Juffrouw Engel

Juffrouw Engel is Matilda’s teacher, a gentle adult whose apparent modesty conceals a history of bereavement, abuse, and dispossession. As a child she lost her father and became dependent on her aunt, Agatha Bulstronk, who took control of both her home and, later, her earnings. The eventual restoration of her inheritance gives her back the house where she grew up, while her friendship with Matilda develops into a new family bond.

Family Origins and Bereavement

Juffrouw Engel tells Matilda that her father died suddenly when she was five. His death left her alone with her aunt, who became her legal guardian and, in Juffrouw Engel’s account, somehow came to own the family home. She remembers being too young at the time to question what had happened. Only later did she learn that her father’s death was surrounded by a veil of mystery; she does not tell Matilda how he died, and the circumstances remain unresolved in her account.

The names Matilda carefully elicits connect Juffrouw Engel’s present to the family history she has been recounting. At home, her father was called Marais, her aunt Agatha, and she herself Marijke. Matilda repeats the three names back to confirm them, and Juffrouw Engel agrees. The exchange gives Matilda the personal details she needs to think through the story, while Juffrouw Engel initially seems embarrassed by how much of her own past she has disclosed.

Guardianship, Abuse, and Financial Control

Juffrouw Engel recalls that when she was five and a half, her aunt required her to bathe alone. If the aunt came upstairs and judged that the child had not washed properly, she held Juffrouw Engel’s head under water until she was almost suffocating. She stops short of cataloguing the rest of the abuse, saying there is no point in beginning to describe everything her aunt did. The memory helps explain why Matilda recognizes the aunt’s violence as more than a matter of strictness: she has just seen the same woman seize a girl by her braids and throw her over a fence.

When Juffrouw Engel later became a teacher, her aunt claimed that the cost of feeding and clothing her over the years had amounted to thousands and thousands of pounds. She demanded that Juffrouw Engel hand over her salary for ten years, allowing her just one pound a week. The aunt arranged for the school to pay the salary directly into her bank account and made Juffrouw Engel sign a document. Matilda points out that the earnings could have been Juffrouw Engel’s chance at freedom. Juffrouw Engel agrees, but explains that a lifetime of fear had left her without the courage to refuse; even as an adult, she believed her aunt could still hurt her deeply.

Disputed Home and Inheritance

Juffrouw Engel believes her father would not have intended her aunt to keep the house permanently. As she explains it to Matilda, a guardian might be allowed to live in a property for a period, but it would ordinarily be managed for the child and pass to that child on reaching adulthood. She also tells Matilda that, without a will, she would be the nearest blood relative and would receive the house. These are Juffrouw Engel’s understanding of her position, not a claim that she had the money or influence to enforce it.

Her aunt produced a document purportedly signed by Juffrouw Engel’s father, leaving the house to his sister-in-law in exchange for caring for his daughter. Juffrouw Engel is certain the document is forged, but says nobody can prove it. She cannot afford a lawyer, and her aunt is a highly respected and influential member of the community. The combination leaves her with a strong conviction about what should be hers but no practical means of contesting the aunt’s control.

Return to the Red House

Two days after Agatha Bulstronk’s disappearance, Juffrouw Engel receives a registered letter from a local notary. Her late father’s will has mysteriously appeared. According to the document, she has been the legal owner since his death of the Red House on the edge of the village, which had until recently been occupied by Agatha Bulstronk; the will also leaves her father’s savings to her, still safely held in the bank. The notary asks her to come to his office so the house and money can be put into her name.

Juffrouw Engel goes to the notary, and within three weeks she moves into the Red House, the home in which she was raised. The old furniture and paintings have been left there, so her return restores not only a property but the setting of her childhood. From then on, Matilda visits every day after school. The teacher and child form a close friendship, making the house a place where Juffrouw Engel’s recovered past and Matilda’s new sense of belonging meet.

A New Home with Matilda

When the Wormwoods prepare to leave, Juffrouw Engel tells Mr. Wormwood that she would be delighted to have Matilda live with her. She offers to care for the girl and pay all her expenses, but makes clear that she will take Matilda only if he genuinely agrees. She also emphasizes that the proposal came from Matilda, rather than being her own plan imposed on the child.

Mrs. Wormwood tells her husband to let Matilda go if that is what she wants, describing the change as one less person to care for. Mr. Wormwood, in a hurry to catch a plane, gives his permission without objection. The ending thus contrasts Juffrouw Engel’s deliberate offer of care with the parents’ casual consent. Having once been a child whose guardian controlled her home and prospects, she can now offer Matilda a secure household; Matilda’s choice and her parents’ permission make that new arrangement possible.