CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Soon Wickham Place was gone. Two weeks after all of the furniture had been removed and taken for storage at Howards End, the workmen arrived and returned the house to the dust from which it originally came.

Just before dying, however, the house did manage to see one of its daughters marry. Margaret and Henry had survived the difficulties of getting to know one another's past and now they had peace to look forward to. They had a very small wedding, with only Aunt Munt and Tibby there for Margaret, and Charles and Mr Cahill, Evie's husband, for Henry.

The couple went to Austria for their honeymoon, and Margaret had hoped to meet Helen there. Her sister, however, managed to avoid them and sent a postcard to apologize. She still had no desire at all to see Henry.

Gradually, Henry began to love his new wife more and more. He even started to like that she read poetry and articles about current social issues. He only had to say one word and she would close the book and give him all of her attention. Most of their time spent together was very pleasant. They would have fun arguing in a friendly way about the articles she had recently read.

One day, however, Margaret became a little annoyed when Henry told her that he had rented Oniton House to someone.

"The air there is far too damp for us. It would most certainly cause problems with our health if we were to stay long."

"Well ... where shall we live then? We can't just keep moving about all the time!"

"I say that we live at Ducie Street for a few more months, until the end of winter, and then we'll move into a new place and stay there for many years to come. How's that?"

She agreed and put all of the responsibility for finding a home in his hands. In the meantime, through the winter, Margaret found herself becoming less interested in the discussion parties she used to attend, and she read only books that she had read before. Her friends did not like this change in her and blamed her marriage, but Margaret saw things differently. She felt that she was getting older, and that, with age, a person's desire to stay at the cultural front begins to weaken, for, if they keep letting so much new information in, there will be no more room for creativity.

In the spring, the Henry Wilcoxes began to build a new home in Sussex. Margaret was looking over the plans for the home when Dolly came rushing into her living room.

"My goodness! Have you heard what Miss Avery's been doing?" she shouted, "She's been unpacking your boxes at Howards End! Your books are everywhere!"

"My books?" asked Margaret, her eyes widening in surprise, "Why on earth would she be doing that? I never asked her to. I must go down there and pay her a visit right away."

"Lately, she's been behaving stranger than before. Did you hear about her awful fight with Evie?"

"No."

"Miss Avery gave Evie a very expensive wedding gift, but Evie wouldn't accept such a gift from a poor farmer and took it back to the store immediately. Miss Avery then sent her a very terrible letter, bought the same gift again and then threw it into the little pond near Howards End! Crazy old woman."

"But why would Henry still allow her to care for the house, after such a thing?" asked Margaret, "Maybe she meant to give that gift to Evie in memory of Mrs Wilcox."

"Maybe ... or she just wanted to be invited to the wedding so she could try and move up into high society," Dolly stupidly argued.

A few days later, Margaret went down to Howards End. She went there with a sense of uneasy happiness inside her. It was a beautiful day, but she was still bothered by Helen's refusal to return to England. It had been eight months since she had gone.

She first went to Miss Avery's home, but was told by the old woman's niece that she was at Howards End: "She's been going there every day for quite some time now. Spends the whole day there."

Margaret went down to the house and found the door locked. She called Miss Avery's name and, moments later, the old woman poked her head out of one of the upstairs windows.

"Ah! Mrs Wilcox! You've finally come!" she shouted and, after what seemed like several minutes later, unlocked and opened the front door. "Come on in!"

Margaret was shocked by what she saw. All of her furniture had been arranged in the house, and all of her books and decorations had been neatly arranged as well. It all seemed to fit the house very well.

"I don't know what to say," she said, taking a seat on her sofa, "We never planned to live at Howards End. We're building a new home in Sussex. What a big mistake we've made."

"The only mistake, ma'am, is leaving this house empty for so long. It needs someone to live in it again. Mrs Wilcox would have wanted it."

"Well, I truly thank you for all the work you must have put into this. It's wonderful, really. But ... we really cannot live here."

"You will, one day. I'm sure of it," the old woman said.

After looking through the entire house, Margaret said, "The house is very clean."

"Yes, but not clean enough for the Wilcoxes. None of them can stand being in the countryside. The air always makes them ill. But, I suppose they can take care of a place, can't they?"

"They take good care of our country, too," Margaret added, feeling the woman was making fun of Henry.

"Yes, well they do seem to keep populating England with more and more of them. Babies keep coming out every month, it seems."

Margaret did not like the way Miss Avery was talking about her husband's family. It seemed she did not respect them at all.

"No, Mrs Wilcox would have been better to marry a soldier. But, I suppose Mr Wilcox was better than no one. No offence intended, of course."

"In any case, we'll need to hire some people to come in and re-pack all of this stuff. We won't be moving into Howards End," Margaret said, a little angry now, "May I have the key, please?"

"Of course. Here you are," said Miss Avery handing over the keys with a smile.

(end of section)