Howards End: Chapter 3 Summary & Analysis

On the train, Mrs. Munt recalls when her sister Emily died after giving birth to Tibby. Margaret was only thirteen at the time, but she insisted that she didn’t need Juley to come and help raise Tibby and five-year-old Helen. When the children’s father died five years later, Margaret again refused her aunt’s offer to move in. But Mrs. Munt feels bound to intervene now and then, often giving bad advice. She mistrusts the tendency of her unmarried nieces to invite all types of people over—she is especially suspicious of foreigners, even the Schlegels’ German cousins on their father’s side—and is pleased to be on hand to help prevent one potential scandal.

Mrs. Munt gets off the train, and Charles Wilcox happens to be there when she asks for Howards End. He offers to drive her back with him. Unfortunately, she mistakes him for Paul and begins to talk to him about Helen’s news. He is shocked to hear that Paul and Helen are in love and heatedly opposes the match. Although Mrs. Munt certainly agrees, she is offended for Helen’s sake, and the two quarrel until they arrive at Howards End. Helen runs out of the house to explain everything to her aunt, while Charles shouts at Paul. Ruth appears, carrying a wisp of hay, and calmly breaks up the scene. She reassures Charles that the engagement is over—“They do not love any longer.”