How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
A younger woman might have resented his masterly ways, but Margaret had too firm a grip of life to make a fuss. She was, in her own way, as masterly. If he was a fortress she was a mountain peak, whom all might tread, but whom the snows made nightly virginal. Disdaining the heroic outfit, excitable in her methods, garrulous, episodical, shrill, she misled her lover much as she had misled her aunt. He mistook her fertility for weakness. (20.17)
Margaret is a woman grown into her own powers, even if Henry doesn't recognize it. She doesn't need to announce her "mastery" over herself and her future husband, the way a younger girl might; instead, she is confident in her own ways.
Quote #5
She knew of life's seamy side as a theory; she could not grasp it as a fact. (26.64)
Despite the fact that Margaret's a mature, self-sufficient lady, Forster still implies that she can't "grasp" the darker parts of life (like Henry's seedy past) – perhaps simply because she's a woman. In general, women in this novel (Margaret, Helen, Jacky) have difficulty really understanding the world of men and its grim facts of life.
Quote #6
But she crossed out "I do understand"; it struck a false note. Henry could not bear to be understood. She also crossed out, "It is everything or nothing." Henry would resent so strong a grasp of the situation. She must not comment; comment is unfeminine. (28.3)
Margaret is increasingly occupied by what is feminine or masculine – the problem of the relation between genders is a recurrent one here. Why should comment or analysis be seen as unfeminine? Henry seems to have a very clear idea of what women should or shouldn't do, and Margaret is well aware of this.