I want to make things a little better
Very well I promise You take it very calmly
Take them off to the George then and Ill try Poor creatures but they look tried As they parted she added I havent nearly done with you though Helen You have been most selfindulgent I cant get over it You have less restraint rather than more as you grow older Think it over and alter yourself or we shant have happy lives
She rejoined Henry Fortunately he had been sitting down these physical matters were important Was it townees he asked greeting her with a pleasant smile
Youll never believe me said Margaret sitting down beside him Its all right now but it was my sister
Helen here he cried preparing to rise But she refused the invitation I thought she despised weddings
Dont get up She has not come to the wedding Ive bundled her off to the George
Inherently hospitable he protested
No she has two of her protégés with her and must keep with them
Let em all come
My dear Henry did you see them
I did catch sight of a brown bunch of a woman certainly
The brown bunch was Helen but did you catch sight of a seagreen and salmon bunch
What are they out beanfeasting
No business They wanted to see me and later on I want to talk to you about them
She was ashamed of her own diplomacy In dealing with a Wilcox how tempting it was to lapse from comradeship and to give him the kind of woman that he desired Henry took the hint at once and said Why later on Tell me now No time like the present
Shall I
If it isnt a long story
Oh not five minutes but theres a sting at the end of it for I want you to find the man some work in your office
What are his qualifications
I dont know Hes a clerk
How old
Twentyfive perhaps
Whats his name
Bast said Margaret and was about to remind him that they had met at Wickham Place but stopped herself It had not been a successful meeting
Where was he before
Dempsters Bank
Why did he leave he asked still remembering nothing
They reduced their staff
All right Ill see him
It was the reward of her tact and devotion through the day Now she understood why some women prefer influence to rights Mrs Plynlimmon when condemning suffragettes had said The woman who cant influence her husband to vote the way she wants ought to be ashamed of herself Margaret had winced but she was influencing Henry now and though pleased at her little victory she knew that she had won it by the methods of the harem
I should be glad if you took him she said but I dont know whether hes qualified
Ill do what I can But Margaret this mustnt be taken as a precedent
No of courseof course
I cant fit in your protégés every day Business would suffer
I can promise you hes the last Hehes rather a special case
Protégés always are
She let it stand at that He rose with a little extra touch of complacency and held out his hand to help her up How wide the gulf between Henry as he was and Henry as Helen thought he ought to be And she herselfhovering as usual between the two now accepting men as they are now yearning with her sister for Truth Love and Truththeir warfare seems eternal Perhaps the whole visible world rests on it and if they were one life itself like the spirits when Prospero was reconciled to his brother might vanish into air into thin air
Your protégé has made us late said he The Fussells will just be starting
On the whole she sided with men as they are Henry would save the Basts as he had saved Howards End while Helen and her friends were discussing the ethics of salvation His was a slapdash method but the world has been built slapdash and the beauty of mountain and river and sunset may be but the varnish with which the unskilled artificer hides his joins Oniton like herself was imperfect Its appletrees were stunted its castle ruinous It too had suffered in the border warfare between the Anglo Saxon and the Kelt between things as they are and as they ought to be Once more the west was retreating once again the orderly stars were dotting the eastern sky There is certainly no rest for us on the earth But there is happiness and as Margaret descended the mound on her lovers arm she felt that she was having her share
To her annoyance Mrs Bast was still in the garden the husband and Helen had left her there to finish her meal while they went to engage rooms Margaret found this woman repellent She had felt when shaking her hand an overpowering shame She remembered the motive of her call at Wickham Place and smelt again odours from the abyssodours the more disturbing because they were involuntary For there was no malice in Jacky There she sat a piece of cake in one hand an empty champagne glass in the other doing no harm to anybody
Shes overtired Margaret whispered
Shes something else said Henry This wont do I cant have her in my garden in this state
Is she Margaret hesitated to add drunk Now that she was going to marry him he had grown particular He discountenanced risqué conversations now
Henry went up to the woman She raised her face which gleamed in the twilight like a puffball
Madam you will be more comfortable at the hotel he said sharply
Jacky replied If it isnt Hen
Ne crois pas que le mari lui ressemble apologized Margaret Il est tout à fait différent
Henry she repeated quite distinctly
Mr Wilcox was much annoyed I cant congratulate you on your protégés he remarked
Hen dont go You do love me dear dont you
Bless us what a person sighed Margaret gathering up her skirts
Jacky pointed with her cake Youre a nice boy you are She yawned There now I love you
Henry I am awfully sorry
And pray why he asked and looked at her so sternly that she feared he was ill He seemed more scandalized than the facts demanded
To have brought this down on you
Pray dont apologize
The voice continued
Why does she call you Hen said Margaret innocently Has she ever seen you before
Seen Hen before said Jacky Who hasnt seen Hen Hes serving you like me my dear These boys You waitStill we love em
Are you now satisfied Henry asked
Margaret began to grow frightened I dont know what it is all about she said Lets come in
But he thought she was acting He thought he was trapped He saw his whole life crumbling Dont you indeed he said bitingly I do Allow me to congratulate you on the success of your plan
This is Helens plan not mine
I now understand your interest in the Basts Very well thought out I am amused at your caution Margaret You are quite rightit was necessary I am a man and have lived a mans past I have the honour to release you from your engagement
Still she could not understand She knew of lifes seamy side as a theory she could not grasp it as a fact More words from Jacky were necessarywords unequivocal undenied
So that burst from her and she went indoors She stopped herself from saying more
So what asked Colonel Fussell who was getting ready to start in the hall
We were sayingHenry and I were just having the fiercest argument my point being Seizing his fur coat from a footman she offered to help him on He protested and there was a playful little scene
No let me do that said Henry following
Thanks so much You seehe has forgiven me
The Colonel said gallantly I dont expect theres much to forgive
He got into the car The ladies followed him after an interval Maids courier and heavier luggage had been sent on earlier by the branchline Still chattering still thanking their host and patronizing their future hostess the guests were home away
Then Margaret continued So that woman has been your mistress
You put it with your usual delicacy he replied
When please
Why
When please
Ten years ago
She left him without a word For it was not her tragedy it was Mrs Wilcoxs
Chapter 27
Helen began to wonder why she had spent a matter of eight pounds in making some people ill and others angry Now that the wave of excitement was ebbing and had left her Mr Bast and Mrs Bast stranded for the night in a Shropshire hotel she asked herself what forces had made the wave flow At all events no harm was done Margaret would play the game properly now and though Helen disapproved of her sisters methods she knew that the Basts would benefit by them in the long run
Mr Wilcox is so illogical she explained to Leonard who had put his wife to bed and was sitting with her in the empty coffeeroom If we told him it was his duty to take you on he might refuse to do it The fact is he isnt properly educated I dont want to set you against him but youll find him a trial
I can never thank you sufficiently Miss Schlegel was all that Leonard felt equal to
I believe in personal responsibility Dont you And in personal everything I hateI suppose I oughtnt to say thatbut the Wilcoxes are on the wrong tack surely Or perhaps it isnt their fault Perhaps the little thing that says I is missing out of the middle of their heads and then its a waste of time to blame them Theres a nightmare of a theory that says a special race is being born which will rule the rest of us in the future just because it lacks the little thing that says I Had you heard that
I get no time for reading
Had you thought it then That there are two kinds of peopleour kind who live straight from the middle of their heads and the other kind who cant because their heads have no middle They cant say I They arent in fact and so theyre supermen Pierpont Morgan has never said I in his life
Leonard roused himself If his benefactress wanted intellectual conversation she must have it She was more important than his ruined past I never got on to Nietzsche he said But I always understood that those supermen were rather what you may call egoists
Oh no thats wrong replied Helen No superman ever said I want because I want must lead to the question Who am I and so to Pity and to Justice He only says want Want Europe if hes Napoleon want wives if hes Bluebeard want Botticelli if hes Pierpont Morgan Never the I and if you could pierce through him youd find panic and emptiness in the middle
Leonard was silent for a moment Then he said May I take it Miss Schlegel that you and I are both the sort that say I
Of course
And your sister too
Of course repeated Helen a little sharply She was annoyed with Margaret but did not want her discussed All presentable people say I
But Mr Wilcoxhe is not perhaps
I dont know that its any good discussing Mr Wilcox either
Quite so quite so he agreed Helen asked herself why she had snubbed him Once or twice during the day she had encouraged him to criticize and then had pulled him up short Was she afraid of him presuming If so it was disgusting of her
But he was thinking the snub quite natural Everything she did was natural and incapable of causing offence While the Miss Schlegels were together he had felt them scarcely humana sort of admonitory whirligig But a Miss Schlegel alone was different She was in Helens case unmarried in Margarets about to be married in neither case an echo of her sister A light had fallen at last into this rich upper world and he saw that it was full of men and women some of whom were more friendly to him than others Helen had become his Miss Schlegel who scolded him and corresponded with him and had swept down yesterday with grateful vehemence Margaret though not unkind was severe and remote He would not presume to help her for instance He had never liked her and began to think that his original impression was true and that her sister did not like her either Helen was certainly lonely She who gave away so much was receiving too little Leonard was pleased to think that he could spare her vexation by holding his tongue and concealing what he knew about Mr Wilcox Jacky had announced her discovery when he fetched her from the lawn After the first shock he did not mind for himself By now he had no illusions about his wife and this was only one new stain on the face of a love that had never been pure To keep perfection perfect that should be his ideal if the future gave him time to have ideals Helen and Margaret for Helens sake must not know
Helen disconcerted him by fuming the conversation to his wife Mrs Bastdoes she ever say I she asked half mischievously and then Is she very tired
Its better she stops in her room said Leonard
Shall I sit up with her
No thank you she does not need company
Mr Bast what kind of woman is your wife
Leonard blushed up to his eyes
You ought to know my ways by now Does that question offend you
No oh no Miss Schlegel no
Because I love honesty Dont pretend your marriage has been a happy one You and she can have nothing in common
He did not deny it but said shyly I suppose thats pretty obvious but Jacky never meant to do anybody any harm When things went wrong or I heard things I used to think it was her fault but looking back its more mine I neednt have married her but as I have I must stick to her and keep her
How long have you been married
Nearly three years
What did your people say
They will not have anything to do with us They had a sort of family council when they heard I was married and cut us off altogether
Helen began to pace up and down the room My good boy what a mess she said gently Who are your people
He could answer this His parents who were dead had been in trade his sisters had married commercial travellers his brother was a layreader
And your grandparents
Leonard told her a secret that he had held shameful up to now They were just nothing at all he said agricultural labourers and that sort
So From which part
Lincolnshire mostly but my mothers fatherhe oddly enough came from these parts round here
From this very Shropshire Yes that is odd My mothers people were Lancashire But why do your brother and your sisters object to Mrs Bast
Oh I dont know
Excuse me you do know I am not a baby I can bear anything you tell me and the more you tell the more I shall be able to help Have they heard anything against her
He was silent
I think I have guessed now said Helen very gravely
I dont think so Miss Schlegel I hope not
We must be honest even over these things I have guessed I am frightfully dreadfully sorry but it does not make the least difference to me I shall feel just the same to both of you I blame not your wife for these things but men
Leonard left it at thatso long as she did not guess the man She stood at the window and slowly pulled up the blinds The hotel looked over a dark square The mists had begun When she turned back to him her eyes were shining
Dont you worry he pleaded I cant bear that We shall be all right if I get work If I could only get worksomething regular to do Then it wouldnt be so bad again I dont trouble after books as I used I can imagine that with regular work we should settle down again It stops one thinking
Settle down to what
Oh just settle down
And thats to be life said Helen with a catch in her throat How can you with all the beautiful things to see and dowith musicwith walking at night
Walking is well enough when a mans in work he answered Oh I did talk a lot of nonsense once but theres nothing like a bailiff in the house to drive it out of you When I saw him fingering my Ruskins and Stevensons I seemed to see life straight real and it isnt a pretty sight My books are back again thanks to you but theyll never be the same to me again and I shant ever again think night in the woods is wonderful
Why not asked Helen throwing up the window
Because I see one must have money
Well youre wrong
I wish I was wrong butthe clergymanhe has money of his own or else hes paid the poet or the musicianjust the same the tramphes no different The tramp goes to the workhouse in the end and is paid for with other peoples money Miss Schlegel the real things money and all the rest is a dream
Youre still wrong Youve forgotten Death
Leonard could not understand
If we lived for ever what you say would be true But we have to die we have to leave life presently Injustice and greed would be the real thing if we lived for ever As it is we must hold to other things because Death is coming I love Deathnot morbidly but because He explains He shows me the emptiness of Money Death and Money are the eternal foes Not Death and Life Never mind what lies behind Death Mr Bast but be sure that the poet and the musician and the tramp will be happier in it than the man who has never learnt to say I am I
I wonder
We are all in a mistI know but I can help you this farmen like the Wilcoxes are deeper in the mist than any Sane sound Englishmen building up empires levelling all the world into what they call common sense But mention Death to them and theyre offended because Deaths really Imperial and He cries out against them for ever
I am as afraid of Death as any one
But not of the idea of Death
But what is the difference
Infinite difference said Helen more gravely than before
Leonard looked at her wondering and had the sense of great things sweeping out of the shrouded night But he could not receive them because his heart was still full of little things As the lost umbrella had spoilt the concert at Queens Hall so the lost situation was obscuring the diviner harmonies now Death Life and Materialism were fine words but would Mr Wilcox take him on as a clerk Talk as one would Mr Wilcox was king of this world the superman with his own morality whose head remained in the clouds
I must be stupid he said apologetically
While to Helen the paradox became clearer and clearer Death destroys a man the idea of Death saves him Behind the coffins and the skeletons that stay the vulgar mind lies something so immense that all that is great in us responds to it Men of the world may recoil from the charnelhouse that they will one day enter but Love knows better Death is his foe but his peer and in their agelong struggle the thews of Love have been strengthened and his vision cleared until there is no one who can stand against him
So never give in continued the girl and restated again and again the vague yet convincing plea that the Invisible lodges against the Visible Her excitement grew as she tried to cut the rope that fastened Leonard to the earth Woven of bitter experience it resisted her Presently the waitress entered and gave her a letter from Margaret Another note addressed to Leonard was inside They read them listening to the murmurings of the river
Chapter 28
For many hours Margaret did nothing then she controlled herself and wrote some letters She was too bruised to speak to Henry she could pity him and even determine to marry him but as yet all lay too deep in her heart for speech On the surface the sense of his degradation was too strong She could not command voice or look and the gentle words that she forced out through her pen seemed to proceed from some other person
My dearest boy she began this is not to part us It is everything or nothing and I mean it to be nothing It happened long before we ever met and even if it had happened since I should be writing the same I hope I do understand
But she crossed out I do understand it struck a false note Henry could not bear to be understood She also crossed out It is everything or nothing Henry would resent so strong a grasp of the situation She must not comment comment is unfeminine
I think thatll about do she thought
Then the sense of his degradation choked her Was he worth all this bother To have yielded to a woman of that sort was everything yes it was and she could not be his wife She tried to translate his temptation into her own language and her brain reeled Men must be different even to want to yield to such a temptation Her belief in comradeship was stifled and she saw life as from that glass saloon on the Great Western which sheltered male and female alike from the fresh air Are the sexes really races each with its own code of morality and their mutual love a mere device of Nature to keep things going Strip human intercourse of the proprieties and is it reduced to this Her judgment told her no She knew that out of Natures device we have built a magic that will win us immortality Far more mysterious than the call of sex to sex is the tenderness that we throw into that call far wider is the gulf between us and the farmyard than between the farmyard and the garbage that nourishes it We are evolving in ways that Science cannot measure to ends that Theology dares not contemplate Men did produce one jewel the gods will say and saying will give us immortality Margaret knew all this but for the moment she could not feel it and transformed the marriage of Evie and Mr Cahill into a carnival of fools and her own marriagetoo miserable to think of that she tore up the letter and then wrote another
Dear Mr Bast
I have spoken to Mr Wilcox about you as I promised and am sorry to say that he has no vacancy for you
Yours truly
M J Schlegel
She enclosed this in a note to Helen over which she took less trouble than she might have done but her head was aching and she could not stop to pick her words
Dear Helen
Give him this The Basts are no good Henry found the woman drunk on the lawn I am having a room got ready for you here and will you please come round at once on getting this The Basts are not at all the type we should trouble about I may go round to them myself in the morning and do anything that is fair
M
In writing this Margaret felt that she was being practical Something might be arranged for the Basts later on but they must be silenced for the moment She hoped to avoid a conversation between the woman and Helen She rang the bell for a servant but no one answered it Mr Wilcox and the Warringtons were gone to bed and the kitchen was abandoned to Saturnalia Consequently she went over to the George herself She did not enter the hotel for discussion would have been perilous and saying that the letter was important she gave it to the waitress As she recrossed the square she saw Helen and Mr Bast looking out of the window of the coffeeroom and feared she was already too late Her task was not yet over she ought to tell Henry what she had done
This came easily for she saw him in the hall The night wind had been rattling the pictures against the wall and the noise had disturbed him
Whos there he called quite the householder
Margaret walked in and past him
I have asked Helen to sleep she said She is best here so dont lock the frontdoor
I thought someone had got in said Henry
At the same time I told the man that we could do nothing for him I dont know about later but now the Basts must clearly go
Did you say that your sister is sleeping here after all
Probably
Is she to be shown up to your room
I have naturally nothing to say to her I am going to bed Will you tell the servants about Helen Could someone go to carry her bag
He tapped a little gong which had been bought to summon the servants
You must make more noise than that if you want them to hear
Henry opened a door and down the corridor came shouts of laughter Far too much screaming there he said and strode towards it Margaret went upstairs uncertain whether to be glad that they had met or sorry They had behaved as if nothing had happened and her deepest instincts told her that this was wrong For his own sake some explanation was due
And yetwhat could an explanation tell her A date a place a few details which she could imagine all too clearly Now that the first shock was over she saw that there was every reason to premise a Mrs Bast Henrys inner life had long laid open to herhis intellectual confusion his obtuseness to personal influence his strong but furtive passions Should she refuse him because his outer life corresponded Perhaps Perhaps if the dishonour had been done to her but it was done long before her day She struggled against the feeling She told herself that Mrs Wilcoxs wrong was her own But she was not a bargain theorist As she undressed her anger her regard for the dead her desire for a scene all grew weak Henry must have it as he liked for she loved him and some day she would use her love to make him a better man
Pity was at the bottom of her actions all through this crisis Pity if one may generalize is at the bottom of woman When men like us it is for our better qualities and however tender their liking we dare not be unworthy of it or they will quietly let us go But unworthiness stimulates woman It brings out her deeper nature for good or for evil
Here was the core of the question Henry must be forgiven and made better by love nothing else mattered Mrs Wilcox that unquiet yet kindly ghost must be left to her own wrong To her everything was in proportion now and she too would pity the man who was blundering up and down their lives Had Mrs Wilcox known of his trespass An interesting question but Margaret fell asleep tethered by affection and lulled by the murmurs of the river that descended all the night from Wales She felt herself at one with her future home colouring it and coloured by it and awoke to see for the second time Oniton Castle conquering the morning mists
Chapter 29
Henry dear was her greeting
He had finished his breakfast and was beginning the Times His sisterinlaw was packing She knelt by him and took the paper from him feeling that it was unusually heavy and thick Then putting her face where it had been she looked up in his eyes
Henry dear look at me No I wont have you shirking Look at me There Thats all
Youre referring to last evening he said huskily I have released you from your engagement I could find excuses but I wont No I wont A thousand times no Im a bad lot and must be left at that
Expelled from his old fortress Mr Wilcox was building a new one He could no longer appear respectable to her so he defended himself instead in a lurid past It was not true repentance
Leave it where you will boy Its not going to trouble us I know what Im talking about and it will make no difference
No difference he inquired No difference when you find that I am not the fellow you thought He was annoyed with Miss Schlegel here He would have preferred her to be prostrated by the blow or even to rage Against the tide of his sin flowed the feeling that she was not altogether womanly Her eyes gazed too straight they had read books that are suitable for men only And though he had dreaded a scene and though she had determined against one there was a scene all the same It was somehow imperative
I am unworthy of you he began Had I been worthy I should not have released you from your engagement I know what I am talking about I cant bear to talk of such things We had better leave it
She kissed his hand He jerked it from her and rising to his feet went on You with your sheltered life and refined pursuits and friends and books you and your sister and women like youI say how can you guess the temptations that lie round a man
It is difficult for us said Margaret but if we are worth marrying we do guess
Cut off from decent society and family ties what do you suppose happens to thousands of young fellows overseas Isolated No one near I know by bitter experience and yet you say it makes no difference
Not to me
He laughed bitterly Margaret went to the sideboard and helped herself to one of the breakfast dishes Being the last down she turned out the spiritlamp that kept them warm She was tender but grave She knew that Henry was not so much confessing his soul as pointing out the gulf between the male soul and the female and she did not desire to hear him on this point
Did Helen come she asked
He shook his head
But that wont do at all at all We dont want her gossiping with Mrs Bast
Good God no he exclaimed suddenly natural Then he caught himself up Let them gossip My games up though I thank you for your unselfishnesslittle as my thanks are worth
Didnt she send me a message or anything
I heard of none
Would you ring the bell please
What to do
Why to inquire
He swaggered up to it tragically and sounded a peal Margaret poured herself out some coffee The butler came and said that Miss Schlegel had slept at the George so far as he had heard Should he go round to the George
Ill go thank you said Margaret and dismissed him
It is no good said Henry Those things leak out you cannot stop a story once it has started I have known cases of other menI despised them once I thought that Im different I shall never be tempted Oh Margaret He came and sat down near her improvising emotion She could not bear to listen to him We fellows all come to grief once in our time Will you believe that There are moments when the strongest manLet him who standeth take heed lest he fall Thats true isnt it If you knew all you would excuse me I was far from good influencesfar even from England I was very very lonely and longed for a womans voice Thats enough I have told you too much already for you to forgive me now
Yes thats enough dear
I havehe lowered his voiceI have been through hell
Gravely she considered this claim Had he Had he suffered tortures of remorse or had it been There thats over Now for respectable life again The latter if she read him rightly A man who has been through hell does not boast of his virility He is humble and hides it if indeed it still exists Only in legend does the sinner come forth penitent but terrible to conquer pure woman by his resistless power Henry was anxious to be terrible but had not got it in him He was a good average Englishman who had slipped The really culpable pointhis faithlessness to Mrs Wilcoxnever seemed to strike him She longed to mention Mrs Wilcox
And bit by bit the story was told her It was a very simple story Ten years ago was the time a garrison town in Cyprus the place Now and then he asked her whether she could possibly forgive him and she answered I have already forgiven you Henry She chose her words carefully and so saved him from panic She played the girl until he could rebuild his fortress and hide his soul from the world When the butler came to clear away Henry was in a very different moodasked the fellow what he was in such a hurry for complained of the noise last night in the servants hall Margaret looked intently at the butler He as a handsome young man was faintly attractive to her as a womanan attraction so faint as scarcely to be perceptible yet the skies would have fallen if she had mentioned it to Henry
On her return from the George the building operations were complete and the old Henry fronted her competent cynical and kind He had made a clean breast had been forgiven and the great thing now was to forget his failure and to send it the way of other unsuccessful investments Jacky rejoined Howards End and Ducie Street and the vermilion motorcar and the Argentine Hard Dollars and all the things and people for whom he had never had much use and had less now Their memory hampered him He could scarcely attend to Margaret who brought back disquieting news from the George Helen and her clients had gone
Well let them gothe man and his wife I mean for the more we see of your sister the better
But they have gone separatelyHelen very early the Basts just before I arrived They have left no message They have answered neither of my notes I dont like to think what it all means
What did you say in the notes
I told you last night
Ohahyes Dear would you like one turn in the garden
Margaret took his arm The beautiful weather soothed her But the wheels of Evies wedding were still at work tossing the guests outwards as deftly as they had drawn them in and she could not be with him long It had been arranged that they should motor to Shrewsbury whence he would go north and she back to London with the Warringtons For a fraction of time she was happy Then her brain recommenced
I am afraid there has been gossiping of some kind at the George Helen would not have left unless she had heard something I mismanaged that It is wretched I ought tohave parted her from that woman at once
Margaret he exclaimed loosing her arm impressively
Yesyes Henry
I am far from a saintin fact the reversebut you have taken me for better or worse Bygones must be bygones You have promised to forgive me Margaret a promise is a promise Never mention that woman again
Except for some practical reasonnever
Practical You practical
Yes Im practical she murmured stooping over the mowingmachine and playing with the grass which trickled through her fingers like sand
He had silenced her but her fears made him uneasy Not for the first time he was threatened with blackmail He was rich and supposed to be moral the Basts knew that he was not and might find it profitable to hint as much
At all events you mustnt worry he said This is a mans business He thought intently On no account mention it to anybody
Margaret flushed at advice so elementary but he was really paving the way for a lie If necessary he would deny that he had ever known Mrs Bast and prosecute her for libel Perhaps he never had known her Here was Margaret who behaved as if he had not There the house Round them were half a dozen gardeners clearing up after his daughters wedding All was so solid and spruce that the past flew up out of sight like a springblind leaving only the last five minutes unrolled
Glancing at these he saw that the car would be round during the next five and plunged into action Gongs were tapped orders issued Margaret was sent to dress and the housemaid to sweep up the long trickle of grass that she had left across the hall As is Man to the Universe so was the mind of Mr Wilcox to the minds of some mena concentrated light upon a tiny spot a little Ten Minutes moving selfcontained through its appointed years No Pagan he who lives for the Now and may be wiser than all philosophers He lived for the five minutes that have past and the five to come he had the business mind
How did he stand now as his motor slipped out of Oniton and breasted the great round hills Margaret had heard a certain rumour but was all right She had forgiven him God bless her and he felt the manlier for it Charles and Evie had not heard it and never must hear No more must Paul Over his children he felt great tenderness which he did not try to track to a cause Mrs Wilcox was too far back in his life He did not connect her with the sudden aching love that he felt for Evie Poor little Evie he trusted that Cahill would make her a decent husband
And Margaret How did she stand
She had several minor worries Clearly her sister had heard something She dreaded meeting her in town And she was anxious about Leonard for whom they certainly were responsible Nor ought Mrs Bast to starve But the main situation had not altered She still loved Henry His actions not his disposition had disappointed her and she could bear that And she loved her future home Standing up in the car just where she had leapt from it two days before she gazed back with deep emotion upon Oniton Besides the Grange and the Castle keep she could now pick out the church and the blackandwhite gables of the George There was the bridge and the river nibbling its green peninsula She could even see the bathingshed but while she was looking for Charless new springboard the forehead of the hill rose up and hid the whole scene
She never saw it again Day and night the river flows down into England day after day the sun retreats into the Welsh mountains and the tower chimes See the Conquering Hero But the Wilcoxes have no part in the place nor in any place It is not their names that recur in the parish register It is not their ghosts that sigh among the alders at evening They have swept into the valley and swept out of it leaving a little dust and a little money behind
Chapter 30
Tibby was now approaching his last year at Oxford He had moved out of college and was contemplating the Universe or such portions of it as concerned him from his comfortable lodgings in Long Wall He was not concerned with much When a young man is untroubled by passions and sincerely indifferent to public opinion his outlook is necessarily limited Tibby neither wished to strengthen the position of the rich nor to improve that of the poor and so was well content to watch the elms nodding behind the mildly embattled parapets of Magdalen There are worse lives Though selfish he was never cruel though affected in manner he never posed Like Margaret he disdained the heroic equipment and it was only after many visits that men discovered Schlegel to possess a character and a brain He had done well in Mods much to the surprise of those who attended lectures and took proper exercise and was now glancing disdainfully at Chinese in case he should some day consent to qualify as a Student Interpreter To him thus employed Helen entered A telegram had preceded her
He noticed in a distant way that his sister had altered As a rule he found her too pronounced and had never come across this look of appeal pathetic yet dignifiedthe look of a sailor who has lost everything at sea
I have come from Oniton she began There has been a great deal of trouble there
Whos for lunch said Tibby picking up the claret which was warming in the hearth Helen sat down submissively at the table Why such an early start he asked
Sunrise or somethingwhen I could get away
So I surmise Why
I dont know whats to be done Tibby I am very much upset at a piece of news that concerns Meg and do not want to face her and I am not going back to Wickham Place I stopped here to tell you this
The landlady came in with the cutlets Tibby put a marker in the leaves of his Chinese Grammar and helped them Oxfordthe Oxford of the vacationdreamed and rustled outside and indoors the little fire was coated with grey where the sunshine touched it Helen continued her odd story
Give Meg my love and say that I want to be alone I mean to go to Munich or else Bonn
Such a message is easily given said her brother
As regards Wickham Place and my share of the furniture you and she are to do exactly as you like My own feeling is that everything may just as well be sold What does one want with dusty economic books which have made the world no better or with mothers hideous chiffoniers I have also another commission for you I want you to deliver a letter She got up I havent written it yet Why shouldnt I post it though She sat down again My head is rather wretched I hope that none of your friends are likely to come in
Tibby locked the door His friends often found it in this condition Then he asked whether anything had gone wrong at Evies wedding
Not there said Helen and burst into tears
He had known her hystericalit was one of her aspects with which he had no concernand yet these tears touched him as something unusual They were nearer the things that did concern him such as music He laid down his knife and looked at her curiously Then as she continued to sob he went on with his lunch
The time came for the second course and she was still crying Apple Charlotte was to follow which spoils by waiting Do you mind Mrs Martlett coming in he asked or shall I take it from her at the door
Could I bathe my eyes Tibby
He took her to his bedroom and introduced the pudding in her absence Having helped himself he put it down to warm in the hearth His hand stretched towards the Grammar and soon he was turning over the pages raising his eyebrows scornfully perhaps at human nature perhaps at Chinese To him thus employed Helen returned She had pulled herself together but the grave appeal had not vanished from her eyes
Now for the explanation she said Why didnt I begin with it I have found out something about Mr Wilcox He has behaved very wrongly indeed and ruined two peoples lives It all came on me very suddenly last night I am very much upset and I do not know what to do Mrs Bast
Oh those people
Helen seemed silenced
Shall I lock the door again
No thanks Tibbikins Youre being very good to me I want to tell you the story before I go abroad You must do exactly what you liketreat it as part of the furniture Meg cannot have heard it yet I think But I cannot face her and tell her that the man she is going to marry has misconducted himself I dont even know whether she ought to be told Knowing as she does that I dislike him she will suspect me and think that I want to ruin her match I simply dont know what to make of such a thing I trust your judgment What would you do
I gather he has had a mistress said Tibby
Helen flushed with shame and anger And ruined two peoples lives And goes about saying that personal actions count for nothing and there always will be rich and poor He met her when he was trying to get rich out in CyprusI dont wish to make him worse than he is and no doubt she was ready enough to meet him But there it is They met He goes his way and she goes hers What do you suppose is the end of such women
He conceded that it was a bad business
They end in two ways Either they sink till the lunatic asylums and the workhouses are full of them and cause Mr Wilcox to write letters to the papers complaining of our national degeneracy or else they entrap a boy into marriage before it is too late SheI cant blame her
But this isnt all she continued after a long pause during which the landlady served them with coffee I come now to the business that took us to Oniton We went all three Acting on Mr Wilcoxs advice the man throws up a secure situation and takes an insecure one from which he is dismissed There are certain excuses but in the main Mr Wilcox is to blame as Meg herself admitted It is only common justice that he should employ the man himself But he meets the woman and like the cur that he is he refuses and tries to get rid of them He makes Meg write Two notes came from her late that eveningone for me one for Leonard dismissing him with barely a reason I couldnt understand Then it comes out that Mrs Bast had spoken to Mr Wilcox on the lawn while we left her to get rooms and was still speaking about him when Leonard came back to her This Leonard knew all along He thought it natural he should be ruined twice Natural Could you have contained yourself
It is certainly a very bad business said Tibby
His reply seemed to calm his sister I was afraid that I saw it out of proportion But you are right outside it and you must know In a day or twoor perhaps a weektake whatever steps you think fit I leave it in your hands
She concluded her charge
The facts as they touch Meg are all before you she added and Tibby sighed and felt it rather hard that because of his open mind he should be empanelled to serve as a juror He had never been interested in human beings for which one must blame him but he had had rather too much of them at Wickham Place Just as some people cease to attend when books are mentioned so Tibbys attention wandered when personal relations came under discussion Ought Margaret to know what Helen knew the Basts to know Similar questions had vexed him from infancy and at Oxford he had learned to say that the importance of human beings has been vastly overrated by specialists The epigram with its faint whiff of the eighties meant nothing But he might have let it off now if his sister had not been ceaselessly beautiful
You see Helenhave a cigaretteI dont see what Im to do
Then theres nothing to be done I dare say you are right Let them marry There remains the question of compensation
Do you want me to adjudicate that too Had you not better consult an expert
This part is in confidence said Helen It has nothing to do with Meg and do not mention it to her The compensationI do not see who is to pay it if I dont and I have already decided on the minimum sum As soon as possible I am placing it to your account and when I am in Germany you will pay it over for me I shall never forget your kindness Tibbikins if you do this
What is the sum
Five thousand
Good God alive said Tibby and went crimson
Now what is the good of driblets To go through life having done one thingto have raised one person from the abyss not these puny gifts of shillings and blanketsmaking the grey more grey No doubt people will think me extraordinary
I dont care a damn what people think cried he heated to unusual manliness of diction But its half what you have
Not nearly half She spread out her hands over her soiled skirt I have far too much and we settled at Chelsea last spring that three hundred a year is necessary to set a man on his feet What I give will bring in a hundred and fifty between two It isnt enough
He could not recover He was not angry or even shocked and he saw that Helen would still have plenty to live on But it amazed him to think what haycocks people can make of their lives His delicate intonations would not work and he could only blurt out that the five thousand pounds would mean a great deal of bother for him personally
I didnt expect you to understand me
I I understand nobody
But youll do it
Apparently
I leave you two commissions then The first concerns Mr Wilcox and you are to use your discretion The second concerns the money and is to be mentioned to no one and carried out literally You will send a hundred pounds on account tomorrow
He walked with her to the station passing through those streets whose serried beauty never bewildered him and never fatigued The lovely creature raised domes and spires into the cloudless blue and only the ganglion of vulgarity round Carfax showed how evanescent was the phantom how faint its claim to represent England Helen rehearsing her commission noticed nothing the Basts were in her brain and she retold the crisis in a meditative way which might have made other men curious She was seeing whether it would hold He asked her once why she had taken the Basts right into the heart of Evies wedding She stopped like a frightened animal and said Does that seem to you so odd Her eyes the hand laid on the mouth quite haunted him until they were absorbed into the figure of St Mary the Virgin before whom he paused for a moment on the walk home
It is convenient to follow him in the discharge of his duties Margaret summoned him the next day She was terrified at Helens flight and he had to say that she had called in at Oxford Then she said Did she seem worried at any rumour about Henry He answered Yes I knew it was that she exclaimed Ill write to her Tibby was relieved
He then sent the cheque to the address that Helen gave him and stated that later on he was instructed to forward five thousand pounds An answer came back very civil and quiet in tonesuch an answer as Tibby himself would have given The cheque was returned the legacy refused the writer being in no need of money Tibby forwarded this to Helen adding in the fulness of his heart that Leonard Bast seemed somewhat a monumental person after all Helens reply was frantic He was to take no notice He was to go down at once and say that she commanded acceptance He went A scurf of books and china ornaments awaited them The Basts had just been evicted for not paying their rent and had wandered no one knew whither Helen had begun bungling with her money by this time and had even sold out her shares in the Nottingham and Derby Railway For some weeks she did nothing Then she reinvested and owing to the good advice of her stockbrokers became rather richer than she had been before
Chapter 31
Houses have their own ways of dying falling as variously as the generations of men some with a tragic roar some quietly but to an afterlife in the city of ghosts while from othersand thus was the death of Wickham Placethe spirit slips before the body perishes It had decayed in the spring disintegrating the girls more than they knew and causing either to accost unfamiliar regions By September it was a corpse void of emotion and scarcely hallowed by the memories of thirty years of happiness Through its roundtopped doorway passed furniture and pictures and books until the last room was gutted and the last van had rumbled away It stood for a week or two longer openeyed as if astonished at its own emptiness Then it fell Navvies came and spilt it back into the grey With their muscles and their beery good temper they were not the worst of undertakers for a house which had always been human and had not mistaken culture for an end
The furniture with a few exceptions went down into Hertfordshire Mr Wilcox having most kindly offered Howards End as a warehouse Mr Bryce had died abroadan unsatisfactory affairand as there seemed little guarantee that the rent would be paid regularly he cancelled the agreement and resumed possession himself Until he relet the house the Schlegels were welcome to stack their furniture in the garage and lower rooms Margaret demurred but Tibby accepted the offer gladly it saved him from coming to any decision about the future The plate and the more valuable pictures found a safer home in London but the bulk of the things went countryways and were entrusted to the guardianship of Miss Avery
Shortly before the move our hero and heroine were married They have weathered the storm and may reasonably expect peace To have no illusions and yet to lovewhat stronger surety can a woman find She had seen her husbands past as well as his heart She knew her own heart with a thoroughness that commonplace people believe impossible The heart of Mrs Wilcox was alone hidden and perhaps it is superstitious to speculate on the feelings of the dead They were married quietlyreally quietly for as the day approached she refused to go through another Oniton Her brother gave her away her aunt who was out of health presided over a few colourless refreshments The Wilcoxes were represented by Charles who witnessed the marriage settlement and by Mr Cahill Paul did send a cablegram In a few minutes and without the aid of music the clergyman made them man and wife and soon the glass shade had fallen that cuts off married couples from the world She a monogamist regretted the cessation of some of lifes innocent odours he whose instincts were polygamous felt morally braced by the change and less liable to the temptations that had assailed him in the past
They spent their honeymoon near Innsbruck Henry knew of a reliable hotel there and Margaret hoped for a meeting with her sister In this she was disappointed As they came south Helen retreated over the Brenner and wrote an unsatisfactory postcard from the shores of the Lake of Garda saying that her plans were uncertain and had better be ignored Evidently she disliked meeting Henry Two months are surely enough to accustom an outsider to a situation which a wife has accepted in two days and Margaret had again to regret her sisters lack of selfcontrol In a long letter she pointed out the need of charity in sexual matters so little is known about them it is hard enough for those who are personally touched to judge then how futile must be the verdict of Society I dont say there is no standard for that would destroy morality only that there can be no standard until our impulses are classified and better understood Helen thanked her for her kind letterrather a curious reply She moved south again and spoke of wintering in Naples
Mr Wilcox was not sorry that the meeting failed Helen left him time to grow skin over his wound There were still moments when it pained him Had he only known that Margaret was awaiting himMargaret so lively and intelligent and yet so submissivehe would have kept himself worthier of her Incapable of grouping the past he confused the episode of Jacky with another episode that had taken place in the days of his bachelorhood The two made one crop of wild oats for which he was heartily sorry and he could not see that those oats are of a darker stock which are rooted in anothers dishonour Unchastity and infidelity were as confused to him as to the Middle Ages his only moral teacher Ruth poor old Ruth did not enter into his calculations at all for poor old Ruth had never found him out
His affection for his present wife grew steadily Her cleverness gave him no trouble and indeed he liked to see her reading poetry or something about social questions it distinguished her from the wives of other men He had only to call and she clapped the book up and was ready to do what he wished Then they would argue so jollily and once or twice she had him in quite a tight corner but as soon as he grew really serious she gave in Man is for war woman for the recreation of the warrior but he does not dislike it if she makes a show of fight She cannot win in a real battle having no muscles only nerves Nerves make her jump out of a moving motorcar or refuse to be married fashionably The warrior may well allow her to triumph on such occasions they move not the imperishable plinth of things that touch his peace
Margaret had a bad attack of these nerves during the honeymoon He told hercasually as was his habitthat Oniton Grange was let She showed her annoyance and asked rather crossly why she had not been consulted
I didnt want to bother you he replied Besides I have only heard for certain this morning
Where are we to live said Margaret trying to laugh I loved the place extraordinarily Dont you believe in having a permanent home Henry
He assured her that she misunderstood him It is home life that distinguishes us from the foreigner But he did not believe in a damp home
This is news I never heard till this minute that Oniton was damp
My dear girlhe flung out his handhave you eyes have you a skin How could it be anything but damp in such a situation In the first place the Grange is on clay and built where the castle moat must have been then theres that destestable little river steaming all night like a kettle Feel the cellar walls look up under the eaves Ask Sir James or anyone Those Shropshire valleys are notorious The only possible place for a house in Shropshire is on a hill but for my part I think the country is too far from London and the scenery nothing special
Margaret could not resist saying Why did you go there then
Ibecause He drew his head back and grew rather angry Why have we come to the Tyrol if it comes to that One might go on asking such questions indefinitely
One might but he was only gaining time for a plausible answer Out it came and he believed it as soon as it was spoken
The truth is I took Oniton on account of Evie Dont let this go any further
Certainly not
I shouldnt like her to know that she nearly let me in for a very bad bargain No sooner did I sign the agreement than she got engaged Poor little girl She was so keen on it all and wouldnt even wait to make proper inquiries about the shooting Afraid it would get snapped upjust like all of your sex Well no harms done She has had her country wedding and Ive got rid of my house to some fellows who are starting a preparatory school
Where shall we live then Henry I should enjoy living somewhere
I have not yet decided What about Norfolk
Margaret was silent Marriage had not saved her from the sense of flux London was but a foretaste of this nomadic civilization which is altering human nature so profoundly and throws upon personal relations a stress greater than they have ever borne before Under cosmopolitanism if it comes we shall receive no help from the earth Trees and meadows and mountains will only be a spectacle and the binding force that they once exercised on character must be entrusted to Love alone May Love be equal to the task
It is now what continued Henry Nearly October Let us camp for the winter at Ducie Street and look out for something in the spring
If possible something permanent I cant be as young as I was for these alterations dont suit me
But my dear which would you rather havealterations or rheumatism
I see your point said Margaret getting up If Oniton is really damp it is impossible and must be inhabited by little boys Only in the spring let us look before we leap I will take warning by Evie and not hurry you Remember that you have a free hand this time These endless moves must be bad for the furniture and are certainly expensive
What a practical little woman it is Whats it been reading Theotheohow much
Theosophy
So Ducie Street was her first fatea pleasant enough fate The house being only a little larger than Wickham Place trained her for the immense establishment that was promised in the spring They were frequently away but at home life ran fairly regularly In the morning Henry went to the business and his sandwicha relic this of some prehistoric cravingwas always cut by her own hand He did not rely upon the sandwich for lunch but liked to have it by him in case he grew hungry at eleven When he had gone there was the house to look after and the servants to humanize and several kettles of Helens to keep on the boil Her conscience pricked her a little about the Basts she was not sorry to have lost sight of them No doubt Leonard was worth helping but being Henrys wife she preferred to help someone else As for theatres and discussion societies they attracted her less and less She began to miss new movements and to spend her spare time rereading or thinking rather to the concern of her Chelsea friends They attributed the change to her marriage and perhaps some deep instinct did warn her not to travel further from her husband than was inevitable Yet the main cause lay deeper still she had outgrown stimulants and was passing from words to things It was doubtless a pity not to keep up with Wedekind or John but some closing of the gates is inevitable after thirty if the mind itself is to become a creative power
Chapter 32
She was looking at plans one day in the following springthey had finally decided to go down into Sussex and buildwhen Mrs Charles Wilcox was announced
Have you heard the news Dolly cried as soon as she entered the room Charles is so angI mean he is sure you know about it or rather that you dont know
Why Dolly said Margaret placidly kissing her Heres a surprise How are the boys and the baby
Boys and the baby were well and in describing a great row that there had been at Hilton Tennis Club Dolly forgot her news The wrong people had tried to get in The rector as representing the older inhabitants had saidCharles had saidthe taxcollector had saidCharles had regretted not sayingand she closed the description with But lucky you with four courts of your own at Midhurst
It will be very jolly replied Margaret
Are those the plans Does it matter me seeing them
Of course not
Charles has never seen the plans
They have only just arrived Here is the ground floorno thats rather difficult Try the elevation We are to have a good many gables and a picturesque skyline
What makes it smell so funny said Dolly after a moments inspection She was incapable of understanding plans or maps
I suppose the paper
And which way up is it
Just the ordinary way up Thats the skyline and the part that smells strongest is the sky
Well ask me another Margaretohwhat was I going to say Hows Helen
Quite well
Is she never coming back to England Every one thinks its awfully odd she doesnt
So it is said Margaret trying to conceal her vexation She was getting rather sore on this point Helen is odd awfully She has now been away eight months
But hasnt she any address
A poste restante somewhere in Bavaria is her address Do write her a line I will look it up for you
No dont bother Thats eight months she has been away surely
Exactly She left just after Evies wedding It would be eight months
Just when baby was born then
Just so
Dolly sighed and stared enviously round the drawingroom She was beginning to lose her brightness and good looks The Charles were not well off for Mr Wilcox having brought up his children with expensive tastes believed in letting them shift for themselves After all he had not treated them generously Yet another baby was expected she told Margaret and they would have to give up the motor Margaret sympathized but in a formal fashion and Dolly little imagined that the stepmother was urging Mr Wilcox to make them a more liberal allowance She sighed again and at last the particular grievance was remembered Oh yes she cried that is it Miss Avery has been unpacking your packingcases
Why has she done that How unnecessary
Ask another I suppose you ordered her to
I gave no such orders Perhaps she was airing the things She did undertake to light an occasional fire
It was far more than an air said Dolly solemnly The floor sounds covered with books Charles sent me to know what is to be done for he feels certain you dont know
Books cried Margaret moved by the holy word Dolly are you serious Has she been touching our books
Hasnt she though What used to be the halls full of them Charles thought for certain you knew of it
I am very much obliged to you Dolly What can have come over Miss Avery I must go down about it at once Some of the books are my brothers and are quite valuable She had no right to open any of the cases
I say shes dotty She was the one that never got married you know Oh I say perhaps she thinks your books are weddingpresents to herself Old maids are taken that way sometimes Miss Avery hates us all like poison ever since her frightful dustup with Evie
I hadnt heard of that said Margaret A visit from Dolly had its compensations
Didnt you know she gave Evie a present last August and Evie returned it and thenoh goloshes You never read such a letter as Miss Avery wrote
But it was wrong of Evie to return it It wasnt like her to do such a heartless thing
But the present was so expensive
Why does that make any difference Dolly
Still when it costs over five poundsI didnt see it but it was a lovely enamel pendant from a Bond Street shop You cant very well accept that kind of thing from a farm woman Now can you
You accepted a present from Miss Avery when you were married
Oh mine was old earthenware stuffnot worth a halfpenny Evies was quite different Youd have to ask anyone to the wedding who gave you a pendant like that Uncle Percy and Albert and father and Charles all said it was quite impossible and when four men agree what is a girl to do Evie didnt want to upset the old thing so thought a sort of joking letter best and returned the pendant straight to the shop to save Miss Avery trouble
But Miss Avery said
Dollys eyes grew round It was a perfectly awful letter Charles said it was the letter of a madman In the end she had the pendant back again from the shop and threw it into the duckpond
Did she give any reasons
We think she meant to be invited to Oniton and so climb into society
Shes rather old for that said Margaret pensively May not she have given the present to Evie in remembrance of her mother
Thats a notion Give every one their due eh Well I suppose I ought to be toddling Come along Mr Muffyou want a new coat but I dont know wholl give it you Im sure and addressing her apparel with mournful humour Dolly moved from the room
Margaret followed her to ask whether Henry knew about Miss Averys rudeness
Oh yes
I wonder then why he let me ask her to look after the house
But shes only a farm woman said Dolly and her explanation proved correct Henry only censured the lower classes when it suited him He bore with Miss Avery as with Cranebecause he could get good value out of them I have patience with a man who knows his job he would say really having patience with the job and not the man Paradoxical as it may sound he had something of the artist about him he would pass over an insult to his daughter sooner than lose a good charwoman for his wife
Margaret judged it better to settle the little trouble herself Parties were evidently ruffled With Henrys permission she wrote a pleasant note to Miss Avery asking her to leave the cases untouched Then at the first convenient opportunity she went down herself intending to repack her belongings and store them properly in the local warehouse the plan had been amateurish and a failure Tibby promised to accompany her but at the last moment begged to be excused So for the second time in her life she entered the house alone
Chapter 33
The day of her visit was exquisite and the last of unclouded happiness that she was to have for many months Her anxiety about Helens extraordinary absence was still dormant and as for a possible brush with Miss Averythat only gave zest to the expedition She had also eluded Dollys invitation to luncheon Walking straight up from the station she crossed the village green and entered the long chestnut avenue that connects it with the church The church itself stood in the village once But it there attracted so many worshippers that the devil in a pet snatched it from its foundations and poised it on an inconvenient knoll threequarters of a mile away If this story is true the chestnut avenue must have been planted by the angels No more tempting approach could be imagined for the lukewarm Christian and if he still finds the walk too long the devil is defeated all the same Science having built Holy Trinity a Chapel of Ease near the Charles and roofed it with tin
Up the avenue Margaret strolled slowly stopping to watch the sky that gleamed through the upper branches of the chestnuts or to finger the little horseshoes on the lower branches Why has not England a great mythology Our folklore has never advanced beyond daintiness and the greater melodies about our countryside have all issued through the pipes of Greece Deep and true as the native imagination can be it seems to have failed here It has stopped with the witches and the fairies It cannot vivify one fraction of a summer field or give names to half a dozen stars England still waits for the supreme moment of her literaturefor the great poet who shall voice her or better still for the thousand little poets whose voices shall pass into our common talk
At the church the scenery changed The chestnut avenue opened into a road smooth but narrow which led into the untouched country She followed it for over a mile Its little hesitations pleased her Having no urgent destiny it strolled downhill or up as it wished taking no trouble about the gradients nor about the view which nevertheless expanded The great estates that throttle the south of Hertfordshire were less obtrusive here and the appearance of the land was neither aristocratic nor suburban To define it was difficult but Margaret knew what it was not it was not snobbish Though its contours were slight there was a touch of freedom in their sweep to which Surrey will never attain and the distant brow of the Chilterns towered like a mountain Left to itself was Margarets opinion this county would vote Liberal The comradeship not passionate that is our highest gift as a nation was promised by it as by the low brick farm where she called for the key
But the inside of the farm was disappointing A most finished young person received her Yes Mrs Wilcox no Mrs Wilcox oh yes Mrs Wilcox auntie received your letter quite duly Auntie has gone up to your little place at the present moment Shall I send the servant to direct you Followed by Of course auntie does not generally look after your place she only does it to oblige a neighbour as something exceptional It gives her something to do She spends quite a lot of her time there My husband says to me sometimes Wheres auntie I say Need you ask Shes at Howards End Yes Mrs Wilcox Mrs Wilcox could I prevail upon you to accept a piece of cake Not if I cut it for you
Margaret refused the cake but unfortunately this acquired her gentility in the eyes of Miss Averys niece
I cannot let you go on alone Now dont You really mustnt I will direct you myself if it comes to that I must get my hat NowroguishlyMrs Wilcox dont you move while Im gone
Stunned Margaret did not move from the best parlour over which the touch of art nouveau had fallen But the other rooms looked in keeping though they conveyed the peculiar sadness of a rural interior Here had lived an elder race to which we look back with disquietude The country which we visit at weekends was really a home to it and the graver sides of life the deaths the partings the yearnings for love have their deepest expression in the heart of the fields All was not sadness The sun was shining without The thrush sang his two syllables on the budding guelderrose Some children were playing uproariously in heaps of golden straw It was the presence of sadness at all that surprised Margaret and ended by giving her a feeling of completeness In these English farms if anywhere one might see life steadily and see it whole group in one vision its transitoriness and its eternal youth connectconnect without bitterness until all men are brothers But her thoughts were interrupted by the return of Miss Averys niece and were so tranquillizing that she suffered the interruption gladly
It was quicker to go out by the back door and after due explanations they went out by it The niece was now mortified by unnumerable chickens who rushed up to her feet for food and by a shameless and maternal sow She did not know what animals were coming to But her gentility withered at the touch of the sweet air The wind was rising scattering the straw and ruffling the tails of the ducks as they floated in families over Evies pendant One of those delicious gales of spring in which leaves stiff in bud seem to rustle swept over the land and then fell silent Georgia sang the thrush Cuckoo came furtively from the cliff of pinetrees Georgia pretty Georgia and the other birds joined in with nonsense The hedge was a halfpainted picture which would be finished in a few days Celandines grew on its banks lords and ladies and primroses in the defended hollows the wild rosebushes still bearing their withered hips showed also the promise of blossom Spring had come clad in no classical garb yet fairer than all springs fairer even than she who walks through the myrtles of Tuscany with the graces before her and the zephyr behind
The two women walked up the lane full of outward civility But Margaret was thinking how difficult it was to be earnest about furniture on such a day and the niece was thinking about hats Thus engaged they reached Howards End Petulant cries of Auntie severed the air There was no reply and the front door was locked
Are you sure that Miss Avery is up here asked Margaret
Oh yes Mrs Wilcox quite sure She is here daily
Margaret tried to look in through the diningroom window but the curtain inside was drawn tightly So with the drawingroom and the hall The appearance of these curtains was familiar yet she did not remember them being there on her other visit her impression was that Mr Bryce had taken everything away They tried the back Here again they received no answer and could see nothing the kitchenwindow was fitted with a blind while the pantry and scullery had pieces of wood propped up against them which looked ominously like the lids of packingcases Margaret thought of her books and she lifted up her voice also At the first cry she succeeded
Well well replied someone inside the house If it isnt Mrs Wilcox come at last
Have you got the key auntie
Madge go away said Miss Avery still invisible
Auntie its Mrs Wilcox
Margaret supported her Your niece and I have come together
Madge go away This is no moment for your hat
The poor woman went red Auntie gets more eccentric lately she said nervously
Miss Avery called Margaret I have come about the furniture Could you kindly let me in
Yes Mrs Wilcox said the voice of course But after that came silence They called again without response They walked round the house disconsolately
I hope Miss Avery is not ill hazarded Margaret
Well if youll excuse me said Madge perhaps I ought to be leaving you now The servants need seeing to at the farm Auntie is so odd at times Gathering up her elegancies she retired defeated and as if her departure had loosed a spring the front door opened at once
Miss Avery said Well come right in Mrs Wilcox quite pleasantly and calmly
Thank you so much began Margaret but broke off at the sight of an umbrellastand It was her own
Come right into the hall first said Miss Avery She drew the curtain and Margaret uttered a cry of despair For an appalling thing had happened The hall was fitted up with the contents of the library from Wickham Place The carpet had been laid the big worktable drawn up near the window the bookcases filled the wall opposite the fireplace and her fathers swordthis is what bewildered her particularlyhad been drawn from its scabbard and hung naked amongst the sober volumes Miss Avery must have worked for days
Im afraid this isnt what we meant she began Mr Wilcox and I never intended the cases to be touched For instance these books are my brothers We are storing them for him and for my sister who is abroad When you kindly undertook to look after things we never expected you to do so much
The house has been empty long enough said the old woman
Margaret refused to argue I dare say we didnt explain she said civilly It has been a mistake and very likely our mistake
Mrs Wilcox it has been mistake upon mistake for fifty years The house is Mrs Wilcoxs and she would not desire it to stand empty any longer
To help the poor decaying brain Margaret said
Yes Mrs Wilcoxs house the mother of Mr Charles
Mistake upon mistake said Miss Avery Mistake upon mistake
Well I dont know said Margaret sitting down in one of her own chairs I really dont know whats to be done She could not help laughing
The other said Yes it should be a merry house enough
I dont knowI dare say Well thank you very much Miss Avery Yes thats all right Delightful
There is still the parlour She went through the door opposite and drew a curtain Light flooded the drawingroom and the drawingroom furniture from Wickham Place And the diningroom More curtains were drawn more windows were flung open to the spring Then through here Miss Avery continued passing and repassing through the hall Her voice was lost but Margaret heard her pulling up the kitchen blind Ive not finished here yet she announced returning Theres still a deal to do The farm lads will carry your great wardrobes upstairs for there is no need to go into expense at Hilton
It is all a mistake repeated Margaret feeling that she must put her foot down A misunderstanding Mr Wilcox and I are not going to live at Howards End
Oh indeed On account of his hay fever
We have settled to build a new home for ourselves in Sussex and part of this furnituremy partwill go down there presently She looked at Miss Avery intently trying to understand the kink in her brain Here was no maundering old woman Her wrinkles were shrewd and humorous She looked capable of scathing wit and also of high but unostentatious nobility
You think that you wont come back to live here Mrs Wilcox but you will
That remains to be seen said Margaret smiling We have no intention of doing so for the present We happen to need a much larger house Circumstances oblige us to give big parties Of course some dayone never knows does one
Miss Avery retorted Some day Tcha tcha Dont talk about some day You are living here now
Am I
You are living here and have been for the last ten minutes if you ask me
It was a senseless remark but with a queer feeling of disloyalty Margaret rose from her chair She felt that Henry had been obscurely censured They went into the diningroom where the sunlight poured in upon her mothers chiffonier and upstairs where many an old god peeped from a new niche The furniture fitted extraordinarily well In the central roomover the hall the room that Helen had slept in four years agoMiss Avery had placed Tibbys old bassinette
The nursery she said
Margaret turned away without speaking
At last everything was seen The kitchen and lobby were still stacked with furniture and straw but as far as she could make out nothing had been broken or scratched A pathetic display of ingenuity Then they took a friendly stroll in the garden It had gone wild since her last visit The gravel sweep was weedy and grass had sprung up at the very jaws of the garage And Evies rockery was only bumps Perhaps Evie was responsible for Miss Averys oddness But Margaret suspected that the cause lay deeper and that the girls silly letter had but loosed the irritation of years
Its a beautiful meadow she remarked It was one of those openair drawingrooms that have been formed hundreds of years ago out of the smaller fields So the boundary hedge zigzagged down the hill at right angles and at the bottom there was a little green annexa sort of powdercloset for the cows
Yes the maidys well enough said Miss Avery for those that is who dont suffer from sneezing And she cackled maliciously Ive seen Charlie Wilcox go out to my lads in hay timeoh they ought to do thisthey mustnt do thathed learn them to be lads And just then the tickling took him He has it from his father with other things Theres not one Wilcox that can stand up against a field in JuneI laughed fit to burst while he was courting Ruth
My brother gets hay fever too said Margaret
This house lies too much on the land for them Naturally they were glad enough to slip in at first But Wilcoxes are better than nothing as I see youve found
Margaret laughed
They keep a place going dont they Yes it is just that
They keep England going it is my opinion
But Miss Avery upset her by replying Ay they breed like rabbits Well well its a funny world But He who made it knows what He wants in it I suppose If Mrs Charlie is expecting her fourth it isnt for us to repine
They breed and they also work said Margaret conscious of some invitation to disloyalty which was echoed by the very breeze and by the songs of the birds It certainly is a funny world but so long as men like my husband and his sons govern it I think itll never be a bad onenever really bad
No bettern nothing said Miss Avery and turned to the wychelm
On their way back to the farm she spoke of her old friend much more clearly than before In the house Margaret had wondered whether she quite distinguished the first wife from the second Now she said I never saw much of Ruth after her grandmother died but we stayed civil It was a very civil family Old Mrs Howard never spoke against anybody nor let anyone be turned away without food Then it was never Trespassers will be prosecuted in their land but would people please not come in Mrs Howard was never created to run a farm
Had they no men to help them Margaret asked
Miss Avery replied Things went on until there were no men
Until Mr Wilcox came along corrected Margaret anxious that her husband should receive his dues
I suppose so but Ruth should have married ano disrespect to you to say this for I take it you were intended to get Wilcox any way whether she got him first or no
Whom should she have married
A soldier exclaimed the old woman Some real soldier
Margaret was silent It was a criticism of Henrys character far more trenchant than any of her own She felt dissatisfied
But thats all over she went on A better time is coming now though youve kept me long enough waiting In a couple of weeks Ill see your lights shining through the hedge of an evening Have you ordered in coals
We are not coming said Margaret firmly She respected Miss Avery too much to humour her No Not coming Never coming It has all been a mistake The furniture must be repacked at once and I am very sorry but I am making other arrangements and must ask you to give me the keys
Certainly Mrs Wilcox said Miss Avery and resigned her duties with a smile
Relieved at this conclusion and having sent her compliments to Madge Margaret walked back to the station She had intended to go to the furniture warehouse and give directions for removal but the muddle had turned out more extensive than she expected so she decided to consult Henry It was as well that she did this He was strongly against employing the local man whom he had previously recommended and advised her to store in London after all
But before this could be done an unexpected trouble fell upon her
Chapter 34
It was not unexpected entirely Aunt Juleys health had been bad all the winter She had had a long series of colds and coughs and had been too busy to get rid of them She had scarcely promised her niece to really take my tiresome chest in hand when she caught a chill and developed acute pneumonia Margaret and Tibby went down to Swanage Helen was telegraphed for and that spring party that after all gathered in that hospitable house had all the pathos of fair memories On a perfect day when the sky seemed blue porcelain and the waves of the discreet little bay beat gentlest of tattoos upon the sand Margaret hurried up through the rhododendrons confronted again by the senselessness of Death One death may explain itself but it throws no light upon another the groping inquiry must begin anew Preachers or scientists may generalize but we know that no generality is possible about those whom we love not one heaven awaits them not even one oblivion Aunt Juley incapable of tragedy slipped out of life with odd little laughs and apologies for having stopped in it so long She was very weak she could not rise to the occasion or realize the great mystery which all agree must await her it only seemed to her that she was quite done upmore done up than ever before that she saw and heard and felt less every moment and that unless something changed she would soon feel nothing Her spare strength she devoted to plans could not Margaret take some steamer expeditions were mackerel cooked as Tibby liked them She worried herself about Helens absence and also that she could be the cause of Helens return The nurses seemed to think such interests quite natural and perhaps hers was an average approach to the Great Gate But Margaret saw Death stripped of any false romance whatever the idea of Death may contain the process can be trivial and hideous
ImportantMargaret dear take the Lulworth when Helen comes
Helen wont be able to stop Aunt Juley She has telegraphed that she can only get away just to see you She must go back to Germany as soon as you are well
How very odd of Helen Mr Wilcox
Yes dear
Can he spare you
Henry wished her to come and had been very kind Yet again Margaret said so
Mrs Munt did not die Quite outside her will a more dignified power took hold of her and checked her on the downward slope She returned without emotion as fidgety as ever On the fourth day she was out of danger
Margaretimportant it went on I should like you to have some companion to take walks with Do try Miss Conder
I have been a little walk with Miss Conder
But she is not really interesting If only you had Helen
I have Tibby Aunt Juley
No but he has to do his Chinese Some real companion is what you need Really Helen is odd
Helen is odd very agreed Margaret
Not content with going abroad why does she want to go back there at once
No doubt she will change her mind when she sees us She has not the least balance
That was the stock criticism about Helen but Margarets voice trembled as she made it By now she was deeply pained at her sisters behaviour It may be unbalanced to fly out of England but to stop away eight months argues that the heart is awry as well as the head A sickbed could recall Helen but she was deaf to more human calls after a glimpse at her aunt she would retire into her nebulous life behind some poste restante She scarcely existed her letters had become dull and infrequent she had no wants and no curiosity And it was all put down to poor Henrys account Henry long pardoned by his wife was still too infamous to be greeted by his sisterinlaw It was morbid and to her alarm Margaret fancied that she could trace the growth of morbidity back in Helens life for nearly four years The flight from Oniton the unbalanced patronage of the Basts the explosion of grief up on the Downsall connected with Paul an insignificant boy whose lips had kissed hers for a fraction of time Margaret and Mrs Wilcox had feared that they might kiss again Foolishly the real danger was reaction Reaction against the Wilcoxes had eaten into her life until she was scarcely sane At twentyfive she had an idée fixe What hope was there for her as an old woman
The more Margaret thought about it the more alarmed she became For many months she had put the subject away but it was too big to be slighted now There was almost a taint of madness Were all Helens actions to be governed by a tiny mishap such as may happen to any young man or woman Can human nature be constructed on lines so insignificant The blundering little encounter at Howards End was vital It propagated itself where graver intercourse lay barren it was stronger than sisterly intimacy stronger than reason or books In one of her moods Helen had confessed that she still enjoyed it in a certain sense Paul had faded but the magic of his caress endured And where there is enjoyment of the past there may also be reactionpropagation at both ends
Well it is odd and sad that our minds should be such seedbeds and we without power to choose the seed But man is an odd sad creature as yet intent on pilfering the earth and heedless of the growths within himself He cannot be bored about psychology He leaves it to the specialist which is as if he should leave his dinner to be eaten by a steamengine He cannot be bothered to digest his own soul Margaret and Helen have been more patient and it is suggested that Margaret has succeededso far as success is yet possible She does understand herself she has some rudimentary control over her own growth Whether Helen has succeeded one cannot say
The day that Mrs Munt rallied Helens letter arrived She had posted it at Munich and would be in London herself on the morrow It was a disquieting letter though the opening was affectionate and sane
Dearest Meg
Give Helens love to Aunt Juley Tell her that I love and have loved her ever since I can remember I shall be in London Thursday
My address will be care of the bankers I have not yet settled on a hotel so write or wire to me there and give me detailed news If Aunt Juley is much better or if for a terrible reason it would be no good my coming down to Swanage you must not think it odd if I do not come I have all sorts of plans in my head I am living abroad at present and want to get back as quickly as possible Will you please tell me where our furniture is I should like to take out one or two books the rest are for you
Forgive me dearest Meg This must read like rather a tiresome letter but all letters are from your loving
Helen
It was a tiresome letter for it tempted Margaret to tell a lie If she wrote that Aunt Juley was still in danger her sister would come Unhealthiness is contagious We cannot be in contact with those who are in a morbid state without ourselves deteriorating To act for the best might do Helen good but would do herself harm and at the risk of disaster she kept her colours flying a little longer She replied that their aunt was much better and awaited developments
Tibby approved of her reply Mellowing rapidly he was a pleasanter companion than before Oxford had done much for him He had lost his peevishness and could hide his indifference to people and his interest in food But he had not grown more human The years between eighteen and twentytwo so magical for most were leading him gently from boyhood to middle age He had never known youngmanliness that quality which warms the heart till death and gives Mr Wilcox an imperishable charm He was frigid through no fault of his own and without cruelty He thought Helen wrong and Margaret right but the family trouble was for him what a scene behind footlights is for most people He had only one suggestion to make and that was characteristic
Why dont you tell Mr Wilcox
About Helen
Perhaps he has come across that sort of thing
He would do all he could but
Oh you know best But he is practical
It was the students belief in experts Margaret demurred for one or two reasons Presently Helens answer came She sent a telegram requesting the address of the furniture as she would now return at once Margaret replied Certainly not meet me at the bankers at four She and Tibby went up to London Helen was not at the bankers and they were refused her address Helen had passed into chaos
Margaret put her arm round her brother He was all that she had left and never had he seemed more unsubstantial
Tibby love what next
He replied It is extraordinary
Dear your judgments often clearer than mine Have you any notion whats at the back
None unless its something mental
Ohthat said Margaret Quite impossible But the suggestion had been uttered and in a few minutes she took it up herself Nothing else explained And London agreed with Tibby The mask fell off the city and she saw it for what it really isa caricature of infinity The familiar barriers the streets along which she moved the houses between which she had made her little journeys for so many years became negligible suddenly Helen seemed one with grimy trees and the traffic and the slowlyflowing slabs of mud She had accomplished a hideous act of renunciation and returned to the One Margarets own faith held firm She knew the human soul will be merged if it be merged at all with the stars and the sea Yet she felt that her sister had been going amiss for many years It was symbolic the catastrophe should come now on a London afternoon while rain fell slowly
Henry was the only hope Henry was definite He might know of some paths in the chaos that were hidden from them and she determined to take Tibbys advice and lay the whole matter in his hands They must call at his office He could not well make it worse She went for a few moments into St Pauls whose dome stands out of the welter so bravely as if preaching the gospel of form But within St Pauls is as its surroundingsechoes and whispers inaudible songs invisible mosaics wet footmarks crossing and recrossing the floor Si monumentum requiris circumspice it points us back to London There was no hope of Helen here
Henry was unsatisfactory at first That she had expected He was overjoyed to see her back from Swanage and slow to admit the growth of a new trouble When they told him of their search he only chaffed Tibby and the Schlegels generally and declared that it was just like Helen to lead her relatives a dance
That is what we all say replied Margaret But why should it be just like Helen Why should she be allowed to be so queer and to grow queerer
Dont ask me Im a plain man of business I live and let live My advice to you both is dont worry Margaret youve got black marks again under your eyes You know thats strictly forbidden First your auntthen your sister No we arent going to have it Are we Theobald He rang the bell Ill give you some tea and then you go straight to Ducie Street I cant have my girl looking as old as her husband
All the same you have not quite seen our point said Tibby
Mr Wilcox who was in good spirits retorted I dont suppose I ever shall He leant back laughing at the gifted but ridiculous family while the fire flickered over the map of Africa Margaret motioned to her brother to go on Rather diffident he obeyed her
Margarets point is this he said Our sister may be mad
Charles who was working in the inner room looked round
Come in Charles said Margaret kindly Could you help us at all We are again in trouble
Im afraid I cannot What are the facts We are all mad more or less you know in these days
The facts are as follows replied Tibby who had at times a pedantic lucidity The facts are that she has been in England for three days and will not see us She has forbidden the bankers to give us her address She refuses to answer questions Margaret finds her letters colourless There are other facts but these are the most striking
She has never behaved like this before then asked Henry
Of course not said his wife with a frown
Well my dear how am I to know
A senseless spasm of annoyance came over her You know quite well that Helen never sins against affection she said You must have noticed that much in her surely
Oh yes she and I have always hit it off together
No Henrycant you see I dont mean that
She recovered herself but not before Charles had observed her Stupid and attentive he was watching the scene
I was meaning that when she was eccentric in the past one could trace it back to the heart in the long run She behaved oddly because she cared for someone or wanted to help them Theres no possible excuse for her now She is grieving us deeply and that is why I am sure that she is not well Mad is too terrible a word but she is not well I shall never believe it I shouldnt discuss my sister with you if I thought she was welltrouble you about her I mean
Henry began to grow serious Illhealth was to him something perfectly definite Generally well himself he could not realize that we sink to it by slow gradations The sick had no rights they were outside the pale one could lie to them remorselessly When his first wife was seized he had promised to take her down into Hertfordshire but meanwhile arranged with a nursinghome instead Helen too was ill And the plan that he sketched out for her capture clever and wellmeaning as it was drew its ethics from the wolfpack
You want to get hold of her he said Thats the problem isnt it She has got to see a doctor
For all I know she has seen one already
Yes yes dont interrupt He rose to his feet and thought intently The genial tentative host disappeared and they saw instead the man who had carved money out of Greece and Africa and bought forests from the natives for a few bottles of gin Ive got it he said at last Its perfectly easy Leave it to me Well send her down to Howards End
How will you do that
After her books Tell her that she must unpack them herself Then you can meet her there
But Henry thats just what she wont let me do Its part of herwhatever it isnever to see me
Of course you wont tell her youre going When she is there looking at the cases youll just stroll in If nothing is wrong with her so much the better But therell be the motor round the corner and we can run her up to a specialist in no time
Margaret shook her head Its quite impossible
Why
It doesnt seem impossible to me said Tibby it is surely a very tippy plan
It is impossible because She looked at her husband sadly Its not the particular language that Helen and I talk if you see my meaning It would do splendidly for other people whom I dont blame
But Helen doesnt talk said Tibby Thats our whole difficulty She wont talk your particular language and on that account you think shes ill
No Henry its sweet of you but I couldnt
I see he said you have scruples
I suppose so
And sooner than go against them you would have your sister suffer You could have got her down to Swanage by a word but you had scruples And scruples are all very well I am as scrupulous as any man alive I hope but when it is a case like this when there is a question of madness
I deny its madness
You said just now
Its madness when I say it but not when you say it
Henry shrugged his shoulders Margaret Margaret he groaned No education can teach a woman logic Now my dear my time is valuable Do you want me to help you or not
Not in that way
Answer my question Plain question plain answer Do
Charles surprised them by interrupting Pater we may as well keep Howards End out of it he said
Why Charles
Charles could give no reason but Margaret felt as if over tremendous distance a salutation had passed between them
The whole house is at sixes and sevens he said crossly We dont want any more mess
Whos we asked his father My boy pray whos we
I am sure I beg your pardon said Charles I appear always to be intruding
By now Margaret wished she had never mentioned her trouble to her husband Retreat was impossible He was determined to push the matter to a satisfactory conclusion and Helen faded as he talked Her fair flying hair and eager eyes counted for nothing for she was ill without rights and any of her friends might hunt her Sick at heart Margaret joined in the chase She wrote her sister a lying letter at her husbands dictation she said the furniture was all at Howards End but could be seen on Monday next at 3 pm when a charwoman would be in attendance It was a cold letter and the more plausible for that Helen would think she was offended And on Monday next she and Henry were to lunch with Dolly and then ambush themselves in the garden
After they had gone Mr Wilcox said to his son I cant have this sort of behaviour my boy Margarets too sweetnatured to mind but I mind for her
Charles made no answer
Is anything wrong with you Charles this afternoon
No pater but you may be taking on a bigger business than you reckon
How
Dont ask me
Chapter 35
One speaks of the moods of spring but the days that are her true children have only one mood they are all full of the rising and dropping of winds and the whistling of birds New flowers may come out the green embroidery of the hedges increase but the same heaven broods overhead soft thick and blue the same figures seen and unseen are wandering by coppice and meadow The morning that Margaret had spent with Miss Avery and the afternoon she set out to entrap Helen were the scales of a single balance Time might never have moved rain never have fallen and man alone with his schemes and ailments was troubling Nature until he saw her through a veil of tears
She protested no more Whether Henry was right or wrong he was most kind and she knew of no other standard by which to judge him She must trust him absolutely As soon as he had taken up a business his obtuseness vanished He profited by the slightest indications and the capture of Helen promised to be staged as deftly as the marriage of Evie
They went down in the morning as arranged and he discovered that their victim was actually in Hilton On his arrival he called at all the liverystables in the village and had a few minutes serious conversation with the proprietors What he said Margaret did not knowperhaps not the truth but news arrived after lunch that a lady had come by the London train and had taken a fly to Howards End
She was bound to drive said Henry There will be her books
I cannot make it out said Margaret for the hundredth time
Finish your coffee dear We must be off
Yes Margaret you know you must take plenty said Dolly
Margaret tried but suddenly lifted her hand to her eyes Dolly stole glances at her fatherinlaw which he did not answer In the silence the motor came round to the door
Youre not fit for it he said anxiously Let me go alone I know exactly what to do
Oh yes I am fit said Margaret uncovering her face Only most frightfully worried I cannot feel that Helen is really alive Her letters and telegrams seem to have come from someone else Her voice isnt in them I dont believe your driver really saw her at the station I wish Id never mentioned it I know that Charles is vexed Yes he is She seized Dollys hand and kissed it There Dolly will forgive me There Now well be off
Henry had been looking at her closely He did not like this breakdown
Dont you want to tidy yourself he asked
Have I time
Yes plenty
She went to the lavatory by the front door and as soon as the bolt slipped Mr Wilcox said quietly
Dolly Im going without her
Dollys eyes lit up with vulgar excitement She followed him on tiptoe out to the car
Tell her I thought it best
Yes Mr Wilcox I see
Say anything you like All right
The car started well and with ordinary luck would have got away But Porglywoggles who was playing in the garden chose this moment to sit down in the middle of the path Crane in trying to pass him ran one wheel over a bed of wallflowers Dolly screamed Margaret hearing the noise rushed out hatless and was in time to jump on the footboard She said not a single word he was only treating her as she had treated Helen and her rage at his dishonesty only helped to indicate what Helen would feel against them She thought I deserve it I am punished for lowering my colours And she accepted his apologies with a calmness that astonished him
I still consider you are not fit for it he kept saying
Perhaps I was not at lunch But the whole thing is spread clearly before me now
I was meaning to act for the best
Just lend me your scarf will you This wind takes ones hair so
Certainly dear girl Are you all right now
Look My hands have stopped trembling
And have quite forgiven me Then listen Her cab should already have arrived at Howards End Were a little late but no matter Our first move will be to send it down to wait at the farm as if possible one doesnt want a scene before servants A certain gentlemanhe pointed at Cranes backwont drive in but will wait a little short of the front gate behind the laurels Have you still the keys of the house
Yes
Well they arent wanted Do you remember how the house stands
Yes
If we dont find her in the porch we can stroll round into the garden Our object
Here they stopped to pick up the doctor
I was just saying to my wife Mansbridge that our main object is not to frighten Miss Schlegel The house as you know is my property so it should seem quite natural for us to be there The trouble is evidently nervouswouldnt you say so Margaret
The doctor a very young man began to ask questions about Helen Was she normal Was there anything congenital or hereditary Had anything occurred that was likely to alienate her from her family
Nothing answered Margaret wondering what would have happened if she had added Though she did resent my husbands immorality
She always was highly strung pursued Henry leaning back in the car as it shot past the church A tendency to spiritualism and those things though nothing serious Musical literary artistic but I should say normala very charming girl
Margarets anger and terror increased every moment How dare these men label her sister What horrors lay ahead What impertinences that shelter under the name of science The pack was turning on Helen to deny her human rights and it seemed to Margaret that all Schlegels were threatened with her Were they normal What a question to ask And it is always those who know nothing about human nature who are bored by psychology and shocked by physiology who ask it However piteous her sisters state she knew that she must be on her side They would be mad together if the world chose to consider them so
It was now five minutes past three The car slowed down by the farm in the yard of which Miss Avery was standing Henry asked her whether a cab had gone past She nodded and the next moment they caught sight of it at the end of the lane The car ran silently like a beast of prey So unsuspicious was Helen that she was sitting on the porch with her back to the road She had come Only her head and shoulders were visible She sat framed in the vine and one of her hands played with the buds The wind ruffled her hair the sun glorified it she was as she had always been
Margaret was seated next to the door Before her husband could prevent her she slipped out She ran to the garden gate which was shut passed through it and deliberately pushed it in his face The noise alarmed Helen Margaret saw her rise with an unfamiliar movement and rushing into the porch learnt the simple explanation of all their fearsher sister was with child
Is the truant all right called Henry
She had time to whisper Oh my darling The keys of the house were in her hand She unlocked Howards End and thrust Helen into it Yes all right she said and stood with her back to the door
Chapter 36
Margaret you look upset said Henry Mansbridge had followed Crane was at the gate and the flyman had stood up on the box Margaret shook her head at them she could not speak any more She remained clutching the keys as if all their future depended on them Henry was asking more questions She shook her head again His words had no sense She heard him wonder why she had let Helen in You might have given me a knock with the gate was another of his remarks Presently she heard herself speaking She or someone for her said Go away Henry came nearer He repeated Margaret you look upset again My dear give me the keys What are you doing with Helen
Oh dearest do go away and I will manage it all
Manage what
He stretched out his hand for the keys She might have obeyed if it had not been for the doctor
Stop that at least she said piteously the doctor had turned back and was questioning the driver of Helens cab A new feeling came over her she was fighting for women against men She did not care about rights but if men came into Howards End it should be over her body
Come this is an odd beginning said her husband
The doctor came forward now and whispered two words to Mr Wilcoxthe scandal was out Sincerely horrified Henry stood gazing at the earth
I cannot help it said Margaret Do wait Its not my fault Please all four of you to go away now
Now the flyman was whispering to Crane
We are relying on you to help us Mrs Wilcox said the young doctor Could you go in and persuade your sister to come out
On what grounds said Margaret suddenly looking him straight in the eyes
Thinking it professional to prevaricate he murmured something about a nervous breakdown
I beg your pardon but it is nothing of the sort You are not qualified to attend my sister Mr Mansbridge If we require your services we will let you know
I can diagnose the case more bluntly if you wish he retorted
You could but you have not You are therefore not qualified to attend my sister
Come come Margaret said Henry never raising his eyes This is a terrible business an appalling business Its doctors orders Open the door
Forgive me but I will not
I dont agree
Margaret was silent
This business is as broad as its long contributed the doctor We had better all work together You need us Mrs Wilcox and we need you
Quite so said Henry
I do not need you in the least said Margaret
The two men looked at each other anxiously
No more does my sister who is still many weeks from her confinement
Margaret Margaret
Well Henry send your doctor away What possible use is he now
Mr Wilcox ran his eye over the house He had a vague feeling that he must stand firm and support the doctor He himself might need support for there was trouble ahead
It all turns on affection now said Margaret Affection Dont you see Resuming her usual methods she wrote the word on the house with her finger Surely you see I like Helen very much you not so much Mr Mansbridge doesnt know her Thats all And affection when reciprocated gives rights Put that down in your notebook Mr Mansbridge Its a useful formula
Henry told her to be calm
You dont know what you want yourselves said Margaret folding her arms For one sensible remark I will let you in But you cannot make it You would trouble my sister for no reason I will not permit it Ill stand here all the day sooner
Mansbridge said Henry in a low voice perhaps not now
The pack was breaking up At a sign from his master Crane also went back into the car
Now Henry you she said gently None of her bitterness had been directed at him Go away now dear I shall want your advice later no doubt Forgive me if I have been cross But seriously you must go
He was too stupid to leave her Now it was Mr Mansbridge who called in a low voice to him
I shall soon find you down at Dollys she called as the gate at last clanged between them The fly moved out of the way the motor backed turned a little backed again and turned in the narrow road A string of farm carts came up in the middle but she waited through all for there was no hurry When all was over and the car had started she opened the door Oh my darling she said My darling forgive me Helen was standing in the hall
Chapter 37
Margaret bolted the door on the inside Then she would have kissed her sister but Helen in a dignified voice that came strangely from her said
Convenient You did not tell me that the books were unpacked I have found nearly everything that I want
I told you nothing that was true
It has been a great surprise certainly Has Aunt Juley been ill
Helen you wouldnt think Id invent that
I suppose not said Helen turning away and crying a very little But one loses faith in everything after this
We thought it was illness but even thenI havent behaved worthily
Helen selected another book
I ought not to have consulted anyone What would our father have thought of me
She did not think of questioning her sister nor of rebuking her Both might be necessary in the future but she had first to purge a greater crime than any that Helen could have committedthat want of confidence that is the work of the devil
Yes I am annoyed replied Helen My wishes should have been respected I would have gone through this meeting if it was necessary but after Aunt Juley recovered it was not necessary Planning my life as I now have to do
Come away from those books called Margaret Helen do talk to me
I was just saying that I have stopped living haphazard One cant go through a great deal ofshe missed out the nounwithout planning ones actions in advance I am going to have a child in June and in the first place conversations discussions excitement are not good for me I will go through them if necessary but only then In the second place I have no right to trouble people I cannot fit in with England as I know it I have done something that the English never pardon It would not be right for them to pardon it So I must live where I am not known
But why didnt you tell me dearest
Yes replied Helen judicially I might have but decided to wait
I believe you would never have told me
Oh yes I should We have taken a flat in Munich
Margaret glanced out of window
By we I mean myself and Monica But for her I am and have been and always wish to be alone
I have not heard of Monica
You wouldnt have Shes an Italianby birth at least She makes her living by journalism I met her originally on Garda Monica is much the best person to see me through
You are very fond of her then
She has been extraordinarily sensible with me
Margaret guessed at Monicas typeItaliano Inglesiato they had named it the crude feminist of the South whom one respects but avoids And Helen had turned to it in her need
You must not think that we shall never meet said Helen with a measured kindness I shall always have a room for you when you can be spared and the longer you can be with me the better But you havent understood yet Meg and of course it is very difficult for you This is a shock to you It isnt to me who have been thinking over our futures for many months and they wont be changed by a slight contretemps such as this I cannot live in England
Helen youve not forgiven me for my treachery You couldnt talk like this to me if you had
Oh Meg dear why do we talk at all She dropped a book and sighed wearily Then recovering herself she said Tell me how is it that all the books are down here
Series of mistakes
And a great deal of the furniture has been unpacked
All
Who lives here then
No one
I suppose you are letting it though
The house is dead said Margaret with a frown Why worry on about it
But I am interested You talk as if I had lost all my interest in life I am still Helen I hope Now this hasnt the feel of a dead house The hall seems more alive even than in the old days when it held the Wilcoxes own things
Interested are you Very well I must tell you I suppose My husband lent it on condition webut by a mistake all our things were unpacked and Miss Avery instead of She stopped Look here I cant go on like this I warn you I wont Helen why should you be so miserably unkind to me simply because you hate Henry
I dont hate him now said Helen I have stopped being a schoolgirl and Meg once again Im not being unkind But as for fitting in with your English lifeno put it out of your head at once Imagine a visit from me at Ducie Street Its unthinkable
Margaret could not contradict her It was appalling to see her quietly moving forward with her plans not bitter or excitable neither asserting innocence nor confessing guilt merely desiring freedom and the company of those who would not blame her She had been throughhow much Margaret did not know But it was enough to part her from old habits as well as old friends
Tell me about yourself said Helen who had chosen her books and was lingering over the furniture
Theres nothing to tell
But your marriage has been happy Meg
Yes but I dont feel inclined to talk
You feel as I do
Not that but I cant
No more can I It is a nuisance but no good trying
Something had come between them Perhaps it was Society which henceforward would exclude Helen Perhaps it was a third life already potent as a spirit They could find no meetingplace Both suffered acutely and were not comforted by the knowledge that affection survived
Look here Meg is the coast clear
You mean that you want to go away from me
I suppose sodear old lady it isnt any use I knew we should have nothing to say Give my love to Aunt Juley and Tibby and take more yourself than I can say Promise to come and see me in Munich later
Certainly dearest
For that is all we can do
It seemed so Most ghastly of all was Helens common sense Monica had been extraordinarily good for her
I am glad to have seen you and the things She looked at the bookcase lovingly as if she was saying farewell to the past
Margaret unbolted the door She remarked The car has gone and heres your cab
She led the way to it glancing at the leaves and the sky The spring had never seemed more beautiful The driver who was leaning on the gate called out Please lady a message and handed her Henrys visitingcard through the bars
How did this come she asked
Crane had returned with it almost at once
She read the card with annoyance It was covered with instructions in domestic French When she and her sister had talked she was to come back for the night to Dollys Il faut dormir sur ce sujet While Helen was to be found une comfortable chambre à lhôtel The final sentence displeased her greatly until she remembered that the Charles had only one spare room and so could not invite a third guest
Henry would have done what he could she interpreted
Helen had not followed her into the garden The door once open she lost her inclination to fly She remained in the hall going from bookcase to table She grew more like the old Helen irresponsible and charming
This is Mr Wilcoxs house she inquired
Surely you remember Howards End
Remember I who remember everything But it looks to be ours now
Miss Avery was extraordinary said Margaret her own spirits lightening a little Again she was invaded by a slight feeling of disloyalty But it brought her relief and she yielded to it She loved Mrs Wilcox and would rather furnish her house with our things than think of it empty In consequence here are all the library books
Not all the books She hasnt unpacked the Art Books in which she may show her sense And we never used to have the sword here
The sword looks well though
Magnificent
Yes doesnt it
Wheres the piano Meg
I warehoused that in London Why
Nothing
Curious too that the carpet fits
The carpets a mistake announced Helen I know that we had it in London but this floor ought to be bare It is far too beautiful
You still have a mania for underfurnishing Would you care to come into the diningroom before you start Theres no carpet there
They went in and each minute their talk became more natural
Oh what a place for mothers chiffonier cried Helen
Look at the chairs though
Oh look at them Wickham Place faced north didnt it
Northwest
Anyhow it is thirty years since any of those chairs have felt the sun Feel Their little backs are quite warm
But why has Miss Avery made them set to partners I shall just
Over here Meg Put it so that any one sitting will see the lawn
Margaret moved a chair Helen sat down in it
Yees The windows too high
Try a drawingroom chair
No I dont like the drawingroom so much The beam has been matchboarded It would have been so beautiful otherwise
Helen what a memory you have for some things Youre perfectly right Its a room that men have spoilt through trying to make it nice for women Men dont know what we want
And never will
I dont agree In two thousand years theyll know
But the chairs show up wonderfully Look where Tibby spilt the soup
Coffee It was coffee surely
Helen shook her head Impossible Tibby was far too young to be given coffee at that time
Was Father alive
Yes
Then youre right and it must have been soup I was thinking of much laterthat unsuccessful visit of Aunt Juleys when she didnt realize that Tibby had grown up It was coffee then for he threw it down on purpose There was some rhyme Tea coffeecoffee tea that she said to him every morning at breakfast Wait a minutehow did it go
I knowno I dont What a detestable boy Tibby was
But the rhyme was simply awful No decent person could have put up with it
Ah that greengage tree cried Helen as if the garden was also part of their childhood Why do I connect it with dumbbells And there come the chickens The grass wants cutting I love yellowhammers
Margaret interrupted her I have got it she announced
Tea tea coffee tea
Or chocolaritee
That every morning for three weeks No wonder Tibby was wild
Tibby is moderately a dear now said Helen
There I knew youd say that in the end Of course hes a dear
A bell rang
Listen whats that
Helen said Perhaps the Wilcoxes are beginning the siege
What nonsenselisten
And the triviality faded from their faces though it left something behindthe knowledge that they never could be parted because their love was rooted in common things Explanations and appeals had failed they had tried for a common meetingground and had only made each other unhappy And all the time their salvation was lying round themthe past sanctifying the present the present with wild heartthrob declaring that there would after all be a future with laughter and the voices of children Helen still smiling came up to her sister She said It is always Meg They looked into each others eyes The inner life had paid
Solemnly the clapper tolled No one was in the front Margaret went to the kitchen and struggled between packingcases to the window Their visitor was only a little boy with a tin can And triviality returned
Little boy what do you want
Please I am the milk
Did Miss Avery send you said Margaret rather sharply
Yes please
Then take it back and say we require no milk While she called to Helen No its not the siege but possibly an attempt to provision us against one
But I like milk cried Helen Why send it away
Do you Oh very well But weve nothing to put it in and he wants the can
Please Im to call in the morning for the can said the boy
The house will be locked up then
In the morning would I bring eggs too
Are you the boy whom I saw playing in the stacks last week
The child hung his head
Well run away and do it again
Nice little boy whispered Helen I say whats your name Mines Helen
Tom
That was Helen all over The Wilcoxes too would ask a child its name but they never told their names in return
Tom this one here is Margaret And at home weve another called Tibby
Mine are lopeared replied Tom supposing Tibby to be a rabbit
Youre a very good and rather a clever little boy Mind you come againIsnt he charming
Undoubtedly said Margaret He is probably the son of Madge and Madge is dreadful But this place has wonderful powers
What do you mean
I dont know
Because I probably agree with you
It kills what is dreadful and makes what is beautiful live
I do agree said Helen as she sipped the milk But you said that the house was dead not half an hour ago
Meaning that I was dead I felt it
Yes the house has a surer life than we even if it was empty and as it is I cant get over that for thirty years the sun has never shone full on our furniture After all Wickham Place was a grave Meg Ive a startling idea
What is it
Drink some milk to steady you
Margaret obeyed
No I wont tell you yet said Helen because you may laugh or be angry Lets go upstairs first and give the rooms an airing
They opened window after window till the inside too was rustling to the spring Curtains blew pictureframes tapped cheerfully Helen uttered cries of excitement as she found this bed obviously in its right place that in its wrong one She was angry with Miss Avery for not having moved the wardrobes up Then one would see really She admired the view She was the Helen who had written the memorable letters four years ago As they leant out looking westward she said About my idea Couldnt you and I camp out in this house for the night
I dont think we could well do that said Margaret
Here are beds tables towels
I know but the house isnt supposed to be slept in and Henrys suggestion was
I require no suggestions I shall not alter anything in my plans But it would give me so much pleasure to have one night here with you It will be something to look back on Oh Meg lovey do lets
But Helen my pet said Margaret we cant without getting Henrys leave Of course he would give it but you said yourself that you couldnt visit at Ducie Street now and this is equally intimate
Ducie Street is his house This is ours Our furniture our sort of people coming to the door Do let us camp out just one night and Tom shall feed us on eggs and milk Why not Its a moon
Margaret hesitated I feel Charles wouldnt like it she said at last Even our furniture annoyed him and I was going to clear it out when Aunt Juleys illness prevented me I sympathize with Charles He feels its his mothers house He loves it in rather an untaking way Henry I could answer fornot Charles
I know he wont like it said Helen But I am going to pass out of their lives What difference will it make in the long run if they say And she even spent the night at Howards End
How do you know youll pass out of their lives We have thought that twice before
Because my plans
which you change in a moment
Then because my life is great and theirs are little said Helen taking fire I know of things they cant know of and so do you We know that theres poetry We know that theres death They can only take them on hearsay We know this is our house because it feels ours Oh they may take the titledeeds and the doorkeys but for this one night we are at home
It would be lovely to have you once more alone said Margaret It may be a chance in a thousand
Yes and we could talk She dropped her voice It wont be a very glorious story But under that wychelmhonestly I see little happiness ahead Cannot I have this one night with you
I neednt say how much it would mean to me
Then let us
It is no good hesitating Shall I drive down to Hilton now and get leave
Oh we dont want leave
But Margaret was a loyal wife In spite of imagination and poetryperhaps on account of themshe could sympathize with the technical attitude that Henry would adopt If possible she would be technical too A nights lodgingand they demanded no moreneed not involve the discussion of general principles
Charles may say no grumbled Helen
We shant consult him
Go if you like I should have stopped without leave
It was the touch of selfishness which was not enough to mar Helens character and even added to its beauty She would have stopped without leave and escaped to Germany the next morning Margaret kissed her
Expect me back before dark I am looking forward to it so much It is like you to have thought of such a beautiful thing
Not a thing only an ending said Helen rather sadly and the sense of tragedy closed in on Margaret again as soon as she left the house
She was afraid of Miss Avery It is disquieting to fulfil a prophecy however superficially She was glad to see no watching figure as she drove past the farm but only little Tom turning somersaults in the straw
Chapter 38
The tragedy began quietly enough and like many another talk by the mans deft assertion of his superiority Henry heard her arguing with the driver stepped out and settled the fellow who was inclined to be rude and then led the way to some chairs on the lawn Dolly who had not been told ran out with offers of tea He refused them and ordered her to wheel babys perambulator away as they desired to be alone
But the diddums cant listen he isnt nine months old she pleaded
Thats not what I was saying retorted her fatherinlaw
Baby was wheeled out of earshot and did not hear about the crisis till later years It was now the turn of Margaret
Is it what we feared he asked
It is
Dear girl he began there is a troublesome business ahead of us and nothing but the most absolute honesty and plain speech will see us through Margaret bent her head I am obliged to question you on subjects wed both prefer to leave untouched As you know I am not one of your Bernard Shaws who consider nothing sacred To speak as I must will pain me but there are occasionsWe are husband and wife not children I am a man of the world and you are a most exceptional woman
All Margarets senses forsook her She blushed and looked past him at the Six Hills covered with spring herbage Noting her colour he grew still more kind
I see that you feel as I felt whenMy poor little wife Oh be brave Just one or two questions and I have done with you Was your sister wearing a weddingring
Margaret stammered a No
There was an appalling silence
Henry I really came to ask a favour about Howards End
One point at a time I am now obliged to ask for the name of her seducer
She rose to her feet and held the chair between them Her colour had ebbed and she was grey It did not displease him that she should receive his question thus
Take your time he counselled her Remember that this is far worse for me than for you
She swayed he feared she was going to faint Then speech came and she said slowly Seducer No I do not know her seducers name
Would she not tell you
I never even asked her who seduced her said Margaret dwelling on the hateful word thoughtfully
That is singular Then he changed his mind Natural perhaps dear girl that you shouldnt ask But until his name is known nothing can be done Sit down How terrible it is to see you so upset I knew you werent fit for it I wish I hadnt taken you
Margaret answered I like to stand if you dont mind for it gives me a pleasant view of the Six Hills
As you like
Have you anything else to ask me Henry
Next you must tell me whether you have gathered anything I have often noticed your insight dear I only wish my own was as good You may have guessed something even though your sister said nothing The slightest hint would help us
Who is we
I thought it best to ring up Charles
That was unnecessary said Margaret growing warmer This news will give Charles disproportionate pain
He has at once gone to call on your brother
That too was unnecessary
Let me explain dear how the matter stands You dont think that I and my son are other than gentlemen It is in Helens interests that we are acting It is still not too late to save her name
Then Margaret hit out for the first time Are we to make her seducer marry her she asked
If possible Yes
But Henry suppose he turned out to be married already One has heard of such cases
In that case he must pay heavily for his misconduct and be thrashed within an inch of his life
So her first blow missed She was thankful of it What had tempted her to imperil both of their lives Henrys obtuseness had saved her as well as himself Exhausted with anger she sat down again blinking at him as he told her as much as he thought fit At last she said May I ask you my question now
Certainly my dear
Tomorrow Helen goes to Munich
Well possibly she is right
Henry let a lady finish Tomorrow she goes tonight with your permission she would like to sleep at Howards End
It was the crisis of his life Again she would have recalled the words as soon as they were uttered She had not led up to them with sufficient care She longed to warn him that they were far more important than he supposed She saw him weighing them as if they were a business proposition
Why Howards End he said at last Would she not be more comfortable as I suggested at the hotel
Margaret hastened to give him reasons It is an odd request but you know what Helen is and what women in her state are He frowned and moved irritably She has the idea that one night in your house would give her pleasure and do her good I think shes right Being one of those imaginative girls the presence of all our books and furniture soothes her This is a fact It is the end of her girlhood Her last words to me were A beautiful ending
She values the old furniture for sentimental reasons in fact
Exactly You have quite understood It is her last hope of being with it
I dont agree there my dear Helen will have her share of the goods wherever she goespossibly more than her share for you are so fond of her that youd give her anything of yours that she fancies wouldnt you and Id raise no objection I could understand it if it was her old home because a home or a househe changed the word designedly he had thought of a telling pointbecause a house in which one has once lived becomes in a sort of way sacred I dont know why Associations and so on Now Helen has no associations with Howards End though I and Charles and Evie have I do not see why she wants to stay the night there She will only catch cold
Leave it that you dont see cried Margaret Call it fancy But realize that fancy is a scientific fact Helen is fanciful and wants to
Then he surprised hera rare occurrence He shot an unexpected bolt If she wants to sleep one night she may want to sleep two We shall never get her out of the house perhaps
Well said Margaret with the precipice in sight And suppose we dont get her out of the house Would it matter She would do no one any harm
Again the irritated gesture
No Henry she panted receding I didnt mean that We will only trouble Howards End for this one night I take her to London tomorrow
Do you intend to sleep in a damp house too
She cannot be left alone
Thats quite impossible Madness You must be here to meet Charles
I have already told you that your message to Charles was unnecessary and I have no desire to meet him
Margaretmy Margaret
What has this business to do with Charles If it concerns me little it concerns you less and Charles not at all
As the future owner of Howards End said Mr Wilcox arching his fingers I should say that it did concern Charles
In what way Will Helens condition depreciate the property
My dear you are forgetting yourself
I think you yourself recommended plain speaking
They looked at each other in amazement The precipice was at their feet now
Helen commands my sympathy said Henry As your husband I shall do all for her that I can and I have no doubt that she will prove more sinned against than sinning But I cannot treat her as if nothing has happened I should be false to my position in society if I did
She controlled herself for the last time No let us go back to Helens request she said It is unreasonable but the request of an unhappy girl Tomorrow she will go to Germany and trouble society no longer Tonight she asks to sleep in your empty housea house which you do not care about and which you have not occupied for over a year May she Will you give my sister leave Will you forgive heras you hope to be forgiven and as you have actually been forgiven Forgive her for one night only That will be enough
As I have actually been forgiven
Never mind for the moment what I mean by that said Margaret Answer my question
Perhaps some hint of her meaning did dawn on him If so he blotted it out Straight from his fortress he answered I seem rather unaccommodating but I have some experience of life and know how one thing leads to another I am afraid that your sister had better sleep at the hotel I have my children and the memory of my dear wife to consider I am sorry but see that she leaves my house at once
You mentioned Mrs Wilcox
I beg your pardon
A rare occurrence In reply may I mention Mrs Bast
You have not been yourself all day said Henry and rose from his seat with face unmoved Margaret rushed at him and seized both his hands She was transfigured
Not any more of this she cried You shall see the connection if it kills you Henry You have had a mistressI forgave you My sister has a loveryou drive her from the house Do you see the connection Stupid hypocritical crueloh contemptible a man who insults his wife when shes alive and cants with her memory when shes dead A man who ruins a woman for his pleasure and casts her off to ruin other men And gives bad financial advice and then says he is not responsible These man are you You cant recognize them because you cannot connect Ive had enough of your unweeded kindness Ive spoilt you long enough All your life you have been spoiled Mrs Wilcox spoiled you No one has ever told what you aremuddled criminally muddled Men like you use repentance as a blind so dont repent Only say to yourself What Helen has done Ive done
The two cases are different Henry stammered His real retort was not quite ready His brain was still in a whirl and he wanted a little longer
In what way different You have betrayed Mrs Wilcox Helen only herself You remain in society Helen cant You have had only pleasure she may die You have the insolence to talk to me of differences Henry
Oh the uselessness of it Henrys retort came
I perceive you are attempting blackmail It is scarcely a pretty weapon for a wife to use against her husband My rule through life has been never to pay the least attention to threats and I can only repeat what I said before I do not give you and your sister leave to sleep at Howards End
Margaret loosed his hands He went into the house wiping first one and then the other on his handkerchief For a little she stood looking at the Six Hills tombs of warriors breasts of the spring Then she passed out into what was now the evening
Chapter 39
Charles and Tibby met at Ducie Street where the latter was staying Their interview was short and absurd They had nothing in common but the English language and tried by its help to express what neither of them understood Charles saw in Helen the family foe He had singled her out as the most dangerous of the Schlegels and angry as he was looked forward to telling his wife how right he had been His mind was made up at once the girl must be got out of the way before she disgraced them farther If occasion offered she might be married to a villain or possibly to a fool But this was a concession to morality it formed no part of his main scheme Honest and hearty was Charless dislike and the past spread itself out very clearly before him hatred is a skilful compositor As if they were heads in a notebook he ran through all the incidents of the Schlegels campaign the attempt to compromise his brother his mothers legacy his fathers marriage the introduction of the furniture the unpacking of the same He had not yet heard of the request to sleep at Howards End that was to be their masterstroke and the opportunity for his But he already felt that Howards End was the objective and though he disliked the house was determined to defend it
Tibby on the other hand had no opinions He stood above the conventions his sister had a right to do what she thought right It is not difficult to stand above the conventions when we leave no hostages among them men can always be more unconventional than women and a bachelor of independent means need encounter no difficulties at all Unlike Charles Tibby had money enough his ancestors had earned it for him and if he shocked the people in one set of lodgings he had only to move into another His was the leisure without sympathyan attitude as fatal as the strenuous a little cold culture may be raised on it but no art His sisters had seen the family danger and had never forgotten to discount the gold islets that raised them from the sea Tibby gave all the praise to himself and so despised the struggling and the submerged
Hence the absurdity of the interview the gulf between them was economic as well as spiritual But several facts passed Charles pressed for them with an impertinence that the undergraduate could not withstand On what date had Helen gone abroad To whom Charles was anxious to fasten the scandal on Germany Then changing his tactics he said roughly I suppose you realize that you are your sisters protector
In what sense
If a man played about with my sister Id send a bullet through him but perhaps you dont mind
I mind very much protested Tibby
Who dye suspect then Speak out man One always suspects someone
No one I dont think so Involuntarily he blushed He had remembered the scene in his Oxford rooms
You are hiding something said Charles As interviews go he got the best of this one When you saw her last did she mention anyones name Yes or no he thundered so that Tibby started
In my rooms she mentioned some friends called the Basts
Who are the Basts
Peoplefriends of hers at Evies wedding
I dont remember But by great Scott I do My aunt told me about some tagrag Was she full of them when you saw her Is there a man Did she speak of the man Orlook herehave you had any dealings with him
Tibby was silent Without intending it he had betrayed his sisters confidence he was not enough interested in human life to see where things will lead to He had a strong regard for honesty and his word once given had always been kept up to now He was deeply vexed not only for the harm he had done Helen but for the flaw he had discovered in his own equipment
I seeyou are in his confidence They met at your rooms Oh what a family what a family God help the poor pater
And Tibby found himself alone
Chapter 40
Leonardhe would figure at length in a newspaper report but that evening he did not count for much The foot of the tree was in shadow since the moon was still hidden behind the house But above to right to left down the long meadow the moonlight was streaming Leonard seemed not a man but a cause
Perhaps it was Helens way of falling in lovea curious way to Margaret whose agony and whose contempt of Henry were yet imprinted with his image Helen forgot people They were husks that had enclosed her emotion She could pity or sacrifice herself or have instincts but had she ever loved in the noblest way where man and woman having lost themselves in sex desire to lose sex itself in comradeship
Margaret wondered but said no word of blame This was Helens evening Troubles enough lay ahead of herthe loss of friends and of social advantages the agony the supreme agony of motherhood which is even yet not a matter of common knowledge For the present let the moon shine brightly and the breezes of the spring blow gently dying away from the gale of the day and let the earth who brings increase bring peace Not even to herself dare she blame Helen She could not assess her trespass by any moral code it was everything or nothing Morality can tell us that murder is worse than stealing and group most sins in an order all must approve but it cannot group Helen The surer its pronouncements on this point the surer may we be that morality is not speaking Christ was evasive when they questioned Him It is those that cannot connect who hasten to cast the first stone
This was Helens eveningwon at what cost and not to be marred by the sorrows of others Of her own tragedy Margaret never uttered a word
One isolates said Helen slowly I isolated Mr Wilcox from the other forces that were pulling Leonard downhill Consequently I was full of pity and almost of revenge For weeks I had blamed Mr Wilcox only and so when your letters came
I need never have written them sighed Margaret They never shielded Henry How hopeless it is to tidy away the past even for others
I did not know that it was your own idea to dismiss the Basts
Looking back that was wrong of me
Looking back darling I know that it was right It is right to save the man whom one loves I am less enthusiastic about justice now But we both thought you wrote at his dictation It seemed the last touch of his callousness Being very much wrought up by this timeand Mrs Bast was upstairs I had not seen her and had talked for a long time to LeonardI had snubbed him for no reason and that should have warned me I was in danger So when the notes came I wanted us to go to you for an explanation He said that he guessed the explanationhe knew of it and you mustnt know I pressed him to tell me He said no one must know it was something to do with his wife Right up to the end we were Mr Bast and Miss Schlegel I was going to tell him that he must be frank with me when I saw his eyes and guessed that Mr Wilcox had ruined him in two ways not one I drew him to me I made him tell me I felt very lonely myself He is not to blame He would have gone on worshipping me I want never to see him again though it sounds appalling I wanted to give him money and feel finished Oh Meg the little that is known about these things
She laid her face against the tree
The little too that is known about growth Both times it was loneliness and the night and panic afterwards Did Leonard grow out of Paul
Margaret did not speak for a moment So tired was she that her attention had actually wandered to the teeththe teeth that had been thrust into the trees bark to medicate it From where she sat she could see them gleam She had been trying to count them Leonard is a better growth than madness she said I was afraid that you would react against Paul until you went over the verge
I did react until I found poor Leonard I am steady now I shant ever like your Henry dearest Meg or even speak kindly about him but all that blinding hate is over I shall never rave against Wilcoxes any more I understand how you married him and you will now be very happy
Margaret did not reply
Yes repeated Helen her voice growing more tender I do at last understand
Except Mrs Wilcox dearest no one understands our little movements
Because in deathI agree
Not quite I feel that you and I and Henry are only fragments of that womans mind She knows everything She is everything She is the house and the tree that leans over it People have their own deaths as well as their own lives and even if there is nothing beyond death we shall differ in our nothingness I cannot believe that knowledge such as hers will perish with knowledge such as mine She knew about realities She knew when people were in love though she was not in the room I dont doubt that she knew when Henry deceived her
Goodnight Mrs Wilcox called a voice
Oh goodnight Miss Avery
Why should Miss Avery work for us Helen murmured
Why indeed
Miss Avery crossed the lawn and merged into the hedge that divided it from the farm An old gap which Mr Wilcox had filled up had reappeared and her track through the dew followed the path that he had turfed over when he improved the garden and made it possible for games
This is not quite our house yet said Helen When Miss Avery called I felt we are only a couple of tourists
We shall be that everywhere and for ever
But affectionate tourists
But tourists who pretend each hotel is their home
I cant pretend very long said Helen Sitting under this tree one forgets but I know that tomorrow I shall see the moon rise out of Germany Not all your goodness can alter the facts of the case Unless you will come with me
Margaret thought for a moment In the past year she had grown so fond of England that to leave it was a real grief Yet what detained her No doubt Henry would pardon her outburst and go on blustering and muddling into a ripe old age But what was the good She had just as soon vanish from his mind
Are you serious in asking me Helen Should I get on with your Monica
You would not but I am serious in asking you
Still no more plans now And no more reminiscences
They were silent for a little It was Helens evening
The present flowed by them like a stream The tree rustled It had made music before they were born and would continue after their deaths but its song was of the moment The moment had passed The tree rustled again Their senses were sharpened and they seemed to apprehend life Life passed The tree nestled again
Sleep now said Margaret
The peace of the country was entering into her It has no commerce with memory and little with hope Least of all is it concerned with the hopes of the next five minutes It is the peace of the present which passes understanding Its murmur came now and now once more as they trod the gravel and now as the moonlight fell upon their fathers sword They passed upstairs kissed and amidst the endless iterations fell asleep The house had enshadowed the tree at first but as the moon rose higher the two disentangled and were clear for a few moments at midnight Margaret awoke and looked into the garden How incomprehensible that Leonard Bast should have won her this night of peace Was he also part of Mrs Wilcoxs mind
Chapter 41
Far different was Leonards development The months after Oniton whatever minor troubles they might bring him were all overshadowed by Remorse When Helen looked back she could philosophize or she could look into the future and plan for her child But the father saw nothing beyond his own sin Weeks afterwards in the midst of other occupations he would suddenly cry out Bruteyou brute I couldnt have and be rent into two people who held dialogues Or brown rain would descend blotting out faces and the sky Even Jacky noticed the change in him Most terrible were his sufferings when he awoke from sleep Sometimes he was happy at first but grew conscious of a burden hanging to him and weighing down his thoughts when they would move Or little irons scorched his body Or a sword stabbed him He would sit at the edge of his bed holding his heart and moaning Oh what shall I do whatever shall I do Nothing brought ease He could put distance between him and the trespass but it grew in his soul
Remorse is not among the eternal verities The Greeks were right to dethrone her Her action is too capricious as though the Erinyes selected for punishment only certain men and certain sins And of all means to regeneration Remorse is surely the most wasteful It cuts away healthy tissues with the poisoned It is a knife that probes far deeper than the evil Leonard was driven straight through its torments and emerged pure but enfeebleda better man who would never lose control of himself again but also a smaller who had less to control Nor did purity mean peace The use of the knife can become a habit as hard to shake off as passion itself and Leonard continued to start with a cry out of dreams
He built up a situation that was far enough from the truth It never occurred to him that Helen was to blame He forgot the intensity of their talk the charm that had been lent him by sincerity the magic of Oniton under darkness and of the whispering river Helen loved the absolute Leonard had been ruined absolutely and had appeared to her as a man apart isolated from the world A real man who cared for adventure and beauty who desired to live decently and pay his way who could have travelled more gloriously through life than the Juggernaut car that was crushing him Memories of Evies wedding had warped her the starched servants the yards of uneaten food the rustle of overdressed women motorcars oozing grease on the gravel rubbish on a pretentious band She had tasted the lees of this on her arrival in the darkness after failure they intoxicated her She and the victim seemed alone in a world of unreality and she loved him absolutely perhaps for half an hour
In the morning she was gone The note that she left tender and hysterical in tone and intended to be most kind hurt her lover terribly It was as if some work of art had been broken by him some picture in the National Gallery slashed out of its frame When he recalled her talents and her social position he felt that the first passerby had a right to shoot him down He was afraid of the waitress and the porters at the railwaystation He was afraid at first of his wife though later he was to regard her with a strange new tenderness and to think There is nothing to choose between us after all
The expedition to Shropshire crippled the Basts permanently Helen in her flight forgot to settle the hotel bill and took their return tickets away with her they had to pawn Jackys bangles to get home and the smash came a few days afterwards It is true that Helen offered him five thousands pounds but such a sum meant nothing to him He could not see that the girl was desperately righting herself and trying to save something out of the disaster if it was only five thousand pounds But he had to live somehow He turned to his family and degraded himself to a professional beggar There was nothing else for him to do
A letter from Leonard thought Blanche his sister and after all this time She hid it so that her husband should not see and when he had gone to his work read it with some emotion and sent the prodigal a little money out of her dress allowance
A letter from Leonard said the other sister Laura a few days later She showed it to her husband He wrote a cruel insolent reply but sent more money than Blanche so Leonard soon wrote to him again
And during the winter the system was developed Leonard realized that they need never starve because it would be too painful for his relatives Society is based on the family and the clever wastrel can exploit this indefinitely Without a generous thought on either side pounds and pounds passed The donors disliked Leonard and he grew to hate them intensely When Laura censured his immoral marriage he thought bitterly She minds that What would she say if she knew the truth When Blanches husband offered him work he found some pretext for avoiding it He had wanted work keenly at Oniton but too much anxiety had shattered him he was joining the unemployable When his brother the layreader did not reply to a letter he wrote again saying that he and Jacky would come down to his village on foot He did not intend this as blackmail Still the brother sent a postal order and it became part of the system And so passed his winter and his spring
In the horror there are two bright spots He never confused the past He remained alive and blessed are those who live if it is only to a sense of sinfulness The anodyne of muddledom by which most men blur and blend their mistakes never passed Leonards lips
And if I drink oblivion of a day
So shorten I the stature of my soul
It is a hard saying and a hard man wrote it but it lies at the foot of all character
And the other bright spot was his tenderness for Jacky He pitied her with nobility nownot the contemptuous pity of a man who sticks to a woman through thick and thin He tried to be less irritable He wondered what her hungry eyes desirednothing that she could express or that he or any man could give her Would she ever receive the justice that is mercythe justice for byproducts that the world is too busy to bestow She was fond of flowers generous with money and not revengeful If she had borne him a child he might have cared for her Unmarried Leonard would never have begged he would have flickered out and died But the whole of life is mixed He had to provide for Jacky and went down dirty paths that she might have a few feathers and dishes of food that suited her
One day he caught sight of Margaret and her brother He was in St Pauls He had entered the cathedral partly to avoid the rain and partly to see a picture that had educated him in former years But the light was bad the picture ill placed and Time and Judgment were inside him now Death alone still charmed him with her lap of poppies on which all men shall sleep He took one glance and turned aimlessly away towards a chair Then down the nave he saw Miss Schlegel and her brother They stood in the fairway of passengers and their faces were extremely grave He was perfectly certain that they were in trouble about their sister
Once outsideand he fled immediatelyhe wished that he had spoken to them What was his life What were a few angry words or even imprisonment He had done wrongthat was the true terror Whatever they might know he would tell them everything he knew He reentered St Pauls But they had moved in his absence and had gone to lay their difficulties before Mr Wilcox and Charles
The sight of Margaret turned remorse into new channels He desired to confess and though the desire is proof of a weakened nature which is about to lose the essence of human intercourse it did not take an ignoble form He did not suppose that confession would bring him happiness It was rather that he yearned to get clear of the tangle So does the suicide yearn The impulses are akin and the crime of suicide lies rather in its disregard for the feelings of those whom we leave behind Confession need harm no oneit can satisfy that testand though it was unEnglish and ignored by our Anglican cathedral Leonard had a right to decide upon it
Moreover he trusted Margaret He wanted her hardness now That cold intellectual nature of hers would be just if unkind He would do whatever she told him even if he had to see Helen That was the supreme punishment she would exact And perhaps she would tell him how Helen was That was the supreme reward
He knew nothing about Margaret not even whether she was married to Mr Wilcox and tracking her out took several days That evening he toiled through the wet to Wickham Place where the new flats were now appearing Was he also the cause of their move Were they expelled from society on his account Thence to a public library but could find no satisfactory Schlegel in the directory On the morrow he searched again He hung about outside Mr Wilcoxs office at lunch time and as the clerks came out said Excuse me sir but is your boss married Most of them stared some said Whats that to you but one who had not yet acquired reticence told him what he wished Leonard could not learn the private address That necessitated more trouble with directories and tubes Ducie Street was not discovered till the Monday the day that Margaret and her husband went down on their hunting expedition to Howards End
He called at about four oclock The weather had changed and the sun shone gaily on the ornamental stepsblack and white marble in triangles Leonard lowered his eyes to them after ringing the bell He felt in curious health doors seemed to be opening and shutting inside his body and he had been obliged to steep sitting up in bed with his back propped against the wall When the parlourmaid came he could not see her face the brown rain had descended suddenly
Does Mrs Wilcox live here he asked
Shes out was the answer
When will she be back
Ill ask said the parlourmaid
Margaret had given instructions that no one who mentioned her name should ever be rebuffed Putting the door on the chainfor Leonards appearance demanded thisshe went through to the smokingroom which was occupied by Tibby Tibby was asleep He had had a good lunch Charles Wilcox had not yet rung him up for the distracting interview He said drowsily I dont know Hilton Howards End Who is it
Ill ask sir
No dont bother
They have taken the car to Howards End said the parlourmaid to Leonard
He thanked her and asked whereabouts that place was
You appear to want to know a good deal she remarked But Margaret had forbidden her to be mysterious She told him against her better judgment that Howards End was in Hertfordshire
Is it a village please
Village Its Mr Wilcoxs private houseat least its one of them Mrs Wilcox keeps her furniture there Hilton is the village
Yes And when will they be back
Mr Schlegel doesnt know We cant know everything can we She shut him out and went to attend to the telephone which was ringing furiously
He loitered away another night of agony Confession grew more difficult As soon as possible he went to bed He watched a patch of moonlight cross the floor of their lodging and as sometimes happens when the mind is overtaxed he fell asleep for the rest of the room but kept awake for the patch of moonlight Horrible Then began one of those disintegrating dialogues Part of him said Why horrible Its ordinary light from the room But it moves So does the moon But it is a clenched fist Why not But it is going to touch me Let it And seeming to gather motion the patch ran up his blanket Presently a blue snake appeared then another parallel to it Is there life in the moon Of course But I thought it was uninhabited Not by Time Death Judgment and the smaller snakes Smaller snakes said Leonard indignantly and aloud What a notion By a rending effort of the will he woke the rest of the room up Jacky the bed their food their clothes on the chair gradually entered his consciousness and the horror vanished outwards like a ring that is spreading through water
I say Jacky Im going out for a bit
She was breathing regularly The patch of light fell clear of the striped blanket and began to cover the shawl that lay over her feet Why had he been afraid He went to the window and saw that the moon was descending through a clear sky He saw her volcanoes and the bright expanses that a gracious error has named seas They paled for the sun who had lit them up was coming to light the earth Sea of Serenity Sea of Tranquillity Ocean of the Lunar Storms merged into one lucent drop itself to slip into the sempiternal dawn And he had been afraid of the moon
He dressed among the contending lights and went through his money It was running low again but enough for a return ticket to Hilton As it clinked Jacky opened her eyes
Hullo Len What ho Len
What ho Jacky see you again later
She turned over and slept
The house was unlocked their landlord being a salesman at Convent Garden Leonard passed out and made his way down to the station The train though it did not start for an hour was already drawn up at the end of the platform and he lay down in it and slept With the first jolt he was in daylight they had left the gateways of Kings Cross and were under blue sky Tunnels followed and after each the sky grew bluer and from the embankment at Finsbury Park he had his first sight of the sun It rolled along behind the eastern smokesa wheel whose fellow was the descending moonand as yet it seemed the servant of the blue sky not its lord He dozed again Over Tewin Water it was day To the left fell the shadow of the embankment and its arches to the right Leonard saw up into the Tewin Woods and towards the church with its wild legend of immortality Six forest treesthat is a factgrow out of one of the graves in Tewin churchyard The graves occupantthat is the legendis an atheist who declared that if God existed six forest trees would grow out of her grave These things in Hertfordshire and farther afield lay the house of a hermitMrs Wilcox had known himwho barred himself up and wrote prophecies and gave all he had to the poor While powdered in between were the villas of business men who saw life more steadily though with the steadiness of the halfclosed eye Over all the sun was streaming to all the birds were singing to all the primroses were yellow and the speedwell blue and the country however they interpreted her was uttering her cry of now She did not free Leonard yet and the knife plunged deeper into his heart as the train drew up at Hilton But remorse had become beautiful
Hilton was asleep or at the earliest breakfasting Leonard noticed the contrast when he stepped out of it into the country Here men had been up since dawn Their hours were ruled not by a London office but by the movements of the crops and the sun That they were men of the finest type only the sentimentalist can declare But they kept to the life of daylight They are Englands hope Clumsily they carry forward the torch of the sun until such time as the nation sees fit to take it up Half clodhopper half boardschool prig they can still throw back to a nobler stock and breed yeomen
At the chalk pit a motor passed him In it was another type whom Nature favoursthe Imperial Healthy ever in motion it hopes to inherit the earth It breeds as quickly as the yeoman and as soundly strong is the temptation to acclaim it as a superyeoman who carries his countrys virtue overseas But the Imperialist is not what he thinks or seems He is a destroyer He prepares the way for cosmopolitanism and though his ambitions may be fulfilled the earth that he inherits will be grey
To Leonard intent on his private sin there came the conviction of innate goodness elsewhere It was not the optimism which he had been taught at school Again and again must the drums tap and the goblins stalk over the universe before joy can be purged of the superficial It was rather paradoxical and arose from his sorrow Death destroys a man but the idea of death saves himthat is the best account of it that has yet been given Squalor and tragedy can beckon to all that is great in us and strengthen the wings of love They can beckon it is not certain that they will for they are not loves servants But they can beckon and the knowledge of this incredible truth comforted him
As he approached the house all thought stopped Contradictory notions stood side by side in his mind He was terrified but happy ashamed but had done no sin He knew the confession Mrs Wilcox I have done wrong but sunrise had robbed its meaning and he felt rather on a supreme adventure
He entered a garden steadied himself against a motorcar that he found in it found a door open and entered a house Yes it would be very easy From a room to the left he heard voices Margarets amongst them His own name was called aloud and a man whom he had never seen said Oh is he there I am not surprised I now thrash him within an inch of his life
Mrs Wilcox said Leonard I have done wrong
The man took him by the collar and cried Bring me a stick Women were screaming A stick very bright descended It hurt him not where it descended but in the heart Books fell over him in a shower Nothing had sense
Get some water commanded Charles who had all through kept very calm Hes shamming Of course I only used the blade Here carry him out into the air
Thinking that he understood these things Margaret obeyed him They laid Leonard who was dead on the gravel Helen poured water over him
Thats enough said Charles
Yes murders enough said Miss Avery coming out of the house with the sword
Chapter 42
When Charles left Ducie Street he had caught the first train home but had no inkling of the newest development until late at night Then his father who had dined alone sent for him and in very grave tones inquired for Margaret
I dont know where she is pater said Charles Dolly kept back dinner nearly an hour for her
Tell me when she comes in
Another hour passed The servants went to bed and Charles visited his father again to receive further instructions Mrs Wilcox had still not returned
Ill sit up for her as late as you like but she can hardly be coming Isnt she stopping with her sister at the hotel
Perhaps said Mr Wilcox thoughtfullyperhaps
Can I do anything for you sir
Not tonight my boy
Mr Wilcox liked being called sir He raised his eyes and gave his son more open a look of tenderness than he usually ventured He saw Charles as little boy and strong man in one Though his wife had proved unstable his children were left to him
After midnight he tapped on Charless door I cant sleep he said I had better have a talk with you and get it over
He complained of the heat Charles took him out into the garden and they paced up and down in their dressinggowns Charles became very quiet as the story unrolled he had known all along that Margaret was as bad as her sister
She will feel differently in the morning said Mr Wilcox who had of course said nothing about Mrs Bast But I cannot let this kind of thing continue without comment I am morally certain that she is with her sister at Howards End The house is mineand Charles it will be yoursand when I say that no one is to live there I mean that no one is to live there I wont have it He looked angrily at the moon To my mind this question is connected with something far greater the rights of property itself
Undoubtedly said Charles
Mr Wilcox linked his arm in his sons but somehow liked him less as he told him more I dont want you to conclude that my wife and I had anything of the nature of a quarrel She was only overwrought as who would not be I shall do what I can for Helen but on the understanding that they clear out of the house at once Do you see That is a sine qua non
Then at eight tomorrow I may go up in the car
Eight or earlier Say that you are acting as my representative and of course use no violence Charles
On the morrow as Charles returned leaving Leonard dead upon the gravel it did not seem to him that he had used violence Death was due to heart disease His stepmother herself had said so and even Miss Avery had acknowledged that he only used the flat of the sword On his way through the village he informed the police who thanked him and said there must be an inquest He found his father in the garden shading his eyes from the sun
It has been pretty horrible said Charles gravely They were there and they had the man up there with them too
Whatwhat man
I told you last night His name was Bast
My God is it possible said Mr Wilcox In your mothers house Charles in your mothers house
I know pater That was what I felt As a matter of fact there is no need to trouble about the man He was in the last stages of heart disease and just before I could show him what I thought of him he went off The police are seeing about it at this moment
Mr Wilcox listened attentively
I got up thereoh it couldnt have been more than halfpast seven The Avery woman was lighting a fire for them They were still upstairs I waited in the drawingroom We were all moderately civil and collected though I had my suspicions I gave them your message and Mrs Wilcox said Oh yes I see yes in that way of hers
Nothing else
I promised to tell you with her love that she was going to Germany with her sister this evening That was all we had time for
Mr Wilcox seemed relieved
Because by then I suppose the man got tired of hiding for suddenly Mrs Wilcox screamed out his name I recognized it and I went for him in the hall Was I right pater I thought things were going a little too far
Right my dear boy I dont know But you would have been no son of mine if you hadnt Then did he justjustcrumple up as you said He shrunk from the simple word
He caught hold of the bookcase which came down over him So I merely put the sword down and carried him into the garden We all thought he was shamming However hes dead right enough Awful business
Sword cried his father with anxiety in his voice What sword Whose sword
A sword of theirs
What were you doing with it
Well didnt you see pater I had to snatch up the first thing handy I hadnt a ridingwhip or stick I caught him once or twice over the shoulders with the flat of their old German sword
Then what
He pulled over the bookcase as I said and fell said Charles with a sigh It was no fun doing errands for his father who was never quite satisfied
But the real cause was heart disease Of that youre sure
That or a fit However we shall hear more than enough at the inquest on such unsavoury topics
They went into breakfast Charles had a racking headache consequent on motoring before food He was also anxious about the future reflecting that the police must detain Helen and Margaret for the inquest and ferret the whole thing out He saw himself obliged to leave Hilton One could not afford to live near the scene of a scandalit was not fair on ones wife His comfort was that the paters eyes were opened at last There would be a horrible smash up and probably a separation from Margaret then they would all start again more as they had been in his mothers time
I think Ill go round to the policestation said his father when breakfast was over
What for cried Dolly who had still not been told
Very well sir Which car will you have
I think Ill walk
Its a good halfmile said Charles stepping into the garden The suns very hot for April Shant I take you up and then perhaps a little spin round by Tewin
You go on as if I didnt know my own mind said Mr Wilcox fretfully Charles hardened his mouth You young fellows one idea is to get into a motor I tell you I want to walk Im very fond of walking
Oh all right Im about the house if you want me for anything I thought of not going up to the office today if that is your wish
It is indeed my boy said Mr Wilcox and laid a hand on his sleeve
Charles did not like it he was uneasy about his father who did not seem himself this morning There was a petulant touch about himmore like a woman Could it be that he was growing old The Wilcoxes were not lacking in affection they had it royally but they did not know how to use it It was the talent in the napkin and for a warmhearted man Charles had conveyed very little joy As he watched his father shuffling up the road he had a vague regreta wish that something had been different somewherea wish though he did not express it thus that he had been taught to say I in his youth He meant to make up for Margarets defection but knew that his father had been very happy with her until yesterday How had she done it By some dishonest trick no doubtbut how
Mr Wilcox reappeared at eleven looking very tired There was to be an inquest on Leonards body tomorrow and the police required his son to attend
I expected that said Charles I shall naturally be the most important witness there
Chapter 43
Out of the turmoil and horror that had begun with Aunt Juleys illness and was not even to end with Leonards death it seemed impossible to Margaret that healthy life should reemerge Events succeeded in a logical yet senseless train People lost their humanity and took values as arbitrary as those in a pack of playingcards It was natural that Henry should do this and cause Helen to do that and then think her wrong for doing it natural that she herself should think him wrong natural that Leonard should want to know how Helen was and come and Charles be angry with him for comingnatural but unreal In this jangle of causes and effects what had become of their true selves Here Leonard lay dead in the garden from natural causes yet life was a deep deep river death a blue sky life was a house death a wisp of hay a flower a tower life and death were anything and everything except this ordered insanity where the king takes the queen and the ace the king Ah no there was beauty and adventure behind such as the man at her feet had yearned for there was hope this side of the grave there were truer relationships beyond the limits that fetter us now As a prisoner looks up and sees stars beckoning so she from the turmoil and horror of those days caught glimpses of the diviner wheels
And Helen dumb with fright but trying to keep calm for the childs sake and Miss Avery calm but murmuring tenderly No one ever told the lad hell have a childthey also reminded her that horror is not the end To what ultimate harmony we tend she did not know but there seemed great chance that a child would be born into the world to take the great chances of beauty and adventure that the world offers She moved through the sunlit garden gathering narcissi crimsoneyed and white There was nothing else to be done the time for telegrams and anger was over and it seemed wisest that the hands of Leonard should be folded on his breast and be filled with flowers Here was the father leave it at that Let Squalor be turned into Tragedy whose eyes are the stars and whose hands hold the sunset and the dawn
And even the influx of officials even the return of the doctor vulgar and acute could not shake her belief in the eternity of beauty Science explained people but could not understand them After long centuries among the bones and muscles it might be advancing to knowledge of the nerves but this would never give understanding One could open the heart to Mr Mansbridge and his sort without discovering its secrets to them for they wanted everything down in black and white and black and white was exactly what they were left with
They questioned her closely about Charles She never suspected why Death had come and the doctor agreed that it was due to heart disease They asked to see her fathers sword She explained that Charless anger was natural but mistaken Miserable questions about Leonard followed all of which she answered unfalteringly Then back to Charles again No doubt Mr Wilcox may have induced death she said but if it wasnt one thing it would have been another as you yourselves know At last they thanked her and took the sword and the body down to Hilton She began to pick up the books from the floor
Helen had gone to the farm It was the best place for her since she had to wait for the inquest Though as if things were not hard enough Madge and her husband had raised trouble they did not see why they should receive the offscourings of Howards End And of course they were right The whole world was going to be right and amply avenge any brave talk against the conventions Nothing matters the Schlegels had said in the past except ones selfrespect and that of ones friends When the time came other things mattered terribly However Madge had yielded and Helen was assured of peace for one day and night and tomorrow she would return to Germany
As for herself she determined to go too No message came from Henry perhaps he expected her to apologize Now that she had time to think over her own tragedy she was unrepentant She neither forgave him for his behaviour nor wished to forgive him Her speech to him seemed perfect She would not have altered a word It had to be uttered once in a life to adjust the lopsidedness of the world It was spoken not only to her husband but to thousands of men like hima protest against the inner darkness in high places that comes with a commercial age Though he would build up his life without hers she could not apologize He had refused to connect on the clearest issue that can be laid before a man and their love must take the consequences
No there was nothing more to be done They had tried not to go over the precipice but perhaps the fall was inevitable And it comforted her to think that the future was certainly inevitable cause and effect would go jangling forward to some goal doubtless but to none that she could imagine At such moments the soul retires within to float upon the bosom of a deeper stream and has communion with the dead and sees the worlds glory not diminished but different in kind to what she has supposed She alters her focus until trivial things are blurred Margaret had been tending this way all the winter Leonards death brought her to the goal Alas that Henry should fade away as reality emerged and only her love for him should remain clear stamped with his image like the cameos we rescue out of dreams
With unfaltering eye she traced his future He would soon present a healthy mind to the world again and what did he or the world care if he was rotten at the core He would grow into a rich jolly old man at times a little sentimental about women but emptying his glass with anyone Tenacious of power he would keep Charles and the rest dependent and retire from business reluctantly and at an advanced age He would settle downthough she could not realize this In her eyes Henry was always moving and causing others to move until the ends of the earth met But in time he must get too tired to move and settle down What next The inevitable word The release of the soul to its appropriate Heaven
Would they meet in it Margaret believed in immortality for herself An eternal future had always seemed natural to her And Henry believed in it for himself Yet would they meet again Are there not rather endless levels beyond the grave as the theory that he had censured teaches And his level whether higher or lower could it possibly be the same as hers
Thus gravely meditating she was summoned by him He sent up Crane in the motor Other servants passed like water but the chauffeur remained though impertinent and disloyal Margaret disliked Crane and he knew it
Is it the keys that Mr Wilcox wants she asked
He didnt say madam
You havent any note for me
He didnt say madam
After a moments thought she locked up Howards End It was pitiable to see in it the stirrings of warmth that would be quenched for ever She raked out the fire that was blazing in the kitchen and spread the coals in the gravelled yard She closed the windows and drew the curtains Henry would probably sell the place now
She was determined not to spare him for nothing new had happened as far as they were concerned Her mood might never have altered from yesterday evening He was standing a little outside Charless gate and motioned the car to stop When his wife got out he said hoarsely I prefer to discuss things with you outside
It will be more appropriate in the road I am afraid said Margaret Did you get my message
What about
I am going to Germany with my sister I must tell you now that I shall make it my permanent home Our talk last night was more important than you have realized I am unable to forgive you and am leaving you
I am extremely tired said Henry in injured tones I have been walking about all the morning and wish to sit down
Certainly if you will consent to sit on the grass
The Great North Road should have been bordered all its length with glebe Henrys kind had filched most of it She moved to the scrap opposite wherein were the Six Hills They sat down on the farther side so that they could not be seen by Charles or Dolly
Here are your keys said Margaret She tossed them towards him They fell on the sunlit slope of grass and he did not pick them up
I have something to tell you he said gently
She knew this superficial gentleness this confession of hastiness that was only intended to enhance her admiration of the male
I dont want to hear it she replied My sister is going to be ill My life is going to be with her now We must manage to build up something she and I and her child
Where are you going
Munich We start after the inquest if she is not too ill
After the inquest
Yes
Have you realized what the verdict at the inquest will be
Yes heart disease
No my dear manslaughter
Margaret drove her fingers through the grass The hill beneath her moved as if it was alive
Manslaughter repeated Mr Wilcox Charles may go to prison I dare not tell him I dont know what to dowhat to do Im brokenIm ended
No sudden warmth arose in her She did not see that to break him was her only hope She did not enfold the sufferer in her arms But all through that day and the next a new life began to move The verdict was brought in Charles was committed for trial It was against all reason that he should be punished but the law being made in his image sentenced him to three years imprisonment Then Henrys fortress gave way He could bear no one but his wife he shambled up to Margaret afterwards and asked her to do what she could with him She did what seemed easiestshe took him down to recruit at Howards End
Chapter 44
Toms father was cutting the big meadow He passed again and again amid whirring blades and sweet odours of grass encompassing with narrowing circles the sacred centre of the field Tom was negotiating with Helen
I havent any idea she replied Do you suppose baby may Meg
Margaret put down her work and regarded them absently What was that she asked
Tom wants to know whether baby is old enough to play with hay
I havent the least notion answered Margaret and took up her work again
Now Tom baby is not to stand he is not to lie on his face he is not to lie so that his head wags he is not to be teased or tickled and he is not to be cut into two or more pieces by the cutter Will you be as careful as all that
Tom held out his arms
That child is a wonderful nursemaid remarked Margaret
He is fond of baby Thats why he does it was Helens answer Theyre going to be lifelong friends
Starting at the ages of six and one
Of course It will be a great thing for Tom
It may be a greater thing for baby
Fourteen months had passed but Margaret still stopped at Howards End No better plan had occurred to her The meadow was being recut the great red poppies were reopening in the garden July would follow with the little red poppies among the wheat August with the cutting of the wheat These little events would become part of her year after year Every summer she would fear lest the well should give out every winter lest the pipes should freeze every westerly gale might blow the wychelm down and bring the end of all things and so she could not read or talk during a westerly gale The air was tranquil now She and her sister were sitting on the remains of Evies mockery where the lawn merged into the field
What a time they all are said Helen What can they be doing inside Margaret who was growing less talkative made no answer The noise of the cutter came intermittently like the breaking of waves Close by them a man was preparing to scythe out one of the dellholes
I wish Henry was out to enjoy this said Helen This lovely weather and to be shut up in the house Its very hard
It has to be said Margaret The hayfever is his chief objection against living here but he thinks it worth while
Meg is or isnt he ill I cant make out
Not ill Eternally tired He has worked very hard all his life and noticed nothing Those are the people who collapse when they do notice a thing
I suppose he worries dreadfully about his part of the tangle
Dreadfully That is why I wish Dolly had not come too today Still he wanted them all to come It has to be
Why does he want them
Margaret did not answer
Meg may I tell you something I like Henry
Youd be odd if you didnt said Margaret
I usent to
Usent She lowered her eyes a moment to the black abyss of the past They had crossed it always excepting Leonard and Charles They were building up a new life obscure yet gilded with tranquillity Leonard was dead Charles had two years more in prison One usent always to see clearly before that time It was different now
I like Henry because he does worry
And he likes you because you dont
Helen sighed She seemed humiliated and buried her face in her hands After a time she said Above love a transition less abrupt than it appeared
Margaret never stopped working
I mean a womans love for a man I supposed I should hang my life on to that once and was driven up and down and about as if something was worrying through me But everything is peaceful now I seem cured That Herr Förstmeister whom Frieda keeps writing about must be a noble character but he doesnt see that I shall never marry him or anyone It isnt shame or mistrust of myself I simply couldnt Im ended I used to be so dreamy about a mans love as a girl and think that for good or evil love must be the great thing But it hasnt been it has been itself a dream Do you agree
I do not agree I do not
I ought to remember Leonard as my lover said Helen stepping down into the field I tempted him and killed him and it is surely the least I can do I would like to throw out all my heart to Leonard on such an afternoon as this But I cannot It is no good pretending I am forgetting him Her eyes filled with tears How nothing seems to matchhow my darling my precious She broke off Tommy
Yes please
Babys not to try and standTheres something wanting in me I see you loving Henry and understanding him better daily and I know that death wouldnt part you in the least But IIs it some awful appalling criminal defect
Margaret silenced her She said It is only that people are far more different than is pretended All over the world men and women are worrying because they cannot develop as they are supposed to develop Here and there they have the matter out and it comforts them Dont fret yourself Helen Develop what you have love your child I do not love children I am thankful to have none I can play with their beauty and charm but that is allnothing real not one scrap of what there ought to be And othersothers go farther still and move outside humanity altogether A place as well as a person may catch the glow Dont you see that all this leads to comfort in the end It is part of the battle against sameness Differenceseternal differences planted by God in a single family so that there may always be colour sorrow perhaps but colour in the daily grey Then I cant have you worrying about Leonard Dont drag in the personal when it will not come Forget him
Yes yes but what has Leonard got out of life
Perhaps an adventure
Is that enough
Not for us But for him
Helen took up a bunch of grass She looked at the sorrel and the red and white and yellow clover and the quaker grass and the daisies and the bents that composed it She raised it to her face
Is it sweetening yet asked Margaret
No only withered
It will sweeten tomorrow
Helen smiled Oh Meg you are a person she said Think of the racket and torture this time last year But now I couldnt stop unhappy if I tried What a changeand all through you
Oh we merely settled down You and Henry learnt to understand one another and to forgive all through the autumn and the winter
Yes but who settled us down
Margaret did not reply The scything had begun and she took off her pincenez to watch it
You cried Helen You did it all sweetest though youre too stupid to see Living here was your planI wanted you he wanted you and every one said it was impossible but you knew Just think of our lives without you MegI and baby with Monica revolting by theory he handed about from Dolly to Evie But you picked up the pieces and made us a home Cant it strike youeven for a momentthat your life has been heroic Cant you remember the two months after Charless arrest when you began to act and did all
You were both ill at the time said Margaret I did the obvious things I had two invalids to nurse Here was a house ready furnished and empty It was obvious I didnt know myself it would turn into a permanent home No doubt I have done a little towards straightening the tangle but things that I cant phrase have helped me
I hope it will be permanent said Helen drifting away to other thoughts
I think so There are moments when I feel Howards End peculiarly our own
All the same Londons creeping
She pointed over the meadowover eight or nine meadows but at the end of them was a red rust
You see that in Surrey and even Hampshire now she continued I can see it from the Purbeck Downs And London is only part of something else Im afraid Lifes going to be melted down all over the world
Margaret knew that her sister spoke truly Howards End Oniton the Purbeck Downs the Oderberge were all survivals and the meltingpot was being prepared for them Logically they had no right to be alive Ones hope was in the weakness of logic Were they possibly the earth beating time
Because a thing is going strong now it need not go strong for ever she said This craze for motion has only set in during the last hundred years It may be followed by a civilization that wont be a movement because it will rest on the earth All the signs are against it now but I cant help hoping and very early in the morning in the garden I feel that our house is the future as well as the past
They turned and looked at it Their own memories coloured it now for Helens child had been born in the central room of the nine Then Margaret said Oh take care for something moved behind the window of the hall and the door opened
The conclaves breaking at last Ill go
It was Paul
Helen retreated with the children far into the field Friendly voices greeted her Margaret rose to encounter a man with a heavy black moustache
My father has asked for you he said with hostility She took her work and followed him
We have been talking business he continued but I dare say you knew all about it beforehand
Yes I did
Clumsy of movementfor he had spent all his life in the saddlePaul drove his foot against the paint of the front door Mrs Wilcox gave a little cry of annoyance She did not like anything scratched she stopped in the hall to take Dollys boa and gloves out of a vase
Her husband was lying in a great leather chair in the diningroom and by his side holding his hand rather ostentatiously was Evie Dolly dressed in purple sat near the window The room was a little dark and airless they were obliged to keep it like this until the carting of the hay Margaret joined the family without speaking the five of them had met already at tea and she knew quite well what was going to be said Averse to wasting her time she went on sewing The clock struck six
Is this going to suit every one said Henry in a weary voice He used the old phrases but their effect was unexpected and shadowy Because I dont want you all coming here later on and complaining that I have been unfair
Its apparently got to suit us said Paul
I beg your pardon my boy You have only to speak and I will leave the house to you instead
Paul frowned illtemperedly and began scratching at his arm As Ive given up the outdoor life that suited me and I have come home to look after the business its no good my settling down here he said at last Its not really the country and its not the town
Very well Does my arrangement suit you Evie
Of course Father
And you Dolly
Dolly raised her faded little face which sorrow could wither but not steady Perfectly splendidly she said I thought Charles wanted it for the boys but last time I saw him he said no because we cannot possibly live in this part of England again Charles says we ought to change our name but I cannot think what to for Wilcox just suits Charles and me and I cant think of any other name
There was a general silence Dolly looked nervously round fearing that she had been inappropriate Paul continued to scratch his arm
Then I leave Howards End to my wife absolutely said Henry And let every one understand that and after I am dead let there be no jealousy and no surprise
Margaret did not answer There was something uncanny in her triumph She who had never expected to conquer anyone had charged straight through these Wilcoxes and broken up their lives
In consequence I leave my wife no money said Henry That is her own wish All that she would have had will be divided among you I am also giving you a great deal in my lifetime so that you may be independent of me That is her wish too She also is giving away a great deal of money She intends to diminish her income by half during the next ten years she intends when she dies to leave the house to herto her nephew down in the field Is all that clear Does every one understand
Paul rose to his feet He was accustomed to natives and a very little shook him out of the Englishman Feeling manly and cynical he said Down in the field Oh come I think we might have had the whole establishment piccaninnies included
Mrs Cahill whispered Dont Paul You promised youd take care Feeling a woman of the world she rose and prepared to take her leave
Her father kissed her Goodbye old girl he said dont you worry about me
Goodbye Dad
Then it was Dollys turn Anxious to contribute she laughed nervously and said Goodbye Mr Wilcox It does seem curious that Mrs Wilcox should have left Margaret Howards End and yet she get it after all
From Evie came a sharplydrawn breath Goodbye she said to Margaret and kissed her
And again and again fell the word like the ebb of a dying sea
Goodbye
Goodbye Dolly
So long Father
Goodbye my boy always take care of yourself
Goodbye Mrs Wilcox
Goodbye
Margaret saw their visitors to the gate Then she returned to her husband and laid her head in his hands He was pitiably tired But Dollys remark had interested her At last she said Could you tell me Henry what was that about Mrs Wilcox having left me Howards End
Tranquilly he replied Yes she did But that is a very old story When she was ill and you were so kind to her she wanted to make you some return and not being herself at the time scribbled Howards End on a piece of paper I went into it thoroughly and as it was clearly fanciful I set it aside little knowing what my Margaret would be to me in the future
Margaret was silent Something shook her life in its inmost recesses and she shivered
I didnt do wrong did I he asked bending down
You didnt darling Nothing has been done wrong
From the garden came laughter Here they are at last exclaimed Henry disengaging himself with a smile Helen rushed into the gloom holding Tom by one hand and carrying her baby on the other There were shouts of infectious joy
The fields cut Helen cried excitedlythe big meadow Weve seen to the very end and itll be such a crop of hay as never
Weybridge 19081910