THE WINDOWsay tried to tell me the other night, she thought. Forshe was wearing a green shawl, and they were stand-ing close together watching Prue and Jasper throwingcatches. And suddenly the meaning which, for noreason at all, as perhaps they are stepping out of theTube or ringing a doorbell, descends on people, mak-ing them symbolical, making them representative, cameupon them, and made them in the dusk, standing,looking, the symbols of marriage, husband and wife.Then, after an instant, the symbolical outline whichtranscended the real figures sank down again, andthey became, as they met them, Mr. and Mrs. Ram-say watching the children throwing catches. But stillfor a moment, though Mrs. Ramsay greeted them withher usual smile (oh, she’s thinking we’re going to getmarried, Lily thought) and said, ‘I have triumphedto-night,’ meaning that for once Mr. Bankes hadagreed to dine with them and not run off to his ownlodging where his man cooked vegetables properly;still, for one moment, there was a sense of thingshaving been blown apart, of space, of irresponsibilityas the ball soared high, and they followed it and lostit and saw the one star and the draped branches. Inthe failing light they all looked sharp-edged and ether-eal and divided by great distances. Then, dartingbackwards over the vast space (for it seemed as ifsolidity had vanished altogether), Prue ran full tiltinto them and caught the ball brilliantly high up inher left hand, and her mother said, ‘Haven’t they comeback yet?’ whereupon the spell was broken. Mr. Ram-say felt free now to laugh out loud at Hume, who hadstuck in a bog and an old woman rescued him oncondition he said the Lord’s Prayer, and chuckling87
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