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Chapter 42

10 August 2023

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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 don’t 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.

“I’ll sit up for her as late as you like, but she can hardly be coming. Isn’t she stopping with her sister at the hotel?”

“Perhaps,” said Mr. Wilcox thoughtfully–“perhaps.”

“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 Charles’s door. “I can’t 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 dressing-gowns. 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 mine–and, Charles, it will be yours–and when I say that no one is to live there, I mean that no one is to live there. I won’t 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 son’s, but somehow liked him less as he told him more. “I don’t want you to conclude that my wife and I had anything of the nature of a quarrel. She was only over-wrought, 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.”

“What–what man?”

“I told you last night. His name was Bast.”

“My God, is it possible?” said Mr. Wilcox. “In your mother’s house! Charles, in your mother’s 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 there–oh, it couldn’t have been more than half-past seven. The Avery woman was lighting a fire for them. They were still upstairs. I waited in the drawing-room. 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 don’t know. But you would have been no son of mine if you hadn’t. Then did he just–just–crumple 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, he’s 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, didn’t you see, pater, I had to snatch up the first thing handy I hadn’t a riding-whip 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 you’re 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 scandal–it was not fair on one’s wife. His comfort was that the pater’s 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 mother’s time.

“I think I’ll go round to the police-station,” 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 I’ll walk.”

“It’s a good half-mile,” said Charles, stepping into the garden. “The sun’s very hot for April. Shan’t I take you up, and then, perhaps, a little spin round by Tewin?”

“You go on as if I didn’t 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: I’m very fond of walking.”

“Oh, all right; I’m 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 him–more 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 warm-hearted man, Charles had conveyed very little joy. As he watched his father shuffling up the road, he had a vague regret–a wish that something had been different somewhere–a 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 Margaret’s defection, but knew that his father had been very happy with her until yesterday. How had she done it? By some dishonest trick, no doubt–but how?

Mr. Wilcox reappeared at eleven, looking very tired. There was to be an inquest on Leonard’s’ body tomorrow, and the police required his son to attend.

“I expected that,” said Charles. “I shall naturally be the most important witness there.” 

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Articles
Howards End
5.0
Howards End is a novel by E. M. Forster about social conventions, codes of conduct and relationships in turn-of-the-century England. A strong-willed and intelligent woman refuses to allow the pretensions of her husband's smug English family to ruin her life.
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Chapter 1

7 August 2023
61
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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

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Chapter 2

7 August 2023
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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 mo

3

Chapter 3

7 August 2023
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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 gi

4

Chapter 4

7 August 2023
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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

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Chapter 5

7 August 2023
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It will be generally admitted that Beethoven’s 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

6

Chapter 6

7 August 2023
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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 tha

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Chapter 7

7 August 2023
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“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 b

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Chapter 8

7 August 2023
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The friendship between Margaret and Mrs. Wilcox, which was to develop so–quickly and with such strange results, may perhaps have had its beginnings at Speyer, in the spring. Perhaps the elder lady, as

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Chapter 9

7 August 2023
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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

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Chapter 10

7 August 2023
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Several days passed. Was Mrs. Wilcox one of the unsatisfactory people–there are many of them–who dangle intimacy and then withdraw it? They evoke our interests and affections, and keep the life of th

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Chapter 11

7 August 2023
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The funeral was over. The carriages rolled away through the soft mud, and only the poor remained. They approached to the newly-dug shaft and looked their last at the coffin, now almost hidden beneath

12

Chapter 12

8 August 2023
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Charles need not have been anxious. Miss Schlegel had never heard of his mother’s strange request. She was to hear of it in after years, when she had built up her life differently, and it was to fit i

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Chapter 13

8 August 2023
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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

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Chapter 14

8 August 2023
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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 Compan

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Chapter 15

8 August 2023
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The sisters went out to dinner full of their adventure, and when they were both full of the same subject, there were few dinner-parties that could stand up against them. This particular one, which was

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Chapter 16

8 August 2023
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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? I’m

17

Chapter 17

8 August 2023
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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

18

Chapter 18

8 August 2023
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As they were seated at Aunt Juley’s breakfast-table 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

19

Chapter 19

8 August 2023
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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. Th

20

Chapter 20

8 August 2023
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Margaret had often wondered at the disturbance that takes place in the world’s waters, when Love, who seems so tiny a pebble, slips in. Whom does Love concern beyond the beloved and the lover? Yet his

21

Chapter 21

8 August 2023
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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

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Chapter 22

9 August 2023
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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

23

Chapter 23

9 August 2023
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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 th

24

Chapter 24

9 August 2023
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“It gave her quite a turn,” said Mr. Wilcox, when retailing the incident to Dolly at tea-time. “None of you girls have any nerves, really. Of course, a word from me put it all right, but silly old Mis

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Chapter 25

9 August 2023
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Evie heard of her father’s 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, shou

26

Chapter 26

9 August 2023
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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 su

27

Chapter 27

9 August 2023
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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 stran

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Chapter 28

9 August 2023
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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

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Chapter 29

9 August 2023
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“Henry dear–” was her greeting. He had finished his breakfast, and was beginning the TIMES. His sister-in-law was packing. She knelt by him and took the paper from him, feeling that it was unusually

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Chapter 30

9 August 2023
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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.

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Chapter 31

9 August 2023
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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 after-life in the city of ghosts, while from others–and thus was t

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Chapter 32

9 August 2023
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She was looking at plans one day in the following spring–they had finally decided to go down into Sussex and build–when Mrs. Charles Wilcox was announced. “Have you heard the news?” Dolly cried, as s

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Chapter 33

10 August 2023
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The day of her visit was exquisite, and the last of unclouded happiness that she was to have for many months. Her anxiety about Helen’s extraordinary absence was still dormant, and as for a possible b

34

Chapter 34

10 August 2023
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It was not unexpected entirely. Aunt Juley’s 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

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Chapter 35

10 August 2023
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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 o

36

Chapter 36

10 August 2023
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“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 remai

37

Chapter 37

10 August 2023
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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 wer

38

Chapter 38

10 August 2023
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The tragedy began quietly enough, and like many another talk, by the man’s deft assertion of his superiority. Henry heard her arguing with the driver, stepped out and settled the fellow, who was incli

39

Chapter 39

10 August 2023
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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 ne

40

Chapter 40

10 August 2023
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Leonard–he 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

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Chapter 41

10 August 2023
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Far different was Leonard’s 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

42

Chapter 42

10 August 2023
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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 gra

43

Chapter 43

10 August 2023
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Out of the turmoil and horror that had begun with Aunt Juley’s illness and was not even to end with Leonard’s death, it seemed impossible to Margaret that healthy life should re-emerge. Events succeed

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Chapter 44

10 August 2023
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Tom’s 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 negotiati

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