prompt:
Chapter: "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 Helen's 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. Wilcox--the
scandal was out. Sincerely horrified, Henry stood gazing at the earth.

"I cannot help it," said Margaret. "Do wait. It's not my fault. Please
all four of you 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. It's doctor's orders. Open the
door."

"Forgive me, but I will not."

"I don't agree."

Margaret was silent.

"This business is as broad as it's 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. Don't 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 doesn't know her. That's all. And affection, when
reciprocated, gives rights. Put that down in your note-book, Mr.
Mansbridge. It's a useful formula."

Henry told her to be calm.

"You don't 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.
I'll 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 Dolly's," 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.

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 wouldn't think I'd 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 then--I haven't behaved worthily."

Helen selected another book.

"I ought not to have consulted any one. What would our father have
thought of me?"

She did not think of questioning her sister, or 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 committed--that 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 can't go
through a great deal of--"--she left out the noun--"without planning one's
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 didn't 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 the 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 wouldn't have. She's an Italian--by 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 Monica's type--"Italiano 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 haven't
understood yet, Meg, and of course it is very difficult for you. This is
a shock to you. It isn't to me, who have been thinking over our futures
for many months, and they won't be changed by a slight contretemps, such
as this. I cannot live in England."

"Helen, you've not forgiven me for my treachery. You COULDN'T 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 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 hasn't 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 we--but by a mistake all our things were unpacked,
and Miss Avery, instead of--" She stopped. "Look here, I can't go on
like this. I warn you I won't. Helen, why should you be so miserably
unkind to me, simply because you hate Henry?"

"I don't hate him now," said Helen. "I have stopped being a schoolgirl,
and, Meg, once again, I'm not being unkind. But as for fitting in with
your English life--no, put it out of your head at once. Imagine a visit
from me at Ducie Street! It's 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 through--how
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.

"There's nothing to tell."

"But your marriage has been happy, Meg?"

"Yes, but I don't feel inclined to talk."

"You feel as I do."

"Not that, but I can't."

"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 meeting-place. 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 so--dear old lady! it isn't 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 Helen's 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 here's
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 Henry's
visiting-card 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 Dolly's. "Il faut dormir sur ce sujet." while Helen
was to be found une comfortable chambre a l'hotel. The final sentence
displeased her greatly until she remembered that the Charles's 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. Wilcox's 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 home with our things than
think of it empty. In consequence here are all the library books."

"Not all the books. She hasn't 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, doesn't it?"

"Where's the piano, Meg?"

"I warehoused that in London. Why?"

"Nothing."

"Curious, too, that the carpet fits."

"The carpet's 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 under-furnishing. Would you care to come
into the dining-room before you start? There's no carpet there. They
went in, and each minute their talk became more natural.

"Oh, WHAT a place for mother's chiffonier!" cried Helen.

"Look at the chairs, though."

"Oh, look at them! Wickham Place faced north, didn't it?"

"North-west."

"Anyhow, it is thirty years since any of those chairs have felt the sun.
Feel. Their dear 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.

"Ye--es. The window's too high."

"Try a drawing-room chair."

"No, I don't like the drawing-room so much. The beam has been
match-boarded. It would have been so beautiful otherwise."

"Helen, what a memory you have for some things! You're perfectly right.
It's a room that men have spoilt through trying to make it nice for
women. Men don't know what we want--"

"And never will."

"I don't agree. In two thousand years they'll know. 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 you're right and it must have been soup. I thinking of much
later--that unsuccessful visit of Aunt Juley's, when she didn't realise
that Tibby had grown up. It was coffee then, for he threw it down on
purpose. There was some rhyme, 'Tea, coffee--coffee tea,' that she said
to him every morning at breakfast. Wait a minute--how did it go?"

"I know--no, I don't. What a detestable boy Tibby was!"

"But the rhyme was simply awful. No decent person could 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 dumb-bells? And there come
the chickens. The grass wants cutting. I love yellow-hammers."

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 you'd say that in the end. Of course he's a dear."

A bell rang.

"Listen! what's that?"

Helen said, "Perhaps the Wilcoxes are beginning the siege."

"What nonsense--listen!"

And the triviality faded from their faces, though it left something
behind--the 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 meeting-ground, and had only made each other
unhappy. And all the time their salvation was lying round them--the past
sanctifying the present; the present, with wild heart-throb, 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 other's eyes. The inner life had
paid.

Solemnly the clapper tolled. No one was in the front. Margaret went to
the kitchen, and struggled between packing-cases 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, it's 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 we've nothing to put it in, and he wants the
can."

"Please, I'm 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, what's your name? Mine's
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 we've another called Tibby."

"Mine are lop-eareds," replied Tom, supposing Tibby to be a rabbit.

"You're a very good and rather a clever little boy. Mind you come
again.--Isn't 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 don't 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 can't get over that for thirty years the sun has never shone
full on our furniture. After all, Wickham Place was a grave. Meg, I've a
startling idea."

"What is it?"

"Drink some milk to steady you."

Margaret obeyed.

"No, I won't tell you yet," said Helen, "because you may laugh or be
angry. Let's 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, picture frames 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. Couldn't you and I camp out in this house for the night?"

"I don't think we could well do that," said Margaret.

"Here are beds, tables, towels--"

"I know; but the house isn't supposed to be slept in, and Henry's
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 let's!"

"But, Helen, my pet," said Margaret, "we can't without getting Henry's
leave. Of course, he would give it, but you said yourself that you
couldn't 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? It's a moon."

Margaret hesitated. "I feel Charles wouldn't like it," she said at last.
"Even our furniture annoyed him, and I was going to clear it out when
Aunt Juley's illness prevented me. I sympathise with Charles. He feels
it's his mother's house. He loves it in rather an untaking way. Henry I
could answer for--not Charles."

"I know he won't 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 you'll 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 can't know of, and so do you. We
know that there's poetry. We know that there's death. They can only take
them on hearsay. We know this is our house, because it feels ours. Oh,
they may take the title-deeds and the door-keys, 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 won't be a
very glorious story. But under that wych-elm--honestly, I see little
happiness ahead. Cannot I have this one night with you?"

"I needn't 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 don't want leave."

But Margaret was a loyal wife. In spite of imagination and
poetry--perhaps on account of them--she could sympathise with the
technical attitude that Henry would adopt. If possible, she would be
technical, too. A night's lodging--and they demanded no more--need not
involve the discussion of general principles.

"Charles may say no," grumbled Helen.

"We shan't consult him."

"Go if you like; I should have stopped without leave."

It was the touch of selfishness, which was not enough to mar Helen's
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.

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 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 them to wheel baby's perambulator away, as they desired to be
alone.

"But the diddums can't listen; he isn't nine months old," she pleaded.

"That's not what I was saying," retorted her father-in-law.

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 we'd 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 occasions--We are husband and wife, not
children. I am a man of the world, and you are a most exceptional
woman."

All Margaret's 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 when--My poor little wife! Oh, be brave!
Just one or two questions, and I have done with you. Was your sister
wearing a wedding-ring?"

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 seducer's 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 shouldn't 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
weren't fit for it. I wish I hadn't taken you."

Margaret answered, "I like to stand, if you don't 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 don't think that I and
my son are other than gentlemen? It is in Helen's 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. Henry's 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."

"To-morrow Helen goes to Munich--"

"Well, possibly she is right."

"Henry, let a lady finish. To-morrow she goes; to-night, 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 she's 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 don't agree there, my dear! Helen will have her share of the goods
wherever she goes--possibly more than her share, for you are so fond
of her that you'd give her anything of yours that she fancies, wouldn't
you? and I'd raise no objection. I could understand it if it was her old
home, because a home, or a house," he changed the word, designedly; he
had thought of a telling point--"because a house in which one has once
lived becomes in a sort of way sacred, I don't 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 don't see," cried Margaret. "Call it fancy. But
realise that fancy is a scientific fact. Helen is fanciful, and wants
to."

Then he surprised her--a 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
don't 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 didn't mean that. We will
only trouble Howards End for this one night. I take her to London
to-morrow--"

"Do you intend to sleep in a damp house, too?"

"She cannot be left alone."

"That's 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."

"Margaret--my 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 Helen's 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 Helen's
request," she said. "It is unreasonable, but the request of an unhappy
girl. Tomorrow she will go to Germany, and trouble society no longer.
To-night she asks to sleep in your empty house--a 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 her as 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 have 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 mistress--I forgave you. My sister
has a lover--you drive her from the house. Do you see the connection?
Stupid, hypocritical, cruel--oh, contemptible!--a man who insults his
wife when she's alive and cants with her memory when she's 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 men are you. You can't recognise them, because you cannot connect.
I've had enough of your unneeded kindness. I've spoilt you long enough.
All your life you have been spoiled. Mrs. Wilcox spoiled you. No one has
ever told what you are--muddled, criminally muddled. Men like you use
repentance as a blind, so don't repent. Only say to yourself, 'What
Helen has done, I've 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 can't. You have had only pleasure,
she may die. You have the insolence to talk to me of differences,
Henry?"

Oh, the uselessness of it! Henry's 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.

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 Charles's dislike, and
the past spread itself out very clearly before him; hatred is a skilful
compositor. As if they were heads in a note-book, he ran through all
the incidents of the Schlegels' campaign: the attempt to compromise his
brother, his mother's legacy, his father's 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 master-stroke 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 sympathy--an 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 realise that you are your sister's protector?"

"In what sense?"

"If a man played about with my sister, I'd send a bullet through him,
but perhaps you don't mind."

"I mind very much," protested Tibby.

"Who d'ye suspect, then? Speak out man. One always suspects some one."

"No one. I don't 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 any one's
name? Yes or no!" he thundered, so that Tibby started.

"In my rooms she mentioned some friends, called the Basts."

"Who are the Basts?"

"People--friends of hers at Evie's wedding."

"I don't remember. But, by great Scott, I do! My aunt told me about some
rag-tag. Was she full of them when you saw her? Is there a man? Did she
speak of the man? Or--look here--have you had any dealings with him?"

Tibby was silent. Without intending it, he had betrayed his sister's
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 see--you are in his confidence. They met at your rooms. Oh, what a
family, what a family! God help the poor pater--s."

And Tibby found himself alone.

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 right,
to left, down the long meadow the moonlight was streaming. Leonard
seemed not a man, but a cause.

Perhaps it was Helen's way of falling in love--a 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 Helen's evening.
Troubles enough lay ahead of her--the loss of friends and of social
advantages, the agony, the supreme agony, of motherhood, which is not
even yet 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, that 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 Helen's evening--won 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 time--and Mrs. Bast
was upstairs. I had not seen her, and had talked for a long time to
Leonard--I 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 explanation--he knew of it, and
you mustn't 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 teeth--the teeth that had been thrust into
the tree's 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 shan't 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 death--I agree."

"Not quite. I feel that you and I and Henry are only fragments of that
woman's 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 don't
doubt that she knew when Henry deceived her."

"Good-night, Mrs. Wilcox," called a voice.

"Oh, good-night, 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 can't pretend very long," said Helen. "Sitting under this tree one
forgets, but I know that to-morrow 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 Helen's 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 rustled 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 father's
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 fur 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. Wilcox's mind?

Q: Can you write an appropriate summary of the above paragraphs?
A:

completion: After ushering Helen into Howards End, Margaret will not allow anyone else to enter. The people on the outside of the house include Mr. Wilcox, Mr. Mansbridge, the doctor, and Helen's cab driver. Even though Mr. Wilcox is the owner of the house, Margaret still denies him entry. Helen's cab driver reveals to Mr. Mansbridge that Helen is with child, and he and Mr. Wilcox maintain that they should be allowed in to assist. Margaret, however, stands her ground, saying it is important for her to be alone with her sister. She reminds them that there is nothing that they could possibly do, and is adamant that men not be present. Finally, she is able to convince her husband to order the others to depart. She assures him that she will find him at Dolly's after she speaks with her sister. Once everybody has left, Margaret enters Howards End and immediately goes to Helen. Margaret is truly sorry for having snuck up on her sister, but she thought it was the only way to reach her. Helen reveals that she has taken a flat in Munich with a woman named Monica, and she will soon be going back there. Monica, an Italian, is supportive of her situation and has proved a good companion throughout Helen's ordeal. Helen explains that living in Germany is her only option, since England is a country where her illegitimate pregnancy would not be well received. Helen is interested in why their furniture is at Howards End, but Margaret is more interested in hearing what her sister has to say. She notices that Helen has changed intellectually over the past eight months. She has become more grounded and has found peace through the need to be sensible. Still, the sisters find it difficult to connect and are unable to have a meaningful conversation. While at Howards End, a card is delivered by messenger. It is from Mr. Wilcox, and it instructs Margaret to come discuss the situation with him at Dolly's while Helen stays at a hotel, which is ostensibly because there is no room at Dolly's, rather than being on account of his not wanting scandal under his son's roof. As Margaret and Helen walk around Howards End, the sight of their furniture calls forth memories from their youth. They recall certain happenings from their childhood, and bond over the shared stories. Suddenly, there is a knock on the door from a little boy named Tom. He has come by to deliver milk, having been instructed by Miss Avery to do so. Margaret is annoyed at Miss Avery's presumption, but Helen is delighted both by Tom and the milk. She asks Margaret if they can spend the night together in the house before she goes back to Germany, and Margaret says that she would love to, but cannot do so without asking Mr. Wilcox for permission. Margaret goes to Dolly's to speak with Mr. Wilcox about spending the night at Howards End. Mr. Wilcox has told Charles of the situation, and Charles has gone to inform Tibby. Mr. Wilcox suggests that Helen marry the man who impregnated her, but Margaret informs him that she has not come to discuss Helen's fate, but to request a favor. She asks him for his permission to stay at Howards End for one night. Mr. Wilcox denies her, using the excuse that one night could turn into two and so on, and Margaret is horrified by his hypocrisy. She finally snaps, calling him spoiled and reminding him that he too has had an affair. She brings up Mrs. Wilcox, which is something very rare between them. She tells him that he must see the connection between his mistake and Helen's. He is shocked and unyielding, and Margaret berates him for being unable to forgive while always being forgiven. She runs out after he again refuses her request. Charles, meanwhile, has gone to call on Tibby to inform him of the situation. Charles thinks that Tibby should be furious by the situation and should take action. He asks Tibby if he knows who might be responsible for Helen's pregnancy. Aloud, Tibby recalls the Basts, as Helen came to him immediately after the disaster at Oniton. Tibby immediately regrets revealing this information, feeling as though he has betrayed Helen's confidence. However, Charles seems interested only in being angry. He does not understand the situation and thinks the entire family is shameful, going so far as to assume that Tibby condones his sister's behavior. Back at Howards End, Helen explains to Margaret that Leonard Bast is in fact the father of her child. Despite Margaret's terrible conversation with Mr. Wilcox, she listens to Helen without bringing up her own troubles. Again, she notices how her sister has come to terms with life and has stopped reacting so violently to everything. Helen asks Margaret to go to Germany with her, and given her terrible argument with Mr. Wilcox, Margaret finds herself considering the option. She falls asleep thinking about how strange it is that she has found such peace in the middle of such a strange situation.