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217227He should have sat at home after dinner, reading his books; should havebeen domestic; His perfect nose profile hardened & stiffened; for heplayed chess in coffee houses; & then came home; & then there was thto find Minta out; & then there was that scene on the stairs at dawn.When she went sometimes to spend a summ day with them in theThings werestrained.summer at their cottage near Rickmansworth, Minta wouldobject to his showing her, for example the cucumber frame, or theBelgianplace where he bred hares, in case he should say anything:Shecame after them, singing & put her bare arm round his shoulder;but she was bored by hares.Lately though (so she here was another scene) they were doingsomething with a motor car: & from his manner & hers, Lily knew,then againwith thechildrenas if they had told her everything, & both were reticent, thatsomething had happened. It was all right now. They had entered onanother phase.Paul playing whatever it was - chess, dominoes,in acoffee house - had met somebody utterly different - apale serious girl, a strong kind girl - a girl anyhow, & thisa girl whoshared hisinterest inthe taxation ofland values -witness theway theytalked aboutfr far from breaking the marriage had ended it. righted it.Theyperfectlywhoof itwere happy:But what would Mrs. Ramsay have said to that?The dead, thought Lily, encountering some obstacle to her design,which made her ponder, steppe stepping back a little distance.with a kind sort of pity,a tingeeven of ?hasteOh the dead!One brushed them aside, somehow,They are at ourmercy. She has faded & gone.saying of all incongruous things. "Marriage - marriage",al& all her beauty, all her being, became at once a little pointlessdusty old fashioned.What can be done for them, then, she?For a moment she exulted.Who persisted so obstinately - one could never, even in thought, wrench herround, in sayingmarMy dear, why don't you marry WilliamBankes?
