CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Margaret struggled with her thoughts and tried to write Henry a letter. She wanted to say to him that she understood and that his relations with Mrs Bast were all in the past, but then a strong feeling of disgust would come over her and she would tear the letter she had just written into pieces. This is the letter she eventually managed to write:

Dear Mr Bast,

I'm sorry to inform you that Mr Wilcox has no jobs available at this time.

Sincerely, M. J. Schlegel

Sincerely,

M. J. Schlegel

Dear Helen,

The Basts are not worth worrying about, especially Mrs Bast. I'll come in the morning to send them back to London. I want you to come here and stay the night tonight.

M.

Then Margaret took the letter directly to the hotel herself, and handed the letters to the server and asked that she give them to her sister immediately. When she came back to the house, she ran into Henry in the hallway.

"I've asked my sister to stay here this evening and I've told Mr Bast that we cannot help him."

Henry acted as though nothing had happened and simply told her he would make sure the servants helped Helen with her bags. His behavior made Margaret uncomfortable at first, but then she thought that having a big talk about it and finding out all of the details, having him tell her everything would not help the situation, either. She had been aware of his faults from the very beginning. This newly discovered part of him was forgivable because it happened in the past, before she had known him. In the end, she decided to keep to her original plan: to help Henry to become a better person by loving him.

But, the next morning, Henry did not see things exactly as she did. He did not want to be forgiven so easily. He felt that it was not very woman-like for Margaret not to be angry about it. He began to get angry himself and started talking nonsense about the differences between men and women, and how women could never understand a man's needs. Margaret chose not to listen to this and quickly changed the subject to something that immediately concerned her.

"Is Helen here?" she asked.

Henry, suddenly calming down again, answered, "I'm afraid she did not come."

Margaret was alarmed to hear this. The idea of Helen talking with Mrs Bast and finding out everything disgusted her. She left right away for the hotel, but came back to the house very soon afterward. It had been too late. They had already gone.

She and Henry finished out their talk, and he was much relieved to see that Margaret had truly forgiven him. Almost immediately, he began to forget his shame and change back into his old, unfeeling self.

Later that day, Margaret climbed into a car that would take her to the train station for her return to London, while Henry, climbed into another motorcar and headed in the opposite direction, to Scotland. He thought about many things: he worried a little about the Basts threatening to tell the newspapers about his past and demanding money; he thought about how happy he was to have been forgiven by Margaret; and he was happy that his children had not heard the ugly news. He did not really think about Mrs Wilcox at all. He only hoped that his daughter's husband would treat her well.

Margaret, on the other hand, was worried about the fact that neither Helen, nor the Basts responded to her letters. They left without a word. She looked out the back window at the Oniton that she so loved. It would be the last time that she saw it.

(end of section)