TO THE LIGHTHOUSEif she were going to meet some one round the corner,she told the story; an affair at Oxford with somegirl; an early marriage; poverty; going to India;translating a little poetry "very beautifully, I be-lieve," being willing to teach the boys Persian orHindustanee, but what really was the use of that?—and then lying, as they saw him, on the lawn.

It flattered him; snubbed as he had been, itsoothed him that Mrs. Ramsay should tell him this.Charles Tansley revived. Insinuating, too, as shedid the greatness of man’s intellect, even in itsdecay, the subjection of all wives—not that sheblamed the girl, and the marriage had been happyenough, she believed—to their husband’s labours,she made him feel better pleased with himself thanhe had done yet, and he would have liked, had theytaken a cab, for example, to have paid for it. As forher little bag, might he not carry that? No, no, shesaid, she always carried that herself. She did too.Yes, he felt that in her. He felt many things, some-thing in particular that excited him and disturbedhim for reasons which he could not give. He wouldlike her to see him, gowned and hooded, walking ina procession. A fellowship, a professorship, he feltcapable of anything and saw himself—but what wasshe looking at? At a man pasting a bill. The vastflapping sheet flattened itself out, and each shove of20
Resize Images  

Select Pane

Berg Materials
 

View Pane