[ Chattering]
[ Man ]
Charles. that's not being chivalrous.
[ Woman ] Don't worry, Mr. Wilcox.
There's no place in this game for chivalry.
It tends to bring out
the animal in all of us.
[ Chattering Continues ]
Evie, not fair!
[ Chattering Continues]
[ Woman ] "Dearest Meg,
I'm having a glorious time."
"I like them all."
"They are the very happiest,
jolliest family thatyou could imagine."
"The fun of it is that
they think me a noodle..."
[ Chuckling ]
"and say so..."
"at least Miss Wilcox does."
"Oh, Meg. shall we ever
learn to talk less?"
"Oh. but, Meg. Meg,
dearest, dearest Meg..."
"I don't know what to say.
or what you will say."
"Paul Wilcox and I are in love."
"We are engaged."
- Annie.
- Well! You Schlegel girls.
- Tibby, look.
- Margaret, ifI may interfere.
- What on earth is going on?
- I
I can tell you nothing. Aunt Juley.
I know no more than you do. I
We only met the Wilcoxes last spring
while we were hiking in Germany.
Oh, dear.
Obviously. someone must go down to
this Howards House and make inquiries.
- Howards End.
- No, Margaret, inquiries are necessary.
What do we know about these Wilcoxes?
Are they our sort?
- Are they likely people?
- But. Aunt Juley...
what does it matter?
Helen's in love.
That's all I need to know.
Would you please get me
a train timetable, dear?
- Morning.
- Morning.
Paul?
[ Man ]
I'm afraid Crane has reported sick again.
But he was to take me
to the Warringtons today for tennis.
- I told him.
- He's shamming. of course.
You should get rid of him, Father.
Hire a new chauffeur.
[ Motor Running ]
Mother, we're off. Good-bye.
Charlie, Charlie. wait. wait!
- What?
- Is Papa there?
Wait a minute.
We've got some cherries.
[ Chattering, Indistinct ]
Dad?
Evie.
All right. We're off.
- Bye.
- Bye-bye.
- About last night
- Nothing happened.
- I'm afraid I lost my head, rather.
- Yes, we both did.
It must have been the moonlight.
Except there was no moon.
Well, that's quite all right.
- Do you mind?
- No.
You see. I've no money of my own,
and I still have to make my way in Nigeria.
It's beastly out there for
a white woman, what with the climate...
and the natives and all that.
-I say, I do think you're a ripping girl.
-It's quite all right.
No one knows about it.
- Meg! I wrote to my sister.
- Oh. no. You didn't.
Yes. I'm sorry.
Look. she's sure to come down.
- We must stop her.
- We'll have to send a telegram.
- Oh, Crane's off sick.
- Isn't there a bicycle?
Oh, yes. there is, somewhere.
That will be one
and threepence, halfpenny. sir.
[ Helen ] M.J. Schlegel,
Six Wickham Place, London, West.
Dear Meg, all over.
Wish I'd never written.
Tell no one. Helen.
Excuse me. I'm looking for
somewhere called Howards House.
- My parcel?
- The porter has it.
Mr. Wilcox.
This lady wants Howards End.
Forgive my asking. Are you
the younger Mr. Wilcox, or the elder?
The younger. Ah.
This station's abominably organized.
If I had my way. the whole lot ofthem
should get the sack.
- Thank you. Bernard.
- Thank you. sir.
Perhaps I should introduce myself.
I am Miss Schlegel's aunt.
Oh. rather. Yes.
Miss Schlegel's stopping with us.
- Do you want to see her?
- Well. that would be very nice. yes.
I could run you up in the motor.
All the Schlegels are exceptional.
They are. of course, British to the
backbone but their father was German...
and that is why they care
for literature and art.
Uh, just one minute.
Wilcox, Howards End.
I'd like you to know that
I come in no spirit of interference.
I'm here to represent the family...
and to talk to you
about Helen. Mr. Wilcox.
My niece and you.
Miss Schlegel and, uh, and myself?
[ Aunt Juley ] I trust there's been
no misunderstanding.
Well. it is true that
I am engaged to be married...
but to another young lady.
not to Miss Schlegel.
Helen wrote to us, Mr. Wilcox.
She has told us everything.
Good God. it's some foolery of Paul's.
- But you are Paul.
- No. I'm not.
-Then why did you say so at the station?
-I said nothing ofthe sort.
- I beg your pardon. you did.
- I beg your pardon, I did not.
My name is Charles.
Do you mean to tell me that
Paul and your niece have
The idiot!
Damn fool!
Look. uh, I warn you.
It's useless.
Uh, Paul hasn't a penny.
No need to warn us.
The warning is all the other way.
But he hasn't told us, whereas your niece
has lost no time in publishing the news.
If I were a man. Mr. Wilcox,
for that last remark, I'd box your ears.
You're not fit to sit
in the same room as my niece...
- All I know is she spread the news
- Or to clean her boots.
- Might I finish my sentence, please?
- No!
I decline to argue with such a person.
- Let me out ofthis car this instant!
- Don't try and stand up!
- Stop! Stop!
- Sit down. Sit down!
- Stop!
- Just sit down!
For goodness sakes!
Just
[ Bicycle Bell Ringing ]
Push it down.
Oh, Helen.
It's all right.
[ Classical On Piano ]
[ Continues ]
It will, I think.
be generally admitted...
that Beethoven's Fifth Symphony
is the most sublime noise...
ever to have penetrated the ear of man.
What does it mean?
We can hardly fail
to recognize in this music...
a mighty drama:
The struggle of a hero
beset by perils...
riding to magnificent victory
and ultimate triumph...
as described in the development
section ofthe first movement.
What I want to draw
your attention to now...
is the third movement.
We no longer hear
the hero, but a goblin.
Thank you, Mother.
- [ Mid-Tempo ]
- A single. solitary goblin...
walking across the universe...
from beginning to end.
- Why a goblin?
- [ Stops ]
- I begyour pardon?
- Why a goblin?
Well, it's obvious.
The goblin signifies
the spirit of negation.
But why specifically a goblin?
Panic and emptiness.
That is what the goblin signifies.
Minor, spelling panic.
Major, magnificent.
- [ Resumes ]
- A hero, triumphant.
Miss.
Excuse me. miss. my umbrella.
Miss.
[ Thunder Rumbling ]
Miss! Miss!
[ Church Bells Ringing ]
Mrs. Wilcox, I haven't got
her wedding dress wet.
[ Man ]
Hurry up, Charles.
[ Woman ]
Charles. it's bucketing down!
- [ Charles ] Go on. In you go.
- [ Man ] Good-bye.
- Darling, the flowers.
- Good luck.
- Paul, my hat's in your hand.
- Good-bye.
See you there.
What astonishing bad luck...
that in the whole of London
they could find no flat to rent...
except the one bottled right up
against our library window.
Who could find no flat?
Tibby, the Wilcoxes.
Surely even you remember that business
last summer with Helen and Paul Wilcox.
Paul Wilcox.
The one I was expected to thrash
within an inch of his life?
Oh, miss!
What is it? Is Tibby ill?
Tibby's making tea.
Oh, well.
- If it's nothing worse than that.
- Now. Helen
Oh, dear.
Something odd has happened.
Promise me you won't mind.
It's the Wilcoxes.
They've taken the flat opposite
for the wedding oftheir son.
The other son.
You do mind.
Will Paul Wilcox point
at our house and say...
"There lives the girl
who tried to catch me"?
Ridiculous.
They've only taken the flat
for a few weeks, the porter said.
Do we bow,
or do we cut them dead?
Darling...
why don't you take up
Cousin Frieda's invitation...
and go to Hamburg
for those few weeks?
Yes. I think I shall.
Not that it matters. but...
one wouldn't want to keep
bumping into Wilcoxes.
Don't hog all
those scones. Tibby.
Is that young man for us.
do you suppose?
He is for us.
Uh, ifyou'll pardon me, miss.
You took my umbrella.
Quite inadvertently, I'm sure.
At the Ethical Hall.
"Music and meaning."
I'm so sorry. I do nothing
but steal umbrellas.
Do come in and choose one.
It's all right. Annie.
Let's see, is yours
a hooky or a knobbly?
Mine's a knobbly. at least I think it is.
That's Tibby's. How about this one?
I suppose you really oughtn't
open these indoors. Never mind.
No. it's all gone along the seams.
It's an appalling umbrella.
It must be mine.
- Oh. I'm so sorry.
- Has my sister stoIen your umbrella?
Oh, not again. Helen. She is
an incorrigible thief. I am so sorry.
- I say, do stay for tea. Mr.
- Bast.
- Mr. Bast. won't you stay for tea?
- Yes, do stay, Mr. Bast.
It's the least we can do
having made you all wet.
Our brother's upstairs.
so you'll have a chaperon.
-Look, he's soaked. Meg. Please come up.
-Helen. put him upstairs.
What did you think ofthe lecture?
I don't agree about the goblins.
But I do about
the heroes and shipwreck.
You see, I'd always imagined a trio
of elephants dancing at that point.
Well, he obviously didn't.
- "Music and Meaning," Margaret.
- Oh. "Music and Meaning."
Does music have meaning?
Ofthe literary kind. I mean.
- That's pure slush.
- A guest.
-Mr. Bast. won't you take offyour coat?
-And trust us with your umbrella?
- And sit down.
- Have some tea, won't you?
How boring it would be
if it were only the score.
- China tea?
- Do you take sugar?
"Only the score"?
What an insidious "only."
We do have the other
kind oftea. ifyou prefer.
- Thank you, but. uh
- Don't you want that?
Here are some scones that
Tibby hasn't yet consumed.
We are so very sorry to have
put you to this inconvenience.
I hope you will
come another day.
Would you?
We should be so glad.
Do take our card.
Thank you. Ifyou'll excuse me.
I really must be going.
I'll see you out. Are you sure you
don't want a scone for the journey?
No. No, thankyou.
I must be going. Good-bye.
Why didn't you make that
young man welcome, Tibby? Hmm?
You must do the host
a little, you know.
You could've coaxed him
into stopping...
instead of letting him
be swamped by screaming women.
[ Chattering ]
[ Whistling ]
Get your hot soup here.
Hot soup. lovely and warm.
[ Continues Whistling ]
[ Train Rumbling ]
[ Woman ]
That you, Len ?
Where have you been?
- I'm off my head with worrying.
- About what?
- About you.
- Let go, Jacky.
Every ti me I 'm five mi n utes late,
you see me lyi n g dead i n the road...
crushed and killed
in a gruesome accident.
Well, people do get killed in accidents
and don't come home no more.
Anymore, Jacky.
I told you I was going
to a lecture on "Music and Meaning."
I lost my u m brel la.
It's all right. I got it back.
Have you had your tea?
I've kept you a bit of tongue in jelly.
- No.
- Sure?
I'll have it. then.
Funny, isn't it?
Every time I worry,
I get starving hungry.
The thoughts that go through
my head. You'd laugh.
You listening. Len?
Not only accidents.
That you'll get wet in the rain.
- Didyou?
- No.
You said you lost your umbrella.
I'll think, "Lord, he'll catch cold."
"It'll go to his chest."
"And where's the money
to come from for the doctor?"
"And what if he is
in an accident..."
"and they take him to the hospital
in the ambulance?"
"And him with holes in his socks."
- Hey, Jacky.
- I want to see.
- What?
- If there's holes in you r socks.
Stop it, Jacky.
Len.
- Come to bed.
- I'll just finish this chapter.
Len.
- You love you rJacky, do you. Len?
- Let me read.
Len.
- Are you gonna make it all right?
- You're not starting on that again.
I've told you a hund red times
if I've told you once...
we'll get married the day I'm 21 .
I'd do it before if it weren't for my
brother would come and put a stop to it.
What's it to him?
What's he ever done for me?
That's right.
What's a nyone ever done?
It's just you and me.
And ifyou was to go a nd leave me,
I don't know what I'd do. I truly don't.
Now go to bed.
You come too. Come on.
- Book ma rker.
- "Margaret Schlegel."
And who is Margaret Schlegel?
- J ust a lady I met.
- Oh, a lady. La-di-da.
Come off it, Jacky.
She's a hundred years old.
Says you.
So that's where you had your tea.
Nice cucu mber sandwiches
cut ever so thin.
[ Leonard ] "Ankle-deep,
he waded through the bluebells."
"His spirit rose and exulted..."
"as he breathed in
the sun-drenched air."
"The glorious day
was in its last decline."
"Long shadows lay on the sward,
and from above..."
"the leaves dripped their shimmering
drops ofgold-green light."
"Moths and butterflies
swarmed in merry hosts..."
"flittering here,
glimmering there."
"But hush.
Could that be a deer?"
[ Train Passing ]
[ Mrs. Wilcox ]
Oh, please show her in.
Hello. I'm so sorry.
Why, Miss Schlegel.
How kind ofyou to call.
I've wanted to
for ever so long.
But we haven't been here
for ever so long.
Mrs. Wilcox. uh, may I?
You see, all that business
last summer at Howards End
No. it goes further than that.
Since we met at Speyer.
Do you remember?
That restored cathedral
we all hated so.
What I remember
principally about Speyer...
was the great pleasure
of meeting you. Miss Schlegel.
- Helen's gone to Germany.
- And Paul's gone to Nigeria.
[ Chuckling ]
So...
you see, now we can meet.
because they can't.
It's no use beating about the bush.
What happened in the summer...
was unfortunate
for both of them, don't you feel?
Because
I'm sure you think the same way.
- Because they should not meet.
- Yes. I feel that.
They belong to types that can
fall in love. but can't live together.
I'm afraid that
in nine cases out of ten...
nature pulls one way
and human nature the other.
I do rattle on. I'm afraid
I shall tire you out in no time.
It is true I am not
particularly well just today.
But I'm so grateful for your visit.
Miss Schlegel. You see. I'm quite alone.
My husband and daughter have gone off
on a motoring tour in Yorkshire...
and the young couple
are on their honeymoon.
- Charles and Dolly.
- Oh. may I see? How lovely.
They've gone to Naples. I can hardly
imagine my Charles in Naples.
- Doesn't he like traveling?
- Oh. yes. He likes travel.
But he does see through
foreigners so.
What he would enjoy most
is a motor tour through England.
Charles takes after me,
Miss Schlegel.
He truly loves England.
Not. of course, London.
None of us love London.
It's so
It makes one feel so unstable.
impermanent...
with houses being torn down
on all sides.
Including,
in the foreseeable future, ours.
- Are you having to leave Wickham Place?
- Yes.
In 1 8 months or so
when the lease expires.
- Have you been there long?
- All our lives. We were born there.
Oh, the
That is monstrous.
Oh, I do pity you,
from the bottom of my heart.
I had no idea this thing
was hanging over you.
- How dreadful.
- Oh, well
- Oh. you poor, poor girls.
- Well, of course...
we are fond of the house.
but it is an ordinary London house.
- We shall easily find another.
- No.
Not in this world.
Not the house
that you were born in.
You'll never find that again.
Poor, poor girls.
[ Sighs ]
Howards End was almost
pulled down once.
It would have killed me.
It's my house. you know.
It was left to me by my brother
who died out in India.
I love it so.
I even resisted when Henry
my husband
wanted to make changes
to improve the property.
He knew best. of course.
[ Chuckles ]
We even have a garage.
To the west of the house...
just beyond the chestnut tree...
in the paddock where
the pony used to be.
Where's the pony gone?
The pony?
Oh, dead, ever so long ago.
The vice of the pan-German mind is that
it only cares for what it can use.
-That is the vice of the imperial mind.
-No, that is the vice of the vulgar mind.
But, and this is the tremendous part.
they take poetry seriously.
- They do take poetry seriously.
- But is anything gained by that?
Yes, the Germans
are always striving for beauty.
Oh, but. Mrs. Wilcox, my father
was a German of the old school...
a philosopher. an idealist...
the countryman of Hegel and Kant.
- But isn't that your father's sword
you have upstairs in the drawing room?
- Oh, yes.
He was a soldier too when he had to be.
But he was so uncomfortable
about being on the winning side...
that he just hung up his sword
and never used it again.
- My idea has always been that...
- [ Chatter Dies Down ]
if we could bring the mothers...
of the various nations together...
then there would be no more war.
- Oh. indeed. yes.
- Absolutely.
If the mothers went to war.
there'd be no one left to defend.
-Mrs. Wilcox. will you have anotherjelly?
-Thank you.
You are fortunate in your cook.
We have found it difficult to get
reliable servants in London.
-It is difficult.
-Servants have become as unreliable as we.
We can hardly expect them to listen to
radical discussions at the luncheon table.
Annie does very well.
Don't you. Annie?
You're very patient with us.
We never discuss at Howards End...
except perhaps sport.
Oh, but you should.
Discussion keeps a house alive.
You will laugh
at my old-fashioned ideas.
[ Chuckles ]
I will not.
I sometimes think...
it would be wiser to leave
action and discussion to men.
But. then where would
we be with the suffrage?
I am only too thankful
not to have the vote myself.
Shall we go up for coffee?
Duncan. will you lead the way?
Thank you.
[ Chattering, Indistinct ]
- What interesting lives you all lead.
- No. we don't.
It's no use pretending
you enjoyed lunch, for you loathed it.
But I hope you will forgive me...
by coming again. alone.
or by asking me to you.
I enjoyed my lunch very much.
Miss Schlegel, truly I did.
I only wish I could've joined in more.
You're
You're so clever,
and yet, so good.
No, that's very kind ofyou,
but I am neither, I'm afraid.
You've been very good to me.
You've kept me from brooding.
- I'm too apt to brood.
- About what?
Well, I don't know.
I really don't know.
I think about my house a great deal.
You've never seen Howards End.
I want to show it to you.
[ Margaret ] Now. this is the scientific
approach to Christmas shopping: a list.
[ Mrs. Wilcox ]
A list. What a good idea.
Why don't you put your own name
at the top of the list?
Hurray. How very kind ofyou
to start with me.
"Schlegel." Now, next.
Shall I put Mr. Wilcox?
- Quite out of the ordinary, you know?
- I know. it's these.
Now. what do you think of that?
And a pretty box.
Oh. yes.
Oh, thank you very much.
- Good. I'm glad.
- You are wonderfully efficient.
- Thank you. Could we
wrap that with a nice bow, please?
- Certainly, madam.
- But your name still remains
at the top of the list.
- [ Chuckles ] Yes.
So, Dolly. There she goes.
I would like to give you
something worth your friendship.
Couldn't you get it renewed?
- I beg your pardon?
- The lease ofyour house?
Oh, have you been thinking of that?
How very kind ofyou.
- Surely something could be done.
- No. Values have risen too enormously.
They mean to pull down Wickham Place
and build flats like yours.
- But how horrible.
- Landlords are horrible.
And so are the flats they build.
I fail to understand how people
can actually choose to live in them.
There we are.
Oh, dear. There, there we are.
Thank you.
[ Chuckles ]
Thank you.
Thank you.
[ Groans ]
Oh, I'm so sorry.
We shouldn't have done this today.
No. no, we had to do it before.
- Before?
- Before my operation.
I still haven't told my family yet,
Miss Schlegel. Everyone hates illnesses.
Ah, it's as it should be.
There's a chestnut tree
at Howards End...
that has pigs' teeth
stuck into the trunk...
about four feet from the ground.
Yes. the teeth of a pig.
The country people
put them there long ago...
and they think that if they chew
a piece of the bark...
it will cure the toothache.
I love folklore
and the old superstitions.
Isn't it is curious though.
that unlike Greece...
England has no true mythology.
All we have are
witches and fairies.
[ Sighs ]
Will you come with me to Howards End?
- Oh. I would so much like to.
- Come with me now, now.
- Now? But it is too late.
- There is a train from St. Pancras
at 5:00 if we hurry.
- I want you to see it.
- And I want to see it.
It sounds such a glorious place.
so redolent and
Yes, yes. I lived there long,
long before I was married.
I was born there.
Well, might I come some other day?
Yes.
Some other day.
Well. a thousands thanks.
Miss Schlegel. for your help.
It is a comfort to have
the presents off my mind...
the Christmas cards especially.
- I do admire your choice.
- [ Clock Chimes ]
[ Train Whistle ]
Whoa.
Mrs. Wilcox.
- Miss Schlegel.
- I will come if I still may.
Return to Hilton. please.
- We'll stop the night, my dear.
- Yes.
It's in the morning my house
looks most beautiful.
Two returns, please.
Thank you.
- This is yours?
- I can't show you my meadow
properly except in the sunrise.
- It was so romantic. It was in Italy.
- In Italy?
Yes. and the two trains
stopped on either side. you see...
and I opened the window...
and this man just
handed a rose across.
I don't know where he got it.
- Was he Italian?
- Yes, I think so. Italian.
Ah. he'd have to be
Italian, wouldn't he?
- Mother!
- Evie. My dearest girl.
-The motor's smashed.
-Ruth, what on earth are you doing here?
- We crashed the car.
- What?
- Are you going to Howards End? Why?
- Yes.
- How are you?
- It's such a lovely surprise.
I'm fit as a fiddle.
You remember Miss Schlegel?
Miss Schlegel?
Oh, yes. Helen's sister. Hello.
- Evie crashed the car in Yorkshire.
- How do you do?
We must go home. We can't go
to Howards End. It's ten to 5:00.
Miss Schlegel, I'm afraid our little outing
is going to have to be another day.
- Before I forget.
- Thank you.
- There's a German expression for that.
- Aufgeschoben ist nicht aufgehoben.
- Yes. Not canceled, but postponed.
- Postponed.
- Come home with us.
- No, no.
- You sure?
- Please. Good-bye.
- Till later.
- [ Henry ] How lovely to see you.
I've been thinking ofyou.
And ofour meadow.
Here.
The day you are strong enough...
I shall hold you
to your promise.
Oh, Miss Schlegel.
So, to repeat, we have here...
forwarded by the matron
of that nursing home...
sealed and addressed to me...
a note purporting to be
in your mother's handwriting.
And it says...
"I would like Miss Schlegel.
Margaret..."
"to have Howards End."
Mother never wrote that.
No date.
- No signature.
- Of course.
It's a forgery.
Not now. please. Later.
Thank you.
The house was of course your mother's
to leave to whom she wished.
Let me see it.
Why, it's only in pencil.
Pencil never counts.
Yes. we know that it is not
legally binding, Dolly.
We are aware of that.
Ofcourse, my dear,
we consideryou as one ofthe family.
But it will be better ifyou don't
interfere with what you don't understand.
The question is whether...
during the time that this Miss Schlegel
managed to befriend my mother
I don't think it's a case
of undue influence.
To my mind the question is...
the invalid's condition
when the note was written.
My dear father,
consult an expert ifyou wish...
but I don't admit that it is
my mother's handwriting.
You just said it was.
Never mind if I did.
So we are all agreed then that
legally I would be quite justified...
in tearing this up and
throwing it into the fire.
All else aside, how is this gift
to be conveyed to Miss Schlegel?
Is she to have a life interest in it
or is she to own it absolutely?
She may be on her way down
this very minute to turn us all out.
I don't believe Miss Schlegel
knows anything about this. uh...
this whim ofyour mother's.
Mother believed so in ancestors.
She would never have left
anything to an outsider.
If Miss Schlegel had been poor.
if she had wanted a house
But she has a house.
Why should she want another?
She wouldn't have wanted us
to even see this thing.
No.
Your poor mother
would not have wanted it.
- Len, you coming in?
- In a minute.
Yeah, all right.
What are you looking at?
See that big one up there?
It's Ursa Major. the great bear.
You follow those two down
about four times...
and that one there
is the polestar.
- I'm fairly certain that's it.
And they all go round that one.
- They're just stars.
Jacky. stop it.
It's important.
You'll catch your death.
[ Chattering, Indistinct ]
Yes. sir.
When can I expect
to receive that?
Excuse me, sir.
Mr. Purefour's policy.
Yes. yes, yes. yes.
That's all signed.
It seems fine with me. Thank you.
So may I expect
to receive that?
Oh, yes.
All right, Mr. Jackson.
You're all done.
Could you. uh,
complete that?
Yes. of course. sir.
[ Leonard ] "The trees
reared in mighty columns..."
"their tops still radiant
in sunlight which..."
"spilling downward
through the wealth of leaves..."
"dissolved at last..."
"in the darkness
ofthe mossy earth."
"Their color slowly faded
from out ofthe flowers..."
"but their scent lingered
to honey the air he breathed."
There's a woman
to see you. ma'am.
A woman and not a lady, Annie?
- She won't give her name.
- Well. ask her to come up.
She says she won't come up.
Well, then we shall
have to go down.
- Good afternoon.
- I'm looking for my husband.
Here? Thankyou, Annie.
I have my reasons to believe
that he is here.
[ Exhales ] Well, you're
welcome to search for him.
I'm so sorry.
Your husband's name?
Leonard Bast.
as I'm sure you're aware of.
Margaret. are we concealing
a Mr. Leonard Bast?
There appears to have been
some mistake. Mrs. Bast.
I do not think we are acquainted
with your husband.
Oh, no. There's no mistake.
I know for a fact
that he has visited in this house.
- He had his tea here.
- That is a grave allegation.
Yes. to have corrupted
a married man with giving him tea.
I wish we could help you. Mrs. Bast.
It seems you can't...
or won't...
except to have a laugh at my expense.
So I'm very sorry
to have troubled you...
and wish you
a very good afternoon.
You do what you can for the house.
The drawing room reeks of smoke.
Ifyou start smoking too,
the house might be even more musty.
I doubt it.
This is lovely. Annie.
There's a M r. Leonard Bast.
- Oh, no! I don't believe it.
- [ Laughing ] The missing husband.
- He must be brought in immediately.
- The one you corrupted with tea?
- I'll do the host.
- Thank you.
Mr. Bast, come this way.
Do come in, M r. Bast.
Good evening.
Good evening. Do come in
and have some pudding with us.
- Yes. Or would you prefer some dinner?
- I've had my tea. Thank you.
- Have a chair. A glass of wine?
- No.
- Port?
- No, thank you.
Well. do take a seat
in any case. M r. Bast...
and let us know
how we can help you.
You wouldn't remember
giving me this?
-Not as such.
-Well. that was how it happened. you see.
- Uh. what?
- Where did we meet, Mr. Bast?
For the moment.
I don't remember.
It was more than a year ago.
at the Ethical Society.
The lecture was
on "Music and Meaning."
Oh, I see. So the mistake arose
out of my card. did it?
The lady who called here yesterday
thought you were calling as well
and that she would find you here.
In the afternoon. I said to my wife
I said to Mrs. Bast
"I have to pay a call on some friends."
And Mrs. Bast said to me. "Do go."
But while I was gone, she wanted me
on important business...
and thought I had come here.
owing to the card.
And I beg to tender
my apologies. and hers too...
for any inconvenience
we may have caused you.
- None at all, truly.
- I still don't understand.
When did you say you paid this call.
this afternoon call?
In the afternoon, of course.
Saturday afternoon or Sunday?
- Saturday.
- Really?
And you were still calling on Sunday
when your wife came here? A long visit.
[ Margaret ] It was very good ofyou
to come explain, Mr. Bast.
The rest is naturally
no concern of ours.
We are going to go upstairs for coffee.
I do hope that you will join us.
- Annie. pour the coffee. please.
- It's not what you think.
I was
I left my office and walked...
right out of London.
I was walking
all Saturday night.
All night? In the dark?
It got so dark
I couldn't see my own hand.
M r. Bast,
you must be a born explorer.
I tried to steer by the polestar.
but once out of doors...
everything gets so mixed
and I lost it.
Don't tell me about the polestar.
I know its little ways.
It goes round and round,
and you go round with it.
[ Helen ] Yes, but why?
Why didyou do it?
I wanted to...
just walk...
just get out.
I've been reading
The Ordeal of Richard Feverel.
Yes, I remember. There's that chapter
where Richard walks all night.
- In a forest by moonlight.
- Yes. Margaret. what's that wonderful
Oh, I know exactly what you mean.
[ Both ]
"The forest drooped glimmeringly."
Wait, I'll get it.
The chapter's called "Nature Speaks."
- Where do your people come from?
- London.
Yes. I know, but I mean before that.
They didn't always
live in a town.
No. they came
from around Shropshire.
They worked on the land.
They were agricultural laborers.
There. you see?
It was ancestral voices calling you.
Yes. here it is.
"Richard was walking hurriedly."
"A pale gray light on the skirts of
the flying tempest displayed the dawn."
- Did you see the dawn?
- Yes, suddenly it got light.
- And was it wonderful?
- No.
- [ Laughing ]
- It was only gray.
And anyway, by that time
I was so tired and so hungry.
I didn't know when you're walking...
you want a breakfast and lunch and tea
during the night as well...
-and all I had was a packet of Woodbines.
-[All Chuckling ]
[ Woman ]
No. Money. Give Mr. Bast money.
- We really must go. Meg. come on.
- Don't bother about his ideals.
Your Leonard Bast wouldn't know
what to do ifyou just gave him money.
Nonsense. Money is very educational.
Much more so than the things it buys.
Such crass materialism
out ofyour mouth, Margaret.
Give them money.
Let us give Mr. Bast money.
[ All Chattering, Indistinct ]
What if he gained the whole world.
but lost his own soul?
But he won't gain his soul until
he has enough money to do it with.
Give Mr. Bast money.
[ All Chattering, Indistinct ]
Good night.
Yes. well. you worry about the first.
Good-bye. Good-bye.
Thank you.
- Good night.
- Good night.
[ Tango ]
So what do you think is the most
important thing in the world, then?
Well, I suppose...
- it is whatever matters to you most.
- What, like love, for instance?
- Yes, like love for instance
or Oxford ifyou're Tibby.
- Miss Schlegel?
- Henry Wilcox.
- Oh, hello.
- Hello. Good evening.
- How nice to see you.
What a wonderful surprise.
I heard two ladies talking of love.
- [ Chuckling ] Oh, no.
- No. We were continuing
a serious discussion.
- Yes?
- Yes. We belong to a sort of club...
which meets once a week
to discuss various subjects.
How are you? I would've thought
you would be down at Howards End.
Howards End is let.
We've bought a house in Mayfair.
Yes. Mr. Wilcox, supposing
you were a millionaire.
Oh, but I expect you are one.
[ Chuckles ]
We have met a young man who is very poor
and we think sensitive and intelligent...
and we wondered if one was a millionaire
how one could help him.
-What's his profession?
-He's a clerk in What was it. Margaret?
- The Porphyrion Fire I nsurance Company.
- I nsurance.
- Porphyrion?
- Yes.
Ah, then Miss Schlegel...
if I were to help
your young clerk...
I'd advise him to clear out of
the Porphyrion with all possible speed.
- Why?
- Now, this is between friends...
but the Porphyrion is
insufficiently reinsured.
It'll be in the receivers' hands
before Christmas.
In other words. it will smash.
Do you hear? Helen.
the Porphyrion will smash.
We'll have to warn Mr. Bast.
He'll have to get another place.
- I hope he'll get one very quickly.
- But rather than wait to make sure?
Yes. decidedly. You understand.
the man who is already in a situation...
when he applies for work...
stands a much better chance. naturally.
This is letting you
into state secrets, of course...
but, uh. it does affect
an employer greatly.
Human nature, I'm afraid.
Well. our human nature appears
to be quite the other way around.
We employ people
because they're unemployed
- The bootman, for instance.
- How does he clean the boots?
- Not well.
- There you are.
Mr. Wilcox, is it very difficult nowadays
for a clerk to get a situation?
- Yes. extremely.
- I'm so sorry about Howards End.
- Hmm?
- I mean that you're not living there.
I think I have some idea of how much
her house meant to Mrs. Wilcox.
Yes. but to us. the family.
it has certain drawbacks.
Would you be able to help?
Our friend. help him to a new situation?
Well, unfortunately. we have very few
positions and vacancies.
And when there is one. of course...
- always hundreds of applicants.
- Of course.
- It has been a pleasure. Miss Schlegel.
- Yes, indeed.
Miss Schlegel. I hope
your young clerk finds success.
- Thank you. Good night.
- Good night.
Well, he was in a hurry
to get away. wasn't he?
- Ah. Wilcox.
- What was all that about?
Mr. Bast...
I fear you may have thought
our letter a little odd.
We're not odd. really.
We're just over-expressive. That's all.
The more a lady has to say, the better.
Ladies brighten every conversation.
Yes. I know. The darlings are regular
sunbeams. Let me give you a plate.
Your company is the Porphyrion. isn't it?
Would you call it a solid concern?
Cake? This big one
or one of these little deadlies?
It depends what you mean by solid.
We were told the Porphyrion's a no-go.
A friend of ours did think...
- that it's insufficiently reinsured.
- And advised you to clear out.
- You can tell your friend that he's wrong.
- Oh. good! [ Chuckling ]
Wrong. so to speak.
How, so to speak?
I mean, I wouldn't say
he was right altogether.
Then he is right partly?
Tell your friend to mind
his own business.
- [ Knocking, Door Opens ]
- Annie.
Mr. Wilcox, Miss Wilcox.
Oh.
- What a surprise!
- [ Helen Laughing ]
Oh, they're beautiful.
- Mr. Wilcox. do come in.
- Miss Schlegel, pray forgive us
for calling so unexpectedly.
- Mr. Bast. come play with puppies.
- M r. Wilcox. this is Mr. Bast.
- Aren't they beautiful?
- I must be going.
Oh, must you really?
Oh, come again.
No. I shan't. I shan't come again.
I call that a very rude remark. What do
you want to turn on me like that for?
I thought you invited me here as
for a friendly chat.
Instead it turns out you want to pick
my brains about my place of business.
Oh. yes. "Send for him.
Cross-question him. Pick his brains."
- No. no!
- Are we intruding, Miss Schlegel?
Shall we go?
No. no. Thank you.
Helen, go after him. Explain.
- What was all that about?
- I knew I shouldn't have come.
It was all right last time,
but things like that always get spoiled.
Things do. but people don't.
Don't you understand?
We really did want to warn you
about the Porphyrion.
We were worried about you.
- Why should you worry about me?
- Because we like you.
That's why...
you noodle.
-There's no cause to call a person names.
- Yes. there is when a person is being
tremendously stupid.
[ Sighs ]
Oh, listen. This is serious.
Our friend said you should be
looking around for another post now...
before anything happens.
- Will you?
- I'll think about it.
No. you must do more than think.
You must search for another place
while you still have one.
Now, promise you will
do that at least. please.
All right. Thank you.
Miss Schlegel.
Come and tell us when you've found
another place, orjust come anyway.
And don't say no.
Don't dare to say no.
And don't forget your umbrella
or you'll say we pinched it.
You ought to be more careful. Miss Schlegel.
Your servants ought to have orders
not to let such people in.
Oh, but we invited him in.
Yes. we wanted to see him again,
and talk to him and maybe help him...
- not only in a practical way.
- You're too kind.
You behave too well to people
and then they impose on you.
I know the world and that type of man.
Oh, but he is not a type. Mr. Wilcox.
- [ Chuckles ]
- No. I think he is a quite
unusualyoung man.
And he has something in him.
I don't know what it is.
Except that he wants
something better than he's got.
- Oh.
- Yes.
He has a sort of romantic ambition.
It is your view of him
that is romantic. Miss Schlegel.
Evie.
We wish you to have something
to remember Mrs. Wilcox by...
in return for your kindness
to her in those days.
Oh, thank you so much.
What a lovely thought.
Thank you.
She would want you to have it.
She spoke very fondly ofyou.
It's beautiful.
Are you sure?
Is it 1 8th century?
It must be crystal.
Thank you. Thank you. Evie.
- So what does she look like?
- A sort of an old-maid type.
Goodness knows why Father
wanted me to ask her.
She talks and talks
Here she is.
- Miss Schlegel.
- Hello. Miss Wilcox.
How do you do?
This is my fiance, Percy Cahill.
How do you do?
- Ah, good afternoon.
- Hello. I didn't expect to see you.
Well. Evie told me of her little plot,
so I just slipped in and secured a table.
Always secure a table first.
Evie, sit there.
- Miss Schlegel. ifyou please. here.
- Thank you very much.
Mr. Cahill, there.
Well, are you still worrying around
after your young clerks?
- I hope you're hungry.
- Famished. I want to eat heaps.
Good. What will you have?
- Fish pie.
- Ah. fish pie.
Fancy coming for fish pie to Simpson's.
It's not a good thing to go for here.
- Go for something for me then.
- Right. uh...
roast beef and
Yorkshire pudding and...
- What will you have?
- cider to drink.
- That's the type of thing to go for.
- I'll have trout.
I like this place for a joke
once in a while.
It's so thoroughly old English.
Don't you agree?
I began an inventory
of our possessions.
There are over 300 things
in the drawing room alone
Oh, thank you. Lovely.
And that's not counting the books.
Whatever shall I do?
- You see, modern ownership ofmoveables...
-[ Whispering ] I told you.
-is reducing us again to a nomadic hoard.
-How awful.
We are reverting to a civilization
ofluggage, Mr. Wilcox.
- [ Chuckling ]
- Thank you.
- Thank you. sir.
Always tip the carver.
Tip everywhere is my motto.
- Perhaps it does make life more human.
- Then these fellows remember one again.
Especially in the East.
Ifyou tip. they remember you
from year's end to year's end.
- Have you been in the East?
- Yes, Greece and the Levant.
I used to go for sport
and business to Cyprus.
A few piastres properly distributed
help to keep one's memory green.
- [ Margaret ] How shockingly cynical.
- Not a bit. Simply realistic.
Excuse me. sir.
How would you like your beef done?
- Well done.
- Well done.
You don't like cheese.
You never take cheese.
- Percy, I adore cheese.
- You said you didn't like it.
That's the most despicable lie. Percy.
You've gone quite pink.
- I haven't gone pink.
-Your ears have gone pink about the tips.
- I have not.
- [ Henry] Evie, I like that.
Miss Schlegel expects me to act
as house agent for her.
[ Chuckling ]
I want a new home in September.
and someone must find it. I can't.
Do you know of anything, Percy?
Can't say I do.
I wish you would give us Howards End.
- Howards End, I'm afraid, is let.
- Can't you turn out your tenant
and let it to us?
No.
[ Sighs ]
We're nearly demented.
Mr. Wilcox, I am demented.
One bit of advice: Fix your district.
fix your price, then don't budge.
That's how I got Ducie Street
and Oniton.
Well, I shall, uh
I shall look around a bit for you.
- Would you?
- Yes.
- Wouldyou really? How kind.
- Yes.
But I warn you.
the house has not been built...
that would suit the Schlegel family.
- It's no fun trying to help us.
- Fun?
No. but it's a pleasure
and a privilege...
to do whatever I can
for Miss Margaret Schlegel.
Thank you very much.
[ Henry ]
Dear Miss Schlegel...
dare I intrude
on your holiday in Devon...
and requestyou
to come up to London...
where, I may add,
you are greatly missed?
Matter is ofsome urgency.
But to interrupt your holiday.
dear Margaret...
and before we have
undertaken our excursions.
You haven't been
to Nine Barrows Downs.
I know. Aunt Juley,
But I shall be back before long.
Let me go up to town today...
and take the house
if it's the least bit possible.
I don't understand.
Whose house is this?
Mr. Wilcox's, Tibby.
You are being remarkably obtuse.
Are you doing it on purpose?
Look. "Owing to
changed circumstances"
He means that Evie's getting married.
That's his daughter.
"I no longer have need
for a London house of this size..."
"and am willing to let it
on a yearly tenancy."
- That's perfect.
- Out of all our hotel acquaintances...
Mr. Wilcox is the only one who's stuck,
yet we've met far more interesting people.
Interesting people
don't get one houses.
I shall never forget
that dreadful motor driver...
that perfectly dreadful Charles.
My one consolation is that for once
I was able to be useful to you girls.
Thank you. Aunt J uley.
And now it is
my turn to be useful.
This is the ballroom.
Goodness. oh.
- Like it?
- Rather!
Even I know a good thing
when I see it.
Yes. but nowadays, with. uh,
Evie always out with her fiance...
when I get home in the evenings.
I tell you I can't stand the place.
- It would be very lonely for you.
- Yes.
Do you ever get lonely, Miss Schlegel?
I soon shall, horribly.
It's heartbreaking
to leave one's old home.
Goodness. how high
this ceiling must be.
H mm?
Yes. it must be over 30 feet.
No. maybe 40, I should think.
Perhaps even more.
Miss Schlegel. uh...
I've had you here
on false pretenses.
I want to speak on a much more
serious matter than the house.
Uh...
do you think you could
be induced to share?
I mean, is it at all
probable that
Oh, yes. I see.
Miss Schlegel.
Margaret.
- I don't think you quite understand.
- Oh, yes. I ndeed. yes.
- I'm asking you to be my wife.
- Yes. I know. I know.
- Are you offended?
- How could I be?
Well, perhaps I should've written first.
No. no. Rather, you will
receive a letter from me.
- Thankyou.
- Not at all.
And it's you I thank.
Uh...
should I order
the motor round now?
That would be most kind.
[ Charles ] Warning you, Evie,
she will never set foot in this house!
- [ Evie ] It's not my fault!
- Of course it's your fault.
Going around hobnobbing
with those Schlegel girls.
- Girls? They're hardly girls.
- [ Thunder Rumbling ]
I never dreamt of such a thing.
Dad took me to call...
and then made me
ask her to Simpson's, that's all.
Well, I'm altogether off Dad.
- [ Baby Crying ]
- You've woken didums. I knew you would.
Well. Miss Schlegel's
fairly got us on toast.
You know. she always meant
to get hold of Howards End.
Now. thanks to you. she's got it.
- I call that most unfair.
- Oh. Evie.
Why don't you pretend
to break offyour engagement?
Then perhaps your father will
also quarrel with Miss Schlegel.
- Stop talking nonsense, darling.
- I'm jolly well going to get married
as soon as possible.
- And Dad can do what he likes.
- She's taking Mother's place.
- The idea!
- I could simply scratch
that woman's eyes out.
- Toto. Toto, play.
- Come on, Dolly.
I'll have a try.
Come on.
Well, it's no use talking.
We're in a bad hole
and must make the best of it.
But I'll keep my eye
on those Schlegels.
And if I find them putting on airs...
- with their artistic beastliness...
- [ Baby Continues Crying ]
I intend to put my foot down.
- Yes, firmly.
- [ Thunderclap ]
[ Henry]
I've had a letter too. Not a nice one.
I want to talk it over with you.
My letter is about Howards End.
The tenants have decamped.
And what is worse, he's trying
to sublet the house, Margaret.
Here, he's trying to sublet the house.
What are you laughing at?
Henry...
you haven't had a chance
for a talk with Helen yet, have you?
- What do you mean, a talk with her?
- Well, do before you go.
- Why? What's the matter?
- Oh. nothing.
-I'm just anxious you two should be friends.
- We've always hit it offtogether.
- [ Margaret ] Shh.
- Well, we do.
There's no clause in the agreement
to allow subletting.
There you are. Read it yourself.
That's awfully jolly.
- Thank you.
- Yes. Especially that. Foxgloves.
Yes. dear old digitalis.
- Digitalis, sounds like a sneeze.
- [ Chuckling ]
- Margaret! Such nice news from Mr. Bast.
-Really? Good.
Here we all are then.
- Mr. Bast is now with Dempster's Bank.
That's his news.
- Good.
Thanks to your hint,
he cleared out of the Porphyrion.
Not a bad business, the Porphyrion.
Margaret. I shall have to go
to Howards End and take charge.
- And I would like you to come with me.
- Not a bad business?
- Yes, I would like that very much.
- Good. What about tomorrow?
- Tomorrow? Oh. no. I couldn't well do that.
- Why not?
You told us the Porphyrion
would smash before Christmas.
Did I? Yes.
Well. it was outside
the tariff ring at the time.
Took some rather bad policies.
But, uh. lately, it came in.
Safe as houses now.
What's wrong with tomorrow?
Aunt Juley would be
so disappointed if I left now.
- Didn't Mr. Wilcox clearly tell us
that the Porphyrion would
- Yes, let's talk about it later, shall we?
- Henry, Aunt Juley regards
this visit as a high solemnity
- It turns out that it's safe as houses.
And M r. Bast need never have left
and taken another post...
- at a greatly reduced salary.
- My dear Helen.
I grieve for your clerk, I really do.
But it is all part
of the battle of life.
- Battle of life?
- Yes.
A man who had little money
has less. owing to us.
Oh, come, come. You're not to blame.
No one is to blame.
-No one? Is no one to blame for anything?
- I didn't say that.
- You take things far too seriously.
- [AuntJuley ] Margaret.
There's your aunt.
I'll go and have a word with her.
- [AuntJuley ] Margaret!
- Helen.
Helen, a word of advice.
I require no more advice.
Don't take up a sentimental
attitude over the poor.
See that she doesn't, Margaret.
The poor are poor.
One is sorry for them, but there it is.
I'll talk to Aunt Juley about tomorrow.
Don't you bother.
[ Aunt Juley ]
Girls, aren't you cold?
Helen, I am very sorry about Mr. Bast.
but you must be civil to Henry.
- You yourself are a witness.
- Yes, I know there may be another side
to this question.
But Henry is my future husband...
and I must be on his side.
Why are you so bitter, dearie?
- Hmm?
- Because I'm an old maid.
Oh, Helen.
No. darling.
Helen!
- Margaret will explain.
- Margaret. Magsy.
If it isn't true surely
what Mr. Wilcox is saying...
- that you want to go away tomorrow?
- Yes, we must leave tomorrow.
[ Henry ]
I have business at Howards End...
and my business is now also,
unfortunately, my Margaret's.
[ Margaret ] So we'll go
for our walk now. See you at tea time.
Unless it rains. In which case.
we'll see you a great deal sooner. Bye.
Have a good walk.
-Yes. that's him.
-[ Margaret ] So this is the famous office?
- What?
- I'd expected something more African.
Oh, heavens. no.
[ Laughs ]
Spears, animal skins and that sort ofthing.
But I suppose this is the imperial part...
of the Imperial and West African
Rubber Company.
Yes. we haven't settled the question
of the London house, have we?
- Well. it all depends, doesn't it?
- On what?
- When do you want to marry me?
- [ Chuckles ] How you do fly around.
- My head's in a whirl. Let's dance!
- [ Both Laughing ]
- [ Margaret ] Be careful!
- [ Henry Vocalizing ]
- Oh, Charles.
- I hope that my wife
How do you do
will give you a decent lunch...
after you've had a good look
at Howards End.
I can hardly wait to see it,
although I almost feel I have.
I don't know
in what state you'll find it.
The tenant decamped without even arranging
for a charwoman to clear up after him.
- Oh, dear.
- Yes. I've more than a little bone
to pick with that tenant.
- Margaret, here's an idea.
- Yes?
Why don't we use Howards End to store
your furniture from Wickham Place...
tillyou decide what to do with it?
- Oh, wouldyou? Wouldyou really?
- Good idea?
Oh, how kind.
Only until Helen and Tibby
are settled of course, Charles.
I hope you won't be disappointed.
It's quite a measly little place.
- Never really suited us.
- Heavens, no.
[ Dolly Coughs ]
- Oh. it's lovely.
- Margaret.
- Oh. dear.
- What?
- I seem to have forgotten the keys.
- What?
- I've lost the keys.
- Crane. we'll have to go back.
- Won't you leave me here?
- You sure?
Yes, yes. I'll wait for you. Dolly.
have a nice glass of milk at the farm.
Henry. see that she gets a nice glass
of milk. I'll walk around in the garden.
[ Margaret ] Good-bye.
- Why did you forget the key?
- I'm sorry. I don't know.
- Where did you leave it?
- Well. it could be with didums.
[ Indistinct ]
[ Thumping ]
Hello?
I took you for Ruth Wilcox.
I, like Mrs. Wilcox?
You have her way of walking...
round the house.
[ Chuckles ]
Henry!
Henry, I've found the teeth.
- Yes, what?
- The pigs' teeth.
- Teeth? Where?
- The pigs' teeth in the bark.
Yes. look. J ust here.
You see? Four feet up.
- How extraordinary.
- Yes, and you chew the bark...
- to cure the toothache.
- What a rum notion.
Surely, you knew that.
Did that silly old Miss Avery
give you a fright. Margaret?
None ofyou girls has any nerve.
[ Laughing ]
Did you take her for a spook?
She's very odd.
She carries on as if
she owned Howards End.
Miss Avery has always
lived on the place?
Yes. she grew up there
on the farm like M rs. Wilcox.
Weren't she and Mrs. Wilcox friends
when Howards End too was a farm?
They do say that Mrs. Wilcox
had a brother, or was it an uncle?
Anyhow, he popped the question.
And Miss Avery. she said no.
Just imagine if she'd said yes.
She'd have been Charles's aunt.
Oh, I say, that's rather good.
Charlie's aunt.
I must chaff him about that.
[ Dolly ]
She's so mad about Howards End.
Goodness knows what she'll do when
your furniture gets there, Margaret.
She might fling it all out.
Or she might simply adopt it
for Howards End.
Excuse me. sir. Where would I go
to inquire about a position?
What position
would that be, sir?
I heard there was one.
Not at this time.
I thought it was you.
How do you do?
Why did you never come
to see us again? You promised.
But this isn't your bank.
You took a situation with Dempster's.
- I lost it.
- Sorry?
I lost the situation.
They cut back on their staff and
the last to join, like me...
were the first to be let go.
I've been inquiring
for another place here.
The way they look at you
when you come to ask.
They're sure you've stolen something or why else
would any decent person be out of work?
- It's our fault.
- No.
No. we made you leave the Porphyrion.
I and my sister and Mr. Wilcox...
who is at this very moment
celebrating his daughter's wedding...
at his castle in Shropshire...
with the maximum expense
and ostentation. of course.
I could murder him!
"Murder will out, it is most foul."
How have you been, Miss Schlegel?
Any interesting lectures?
You know. he jolly well
owes you a situation.
[ Margaret ] What nice houses you have
all over the place. I like this one too.
[ Henry ] Oniton Grange.
waiting to get it offmy hands.
- Why?
- Well, what is one to do?
The shooting is bad
and the fishing is even worse.
Anyway, it's in the wrong
part ofShropshire.
Henry, are these all Wilcoxes?
Heavens, no.
I bought the place
lock, stock and barrel.
The fellow just took the money
and cleared off to Italy, I think.
I'm told some of these are rather good.
What do you think?
- I think they're lovely.
- Rather good, isn't it?
- Which one?
- Top one.
- Yes, very grand. It's rather like you.
- [ Chuckles ]
So, I'll show you the cellar.
- It's very damp. isn't it?
- [ Chattering, Laughing ]
- Uh. do you have enough ice now?
- Yes. sir.
- Second orders?
- Yes. sir.
- Good. All right.
- Good afternoon.
- It's this way.
- Right.
Thank you.
It is difficult to decide what to do
about the children. Yes. here we are.
Charles, as the eldest.
will someday have Howards End.
I'm just anxious not to be
unjust to the others.
Of course not.
You mean money?
-Yes, money. since you put it so frankly.
-Goodness.
We'll never get through all this wine.
- How much have you got?
- What?
How much have you got
a year? I have 600.
My income?
- Don't you know your income? [ Laughing ]
- Of course I do.
Don't you want to tell it me?
Do it this way. Ifyou were to
divide your income into 1 0 parts...
how many parts would you give
to Charles. to Evie and to Paul?
Go ahead. Give away
all you can. Be generous.
You don't beat
about the bush, do you?
- [ Chuckles ]
- No.
[ Charles ] I suppose she'll get her hands
on this place as well as Howards End.
It's only her furniture
that's gone there.
That's the thin edge
of the wedge.
I don't know what's to happen to us, Dolly.
Two children to bring up.
Charles, you are pleased
about the baby. aren't you?
What?
Oh, pleased as punch.
Pleased as punch.
Though it's not
going to be easy.
The pater wants to be fair.
but money isn't elastic.
What if Evie has a family?
- Or the pater himself?
- [ Chuckles ]
- What?
- Shh.
Who's there?
Saxon or Celt?
[ All Chattering ]
Evie! Good-bye!
Good-bye!
It went like clockwork.
"Quite like a Durbar."
Lady Edser said.
Ah. You did awfully well.
I'm very proud ofyou.
Thank you.
It was very successful.
- [ Henry ] Who are those people?
- [ Margaret ] Well...
perhaps they're townspeople
come to see the wedding presents.
Ifyou'll gracefully vanish,
I'll deal with them.
What is it?
What's wrong? Is Tibby ill?
They're starving!
I found them starving!
- Who's starving?
- The Basts.
He's lost his place because he's been
turned out of Dempster's bank.
They reduced their staff,
and he was the first to go.
Yes. thanks to us, he's done for.
- We've ruined him.
- Are you mad?
Ifyou like. I'm mad.
but I'll stand for this no longer!
Two people starving.
and meanwhile all this vulgar show!
Helen. have you actually
brought two starving people...
-from London to Shropshire?
-There was a restaurant car on the train.
Don't be absurd. I won't have
theatrical nonsense. How dare you?
Yes, how dare you! Bursting
into Evie's wedding in this way.
My goodness. But you've
a perverted notion of philanthropy.
Look at them.
They think it's some vulgar scandal...
and I must explain, "Oh, no.
It's only my sister screaming..."
"and only two hangers-on of ours whom she has
brought here for no conceivable reason."
We want to see Mr. Wilcox.
Mr. Bast, this is an odd business.
What view do you take of it?
- There is Mrs. Bast too.
- Yes. how do you do?
- How do you do?
- She's not well.
- She fainted on the train.
- Oh, I'm so sorry.
- Won't you sit down for a minute?
- I'm sure we don't wish to intrude.
But you have been so kind
in the past, you and your sister.
- My sister has put you in a false position, I'm afraid.
- Jacky. let's go.
Please. Helen. offer them something.
Mrs. Bast. please.
Won't you have something to eat, please?
Now, Helen. I would like
to do something for them.
- Because I agree, we are in some way responsible.
- Via M r. Wilcox.
Let me tell you once and for all. ifyou take up
that attitude, I'll do nothing. so choose.
Ifyou promise to take them
to the hotel quietly as my guests...
then I will speak to Henry
about finding work for Mr. Bast.
In my own way. mind. There is to be
no more of this absurd screaming.
- Well?
- All right. I promise.
Very well. Take them off
to the George. then, and I'll try.
But, Helen...
you have been
most self-indulgent.
You have less restraint,
rather than more. as you get older.
Think it over. Helen...
and alter yourself...
or we shan't have happy lives.
[ Chattering ]
Let's eat some cake, shall we?
[ Band ]
[ Helen ] M r. Wilcox has provided
all sorts of delicious things.
How about
some strawberries?
[ Leonard ]
Sorry. Excuse me.
- Now I must see to getting some rooms.
- No. We don't want to be any trouble.
- We should come with you.
- Len
- Perhaps you'd like to stay.
- Look. There's all this pudding.
- M rs. Bast is extremely tired.
- I'm hungry.
Perhaps you should
come back for her.
- Will you be all right?
- I'll be all right.
Ah.
Charles. Charles. look!
- Whoever's that?
- [ Charles ] Where?
- Pink scarf.
Charles Wilcox.
How do you do?
Bride or groom?
Very pleased to have
made your acquaintance.
Champagne, madam?
Helen? Here?
But, uh. she refused the invitation.
I thought she despised weddings.
- Where is she now?
- She's gone now.
I've bundled her off
to the George.
George Hotel?
You shouldn't have done that.
Well. she has two
of her proteges with her.
Ah, yes. Her proteges.
Well, let them all come.
No. but, um. later on...
I would like to talk
to you about them.
Well. why not now?
No time like the present.
- Shall I?
- Mm, yes. if it isn't too long a story.
- It's not five minutes.
- Yes.
But there's a sting
at the end of it.
Hmm?
For I want you
to find the man some work in your office.
[ Laughing ]
Well, what are
his qualifications?
- [ Margaret ] He's a clerk, I think.
- [ Henry ] Yes. Where was he before?
[ Margaret ]
Dempster's Bank.
[ Henry ]
Dempster's. Why did he leave?
- [ Margaret ] They reduced their staff.
- Oh.
Yes. um, all right.
I'll see what I can do.
- [ Margaret ] Thankyou.
- Margaret.
This cannot be taken
as a precedent, you know.
I can't fit in your proteges
or Helen's proteges every day.
- You do understand?
- Of course. Of course not.
But he's
he's rather a special case.
Yes. well. proteges always are.
aren't they, hmm?
[ Chattering ]
[ Woman ] Well, good-bye.
Thank you so much.
- Good-bye.
- [ Jacky ] Why, if it isn't Henry.
[ Laughing ]
Hello. Henry.
Fancy seeing you here.
Uh. this is Mrs. Bast.
Sorry. She's a little overtired.
- She's drunk.
- Don'tyou rememberJacky?
Henry, aren't you
gonna say hello?
- Do you know know Mrs. Bast?
- No, I don't!
[ Jacky ]
Know Henry?
- Who doesn't know Henry?
- Henry?
- We've had some gay old times, haven't we. Hen?
- You're drunk.
[ Margaret ]
Henry?
- Henry? Henry.
- Are you satisfied now. Margaret?
I can now understand
your keen interest in the Basts.
I must say I congratulate you
on your little plan to trap me.
- Trap you?
- I release you from your engagement.
Henry! Henry! Henry!
- Here we are.
- Oh. please don't bother, my dear.
I'm sure I can manage.
[ Henry ]
That's all right. I'll do that. I'll do it.
Ah.
- So that's it.
- That is what?
Thank you, dear chap.
You were saying?
No. Henry and I were just having the fiercest
argument. but I think he has forgiven me.
Oh, I don't expect
there's much to forgive.
Well, I really must be going.
or we shall be late.
Thank you so much
for a lovely time.
And hasn't the weather
been kind to us?
- Glorious.
- A lovely day.
- Thank you. my dear. very much.
- Safe journey.
- Thank you. Bye-bye. Dolly. Bless you.
- Bye-bye, Albert.
- You take care ofyourself.
- I shall.
- Bye-bye.
- I've forgotten my hat.
- It's here, Father.
- Oh. Ah. Thank you, Albert.
Ah, are the womenfolk
all right then?
- Yes.
- Shut the doors and we're all ready.
- Thank you. uh, uh
- [ Engine Starts ]
Oh. Oh. Drive on then.
[ Crying. Whimpering ]
[ Sobbing ]
- What's the matter. Jacky?
- [ Crying ]
It was a shock, seeing him.
- Him? Seeing who?
- I don't want to talk about it.
- [ Staff Giggling ]
- What do you think you're looking at?
Len.
Henry.
Henry, look at me.
So you were
that woman's lover.
Since you put it
with your usual delicacy, yes. I was.
When?
- When, please?
- Ten years ago!
[ Sighs ]
I'm sorry. Ten years ago.
Henry, dear,
it's not going to trouble us.
Ah. yes. We fellows all fall
from grace once in our time.
- Do you believe that. Margaret?
- Yes. I do believe it.
You with your refined pursuits
and your books.
What can you guess
of any man's life?
The temptations.
Temptations.
Well, that's enough.
I've spoken too much already.
- Yes, that's enough, dear.
- [ Clock Ticking ]
It was in Cyprus.
It was very lonely.
- You can never forgive me, can you?
- I have forgiven you. Henry.
Well, I, uh
I could find an excuse.
but I won't.
Let us speak no more
about it, dear. It is all behind us.
Really? You can really bring yourself
to forgive me?
[ Kissing ] You've learned that
I'm far from a saint. In fact. the reverse.
- Shh.
- No, no. no, no. no.
The reverse.
- Where are those people now?
- Helen has taken them to the George.
Oh. Then let them leave
first thing in the morning...
because there must be no gossip
at the George.
And anyway,
Helen should be here with us...
not stopping at a hotel
with some ragtags.
Tell you what. Margaret. Why don't you
kindly write a note to that effect...
and I'll have Burton send it out
to Helen straight away.
Burton!
- Burton!
- [ Burton ] Yes, sir.
I want you to take a note
over to the George Hotel straight away.
- Yes, sir.
- There's far too much noise out there.
[ Margaret ] I'm sorry to tell you
that Henry can do nothing for Mr. Bast.
He feels the Basts are not at all...
the type we should trouble about.
We found the woman drunk
on the lawn.
Please see that they leave
first thing in the morning...
and come here yourself.
He made her write it.
This isn't Margaret.
Would you put it in the fire?
Better let us be, Miss Schlegel.
You don't want to get mixed up in this.
Mixed up in what?
What is it? You must
trust me that far. at least.
Mr. Wilcox met Jacky before,
out in Cyprus. when she was 1 6.
I told you you didn't want
to hear about it.
Go on.
Why was she in Cyprus?
Her father was a clerk
in an export business.
So after her mother died,
she'd gone out to be with him.
Then he died.
Accidentally drowned
because he couldn't swim.
Jacky was left having
to fend for herself...
till she managed
to get back home.
I didn't have to marry her.
but I did.
My family wouldn't
have anything to do with us.
They tried to stop me.
but I married her all the same.
Because I promised. If I hadn't.
where would she be today...
after the M r. Wilcoxes
of this world had finished with her?
It would never. never.
not in a thousand years...
enter that man's mind
that he'd done anything wrong.
Because there's nothing here
and nothing here.
And you're the opposite. You believe
in personal responsibility...
and personal everything.
Very nice. What good am I
to myself or to Jacky
marrying her only to pull her down
with me so we can starve together?
You'll find another position.
surely.
You don't know
what you're talking about.
If rich people fail at one profession.
they can try another.
But with us, once a man over 20
loses his own particularjob. he's done for.
I'd do anything in the world
to help you.
Well, help me row then.
I'm tired.
You're the one person
who ever has helped me.
You mean by passing on false information
to make you give up yourjob?
I mean by being
the sort of person you are.
I didn't think people like you existed
except in books. and books aren't real.
Oh, no. They're more real
than anything.
When people fail you,
there's still music and meaning.
That's for rich people. to make them
feel good after their dinner.
Everything's got spoiled
for you. hasn't it?
[ Bells Chiming ]
Don't know what's
to be done, Tibby.
Or what to say to Meg.
Don't want to face her
or even to go back to Wickham Place.
You mean because of Mr. Wilcox
and the woman you say he seduced...
in between growing currants
in Cyprus?
I want you to give Meg my love
and tell her
tell her I'm going away
to Germany... to Munich or else Bonn.
Such a message is easily given.
[ Sighs ] God. I wish I could escape
from Meg's wedding too.
Is she going through with it? How
is it possible for our Meg to be a Wilcox?
- And now, after all this?
- You'd much better go away to Germany.
- [ Knocking ]
- There's Martlett with the Apple Charlotte.
Do you mind if I take it from him?
It spoils with waiting.
Ah, Martlett.
- Shall I clear now?
- Not now. Um, later.
Thank you very much.
I feel no, I know
we owe the Basts some compensation.
- Those people again?
- Yes, those people again.
Don't see who is to pay if I don't.
I'm placing what I consider...
is a minimum amount
to your account...
and when I'm in Germany.
you'll pay it to the Basts.
I shall never forget your kindness.
Tibbikins. ifyou do this.
- What's the sum?
- 5.000.
- Good God!
- It's useless giving out driblets ofcharity...
just shillings and blankets.
No doubt people
will think me mad.
I don't give a damn
what people think...
but I do mind ifyou ruin yourself
for some quixotic reason ofyour own.
I don't expect you
to understand me.
- I understand nobody.
- But you'll do it?
Apparently.
Are you writing to your brother?
He could send us another 1 0.
Yes. and a long lecture
to go with it.
- Your sister could afford a fiver.
- Leave me alone!
Why are you taking it out on me?
You can see I'm busy.
can't you?
[ Bells Chiming ]
[ Leonard ] Dear Mr. Schlegel,
I acknowledge receipt...
ofyour letter
dated second ofOctober...
enclosing a check
for L5,000.
I am very grateful foryour concern,
but having no immediate necessity...
I have the honor
to return your check herewith.
Yours sincerely, Leonard Bast.
[ Low Chattering ]
[ Leonard ] Excuse me, sir.
Um, sorry to botheryou.
I worked in this office
for four years.
I was wondering if there were
any vacancies at the moment?
No. no, I'm sorry.
I've nothing.
- Nothing at all?
- Nothing at this time.
Thank you for your time.
[ Henry ] All right.
The servants will have the benefit...
of the central heating if we
keep them here instead of at the back.
- That's what the architect prefers.
- If only it would hurry up and get itself built.
All in good time.
- I'm getting tired of living in London.
- Are you?
- I can't be as young as I was.
- Yeah?
I'm perfectly happy to do without all
the new plays and discussion societies and
Mr. Shaw. M r. Wells
and all your utopias.
What I miss are trees
and mountains and meadows.
Yes.
- I also miss my own things.
- They're safe enough at Howards End.
And of course I'm very grateful
to have them there.
I would so like to see everything
in our own home.
My share at least. Goodness only knows
what Tibby intends to do with his.
Or Helen.
There's been another postcard
from her.
Still the same poste restante address
in Bavaria.
- But now she speaks of going to Italy.
- Is she never coming back to England?
She's been away now
How long has it been?
It will be four months
and three weeks on Tuesday.
Yes.
Your sister is odd.
She always has been.
There's no getting away from it.
What is this?
What you been reading now?
- Theo
- Theosophy.
Oh, yes.
[ Laughing ]
Madame Blavatsky.
Now. what a clever little woman it is.
You see, that's
what I mean about Helen.
She reads these things,
and her mind gets addled.
My Margaret,
she keeps her facts straight.
- What facts are those. dear?
- Hmm?
About men and women
and all that sort ofthing.
Who is who and what is what.
Yes. Now, what is that?
Mr. Schlegel, sir,
you've forgotten these.
- Ah. thank you, Martlett.
- Thank you. sir.
Ah.
Oh. dear. Annie.
Look. it's another one.
And no letter.
[ Margaret ] See, I just can't feel
that Helen's really alive.
These postcards and telegrams
don't seem to have come from her.
They're That's not her.
I know what you mean.
You'll break that
ifyou keep fiddling with it.
- [ Margaret ] Well, put it on.
- Oh!
[ Margaret ]
Give me my card.
[ Helen ] M.J. Schlegel, The Rise,
Straight Fleming, Devon.
Dearest Meg,
arriving London Thursday.
Please telegraph, care my bank,
whetherAuntJuley is better...
or likely to become worse.
Give my love to the invalid
and keep some foryourselves. Helen.
If only you had a companion
to take your walks with.
I have Tibby. dear Aunt Juley.
And it won't be long
Thank you, Maggie
before you'll be up and about.
When is Helen coming?
Very soon. dear. She will already
have reached London.
[ Whispering ]
She's got to London all right.
- Yes, but
- She says to telegraph ifAunt Juley is better.
Obviously, ifyou want to see her.
you must telegraph she's not better.
We can't start lying
to each other. Helen wouldn't
- Shh!
- She couldn't stay away at such a time.
[ Margaret ]
Dearest Helen, AuntJuley better...
and eagerly expecting you,
as am I.
Your Meg.
[ Helen ]
Must return Germany at once.
Telegraph to bank whereabouts
our books and furniture. Helen.
Why did she have
to go back to Germany?
I'll explain it all to you
after your nap.
She might have come to see her old aunt.
I haven't been well.
Is cook doing the mackerel
the way Tibby likes them?
I know his whole day is spoiled
if his breakfast isn't right.
The mackerel were perfect. In fact. Tibby
particularly mentioned them this morning.
Don't tell me. Tibby,
that it is still that business...
over Henry and that woman.
Mrs. Bast.
Goodness me. How morbid.
His wife forgives him...
and his sister-in-law cannot bear
to look upon his face.
I don't believe it.
Not even of Helen.
[ Tibby ]
We know to what extremes Helen goes.
We've all suffered
under her temperament.
But this is different. This is
not temperament, but a kind of madness
as if she were mad.
Margaret. you've got black marks
again under your eyes.
You know that's strictly forbidden.
don't you?
I'll not have my girl
looking as old as her husband.
- You haven't quite seen our point.
- I don't suppose I ever shall.
Our point is this:
Our sister may be mad.
Oh, Charles, do come in.
We are again in trouble.
- Can you help us at all?
- No, I'm afraid I cannot.
What were the facts? We're all mad.
more or less. these days.
The facts are that our sister has been
in England three days and won't see us.
She's forbidden the bankers
to give us her address.
She refuses to answer any questions.
All we have are these telegrams.
And you want to get hold of her.
is that it?
- Well... yes.
- [ Henry ] Perfectly easy, Margaret.
She wants her books, yes?
Send her after them to Howards End.
When she's there. you just stroll in.
Ifthere's nothing wrong
with her, so much the better.
But remember
the motor will be around the corner.
We quite simply run her
up to London to a specialist.
- That's impossible.
- Why is it impossible?
Because Helen and I, we...
don't speak that particular language...
ifyou see my meaning.
Yes. because you have scruples.
And I understand perfectly.
I'm as scrupulous
as any man alive, I hope.
But when it is a case like this
When it is a question of madness
- I deny it's madness.
- You said yourself.
It's madness when I say it.
but not when you say it.
Pater. you may as well
keep Howards End out of it.
Why, Charles?
Well, the whole house is at sixes
and sevens. We don't want any more mess.
And who is "we"?
- Pray, Charles. who is "we"?
- Beg your pardon, I'm sure.
Ah, I seem always
to be intruding.
No. Charles. Charles!
[ Door Opens And Closes ]
Let's send a telegram.
Come along. Let's do it.
I can't have this sort
of behavior, Charles.
- What?
- Margaret.
She's far too sweet-natured
to mind, but I mind for her.
[ Margaret ]
Allyour books now at Howards End.
Miss Avery will
letyou in 3:00 p.m. Monday.
Meg.
Our main object is not to
frighten Miss Schlegel, you understand?
Trouble seems to be nervous.
Wouldn't you say so. Margaret?
Would you say
she was normal?
Well. she's always
been highly strung
musical. literary, artistic
but quite normal.
Quite a charming girl. really.
Would you say
there was anything congenital?
- No, no.
- Or anything hereditary?
No.
- Margaret?
- Yes, Henry. J ust wait here for a second.
Oh. my darling. Quickly
Quickly just get inside please.
Just quickly.
Miss Schlegel is managing.
You can go back to the motor. Margaret?
Henry, I shall need your advice later.
but now I must be alone with Helen.
- Certainly.
- Please, my dear, kind Henry.
- Yes.
- Thank you.
- Where are all our furniture?
- Ah, there's been a mistake.
How well the carpet fits.
I'll be sending some milk round.
and we should be ordering coals.
There's been a mistake.
Miss Avery. You've been very kind.
But we are not going to live
at Howards End. This is not our house.
I think she may be
a little... touched.
I'm sorry. Helen.
I ought not to have
No, you ought not
to have tricked me this way.
- We thought you were ill.
- As you see, I'm not ill...
but I'm expecting a child in June.
Is the coast clear?
I must leave.
I'm going back to Germany
in the morning.
Give my love to Aunt Juley
and to Tibby.
- Let me get that.
- Don't.
It's curious, isn't it.
that our carpet fits?
Yes. the sword
looks right too.
Yes. doesn't it?
- Someone's polished it.
- Yes.
I'll carry this.
[ Margaret ] Even ifyou didn't want
to tell me, I understand that.
I thought I had to be by myself.
That's why I hid away in Germany.
- What about Tibby?
- You know, Meg. really...
I alone must be responsible
for myself and this child.
And I want to be.
Of course.
Leonard doesn't know.
Leonard?
- Leonard Bast?
- Yes.
- [ Gasps ]
- Oh, Meg...
did you ever hear
from him again?
[ Sighs ]
I have no idea what he's doing now...
or what's happened
to either of them.
[ Henry ]
Dolly.
- Hello.
- [ Dolly] Hello.
My dear. I must ask you.
-Was your sister wearing a wedding ring?
-No.
- What?
- No.
Henry, I really camejust
to ask a favor about Howards End.
Yes. One point at a time.
Please. Sit down.
Margaret...
I must now ask you
the name of her seducer.
You may have some inkling.
and the slightest hint would help us.
- "Us"? Who is "us"?
- Hmm?
Well, I thought it best
to ring Charles.
That was unnecessary.
My dear. listen to me.
Charles and I wish to act
in your sister's best interests.
It's still not too late
to clear her name.
What are we
to make her seducer marry her?
But Henry. suppose he turned out
to be married already?
- One has heard of such cases.
- Margaret.
Then he must pay heavily
for his misconduct. mustn't he?
Now. stay calm.
I want to talk to you.
Listen to me. Margaret.
Come here.
Look at me.
What's the matter?
- Hmm?
- May I ask you my question now?
- Certainly.
- Tomorrow Helen goes to Germany.
- Yes.
- I'm fine.
- Tonight. with your permission...
- Yes?
she would like to sleep
at Howards End.
Heav
But why at Howards End?
I don't understand.
It is an odd request, but you know
what women in her state are.
I could understand if it were
her own home associations and so on.
But Helen has no associations
with Howards End.
I don't see why she wants to stay there.
She'll only catch cold anyway.
- Call it fancy. but she wants to.
- I don't understand.
- If she wants to sleep there one night.
she'll want to sleep there two.
- No, no. Just
- And she'll never get out of the house.
- That matters so very much?
- Of course it would. It's Charles's
- No, no.
We will only trouble
Howards End for this one night.
- I shall stay with her
- No. That's quite impossible.
- I want you here to meet Charles.
- What has Charles to do with this?
As the future owner of Howards End.
it has everything to do with Charles.
- In what way? Please answer me. Henry.
- [ Henry ] You're forgetting yourself.
There's Dolly and the servants.
In what way? Would Helen's condition
depreciate the property?
Margaret!
[ Baby Cooing ]
- [ Panting ]
- Margaret.
I shall do what I can
for your sister...
but I cannot treat it
as if nothing has happened.
I should be forced
from my position in society if I did.
Tomorrow she will go to Germany
and trouble society no longer.
Tonight, she asks to sleep
in your empty house.
May she?
Will you give my sister leave?
Will you forgive her...
as you yourself
have been forgiven?
- As I myself have been
- Please answer my question. Henry.
Your sister can sleep at the hotel.
I have my children...
and the memory
of my dear wife to consider.
You have mentioned
M rs. Wilcox.
In reply,
may I mention Mrs. Bast?
- You have not been yourself all day.
- Henry, listen.
You have had a mistress.
I forgave you.
My sister has a lover.
you drive her from the house!
Why can you not be honest
and say to yourself...
"What Helen has done.
I have done"?
I repeat what I said before.
I do not give your sister leave
to sleep at Howards End.
Now, do you understand?
[ Bells Chiming ]
[ Charles ] lfa man played about with
my sister, I'd send a bullet through him.
But I suppose you're sunk too deep
in books and rubbish.
Do you mind what happens
to your sister?
As a matter of fact, I mind very much
what happens to my sister.
But I have a different way
of expressing it from yours.
- Not to speak of different manners.
- By Jove. I'm glad of my way!
I'm glad my father never sent me to
the varsity ifthis is what they teach you.
Look. you must know something
ofyour sister's life.
- Do you know of anyone?
- No.
Whom do you suspect?
Did she mention anyone
by name?
Come on. Yes or no.
You're hiding something. man. Speak up.
She did mention some friend
called Leonard Bast.
Leonard Bast, eh?
Leonard Bast.
Do you know him?
Have you had
any dealings with him?
Oh, what a family.
What a family!
God help the poor pater.
I'd say God help my poor sisters.
- [ Woman ] Admiring isn't purchasing.
- [ Man ] But they were ordered on approval.
-[ Woman ] We do not accept things on approval.
-Excuse me. Excuse me.
- [ Woman ] Wait.
- [ Man ] Ma'am.
Excuse me. I was looking
for Miss Schlegel.
- It's
- Leonard Bast. I used to call at Wickham Place.
Is Miss Schlegel in?
Or Mrs. Wilcox?
- They're all down at Howards End.
- Where would that be now? Howards End?
lt's at Hilton,
near Hilton Junction.
Are you all right?
Let me getyou a drink ofwater.
No. thank you.
- Please take them. ma'am. This is
- Come on. Offyou go.
I don't want you to conclude
that my wife and I...
have had anything like a quarrel.
She is overwrought,
as who would not be. naturally.
Naturally.
The question in my mind
is connected to something far greater
the rights of property itself.
- Absolutely.
- The house is mine and will be yours.
When I say I don't want anyone living
at Howards End...
I mean no one
is to live at Howards End.
Then I take it tomorrow morning
I may go up in the motor?
Mm.
Yes. say that you're acting
as my representative...
and that they must
clear out at once.
You must go to bed now.
I've kept you up far too late.
- Can I do anything for you, sir?
- H mm? No. Nothing.
Thank you, my boy.
- Good night.
- Night, sir.
- [ Train Passing ]
- [ Leonard Moaning In Pain ]
[ Jacky ]
It's only the train.
[ Train Whistle Blows ]
[ No Audible Dialogue ]
[ Train Passing ]
[Jacky ]
Len.
You got that pain again. Len?
- You're all dressed!
- I'm just going out for a bit.
- What ho, Len.
- What ho, Jacky.
See you again later.
[ Train Passes, Whistle Blows ]
[ Dogs Barking ]
[ Wheels Rattling ]
[ Children Laughing, Chattering ]
[ Whistle Blows ]
- [ Leonard ] Excuse me. Howards End?
- U p the gate, turn left...
and through the high street
and straight on through for a mile.
[ Horn Honking ]
[ Helen ]
Didyou see the dawn?
- And was it wonderful?
- [ Leonard ] No.
- [ Helen And Margaret Laughing ]
- [ Leonard ] It was only gray.
[ Leonard ] Excuse me. Could you
direct me to Howards End?
[ Boy ]
This is Howards End.
Yes. Thank you very much.
Charles.
There are two boxes of books in the
Miss Schlegel Mrs. Wilcox.
you'll have forgotten me.
No. Mr. Bast,
I have not forgotten you.
I only want to know
where your sister is, where Helen is.
- [ Charles ] Who is it?
- Helen?
Leonard!
So this is Leonard Bast.
- This is for insulting the name of woman.
- [ Margaret Screams ] No!
- Get me a stick. Margaret. A stick.
- Will you please stop?
Charles. we are perfectly capable
of dealing with this.
- No!
- Get back!
- Stand up, man!
- [ Women Screaming ] Charles!
- Stand up!
- Stop it. Charles!
[ Henry ] So it is your opinion that he
was in the last stages of heart disease?
It would not be professional
to say so before an autopsy...
but in private.
that could well be my diagnosis.
Obviously he was in the last stage...
because the moment I touched him
with the sword, he simply crumpled up.
Excuse me. sir.
What sword would that have been?
U m, well. it's inside.
You'd better follow me.
It's their father's
old German sword.
Course. I only touched him
with the flat of it.
- Just once?
- Yes, once, perhaps twice.
I presume you will be staying
in Hilton, Mr. Wilcox. sir?
Ah, yes. yes. I'll be available
as long as is necessary.
And, Mr. Charles Wilcox.
we shall be requesting your presence...
at the inquest, sir.
Yes. well. I did expect that. I shall
naturally be the most important witness.
Margaret?
Good. Henry, I was going to come up
to Hilton to give you these.
Yes. I have something
to tell you. Margaret.
Never mind. Henry. I don't need
to hear it. I'm leaving you.
- My life is with Helen now.
- Yes.
I'm extremely tired.
Come and sit down for a moment.
Yes. For a moment. We'll have
to sit here on the grass then.
Yes.
Here are your keys. We shall be staying
with Miss Avery at the farm till we can leave.
Yes. Where are you going?
To Germany.
We'll start as soon as possible
after the inquest.
- After the inquest.
- lfHelen is well enough.
You realize what
the verdict will be, don't you?
Yes. Heart disease.
No. Manslaughter.
if not worse.
Charles may go to prison.
I dare not tell him.
I don't know what to do.
[ Crying ]
I don't know what to do.
[ Sniffling ]
I'm sorry.
[ Henry] Now, is this going
to suit everyone?
Because I don't wantyou all
coming here later on...
and complaining
that I've been unfair.
- Paul?
- Apparently, it's got to suit us.
You've only to speak. my boy,
and I'll leave the house to you entirely.
Since I have to be at the business all week.
I'll find something that suits me better.
This place is not really the country.
and, well, it's certainly not the town.
Does my arrangement
suit you, Evie?
- Of course, Father.
- Good. You, Dolly?
I thought Charles wanted it
for the boys...
but last time I saw him.
he said no...
because we can't possibly live
in this part of England again.
Charles even says
we ought to change our name...
but I can't think what to.
Wilcox just suits Charles and me.
I can't think of any other name.
Yes.
Then I leave Howards End
to my wife absolutely.
Let everyone understand that.
and after I'm dead...
let there be no jealousy
and no surprise.
ln consequence,
I leave my wife no money
that is her own wish and all
my other assets are to be divided among you.
This house, Howards End, she intends,
at her death, to leave to her nephew.
- Whoop!
- [ Baby Coos ]
It does seem curious. Mrs. Wilcox
wanted Margaret to have Howards
- Shh!
- And now she gets it after all.
- Dolly.
- Did I put my foot in it?
Hmm? Yeah. Yeah.
[ Helen ] Come on.
Let's get out ofthe way. Come on.
Take baby's hand.
Oh, look. What's over there?
I wonder what it is.
Oh, it's a sweet child. Rather
like didums was at that age.
Come along, Dolly.
- [ Margaret ] Safe journey.
- Good-bye.
Trapped.
Come on. It's time
away we came from the jungle.
Look.
Look who's there. Look.
What did Dolly mean
about Howards End?
Hmm?
My poor Ruth.
during her last days...
scribbled your name
on a piece of paper.
Knowing her not to be herself.
I set it aside.
Didn't do wrong. did I?
- There. They're off.
- [Auto Passing ]
There they go. Bye.
Bye.