



Produced by Richard Fane





WHERE ANGELS FEAR TO TREAD

By E. M. Forster




Chapter 1

They were all at Charing Cross to see Lilia off--Philip, Harriet, Irma,
Mrs. Herriton herself. Even Mrs. Theobald, squired by Mr. Kingcroft,
had braved the journey from Yorkshire to bid her only daughter good-bye.
Miss Abbott was likewise attended by numerous relatives, and the sight
of so many people talking at once and saying such different things
caused Lilia to break into ungovernable peals of laughter.

"Quite an ovation," she cried, sprawling out of her first-class
carriage. "They'll take us for royalty. Oh, Mr. Kingcroft, get us
foot-warmers."

The good-natured young man hurried away, and Philip, taking his place,
flooded her with a final stream of advice and injunctions--where to
stop, how to learn Italian, when to use mosquito-nets, what pictures
to look at. "Remember," he concluded, "that it is only by going off the
track that you get to know the country. See the little towns--Gubbio,
Pienza, Cortona, San Gemignano, Monteriano. And don't, let me beg
you, go with that awful tourist idea that Italy's only a museum of
antiquities and art. Love and understand the Italians, for the people
are more marvellous than the land."

"How I wish you were coming, Philip," she said, flattered at the
unwonted notice her brother-in-law was giving her.

"I wish I were." He could have managed it without great difficulty,
for his career at the Bar was not so intense as to prevent occasional
holidays. But his family disliked his continual visits to the Continent,
and he himself often found pleasure in the idea that he was too busy to
leave town.

"Good-bye, dear every one. What a whirl!"