A Room With a View E. M. Forster (romantic books to read .txt) đ
- Author: E. M. Forster
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They hurried home through a world of black and grey. He conversed on indifferent topics: the Emersonsâ need of a housekeeper; servants; Italian servants; novels about Italy; novels with a purpose; could literature influence life? Windy Corner glimmered. In the garden, Mrs. Honeychurch, now helped by Freddy, still wrestled with the lives of her flowers.
âIt gets too dark,â she said hopelessly. âThis comes of putting off. We might have known the weather would break up soon; and now Lucy wants to go to Greece. I donât know what the worldâs coming to.â
âMrs. Honeychurch,â he said, âgo to Greece she must. Come up to the house and letâs talk it over. Do you, in the first place, mind her breaking with Vyse?â
âMr. Beebe, Iâm thankfulâ âsimply thankful.â
âSo am I,â said Freddy.
âGood. Now come up to the house.â
They conferred in the dining-room for half an hour.
Lucy would never have carried the Greek scheme alone. It was expensive and dramaticâ âboth qualities that her mother loathed. Nor would Charlotte have succeeded. The honours of the day rested with Mr. Beebe. By his tact and common sense, and by his influence as a clergymanâ âfor a clergyman who was not a fool influenced Mrs. Honeychurch greatlyâ âhe bent her to their purpose, âI donât see why Greece is necessary,â she said; âbut as you do, I suppose it is all right. It must be something I canât understand. Lucy! Letâs tell her. Lucy!â
âShe is playing the piano,â Mr. Beebe said. He opened the door, and heard the words of a song:
âLook not thou on beautyâs charming.â
âI didnât know that Miss Honeychurch sang, too.â
âSit thou still when kings are arming,
Taste not when the wine-cup glistensâ ââ
âItâs a song that Cecil gave her. How odd girls are!â
âWhatâs that?â called Lucy, stopping short.
âAll right, dear,â said Mrs. Honeychurch kindly. She went into the drawing-room, and Mr. Beebe heard her kiss Lucy and say: âI am sorry I was so cross about Greece, but it came on the top of the dahlias.â
Rather a hard voice said: âThank you, mother; that doesnât matter a bit.â
âAnd you are right, tooâ âGreece will be all right; you can go if the Miss Alans will have you.â
âOh, splendid! Oh, thank you!â
Mr. Beebe followed. Lucy still sat at the piano with her hands over the keys. She was glad, but he had expected greater gladness. Her mother bent over her. Freddy, to whom she had been singing, reclined on the floor with his head against her, and an unlit pipe between his lips. Oddly enough, the group was beautiful. Mr. Beebe, who loved the art of the past, was reminded of a favourite theme, the Santa Conversazione, in which people who care for one another are painted chatting together about noble thingsâ âa theme neither sensual nor sensational, and therefore ignored by the art of today. Why should Lucy want either to marry or to travel when she had such friends at home?
âTaste not when the wine-cup glistens,
Speak not when the people listens,â
she continued.
âHereâs Mr. Beebe.â
âMr. Beebe knows my rude ways.â
âItâs a beautiful song and a wise one,â said he. âGo on.â
âIt isnât very good,â she said listlessly. âI forget whyâ âharmony or something.â
âI suspected it was unscholarly. Itâs so beautiful.â
âThe tuneâs right enough,â said Freddy, âbut the words are rotten. Why throw up the sponge?â
âHow stupidly you talk!â said his sister. The Santa Conversazione was broken up. After all, there was no reason that Lucy should talk about Greece or thank him for persuading her mother, so he said goodbye.
Freddy lit his bicycle lamp for him in the porch, and with his usual felicity of phrase, said: âThis has been a day and a half.â
âStop thine ear against the singerâ ââ
âWait a minute; she is finishing.â
âFrom the red gold keep thy finger;
Vacant heart and hand and eye
Easy live and quiet die.â
âI love weather like this,â said Freddy.
Mr. Beebe passed into it.
The two main facts were clear. She had behaved splendidly, and he had helped her. He could not expect to master the details of so big a change in a girlâs life. If here and there he was dissatisfied or puzzled, he must acquiesce; she was choosing the better part.
âVacant heart and hand and eyeâ ââ
Perhaps the song stated âthe better partâ rather too strongly. He half fancied that the soaring accompanimentâ âwhich he did not lose in the shout of the galeâ âreally agreed with Freddy, and was gently criticizing the words that it adorned:
âVacant heart and hand and eye
Easy live and quiet die.â
However, for the fourth time Windy Corner lay poised below himâ ânow as a beacon in the roaring tides of darkness.
XIX Lying to Mr. EmersonThe Miss Alans were found in their beloved temperance hotel near Bloomsburyâ âa clean, airless establishment much patronized by provincial England. They always
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