 1. One may as well begin with Helen's letters to her sister. 2. Howards end Tuesday. 3. Dearest Meg, it is going to be what we expected. It is old and little, and altogether delightful, red brick. 4. We can scarcely pack it in as it is, and the deer knows what will happen when poor, younger son arrives tomorrow. 5. From Hall you go right or left into dining room or drawing room. Hall itself is practically a room. 6. You open another door in it, and there are the stairs going up in a sorted tunnel to the first floor. 7. Three bedrooms in a row there, and three attics in a row above. 8. That isn't all the house really, but it's all that one notices. Nine windows as you look up from the front garden. 9. Then there's a very big witch-elm to the left as you look up, leaning a little over the house, and standing on the boundary between the garden and meadow. 10. I quite love that tree already. Also ordinary alms, oaks, no nastier than ordinary oaks, pear trees, apple trees, and a vine. No silver verges though. 11. However, I must get on to my host and hostess. I only wanted to show that it isn't the least what we expected. 12. Why did we settle that their house would be all gables and wiggles, and their garden all gamboge-colored paths? 13. I believe simply because we associate them with expensive hotels. 14. Mrs. Wilcox trailing in beautiful dresses down long corridors. Mr. Wilcox bullying porters, etc. We females are that unjust. 15. I shall be back Saturday. We'll let you know train later. They are as angry as I am that you did not come to. 16. Really tibby is too tiresome. He starts a new mortal disease every month. How could he have got hay fever in London? 17. And even if he could, it seems hard that you should give up a visit to hear a skilled boy sneeze. 18. 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. 19. Men like the Wilcoxes would do tibby a power of good. But you won't agree, and I'd better change the subject. 20. This long letter is because I'm writing before breakfast. Oh, the beautiful vine leaves. The house is covered with a vine. 21. I looked out earlier, and Mrs. Wilcox was already in the garden. She evidently loves it. 22. No wonder she sometimes looks tired. She was watching large red poppies come out. 23. Then she walked up the lawn to the meadow, whose corner to the right I can just see. 24. Trail went her long dress over the sopping grass, and she came back with her hands full of the hay that was cut yesterday. 25. I suppose for rabbits or something, as she kept on smelling it. 26. The air here is delicious. Later on I heard the noise of croquette balls, and looked out again, and it was Charles Wilcox practising. 27. 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. 28. And then a tissue, a tissue. He has to stop too. 29. Then Evie comes out, and does some calisthenic exercises on a machine that is tacked on to a green gauge tree. 30. They put everything to use. And then she says, a tissue, and in she goes. 31. And finally Mrs. Wilcox reappears. Trail, trail, still smelling hay, and looking at the flowers. 32. I inflict all this on you, because once you said that life is sometimes life, and sometimes only a drama. 33. And one must learn to distinguish the other from which. 34. And up to now I have always put that down as Meg's clever nonsense. 35. But this morning it really does seem not life, but a play. And it did amuse me enormously to watch the W's. 36. Now Mrs. Wilcox has come in. I am going to wear a mission. 37. Last night Mrs. Wilcox wore an emission, an Evie emission, so it isn't exactly a go as you please place. 38. And if you shut your eyes it still seems the wiggly hotel that we expected, not if you open them. 39. 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. 40. These belong to the farm, which is the only house nearest. There goes the breakfast gong. Much love. Modified love to Tibi. 41. Love to Aunt Julie. How good of her to come and keep you company. But what a bore. Burn this. We'll ride again Thursday. 41. Howards end Friday. 42. Dearest Meg, I am having a glorious time. I like them all. 43. Mrs. Wilcox, if quieter than in Germany, is sweeter than ever, and I never saw anything like her steady unselfishness. 44. And the best of it is that the others do not take advantage of her. 45. They are the very happiest, jolliest family that you can imagine. 46. I do really feel that we are making friends. The fun of it is that they think me a noodle, and so so, at least Mr. Wilcox does. 47. And when that happens, and one doesn't mind, it's a pretty sure test, isn't it? 48. 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. 49. Meg, shall we ever learn to talk less? I never felt so ashamed of myself in my life. 50. 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 the happier in other ways. 51. 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. 52. Anyhow, it's been knocked into pieces. And like all people who are really strong, Mr. Wilcox did it without hurting me. 53. 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. 54. 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. 55. The whole clan's here now. It's like a rabbit warren. 56. Evie is a deer. They want me to stop over Sunday. I suppose it won't matter if I do. 57. Marvellous weather and the views marvellous, views westward to the high ground. 58. Thank you for your letter. Burn this, your affectionate Helen. 59. Howard's End, Sunday. 60. Dearest Meg, I do not know what you will say. Paul and I are in love. The younger son who only came here Wednesday. END OF CHAPTER ONE CHAPTER TWO HOWARD'S END This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. This reading by Lucy Burgoyne. HOWARD'S END by Edward Morgan Forster CHAPTER TWO 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 floodgates opened. I can tell you nothing, Aunt Julie. 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 also she waved her hand and laughed a little. In that case, it is far too sudden. Who knows, Aunt Julie? 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 through her other letters, said Margaret. No, I won't. I'll finish my breakfast. In fact, I haven't them. We met the Wilcox's 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, Mant and Cole. Those three seas once commanded the Rhine Valley and got it in 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 at the original structure. We wasted a whole day and came across the Wilcox's 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 Tibi's illness prevented me, so last Monday she went alone. That's all. You know as much as I do now. It's the 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 Wiccan 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 two would be swept away in time, and another promontory would rise upon their sight, as humanity piled itself higher and higher on the precious soil of London. Mrs. Munt had her own method of interpreting her nexus. 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 Spaya, 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 begun to shine. Of course, I regard you schlingles 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 Julie, 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. The 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 a 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 swineage. 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 Julie, she jumped up and kissed her. I must, must go to Howard's Inn 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 Julie, no. A way 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 Patterson, 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 baron, theorist. She had it. Though, in the case of Carter Patterson, 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 Wilcoxers. I understand it, that 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, that can't break. It is different to the other ties of life. They stretch or bend. They admit a degree. They're different. Exactly so. But won't you let me just run down to Howard's house and save you all the discomfort? I will really not interfere, but I do so thoroughly understand the kind of thing you, Schlegel, want that one quiet look around 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 mucus 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 Tibi was quite bad. Might it really be best to accept Aunt Julie's kind offer and to send her down to Howard's 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 11 at half-past 10 Tibi with rare self-enfacement fell asleep and Margaret was able to drive her aunt to the station. You will remember Aunt Julie 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 name straight yet and besides that sort of thing is so uncivilised and wrong. So uncivilised queried Mrs. Munt fearing that she was losing the point of some brilliant remark. Oh, I used an infected 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 shrunk 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 on King's Cross. Like many others who would live long in a great capital, she had strong feelings about the various railway terminal. 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 Cromwell is latent and the remote west down the inclines of Liverpool Street life in lanes and the illimitable broads. Scotland is through the pylons of Euston. Wessex behind the poised chaos of Waterloo. Italians realise this as it's natural. Those of them who are so unfortunate as to serve as waiters in Berlin call the Anhalt Banoff, the Stacey and Diatellia 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. It's very situation withdrawn a little behind the facial splendours of St Pancras implied a comment on the materialism of life. Those two great archers colourless indifferent shouldering between them and 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 all 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 Wiccan Place was confronted with the following telegram all over wish I had never written tell no one Helen that Aunt Julie was gone gone irrevocably and no power on earth could stop her. End of Chapter 2 Chapter 3 of Howard's End This is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Jeanette Ferguson Howard's End by Edward Morgan Forrester Chapter 3 Most complacently did Mrs. Munt rehearse her mission her nieces were independent young women and it was not often that she was able to help them Emily's daughters had never been quite like the other girls they had been left motherless when Tibby was born when Helen was 5 and Margaret herself but 13 it was before the passing of the deceased wife sisters bill so Mrs. Munt could without impropriety offer to go and keep house at Wiccan Place but her brother-in-law who was peculiar and German had referred the question to Margaret who with the crudity of youth had answered no they could manage much better alone 5 years later the answer she legal 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 learned to her horror that Margaret now of age was taking her money out of the old safe investments and putting it into foreign things in a flash 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 didn't admirably and the Nottingham and Derby declined with a steady dignity of which only home rails are capable Mrs. Munt never ceased to rejoice 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 the consoles but she too almost without being pressed consecrated a fraction of it into 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 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 cousin one knows what foreigners are acquaintances picked up at continental hotels one knows what they are too it was interesting 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 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 southwell wind tunnel saw light for a moment and entered the northwell wind tunnel of tragic fame there's the immense viaduct whose arches span untroubled meadows and the dreamy flow of the towen water she skirted the parks of the politicians at times a great north road accompanied her more suggestive of infinity than any railway awakening after a nap of a hundred years to such life as is conferred by the stench of motorcars and to such culture as is implied by the advertisements of anti-violence bills to history to tragedy to the past and to the future Mrs. Munt remained equally indifferent hers but to concentrate on the end of her journey and to rescue poor Helen from the dreadful mess the station for Howard's Inn 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 the high street had butted 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 high road 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 it will it lead England or suburbia it was new, it had island platforms in a subway, and the superficial comfort exacted by businessmen 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 Howard's Lodge do you know where it is? Mr. Wilcox, the boy called the young man in front of them turned around she's wanting Howard's 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'm Ms. Schlegel's aunt I ought to introduce myself, Odd and I my name is Mrs. Munt she was conscious that he raised his cap and said quite coolly oh rather, Ms. 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 and in that is very kind I'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 is gone on north in your train you'll see Ms. 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 were numb 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 they're calling office and called with a new voice hi, hi you there are you going to keep me awaiting all day parcel for Wilcox, Howard's Inn just look sharp emerging he said in quieter tones the station's abominably organized if I had my way the whole lot of them 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 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's 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 intention I was just tooling my father over to catch the downed train you see we heard from a 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 in the form of Mrs. Munt trying to explain things spring agreeably up and down among the red cushions the maider will be very glad to see you he mumbled hi, I say parcel for Howard's Inn, bring it out, hi a bearded porter emerged with the parcel in one hand and the other with the gathering rur of the motor these ejaculations mingled sign must die 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 to 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's a rather spin but I have one or two commissions I should love going through the village naturally I'm 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've 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 shlegels are exceptional I come in no spirit of interference but it was a great shock they drew up opposite of drapers without replying he turned around 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 a certain proportion had entered the lungs of the villagers I wonder when they'll learn wisdom and tar the roads was this comment then a man ran out of the drapers with a roll of oil cloth 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 what he said he pushed up his goggles and gazed at her absolutely bewildered whore smote her to the heart for even she began to suspect that they were out of 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. Mont her letters certainly read that way that you and she she paused then drooped her eyelids I think I catch your meeting 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 some silliness of Paul's but you are Paul I am 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 of you 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 as 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 things impossible and must be stopped Mrs. Munt did not often lose her temper and when she did it was only to protect those whom she loved on this occasion she blazed out I quite agree sir the thing is impossible and I will come up and stop it my niece is a very exceptional person and I am not inclined to sit still while she throws herself away on those who will not appreciate her Charles worked his jaws considering she has only known your brother since Wednesday and only met your father and mother at a stray hotel could you possibly lower your voice the shopman will overhear a spirit to class A 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 oil cloth 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 this 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 Ms. Schlegel has lost no time 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 declined 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 I know is might and 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 vigor stating in so many words that Schlegels were better than Wilcox's Wilcox's better than Schlegel's 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 our most quarrels inevitable at the time incredible afterwards and usually futile a few minutes and they were enlightened the motor drew up at Howard's end and Helen, looking very pale ran out to meet her aunt Aunt Julie, I've just had a telegram from Margaret I meant to stop you coming it isn't, it's over the climax was too much for Mrs. Munt she burst into tears Aunt Julie dear, don't let them know I've been so silly it wasn't anything, do bear up for my sake Paul tried 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 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 in their motor but to the house and to the tree that overshadowed it one knew that she worshipped the pass and that the instinctive wisdom the pass can alone bestow had descended upon her the name of aristocracy highborn 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 the 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 this throbbing stinking car and smiled at him with a tenderness and without a word turned away from him towards her flowers 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 to put it that way said Mrs. Wilcox stooping down to smell a rose end of chapter 3 chapter 4 of Howard's End this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please go to LibriVox.org this recording by Patty Bregman chapter 4 Helen and her aunt returned to Wickham Place in a state of collapse and for a little time Margaret had three invalids on her hands this is months in 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 in imprudence in the catastrophe even at the crisis she cried thank goodness poor Margaret has saved this during which 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 thunderclap and by them and by her reverberations she had been stunned the truth was she had fallen in love not with an individual but with a family before Paul arrived she had as it were been turned up into his key the energy of the Wilcox's 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 it 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 were nonsense socialism nonsense art and literature except when conducive to strengthening the character nonsense I won the shickal fetishes which 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 gas and had leaned 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 shickal 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 cunt she thought and it is too good for me to be stripped of it and all that she thought or did or breathed was quiet preparation for Paul Paul was inevitable Charles was taken up with another girl 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 splendor 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 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 guests 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 and that was how it happened or rather how Helen described it to her sister using words even more and sympathetic 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 emotions and how to forget how vivid the emotion was there at past 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 the 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 witch elm a man in darkness he had whispered I love you and when she was desiring love in time his slender personality faded and 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 T. Aaron 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 with terror in case I said the wrong thing I felt for the moment that the whole Wilcox family was a fraud all 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 Wilcox's 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 broke, 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 Shigel I can't think what came over me last night and I said nor what came over me, never mind and then we parted at least until I remembered 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 a 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 people would suspect something he took it himself at last pretending that he must walk down to get the cartridges and with one thing and another 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 ordered for the station and then came your telegram warning me that Aunt Julie was coming by that train and Paul oh rather horrible said that I had muddled it but Mrs. Wilcox 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 Julie drove up calling each other names and made everything less terrible oh but it had 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 in which telegrams and anger account personal relations that we think supreme are not supreme there their 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 not so clearly when the Wilcox 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 forever and ever amen so the Wilcox episode fell into the background leaving behind the 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 that would come placed with those whom they liked or could be friend 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 life within temperance tolerance and sexual equality were intelligible cries to them whereas they did not follow our forward policy in Tibet with the keen attention that it merits and would at times dismiss the whole British empire with a puzzled of 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 shagels but the world being what it is perhaps we shine in it like stars a world on their origin they were not English to the backbone as their aunt had piously asserted but on the other hand they were not Germans of a dreadful sort their father had belonged to a type that was more prominent in Germany 50 years ago than now it was not the aggressive German so dear to the English journalists nor the domestic German so dear to the English wit last time at all it would be as the countrymen of Hegel and Kant as the idealist inclined to be dreamy whose imperialism was the imperialism of the air nor 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 dried mustaches of Napoleon another when he entered Paris and saw the smashed windows of the tuleries 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 had served for 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 englanderin as in the case may be and as she had money 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 Ernest exclaimed a haughty and magnificent nephew Uncle Ernest replied to my mind you use the intellect but you no longer care about it that I call stupidity and 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 now 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 to for 100 years gone, gone with the little courts that nurtured them, gone with Esterhaus and Weimar what, what's that, your universities oh yes, you have learned men who collect more facts than do the learned men of England they collect facts and facts and empires of facts but which of them will rekindle the light within to all this Margaret listened sitting on the haughty nephew's knee there was a unique education for the little girls the haughty nephew would be at Wicomplace one day bringing with him an even haughtier wife both convinced that Germany was appointed by God to govern the world and Julie would come next day convinced that Great Britain had been appointed to the same post by the same authority were both these loud voiced parties right on one occasion they had met and Margaret with clasped hands had implored them out in her presence where at they blushed and began to talk about the weather Papa she cried, she was a most defensive child, why will they not discuss this most clear question her father surveying the parties grimly replied that he did not know putting her head on one side, Margaret then remarked to me one of two things is very clear either God does not know his own mind about England in Germany or else these do not have the mind of God a hateful little girl but at thirteen she had grasped a dilemma that most people travel through life without perceiving her brain darted up and down it grew pliant and strong her conclusion was that any human being lies nearer to the unseen than any organization and from this she had never varied Helen advanced along the same lines though with a more irresponsible tread in character she resembled her sister pretty and so apt to have a more amusing time people gathered around her more readily especially when they were new acquaintances and she did enjoy a little homage very much when their father died and they ruled alone at Wiccan Place she often absorbed the whole of the company while Margaret both were tremendous talkers fell flat neither sister bothered about this Helen never apologized afterwards Margaret did not feel the slightest rancor but looks have their influence upon character the sisters were alike as little girls but at the time of the Wilcox episode their methods were beginning to diverge the younger was rather apt to entice people and enticing them to be herself enticed the elder went straight ahead and accepted the occasional failure as part of the game little need be premised about Tibi he was now an intelligent man of sixteen but dispeptic and deep and of chapter four chapter five of Howard's End by E. M. Forrester this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please go to LibriVox.org this recording by Patty Brugman chapter five it will be generally admitted that Beethoven's Fifth Symphony is the most sublime noise that has ever penetrated the ear of man all sorts and conditions are satisfied by it whether you're like Mrs. Muntin tapped surreptitiously when the tunes come of course not as so as to disturb the others or like Helen who can see heroes and shipwrecks in the music's flood or like Margaret who can only see the music or like Tibi who is profoundly versed in counterpoint and holds the score full open on his knee or like their cousin Fräulein Moesbach who remembers all the time that Beethoven is Eckdeutsch or like Fräulein Moesbach's young son who can remember nothing but Fräulein Moesbach in any case the passion of your life becomes more vivid and you are bound to admit that such a noise is cheap at two shillings it is cheap even if you hear it in the Queen's Hall dreariest music room in London not as dreary as the free trade hall Manchester and even if you sit in the extreme left of the hall so that the brass bump set you before the rest of the orchestra arrives it is still cheap who is Margaret talking to said Mrs. Muntin at the conclusion of the first movement she was again in London on a visit to Wickham Place Helen looked down the long line of their party and said that she did not know would it be the young man or other whom she takes an interest in I expect so replied Helen music unwrapped her and she could not enter into the distinction that divides young men whom one takes an interest in from young men whom one knows you girls are so wonderful in having oh dear one mustn't talk for the Andante had begun very beautiful but bearing a family likeness to all other beautiful Andantes that Beethoven had written and to Helen's mind rather disconnecting the heroes and shipwrecks of the first movement from the heroes and goblins of the third she heard the tune through once and then her attention wandered as she gazed at the audience or the organ or the architecture much did she censure the attenuated cupids who encircled the ceiling of the Queen's hall inclining each to each with vapid gesture and in sallow pantaloons on which the October sunlight struck how awful to marry a man like those cupids thought Helen here Beethoven started decorating his tune so she heard him through once more and then she smiled at her cousin Frida but Frida listening to classical music could not respond her lycic too looked as if wild horses could not make him inattentive her reliance across his foreheads lips were parted his pince nez at right angles to his nose and he had laid a thick white hand on either knee and next to her was Anne Julie so British in wanting to tap how interesting that row of people was what diverse influences had gone into the making here Beethoven after humming and hawing with great sweetness said hi ho and the andante came to an end applause and a round of wundershoeing and praktawaying from the German contingent Margaret started talking to her new young man Helen said to her aunt now comes the wonderful movement first of all the goblins and then a trio of elephants dancing and Tibby implored the company generally to look at for the transitional passage on the drum on the what dear on the drum and Julie now look for the part where you think you have done with the goblins and they'll come back breath telling as the music started with the goblin walking quietly over the universe from end to end others followed him they were not aggressive creatures it was that that made them so terrible to Helen they merely observed in passing that there was no such thing as splendor or heroism in the world after the interlude of elephants dancing they returned and made the reservation for the second time Helen could not contradict them for once at all events she had felt the same and had the reliable walls of youth collapse panic and emptiness panic and emptiness the goblins were right her brother raised his finger it was a transitional passage on the drum for as if things were going too far Beethoven took hold of the goblins and made them do what he wanted he appeared in person gave them a little push and they began to walk in major key instead of in a minor and then he blew with his mouth and they were scattered gusts of splendor gods and demigods contending with vast swords color and fragrance broadcast on the fields of battle magnificent victory magnificent death oh it all burst before the girl and she even stretched out her gloved hands as if it was tangible any fate was titanic any contest desirable conqueror and conquered would like be applauded by angels of the utmost stars and the goblins they had not really been there at all they were only the phantoms of cowardice and unbelief one healthy human impulse would dispel them men like the wilcoxes or president rosevelt would say yes Beethoven knew better the goblins really had been there they might return and they did it was if the splendor of life might boil over and waste to steam and froth in its dissolution one heard the terrible ominous note in a goblin with increased malignity walked quietly over the universe from end to end panic and emptiness panic and emptiness even the flaming ramparts of the world might fall Beethoven chose to make all right in the end he built the ramparts up he blew with his mouth for a second time and again the goblins were scattered he brought back the gusts of splendor the heroism the youth the magnificence of life and of death and amid vast roaring of a superhuman joy he led his fifth symphony to its conclusion but the goblins were there they could return he had said so bravely and that is why one can trust Beethoven when he says other things Helen pushed her way out during the applause she desired to be alone the music summed up to her all that had happened or could happen in her career she had read it as a tangible statement which could never be superseded the notes meant this and that to her no other meaning and life could have no other meaning she pushed right out of the building and walked slowly down the outside staircase breathing the autumnal air and then she strolled home Margaret called Mrs. Mundt is Helen all right oh yes she is always going away in the middle of the program said to be the music has evidently moved her deeply said Fraule and Musbek excuse me said Margaret's young man who had for some time been preparing a sentence but that lady has quite inadvertently taken my umbrella oh goodness gracious I am so sorry Tibby run after Helen I shall miss the four serious songs if I do Tibby love you must go it isn't of any consequence said the young man in truth a little uneasy about his umbrella but of course it is Tibby Tibby Tibby rose to his feet and willfully caught his person on the backs of the chairs by the time he had tipped up the seat and had found his hat and had deposited his full scores in safety it was too late to go after Helen the four serious songs had begun and one could not move during their performance my sister is so careless whispered Margaret not at all not the young man but his voice was dead and cold if you would give me your address not at all not at all and he wrapped his great coat over his knees then the four serious songs rang shallow in Margaret's ears Brahms for all his grumbling and grizzling had never guessed what it felt like to be suspected of stealing an umbrella for this fool of a young man thought that she and Helen and Tibby had been playing the confidence trick in him and then if he gave his address they would break into his room some midnight or other and steal his walking stick too most ladies would have laughed but Margaret really minded for it gave her a glimpse into squalor to trust people is a luxury in which only the wealthy can indulge the poor cannot afford it as soon as Brahms had grunted himself out she gave him her card and said that is where we live if you preferred you could call for the umbrella after the concert but I didn't like to trouble you when it has been all our fault his face brightened a little when he saw that we can place was double you it was sad to see him corroded with suspicion and yet not daring to be impolite in this case these well-dressed people were honest after all she took it as a good sign that he said to her it's a fine program this afternoon is it not? I remarked with which he had originally opened before the umbrella intervened the Beethoven's fine said Margaret who was not a female of the encouraging type I don't like the Brahms though nor the Mendelssohn that came first and ug I don't like this Elgar that's coming what what called her a licksig overhearing the pomp and circumstance will not be fine oh Margaret you tiresome girl here have I been persuading her licksig to stop for pomp and circumstance and you are doing all my work I am so anxious for him to hear what we are doing in music oh you mustn't run down our English composers Margaret for my part I have heard the composition at Stettin said for our line on two occasions it is dramatic a little Frida you despise English music you know you do and English art and English literature except Shakespeare and he's a German very well Frida you may go the lovers laughed and glanced at each other moved by a common impulse they rose to their feet and fled away from pomp and circumstance we have this call to play in Finnsbury circus it is true said her licksig as he edged past her and reached the gangway just as the music started Margaret loudly whispered by Aunt Julie Margaret, Margaret Froulide Musbeck has left her beautiful little bag behind on the seat sure enough there was Frida as a reticule containing her address book her pocket dictionary her map of London and her money oh what a bother what a family we are for Frida she said all those who thought the music was fine but it's the number they want in Finnsbury circus my tie couldn't I said the suspicious young man and got very red oh I would be so very grateful he took the bag money clinking inside it and slipped up the gangway with it he was just in time to catch them at the swing door and he received a pretty smile from the German girl and a fine bow from her cavalier he returned to his seat upsides with the world the trust that they had reposed in him was trivial but he felt it cancelled the mistrust for them and that probably he would not be had over his umbrella this young man had been had in the past, badly, perhaps overwhelmingly and now most of his energies went in defending himself against the unknown but this afternoon perhaps on account of music he perceived that one must slack off occasionally or what is the good of being alive we can place W though our risk was as safe as most things and he would risk it so when the concert was over and Margaret said we live quite near and I'm going there now could you walk around with me and we'll find your umbrella he said thank you peaceably and followed her out of Queens Hall she wished that he was not so anxious to hand a lady downstairs or to carry a lady's program for her his class was near enough to her own for that manner to vex her but she found him interesting on the whole everyone interested the shaggles on the whole at that time and while her lips talked culture her heart was planning to invite him to tea how tired one gets after music she began do you find the atmosphere of Queens Hall oppressive? yes horribly but surely the atmosphere of Covent Garden is even more oppressive than much when my work permits I attend the gallery for the royal opera Helen would have exclaimed so do I I love the gallery and thus have endeared herself to the young man Helen could do these things but Margaret had an almost morbid horror of drawing people out of making things go she had been to the gallery at Covent Garden but she did not attend it preferring the more expensive seats still less did she love it no reply this year I have been three times to Faust, Tosca and was it Townhouse or Townhoyser better not risk the word Margaret disliked Tosca and Faust and so for one reason and another they walked on in silence chaperoned by the voices Mrs. Munt who was getting into difficulties with her nephew and I do in a way remember the passage to be but when every instrument is so beautiful it is difficult to pick out one thing rather than another I am sure that you and Helen take me to the very nicest concerts not a dull note from beginning to end I only wish that our German friends would have stayed till it finished but surely you haven't forgotten the drums steadily beating on the low sea at Julie came Tibi's voice no one could it's unmistakable especially the loud part of the hazarded Mrs. Munt of course I do not go in for being musical she added the shot failing I only care for music a very different thing but still I will say this for myself I do know when I lock a thing and when I don't some people are the same about pictures they can go into a gallery Miss Condor can and say straight off what they feel all around the wall I could never do that but music is so different to pictures to my mind when it comes to music I am as safe as houses and I assure you Tibi I am by no means pleased by everything there was a thing something about a fawn in French which Helen went into ecstasies over but I thought it most tinkling and superficial and said so and I held my opinion too do you agree do you think music is so different to pictures I should have thought so I kind of he said so should I now my sister declares they're just the same we have great arguments over it she said I'm dense and I say she's sloppy getting underway she cried now doesn't it seem absurd to you what is the good of the arts if they're interchangeable what is the good of the ear if it tells you the same as the eye Helen's one aim is to translate tunes into the language of painting and pictures into the language of music it's very ingenious and she says several pretty things in the process but what's gained I'd like to know oh it's all rubbish radically false if Monet's really WC and WC's really Monet neither gentleman is worth his salt that's my opinion evidently these sisters quarrelled now there's very symphony that we've just been having she won't let it alone she labels it with meanings from start to finish turns it into literature I wonder if the day will ever return when music will be treated as music yet I don't know there's my brother behind us he treats music as music and oh my goodness he makes me angrier than anyone simply furious with him I don't even agree an unhappy family of talented but of course the real villain is Wagner he has done more than any men in the 19th century toward the muddling of arts I do feel that music is a very serious stage as now though extraordinarily interesting every now and then in history there do come these terrible geniuses like Wagner who stir up all the wells of thought at once for a moment it's blended such a splash as never was but afterward such a lot of mud and the wells as it were they communicate with each other too easily now and not one of them will run quite clear that's what Wagner's done her speech is fluttered away from the young man like birds if only he could talk like this he would have caught the world oh to acquire culture oh to pronounce foreign names correctly oh to be well informed discoursing in ease at every subject that the lady started but it would take one years with an hour at lunch and a few shattered hours in the evening how is it possible to catch up with lesured women who had been reading steadily from childhood his brain might be full of names he might have even heard of Monet and Debussy the trouble was that he could not string them together into a sentence he could not make them tell he could not quite forget about his stolen umbrella yes the umbrella was the real trouble behind Monet and Debussy the umbrella persisted with the steady beat of a drum I suppose my umbrella will be alright he was thinking I don't really mind about it I will think about the music instead I suppose my umbrella will be alright early in the afternoon he had worried about seats he had to have paid as much as two shillings earlier still he had wondered shall I try to do without a program there had always been something to worry him ever since he could remember always something that distracted him in the pursuit of beauty for he did pursue beauty and therefore Margaret's speeches did flutter away from him like birds Margaret talked ahead occasionally saying don't you think so don't you feel the same and once she stopped and said oh do interrupt me which terrified him and thought attract him though she filled him with awe her figure was meager her face seemed all teeth and eyes her references to her sister and brother were uncharitable for all her cleverness and culture she was probably one of those soulless aesthetical women who have been shown up by Mrs. Corelli it was surprising and alarming that she should suddenly say I do hope that you'll come in and have some tea we should be so glad I have dragged you so far out of your way they had arrived at Wicomplace the sun had set and the back water in deep shadow was filling with a gentle haze to the right the fantastic skyline of the flats towered against the hues of the evening to the left the older houses raised a square cut irregular parapet against the gray Margaret fumbled for her latch key of course she had forgotten it so grasping her umbrella by its fair rule she leaned over the area and tapped at the dining room window Helen let us in alright said her voice you can take in this gentleman's umbrella taken a what said Helen opening the door oh what's that do come in how do you do Helen you must not be so ramshackly you took this gentleman's umbrella away from Queens Hall and he has had the trouble of coming for it oh I'm so sorry cried Helen in all her hair flying she had pulled off her hat as soon as she returned and had flung herself into a big dining room chair I do nothing but steal umbrellas I am so very sorry do come in and choose one is yours a hooky or a knobbly mine's a knobbly at least I think it is the light was turned on and they began to search the hall Helen who had abruptly parted with the fifth symphony commenting with shrill little cries don't you talk Meg you stole an old gentleman's silk top hat yes she did add Julie it is a positive fact she thought it was a mop oh heavens I've knocked the in and out card down where's Frida Tibby why don't you ever no I can't remember what I was going to say that wasn't it but do tell the maids to hurry tea up what about this umbrella she opened it no it's all gone along the seams it's an appalling umbrella it must be mine but it was not he took it from her and murmured a few words of thanks and then fled with the lilting step of the clerk but if you will stop cried Margaret Helen how stupid you've been whatever have I done don't you see that you've frightened him away I meant him to stop to tea you want to talk about stealing or holes in an umbrella I saw his nice eyes getting so miserable no it's not a bit of good now for Helen had darted out into the street shouting oh do stop I dare say it is all for the best opened Mrs. Munt we know nothing about the young man Margaret and your drawing room is full of very tempting little things but Helen cried Aunt Julie how can you you make me more and more ashamed I'd rather he had been a thief and taken all the apostle spoons than I well I must shut the front door I suppose one more failure for Helen yes I think the apostle spoons could have gone his rent said Margaret seeing that her aunt did not understand she added you remember rent it was father's word rent to the ideal to his own faith in human nature you remember how he would trust strangers and if they fooled him he would say it's better to be fooled than to be suspicious and the confidence trick is the work of man but the want of confidence trick is the work of the devil I remember something of that sort now said Mrs. Munt rather tartly for she longed to add it was lucky that your father married a wife with money but this was unkind and she contented herself with why he might have stolen the little rickets picture as well better than he had said Helen Stoutly no I agree with Aunt Julie said Margaret I'd rather mistrust people than lose my little rickets there are limits their brother finding the incident commonplace had stolen upstairs to see whether there were scones for tea he warmed the teapot almost too deftly rejected the orange pico that the parliament had provided poured in five spoonfuls of superior blend filled up with really boiling water and now called to the ladies to be quick or they would lose the aroma alright Auntie Tibby called Helen well Margaret thoughtful again said in a way I wish we had a real boy in the house the kind of boy who cares for men he would make entertaining so much easier so do I said her sister Tibby only cares for cultured females singing braums and when she joined him she said rather sharply why didn't you make that young man welcome Tibby you must do the host a little you know you ought to have taken his hat and coaxed him into stopping instead of letting him be swamped by screaming women Tibby sighed into a long hair over his forehead oh it's no good looking superior I mean what I say leave Tibby alone said Margaret who could not bear her brother to be scolded here's the house a regular hen coop grumbled Helen oh my dear protested Mrs. Mundt how can you say such dreadful things the number of men you get here has always astonished me if there's any danger it's the other way around yes but it's the wrong sort of men Helen means no I don't correct it Helen we get the right sort of man but the wrong side of him and I say that's Tibby's fault there ought to be something about the house and I don't know what a touch of the W's perhaps Helen put out her tongue who are the W's as Tibby the W's are things I and Megan and Julie know about and you don't so there suppose ours is a female house said Margaret and one must just accept it no and Julie I don't mean that this house is full of women I am trying to say something much more clever I mean that it was irrevocably feminine even in father's time now I'm sure you understand well I'll give you another example it'll shock you but I don't care suppose Queen Victoria gave a dinner party and that the guests and Layton Millis Spinburn Rosetti Meredith Fitzgerald etc do you suppose that the atmosphere of that dinner would have been artistic heavens no the very chairs on which they sat would have seen to that so with our house it must be feminine and all we can do is see that it isn't effeminate just as another house that I can mention but I won't sound it irrevocably masculine and all it's inmate can do is to see that it isn't brutal that house being the double use house I presume said to be you're not going to be told about the double use my child Helen Gride so don't think of it and on the other hand I don't the least mind if you find out so don't you think you've done anything clever in either case give me a cigarette you do what you can for the house said Margaret the drawing room reeks of smoke if you smoked too the house might suddenly turn masculine atmosphere is probably a question of touch and go even a queen Victoria's dinner party if something had been just a little different perhaps if she'd worn a clinging liberty tea gown instead of a magenta satin with an indian shawl over her shoulders fastened at the bosom with a carn gorm pin burst of disloyal laughter you remember that they are all half german greeted these suggestions and Margaret said pensively how inconceivable it would be if the royal family cared about art and the conversation drifted away and away and Helen's cigarette turned to a spot in the darkness and the great flats opposite were sewn with lighted windows which vanished and were re-lit again and vanished incessantly beyond them the thoroughfare wore gently a tie that could never be quiet while in the east invisible behind the smokes of whopping the moon was rising that reminds me Margaret we might have taken that young man into the dining room at all events only the mayolka plate and that is so firmly set in the wall I'm really distressed that he had no tea for that little incident had impressed the three women more who might be supposed remained as a goblin football as a hint that all is not for the best in the best of all possible worlds and that beneath these superstructures of wealth and art there wanders an ill-fed boy who has recovered his umbrella indeed but who has left no address behind him and no name End of Chapter 5 Chapter 6 of Howard's End by E. M. Forrester this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please go to LibriVox.org this recording by Patty Brugman Chapter 6 we are not concerned with the very poor they are unthinkable and only to be approached by the statistician or the poet this story deals with gentle folk or with those who are obliged to pretend that they are gentle folk the boy Leonard Bast stood at the extreme verge of gentility he was not the abyss but he could see it and at times people whom he knew had dropped in and counted no more he knew that he was poor and would admit it he would have died sooner than confessing the inferiority to the rich this may be splendid of him but he was inferior to most rich people there is not the least out of it he was not as courteous as the average rich man nor as intelligent nor as healthy nor as lovable his mind and his body had been alike underfed because he was poor and because he was modern they were always craving better food had he lived some centuries ago in the brightly colored civilizations of the past he would have had a definite status his rank and his income would have corresponded and in his day the angel of democracy had risen in shadowing the classes with leathered wings and proclaiming all men are equal all men, that is to say, who possess umbrellas and so he was obliged to assert gentility lest he slipped into the abyss where nothing counts and the statements of democracy are inaudible as he walked away from Wiccan Place his first care was to prove that he was as good as the Miss Shaggles obscurely wounded in his pride he tried to wound them in return they were probably not ladies would real ladies have asked him to tea? they were certainly ill-natured and cold at each step his feeling of superiority increased would a real lady have talked about stealing an umbrella? perhaps they were thieves after all and if he had gone into the house he performed handkerchief over his face he walked uncomplacently as far as the houses of parliament there an empty stomach asserted itself and told him that he was a fool evening Mr. Bast evening Mr. Deltry nice evening evening Mr. Deltry, a fellow clerk passed on and Leonard stood wondering whether he would take the tram as far as a penny would take him or whether he would walk he decided to walk there's no good giving in and he had spent enough at Queens Hall and he walked over Westminster Bridge in front of St. Thomas' Hospital and through the immense tunnel that passed under the southwestern mainline at Vox Hall in the tunnel he paused and listened to the roar of the trains a sharp pain darted through his head and he was conscious of the exact form of his eye sockets he pushed on for another mile and did not slacken speed until he stood at the entrance of a road called Camelia Road which was at present his home here he stopped again and glanced suspiciously to right and left like a rabbit that is going to bolt into its hole a block of flats constructed with extreme cheapness towered on either hand farther down the road two more blocks were being built and beyond these an old house was being demolished to accommodate another pair it was the kind of scene that maybe observed all over London wherever the locality bricks and mortar rising and falling with the restlessness of the water in a fountain as the city receives more and more men upon her soil Camelia Road would soon stand out like a fortress in command for a little and extensive view only for a little plans were out for the erection of flats in Magnolia Road also and again a few years and all the flats in either road might be pulled down in new buildings of a vastness at present unimaginable might arise where they had fallen evening Mr. Bast evening Mr. Cunningham very serious thing this decline of the birth rate in Manchester I beg your pardon very serious thing this decline of the birth rate in Manchester repeated Mr. Cunningham tapping the Sunday paper in which the calamity in question had just been announced to him ah yes said Leonard who was not going to let on that he had not bought a Sunday paper if this kind of thing goes on the population of England will be stationary in 1960 you don't say so I call it a very serious thing eh? good evening Mr. Cunningham good evening Mr. Bast then Leonard entered block B of the flats and turned not upstairs but down into what is known to the house agents as a semi-basement and to other men as a seller he opened the door and cried hello with the pseudo gentility of the cockney there was no reply hello he repeated the sitting room was empty though the electric light had been left burning a look of relief came over his face and he flung himself into the armchair the sitting room contained besides the armchair two other chairs a piano a three legged table and a cozy corner of the walls one was occupied by a window the other by a draped mental shelf bristling with cupids opposite the window was the door and beside the door bookcase while over the piano there extended one of the masterpieces of Maud Goodman it was an amorous and not unpleasant little hole when the curtains were drawn and the lights turned on and the gas stove unlit but it struck that shallow makeshift note that is so often heard in the modern dwelling place it had been too easily gained and could be relinquished so easily as Leonard was kicking off his boots he jarred the three legged table and a photograph frame honorably poised upon its lid sideways fell off into the fireplace and smashed he swore in a colorless sort of way and picked up the photograph it represented a young lady called Jackie and it had been taken at a time when young ladies called Jackie were often photographed with their mouths open teeth of dazzling whiteness extended along either of Jackie's jaws and positively weighed her head sideways so large were they and so numerous take my word for it that smile was simply stunning and it is only you and I who will be fastidious and complain that true joy begins in the eyes and that the eyes of Jackie did not accord with her smile but were anxious and hungry Leonard tried to pull out the fragments of glass and cut his fingers and swore again a drop of blood fell on the frame another followed spilling over to the exposed photograph he swore more vigorously with his hands the kitchen was the same size as the sitting room through it was a bedroom this completed his home he was renting the flat furnished of all the objects that encumbered it none were his own except the photograph frame the cupids and the books damn damn damn nation he muttered together with other words he had learned from older men then he raised his hand to his forehand and said oh damn it all different and he pulled himself together he drank a little tea black and silent that still survived in an upper shell he swallowed some dusty crumbs of cake then he went back to the sitting room settled himself anew and began to read a volume of Ruskin seven miles to the north of Venice how perfectly the famous chapter opens how supreme its command of admonition and of poetry the rich man is speaking to us in his gondola seven miles to the north of Venice the banks of sand which near the city rise little above low water mark attain by degrees a higher level and knit themselves at last into fields of salt morass raised here and there into shapeless mounds and intercepted by narrow creeks of sea Leonard was trying to form his style on Ruskin he understood him to be the greatest master of English prose he read forward steadily occasionally making a few notes let us consider a little each of these characters in succession and first for all the shafts enough has already been said what is very peculiar to this church its luminousness was there anything to be learned from this fine sentence could he adapt it to the needs of daily life could he induce it with modifications when he next wrote a letter to his brother the lay reader for example let us consider a little each of these characters in succession and first for the absence of ventilation enough has been said already what is very peculiar to this flat its obscurity something told him that the modifications would not do and that something had he known it was the spirit of English prose my flat is dark as well as stuffy those with the words for him and the voice in the gondola rolled on piping melodiously of effort and self-sacrifice full of high purpose full of beauty full even of sympathy and the love of men yet somehow alluding all that was actual and insistent in Leonard's life for it was the voice of one who had never been dirty or hungry and had not guessed successfully what dirt and hunger are Leonard listened to it with reverence he felt that he was being done good to and that if he kept on with Ruskin and the Queens Hall concerts and some pictures by Watts he would one day push ahead out of the great waters and see the universe he believed in sudden conversion a belief which may be right but which is peculiarly attractive to a half-baked mind a popular religion in the domain of business it dominates the stock exchange and becomes that bit of luck by which all successes and failures are explained if only I had a bit of luck the whole thing would come straight he's got a most magnificent place down at Streetham and a 20 HP fiat then mind you he's had luck I'm sorry the wife's so late but she's never had any luck over catching trains Leonard was superior to these people he did believe in effort and in a steady preparation for the change he desired but of a heritage that may expand gradually he had no conception he hoped to come to culture suddenly much as the revivalist hopes to come to Jesus those Miss Shagles had come to it they had done the trick their hands were upon the ropes once and for all and meanwhile his flat was dark as well as stuffy presently there was a noise on the staircase he shut up Margaret's card in the pages of the Ruskin and opened the door a woman entered of whom it is simplest to say that she was not respectable it was awesome she seemed all things and bell pulls, ribbons, chains, bead necklaces and clinked and caught and a boa of azure feathers hung round her neck with the ends uneven her throat was bare her throat pearls her arms were bare to the elbows and might again be detected at the shoulder through cheap lace her hat which was flowery resembled those punnets covered with flannel which we sewed with mustard and crescent our childhood and which germinated here yes and there no she wore it on the back of her head as for her hair or rather hairs they are too complicated to describe and down her back lying in a thick pad there while another created for a lighter density rippled around her forehead the face the face does not signify it was the face of the photograph but older and the teeth were not so numerous as the photographer had suggested and certainly not so white yet Jackie was past her prime whatever that prime may have been she was descending quicker than most women into the colorless years look in her eyes confessed it what ho? said Leonard greeting the apparition with much spirit and helping it off with its boa Jackie in husky tones replied what ho? bent out he asked the question sounds superfluous but it cannot have been really for the lady answered no adding I'm so tired you tired I'm tired he thought hanging up the boa I'm so tired I've been to that classical concert I told you about said Leonard what's that I came back as soon as it was over anyone been around to our place asked Jackie not that I've seen I met Mr. Cunningham outside we passed a few remarks what not Mr. Cunningham yes you mean Mr. Cunningham yes Mr. Cunningham I've been out to tea at a lady friends her secret being at last given to the world the name of the lady friend being even Adam braided Jackie made no further experiments in the difficult and tiring art of conversation she never had been a great talker even in her photographic days she had relied upon her smile and her figure to attract and now that she was on the shelf on the shelf boys boys I'm on the shelf she was not likely to find her tongue occasional bursts of song of which the above is an example still issued from her lips but the spoken word was rare she sat down Leonard's knee and began to fondle him she was now a massive woman of 33 and her weight hurt him but he could not very well say anything then she said is that a book you're reading and he said that's a book and drew it from her and grasped Margaret's card fell out of it it fell face downward and he murmured bookbarker Len what is it he asked a little wearily for she had only one topic of conversation when she sat upon his knee do you love me Jackie you know I do how can you ask such questions but you do love me Len don't you of course I do a pause the other remark was still do Len well what is it Len will you make it all right I can't have you ask me that again said the boy flaring up into a sudden passion I promise to marry you when I'm of age and that's enough my words my word I promise to marry you soon as ever I'm 21 and can't keep on being worried I worries enough isn't it likely I'd throw you over let alone my word when I've spent all this money besides I'm an Englishman and I never go back on my word Jackie do be reasonable of course I'll marry you only do stop badgering me when's your birthday Len I've told you again and again the 11th of November next now get off my knee a bit someone must get supper I suppose Jackie went through to the bedroom and began to see to her hat this meant blowing on it with short sharp puffs Leonard tidied up the sitting room and began to prepare their evening meal he put a penny into the slot of the gas meter and soon the flat was reeking with metallic fumes somehow he could not recover his temper and all the time he was cooking he continued to complain bitterly it really is too bad when a fellow isn't trusted it makes one feel so wild when I pretended the people here that you're my wife alright you shall be my wife and I have brought you the ring to where I've taken this flat furnished and it's far more than I can afford and yet you aren't content and I've also not told the truth when I've written home he lowered his voice he'd stop it in a tone of horror that was a little luxuriously repeated my brother'd stop it I'm going against the whole world Jackie that's what I am Jackie I don't take any heed of what anyone says I just go straight forward I do that's always been my way I'm not one of your weak not-need chaps if a woman's in trouble I don't leave her in the lurch that's not my street no thank you I'm not telling you another thing I care a good deal about improving myself by means of literature and art and so getting a wider out look for instance when you came in I was reading Roskins Stones of Venice I don't say this to boast but just to show you the kind of man I am I can tell you I enjoyed that classical concert this afternoon to all his moods Jackie remained equally indifferent when supper was ready and not before she emerged from the bedroom saying but you do love me don't you they began with a soup square which Leonard had just dissolved from hot water it was followed by the tongue a freckled cylinder of meat with a little jelly at the top and a great deal of yellow fat at the bottom ending with another square of dissolved in water jelly, pineapple which Leonard had prepared earlier in the day Jackie ate contentedly enough occasionally looking at her man with those anxious eyes to which nothing else in her appearance corresponded and which yet seemed to mirror her soul and Leonard managed to convince his stomach that it was having a nourishing meal after supper they smoked cigarettes and exchanged a few statements she observed that her likeness had been broken he found occasion to remark for the second time that he had come straight back from home after the concert at Queens Hall presently she sat upon his knee the inhabitants of Camelia Road tramped to and fro outside the window just on a level with their heads and the family in the flat on the ground floor began to sing Hark by soul it is the Lord that tune fairly gives me the thump said Leonard Jackie followed this and said that for her part she thought it a lovely tune now I'll play you something lovely get up dear for a minute he went to the piano and jingled out a greek he played badly and vulgarly but the performance was not without its effect for Jackie said she thought she'd be going to bed as she receded a new set of interests possessed the boy and he began to think of what had been said about the music by that odd Miss Shaggle the one that twisted her face about so when she spoke then the thoughts grew sad and envious there was the girl named Helen who had pinched his umbrella and the German girl who had smiled at him pleasantly and hair someone and aunt someone and the brother all all with her hands on the ropes had all passed up that narrow rich staircase that would come place to some ample room with her he never could follow not if he read for ten hours a day so it was no good this continual aspiration some are born cultured the rest had better go in for whatever comes easy to see life steadily and to see it whole was not for the likes of him from the darkness beyond the kitchen a voice called, Len you in bed he asked his forehead twitching mm-hmm all right presently she called him again I must clean my boots ready for the morning he answered presently she called him again I rather want to get this one chapter done what? he closed his ears against her what's that? nothing I'm reading a book what? he answered catching her degraded deafness presently she called him again Wesken had visited Torchella by this time and was ordering his gondoliers to take him to Murano it occurred to him as he glided over the whispering lagoons that the power of nature could not be shortened by the folly nor her beauty altogether saddened by the misery of such as Leonard end of chapter 6