14417because it wasso foolishin itsabsurdityThe thought, which of course she would not say to anyone, tickled her secretly& with a smile on her lips she went into the drawing room, where, to hersurprise, there was only her husband, reading.However, he did not want to be interrupted - that was clear;from He was reading - what? something that movedhim,to a ?som ?inter for with hbesides being intent he was all the time half smiling, & thenas she knew [?] controllinghis emotion, & yet all the time hewas discriminating & not allowing himself to be undulyinfluenced, ?but & weighing one thing with another:"The Antiquary" - dear old Sir Walter, she thought, smiling &no longerbut with ?no ?longer irresponsibly anymore; ?& sitting downunder her lamp, in her chair, opposite, & taking up her knitting.For Charles Tansley (instinctively she listened to hear himof booksbump & bang upon the floor) said he was done for: thenher husband thought,went & [?]"That is what they will say of me";wh heso hegot The Antiquary, he loved The Antiquary, butnothing would ever make him tamper with truth; he wouldHe might want a thing to be true; butIf he found itButIf his reason told him that it was true - Sir Walter was done for -thenvery wellhe would accept that fact:Except about himself, hewas rational wouldaccept anything.Not liking tothink why he wasso irrational about himself so that perhapsother people, Lily for instance, had guessed at dinner howwhy he was so irritable at dinner when they talked aboutfame & books lasting, not liking to the sense she hadsometimesthethat his children wondered, a little, she began her knitting, &at the same time all those fine points gravings, as withsteel instruments, became drawn again about herlips & forehead, & she became like an image whichowing to her beauty, like still, & composed, as if alllike a tree which has been tossed & quivering & now, whenthe breeze falls, settles into quiet.But thenHow great a mind he has, she thought.very much; & why did it movehim;
