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    A ROOM WITH A VIEW & HOWARDS END
    A ROOM WITH A VIEW & HOWARDS END
    A ROOM WITH A VIEW & HOWARDS END
    Ebook690 pages10 hours

    A ROOM WITH A VIEW & HOWARDS END

    By E. M. Forster

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    E. M. Forster's dual novels, 'A Room with a View' and 'Howards End', showcase his adept ability to explore societal norms and class distinctions in Edwardian England. Set against the backdrop of England's evolving social landscape, both novels depict the clash between the old guard and the new wave of modernity, with characters grappling with their own personal desires and societal expectations. Forster's writing style is characterized by his keen observations of human nature, subtle wit, and vivid descriptions of the British countryside, creating a rich and immersive reading experience for the audience. The juxtaposition of the two novels allows readers to witness the different facets of Forster's storytelling, from the romantic escapades in 'A Room with a View' to the more somber reflections on class and morality in 'Howards End'. E. M. Forster, known for his exploration of human relationships and societal conventions, drew inspiration from his own experiences and observations of Edwardian England when writing 'A Room with a View' and 'Howards End'. His keen insight into the nuances of class distinctions, personal freedoms, and the impact of social change is evident throughout both novels, reflecting his progressive views on gender roles and individuality. Forster's deep understanding of human nature and his unwavering belief in the power of empathy and understanding shine through his works, making him a highly influential figure in 20th-century English literature. I highly recommend 'A Room with a View' and 'Howards End' to readers interested in thought-provoking narratives that delve into the complexities of relationships, societal norms, and personal identity. Forster's timeless exploration of these themes continues to resonate with audiences today, offering valuable insights into the human condition and the enduring relevance of his work.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMusaicum Books
    Release dateNov 2, 2018
    ISBN9788027243587
    A ROOM WITH A VIEW & HOWARDS END
    Author

    E. M. Forster

    Edward Morgan Forster (1879–1970) was born in London and attended the Tonbridge School and King’s College, Cambridge. A substantial inheritance from his aunt gave Forster the freedom to pursue a literary career and travel extensively, and he wrote some of the finest novels of the twentieth century, including A Room with a View, A Passage to India, and Howards End. Queen Elizabeth II awarded him the Order of Merit in 1969.

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      Book preview

      A ROOM WITH A VIEW & HOWARDS END - E. M. Forster

      44

      Only Connect...

      Chapter 1

      Table of Contents

      One may as well begin with Helen's letters to her sister.

      Howards End,

      Tuesday.

      Dearest Meg,

      It isn't going to be what we expected.  It is old and little, and altogether delightful—red 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 dining-room or drawing-room.  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 first-floor.  Three bedrooms in a row there, and three attics in a row above.  That isn't all the house really, but it's all that one notices—nine windows as you look up from the front garden.

      Then there's a very big wych-elm—to the left as you look up—leaning a little over the house, and standing on the boundary between the garden and meadow.  I quite love that tree already.  Also ordinary elms, oaks—no nastier than ordinary oaks—pear-trees, apple-trees, and a vine.  No silver birches, though.  However, I must get on to my host and hostess.  I only wanted to show that it isn't the least what we expected.  Why did we settle that their house would be all gables and wiggles, and their garden all gamboge-coloured paths?  I believe simply because we associate them with expensive hotels—Mrs. 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 he's brave, and gets quite cross when we inquire after it.  Men like the Wilcoxes would do Tibby a power of good.  But you won't agree, and I'd better change the subject.

      This long letter is because I'm 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 yesterday—I 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, 'a-tissue, a-tissue': he has to stop too.  Then Evie comes out, and does some calisthenic exercises on a machine that is tacked on to a greengage-tree—they put everything to use—and then she says 'a-tissue,' 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 t'other from which, and up to now I have always put that down as 'Meg's clever nonsense.' But this morning, it really does seem not life but a play, and it did amuse me enormously to watch the W's.  Now Mrs. Wilcox has come in.

      I am going to wear [omission].  Last night Mrs. Wilcox wore an [omission], and Evie [omission].  So it isn't exactly a go-as-you-please place, and if you shut your eyes it still seems the wiggly hotel that we expected.  Not if you open them.  The dog-roses are too sweet.  There is a great hedge of them over the lawn—magnificently 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 so—at least Mr. Wilcox does—and when that happens, and one doesn't mind, it's a pretty sure test, isn't it?  He says the most horrid things about women's suffrage so nicely, and when I said I believed in equality he just folded his arms and gave me such a setting down as I've never had.  Meg, shall we ever learn to talk less?  I never felt so ashamed of myself in my life.  I couldn't 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 couldn't say a word.  I had just picked up the notion that equality is good from some book—probably from poetry, or you.  Anyhow, it's 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 fighting-cocks, and Charles takes us out every day in the motor—a tomb with trees in it, a hermit's house, a wonderful road that was made by the Kings of Mercia—tennis—a cricket match—bridge—and at night we squeeze up in this lovely house.  The whole clan's here now—it's like a rabbit warren.  Evie is a dear.  They want me to stop over Sunday—I suppose it won't matter if I do.  Marvellous weather and the view's marvellous—views westward to the high ground.  Thank you for your letter.  Burn this.

      Your affectionate

      Helen

      Howards End,

      Sunday.

      Dearest, dearest Meg,—I do not know what you will say: Paul and I are in love—the younger son who only came here Wednesday.

      Chapter 2

      Table of Contents

      Margaret glanced at her sister's note and pushed it over the breakfast-table to her aunt.  There was a moment's hush, and then the flood-gates opened.

      I can tell you nothing, Aunt Juley.  I know no more than you do.  We met—we only met the father and mother abroad last spring.  I know so little that I didn't even know their son's name.  It's 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 mustn't be unpractical now that we've come to facts.  It is too sudden, surely.

      Who knows!

      But Margaret dear—

      I'll go for her other letters, said Margaret.  No, I won't, I'll finish my breakfast.  In fact, I haven't 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 Speyer—the Archbishop of Speyer was one of the seven electors—you know—'Speyer, 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 in—they were actually stopping at Speyer—and 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 them—at least, I was asked too, but Tibby's illness prevented me, so last Monday she went alone.  That's all.  You know as much as I do now.  It's a young man out the unknown.  She was to have come back Saturday, but put off till Monday, perhaps on account of—I don't 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 flats—expensive, with cavernous entrance halls, full of concierges and palms—it 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 hastily—English to the backbone.

      Margaret leaned forward and stroked her hand.

      And that reminds me—Helen's letter—

      Oh, yes, Aunt Juley, I am thinking all right about Helen's letter.  I know—I 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, don't 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, don't you see.

      On the contrary—

      I hate plans.  I hate lines of action.  Helen isn't 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 house-tops, 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.  But—you won't 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 Juley—she jumped up and kissed her—I must, must go to Howards End myself.  You don't 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 Helen's happiness you would offend the whole of these Wilcoxes by asking one of your impetuous questions—not that one minds offending them.

      I shall ask no questions.  I have it in Helen's 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 isn't worth a straw.  A long engagement if you like, but inquiries, questions, plans, lines of action—no, Aunt Juley, no.

      Away she hurried, not beautiful, not supremely brilliant, but filled with something that took the place of both qualities—something 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 shop-assistant 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.  What's an engagement made of, do you suppose?  I think it's made of some hard stuff, that may snap, but can't break.  It is different to the other ties of life.  They stretch or bend.  They admit of degree.  They're different.

      Exactly so.  But won't 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 Juley's 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 cried—Yes, I have changed my mind; I do wish that you would go.

      There was a train from King's Cross at eleven.  At half-past ten Tibby, with rare self-effacement, 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 aunt's hand, and with meditating, half sensibly and half poetically, on the journey that was about to begin from King's 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 d'Italia, 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 Margaret—I hope that it will not set the reader against her—the station of King's Cross had always suggested Infinity.  Its very situation—withdrawn a little behind the facile splendours of St. Pancras—implied 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 second-class ticket, was put by the guard into a first (only two seconds on the train, one smoking and the other babies—one 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 gone—gone irrevocably, and no power on earth could stop her.

      Chapter 3

      Table of Contents

      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.  Emily's 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 Wife's Sister Bill, so Mrs. Munt could without impropriety offer to go and keep house at Wickham Place.  But her brother-in-law, 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 nest-egg to fall back upon. This year Helen came of age, and exactly the same thing happened in Helen's 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 Place—unshaven 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 hour's 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 motor-cars, 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 pre-coaching 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. Munt's 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 Helen's 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.

      She's 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, well—she 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, oughtn't 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—

      I'll call you a cab.  No; wait a mo— He thought.  Our motor's here.  I'll run you up in it.

      That is very kind—

      Not at all, if you'll 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.  You'll see Miss Schlegel at lunch.  You're coming up to lunch, I hope?

      "I should like to come up," said Mrs. Munt, not committing herself to nourishment until she had studied Helen's 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 box-like construction of his forehead.  He was dark, clean-shaven 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 moment—I can't think what they're doing with that parcel. He strode into the booking-office 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 station's 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 self-possession 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. Munt's 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 the—should I sign after all this bother?  Not even got a pencil on you?  Remember next time I report you to the station-master.  My time's of value, though yours mayn't be.  Here—here 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 Margaret's 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 porter—life is a mysterious business—looking after them with admiration.

      The wind was in their faces down the station road, blowing the dust into Mrs. Munt's 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 everything—everything.  I have seen Helen's 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 didn't catch.

      About Helen.  Helen, of course.  Helen is a very exceptional person—I am sure you will let me say this, feeling towards her as you do—indeed, all the Schlegels are exceptional.  I come in no spirit of interference, but it was a great shock.

      They drew up opposite a draper's.  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 they'll learn wisdom and tar the roads, was his comment.  Then a man ran out of the draper's 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.

      I'm sorry to be so dense, said the young man, again drawing up outside a shop.  But I still haven't quite understood.

      Helen, Mr. Wilcox—my 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 cross-purposes, 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 didn't the least— she stammered, getting blood-red in the face, and wishing she had never been born.

      Scarcely, as I am already engaged to another lady. There was a moment's silence, and then he caught his breath and exploded with, Oh, good God!  Don't tell me it's some silliness of Paul's.

      But you are Paul.

      I'm 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. Munt—such is human nature—determined 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 by-and-by.  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.  I'll take you up this moment to the house.  Let me tell you the thing's 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 classe—if one may coin the phrase—was 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 hasn't a penny; it's 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 couldn't think of marrying for years and when he does it must be a woman who can stand the climate, and is in other ways—Why hasn't he told us?  Of course he's ashamed.  He knows he's been a fool.  And so he has—a 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 I'd box your ears.  You're not fit to clean my niece's boots, to sit in the same room with her, and you dare—you actually dare—I decline to argue with such a person.

      All I know is, she's spread the thing and he hasn't, and my father's 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 quarrels—inevitable 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; I—I meant to stop your coming.  It isn't—it's over.

      The climax was too much for Mrs. Munt.  She burst into tears.

      Aunt Juley dear, don't.  Don't let them know I've been so silly.  It wasn't anything.  Do bear up for my sake.

      Paul, cried Charles Wilcox, pulling his gloves off.

      Don't 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 didn't—I don't—

      Yes or no, man; plain question, plain answer.  Did or didn't Miss Schlegel—

      Charles dear, said a voice from the garden.  Charles, dear Charles, one doesn't ask plain questions.  There aren't such things.

      They were all silent.  It was Mrs. Wilcox.

      She approached just as Helen's 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 her—that 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 I'm 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?

      It's 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

      Table of Contents

      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 Emily's 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 motor-car.  When Charles said, Why be so polite to servants?  they don't understand it, she had not given the Schlegel retort of, If they don't 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 it—who 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 wych-elm.  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 Margaret—at 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 dining-room I knew it was no good.  There was Evie—I can't explain—managing the tea-urn, 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 Helen's 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 sort—father, 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 motor-cars and golf-clubs, and that if it fell I should find nothing behind it but panic and emptiness. 

      I don't think that.  The Wilcoxes struck me as being genuine people, particularly the wife.

      No, I don't really think that.  But Paul was so broad-shouldered; all kinds of extraordinary things made it worse, and I knew that it would never do—never.  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 I—stopped him.  Then he said, 'I must beg your pardon over this, Miss Schlegel; I can't think what came over me last night.' And I said, 'Nor what over me; never mind.' And then we parted—at 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 Paul—oh, rather horrible—said 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.

      I've often thought about it, Helen.  It's 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 touched—a 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 I'm clear.  But here my difficulty.  This outer life, though obviously horrid, often seems the real one—there's grit in it.  It does breed character.  Do personal relations lead to sloppiness in the end?

      Oh, Meg, that's what I felt, only not so clearly, when the Wilcoxes were so competent, and seemed to have their hands on all the ropes. 

      Don't 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 came—it was all very immense, one had turned into an Empire—but he knew that some quality had vanished for which not all Alsace-Lorraine 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 re-emerge.  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.  No—for the other had protested—"your Pan-Germanism 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

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