CHAPTER SIXTEEN

One morning, while having breakfast at Aunt Munt's, a letter came for Margaret. It was from Mr Wilcox. In it, he wrote that his situation had changed, due to his daughter's marriage, and that he could now rent his home on Ducie Street to them, if they were interested. He asked that she come back to London right away if she accepted.

The letter made Margaret quite uncomfortable. It was clear that Mr Wilcox was beginning to like her more and more. Could this offer soon be followed by a second one, an offer to get married? She could not be sure.

She told the others at the table, and they reacted in a normal way, which helped her to feel calmer about the letter.

"What do you think?" she asked them. "I think we should take it, for we have had such bad luck up until now, and time is running out."

They argued for a short time, but Margaret had spoken the truth and it was easy to win everyone over to her side.

That same day, she boarded the train for London and met Mr Wilcox at the Waterloo Station. They got into his car and headed for Ducie Street. He seemed to behave a little differently that day. He seemed more emotional than usual.

"Ah! Evie and her husband have gone out of town for a while. I tell you, it's terribly lonely coming home from a hard day's work to an empty house."

"I'm lonely too. This move from Wickham Place is so sad."

"You feel lonely, as well?" he said, turning to her with softened eyes.

Margaret felt the atmosphere in the car suddenly change. She became uncomfortable and quickly changed the subject.

"I want to look at every inch of the house as soon as we get there."

And when they arrived at the home that is exactly what she attempted to do. She managed to look at the dining room and the 'smoking room' (as Mr Wilcox liked to call it), but as soon as she was about to head upstairs to see the bedrooms, Mr Wilcox asked her to marry him. Trying her best to seem surprised, she found that she felt quite happy to have been asked, but still wanted to get away from him as soon as possible.

"I'll write you tomorrow from Swanage. Thank you," she said, just before turning and walking out the front door. He seemed to have had something more to say, but she was too nervous to stay any longer.

She knew that he was not the most romantic man in the world, and she accepted it because of his old age. She was in love, real love, for the first time. However, she wanted to think about things carefully before making any decisions. A talk with Helen would be wise, she thought.

"He asked me to marry him," Margaret told her sister later that day.

There was a moment of silence that was soon broken by the sound of Helen crying and shouting, "Please, Meg, tell me you won't!"

"Just calm down and listen to me for a moment, will you?" said Margaret, pulling Helen down with her to sit on the grass outside their Aunt Munt's home. She told her about the last couple of weeks and the way Mr Wilcox had begun to show his feelings for her little by little.

"I know he's not the type of man to show much feeling, nor does he share my interest in art, but I don't expect the person I marry to be completely like me. I expect that there will always be certain things that we don't understand about one another."

Helen could not agree with her. She did not like people such as the Wilcoxes. However, Margaret argued that it was people like the Wilcoxes who helped the world to progress and made it possible for people like the Schlegels to live the way they do.

In the end, Margaret decided to agree to marriage, but with the idea of remaining more independent than most wives.

The next day, Mr Wilcox (or Henry, as Margaret now called him), came to Swanage and gave her an engagement ring. He had dinner with her family and then, afterward, asked her to take a walk with him.

"Would you mind having a brief business talk with me?" he asked.

"Of course not."

"Well, as you know, I have several children ... I ... I just want to be fair to everyone in the future ... you understand? I believe that Howards End will be given to Charles, my oldest ... "

"Oh, I see! You're talking about money! Of course, you must be very fair with all of them. I don't expect to keep it all to myself. How much do you make, by the way?"

"Uh ... " he started to laugh, so surprised he was by the directness of her question. "Let's move on to the next issue. Evie is getting married in September. We can't think about having a wedding before then."

"If you don't mind, I'd like to do it as soon as possible."

"Okay, we'll marry just after Evie, in the same month. But now, where will we live? How about Ducie Street. Howards End has been rented and Oniton is too far away from town. Ah! But Ducie Street is so bad now. Just fifty years it has existed and look at how quickly it's changing!"

"Ah, yes. London seems to be losing all of its qualities, both good and bad."

Henry insisted on walking Margaret back to her Aunt's home, despite her complaining that she could go on her own. Just as they were about to reach the front door, he turned suddenly, took her into his arms, and kissed her. When they finished kissing he walked away without looking back.

Something about the way this had happened disappointed Margaret. She wished that he might show a little more emotion either before or after the kiss, instead of surprising her and then running away as if embarrassed. Worst of all, something about it reminded her of her sister and Paul.

(end of section)