HOWARDS END
Chapter 39
Charles and Tibby met at Ducie Street, where the latter was staying.
Their interview was short and absurd. They had nothing in common but the
English language, and tried by its help to express what neither of them
understood. Charles saw in Helen the family foe. He had singled her
out as the most dangerous of the Schlegels, and, angry as he was, looked forward
to telling his wife how right he had been. His mind was made up at once:
the girl must be got out of the way before she disgraced them farther. If
occasion offered she might be married to a villain or, possibly, to a
fool. But this was a concession to morality, it formed no part of his main
scheme. Honest and hearty was Charles's dislike, and the past spread
itself out very clearly before him; hatred is a skilful compositor. As if
they were heads in a note-book, he ran through all the incidents of the
Schlegels' campaign: the attempt to compromise his brother, his mother's legacy,
his father's marriage, the introduction of the furniture, the unpacking of the
same. He had not yet heard of the request to sleep at Howards End; that
was to be their master-stroke and the opportunity for his. But he already
felt that Howards End was the objective, and, though he disliked the house, was
determined to defend it.
Tibby, on the other hand,
had no opinions. He stood above the conventions: his sister had a right to
do what she thought right. It is not difficult to stand above the
conventions when we leave no hostages among them; men can always be more
unconventional than women, and a bachelor of independent means need encounter no
difficulties at all. Unlike Charles, Tibby had money enough; his ancestors
had earned it for him, and if he shocked the people in one set of lodgings he
had only to move into another. His was the leisure without sympathy--an
attitude as fatal as the strenuous: a little cold culture may be raised on it,
but no art. His sisters had seen the family danger, and had never
forgotten to discount the gold islets that raised them from the sea. Tibby
gave all the praise to himself, and so despised the struggling and the
submerged.
Hence the absurdity of the interview; the
gulf between them was economic as well as spiritual. But several facts
passed: Charles pressed for them with an impertinence that the undergraduate
could not withstand. On what date had Helen gone abroad? To
whom? (Charles was anxious to fasten the scandal on Germany.) Then,
changing his tactics, he said roughly: "I suppose you realize that you are your
sister's protector?"
"In what
sense?"
"If a man played about with my sister, I'd
send a bullet through him, but perhaps you don't
mind."
"I mind very much," protested
Tibby.
"Who d'ye suspect, then? Speak out,
man. One always suspects someone."
"No
one. I don't think so." Involuntarily he blushed. He had remembered
the scene in his Oxford rooms.
"You are hiding
something," said Charles. As interviews go, he got the best of this
one. "When you saw her last, did she mention anyone's name? Yes, or
no!" he thundered, so that Tibby started.
"In my
rooms she mentioned some friends, called the
Basts--"
"Who are the
Basts?"
"People--friends of hers at Evie's
wedding."
"I don't remember. But, by great
Scott! I do. My aunt told me about some tag-rag. Was she full
of them when you saw her? Is there a man? Did she speak of the
man? Or--look here--have you had any dealings with
him?"
Tibby was silent. Without intending it,
he had betrayed his sister's confidence; he was not enough interested in human
life to see where things will lead to. He had a strong regard for honesty,
and his word, once given, had always been kept up to now. He was deeply
vexed, not only for the harm he had done Helen, but for the flaw he had
discovered in his own equipment.
"I see--you are in
his confidence. They met at your rooms. Oh, what a family, what a
family! God help the poor pater--"
And Tibby
found himself alone.