Why do you think Margarete cried and ran away when Lucius proposed to her?

Why do you think Margarete cried and ran away when Lucius proposed to her?

This was unclear to me at the time and still is. I have a few ideas about this.
It could be that to Margarete, Lucius was strange enough that while she enjoyed him as a colleague and lover, she didn't really see him as marriage material. This could have caused her reaction.
When I was reading the book, I was unclear about her vows and how that could impede marriage. I also wondered if she were either engaged or married.

I don't know, I think that is one of the mysteries in this story.

I thought that she knew they would not make a good marriage because even if he never said he was from an aristocratic family, it would probably be pretty obvious from his manners and behavior. Since she was apparently a simple young woman from the mountains, she was likely more practical than he was. He seemed to be pretty emotionally immature until closer to the end of the book. Also, maybe she did not want to think of or plan for the future since any future was so unsure at that time.

We aren’t told in the book and will never know. There were hints about her previous life that would have prevented a marriage that I think she wanted very much. There is some indication she searched for him for awhile, but apparently never in Vienna where she knew he was from. It also appears at the end she would like to be with him. We simply will never know.

At first I thought perhaps she was already married, but since she married Horvath at the end, I assume that was not the case. Possibly she realized that if she said yes, she would have to reveal her deception, and if she said no she would lose him. Quite a dilemma, although I think he could have gotten past her fake nun-hood.

I think perhaps she was only able to live day by day and a future of a happy commitment was something impossible to look forward to.

I think there were probably many emotions involved here. Because she ran away, and Lucius became separated from everyone when he went looking for her, her action was never explained. Had they been able to find each other in the time immediately following her running away, perhaps we might have found out exactly what Margarete was thinking and feeling. Margarete and Lucius both finally had someone to talk to, mostly about medical topics, because neither one was able to discuss their pre-war personal lives, but their conversations shifted away from medicine. They were drawn to each other. Perhaps when Lucius proposed, Margarete felt overwhelmed by their feelings and couldn't admit them, either to Lucius or to herself. She had lied and likely did not expect than anyone would have these feelings for her, or to have these kinds of feelings herself for anyone. I believe she did love him, too, because she went out looking for him after she came back and realized he was out looking for her. Perhaps it was difficult to think of any future at all. Margarete told Lucius early on not to get attached to anyone. She had seen so much loss, and would continue to do so as long as war continued.

Not sure--I thought at first it was because of her vows as a nun. Once that was revealed to be untrue, I thought she felt they were too different in too many ways. When I found out that she did not search for him as hard as he for her, I decided she just was dedicated to her work and wouldn't be able to nurse and have a family, too. Actually, when you look at the choice she made in the end, she married and would always be a nurse even if she never left her home.

I think she cried and ran away because she was not who she seemed to be. She was hiding many secrets.

I do not know, maybe she did not feel worthy???

To me it felt like she didn't really want to marry him. I felt like she was happy with her life just the way it was. Plus I felt like she was in love with someone else.

I didn't understand why she cried and ran away at all. This is one of the areas where I feel as if the author could've/should've been more clear. It almost seems as if the sole reason was a plot device to use to cause the two characters to end up separated. Had she not run off, then Lucius wouldn't have ended up wandering away while looking for her.

I think the author needed to tell more of Margarete story. The exact reason is never explained. It is only assumed. It seem like she ran away for she was hiding so much about self.

I think it was because of what had happened with Hovath. At that point Margaret probably was feeling very sad and emotional about how Hovath was treated and didn't know if she could spend her life with someone who didn't necessarily listen to her. I think it would have been different if Hovath had left when he should have.

I think he took her by surprise. Given the life they were living with such devastation all around them, she couldn't imagine a better life and rather than allow herself to think about things being better and being happy, she escaped the moment. I also believed she had a secret, a deception and didn't want to disillusion Lucius.

Interesting to read all the different opinions on this! I almost felt like I missed something in the story and that is why I could not piece that section of the story together. I feel like the author left this ambiguous for a reason. I never considered Piperup's theory that it was a plot decision to separate the two.

They came from different backgrounds. Margarete had lied about being a nun, was wise enough to know that a war time romance would look very differently in peace time if they both survived. Surrounded by death, mutilation, cruelty, deprivation and uncertainty, it was impossible to visualize a future. She knew he thought he loved her, but I don’t think she truly loved Lucius. They gave each other comfort and a reason to make it through each day. But, I think she knew she would never fit into his life in Vienna.

I asked myself that same question when I read that part.
Margarete was very mysterious and quiet about her past. The fact that there had been a man in her life (Michal) which she never mentioned, who could have been her husband or boyfriend, and by her telling Lucius “One should not grow attached to other people, Doctor”, led me to believe that for whatever reason she did not want to fall in love and loose Lucius, just as she lost Michal. Therefore, when he proposed, it was too late. She was already attached to Lucius and that’s why I think that she cried and ran away, maybe because It may not have been in her plans to start a relation again in such difficult times, less to marry. Or maybe because of her not being honest with him.
We really don’t know what happened to Michal and if she still had a little sentiment of him when Lucius proposed. Hard to say. I would have preferred the author clarifying this at the end.
But I think she did love Lucius in her mysterious way. She did try to locate him immediately which leads me to believe that she did.

We will never know unless author writes a Margarete story. At 1st I saw it as Margarete becoming overwhelmed for many of the reasons already stated but with over 1/2 of book left to read I came to believe it was a plot devise - a tidy one with which the story became less interesting to me.

After reading the discussion I also considered that perhaps Margarete realized that their circumstances may have prompted Lucius to propose as opposed to his actual love for her. She may have just seen their relationship as a fleeting moment in the horrors of war. She may not have loved him. We also know that she was involved in another relationship at some point in her life and maybe she didn't want to go through another heartbreak.