CHAPTER TWELVE

Two years later, the time came for the Schlegel's apartment contract to end. It was not until this moment that Margaret realized just how changed London was. Everything was done in a hurry. People spoke in a hurry and buildings were built in a hurry. Nature had long been forgotten and left behind.

One day, as Margaret and Tibby, who was visiting them from Oxford, were chatting about each other's future—what kind of work could he do, when he hates work? Where should Margaret move house? She was so tired of London, and yet she hated so many of the smaller towns outside of it—Helen came running into the room, very excited.

"Guess what just happened to me? A woman just came to our front door and demanded that we give her husband back to her!"

"What?" asked Margaret, quite surprised.

"She was looking for someone named 'Lan', or something like that. You should have seen this lady, the poor thing. She was wearing the most awful looking dress I've ever seen, and she spoke very badly. I told her that I'd never known her husband, but she was sure that he would be here. It seems he's been missing for almost two whole days. She eventually left, but I think that she still believes I'm hiding him here."

"How strange!" cried Margaret.

Again, the real world had made an appearance at their front door, and it made Margaret begin to worry about her family's current unstable situation. Moving house worried her. She wondered if they might be seeing more and more of the real world now that they would be moving. She found it hard to stop thinking about this woman and her troubles.

The next day, however, Mr Bast came to the home to explain things. The sisters did not recognize him when they met him in their living room. To them, he looked like a poor, common fellow. Margaret found him a little good-looking, and even, for a moment, began to doubt if the mind were such an important thing to consider in a man. She was surprised when, from his pocket, he took out her address.

"You see, this is how it all started," he said, "You gave me this after a performance of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony."

Margaret still did not remember him. He went on to explain that his wife had found the address after he had gone out to visit some friends.

"And when did you go out?" asked Helen, even though Margaret tried to stop her.

"On Saturday," he answered, looking a little nervous.

"So you were gone for a whole night? What were you doing?"

He looked ready to fight. "I know what you're thinking, and that's not at all what happened. You see, I've been reading a lot of wonderful books lately; books that talk about returning to nature. I just walked around the city all night, thinking about the ideas from those books. Have you read them?" And he proceeded to list every one of them.

"I was looking for the Northern Star, you understand. So many writers say you should follow it, so I decided that I would."

Tibby felt that the man was ridiculous and left the room before he could no longer control his laughter. The sisters, however, stayed and listened to the man with increasing attention. He explained how he walked further and further out toward the edge of London, until he reached several forests. He was looking for the places that the authors of those books described. He wanted to see it all, himself. He did not seem to understand that it was the ideas in the books that were most important, not the places associated with the ideas. However, he told his story with great passion.

"You think I'm stupid, don't you?" he asked after he had finished.

"Not at all," said Helen, "You have gone out looking for something, instead of sitting in your apartment and only dreaming about it. That's admirable."

Then a knock came at the door. It was the driver of the carriage taxi they had ordered, reminding the sisters that they were just on their way to attend a dinner party. They apologized for having to interrupt the conversation and invited Mr Bast to come again another day so that they could continue their talk. He, however, refused, because he feared that things might not go so well next time. He wanted to keep tonight's conversation safely in his memory and leave it there for him to enjoy, whenever he pleased. The sisters, having no time to argue, left it up to him and then ran out the door to their carriage.

Leonard walked home alone. He could have avoided the whole mess by explaining to his wife, Jacky, that the address was given to him so that he might get his umbrella back from someone who had accidentally taken it. However, he did not tell her this, because he felt that by having that address he was somehow connected to the higher society he so wished to become a part of. And this encounter that he had just experienced with the Schlegel sisters was very pleasing to him. They had found him interesting and had agreed with his adventure into the suburbs of London. He felt good about himself, suddenly. He had always thought that the way to better oneself, was by reading books and learning how to have interesting, intelligent conversations with people, but tonight he felt that something else had shown itself to be more important. A simple walk through the woods might be the answer.

(end of section)