A very short engagement

Current book: Howards End
Pages read: 3 - 83 (same as yesterday)

So far we've met Helen and Margaret Schlegel, who are the daughters of a German father and English mother, both dead. They're cared for by their aunt in lieu of their parents. (Well, cared for is a strong term, since both sisters are in their 20s and don't really need looking after.) They also have a younger brother, Tibby, who hasn't yet come of age.

Helen goes to visit some friends, the Wilcoxes, that she met on a vacation, and falls in love with the youngest son, Paul, which causes scandal all around. They break it off, and everyone's satisfied (except the reader, who's going, "Wait, what?" because it happens in the space of 24 hours). Several months later, by chance, the Wilcoxes rent a flat across the street from the Schlegels' house in London, and though Paul and Helen don't see each other again, Magaret and Mrs. Wilcox, Paul's mother, become good friends.

And that's what's happened in 80 pages. I'm a little mystified as to why both the Schelgels and the Wilcoxes were so upset about the engagement in the beginning, but I'm going to with the explanation that the Wilcoxes are rich and the Schlegels are intellectuals, and therefore neither thinks anyone but themselves are worth the time of day.