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TO THE LIGHTHOUSEwere saying. So he had actually heard from her thisevening! And was Carrie still living at Marlow, andwas everything still the same? Oh, she could remem-ber as if it were yesterday—going on the river, feel-ing very cold. But if the Mannings made a plan theystuck to it. Never should she forget Herbert killinga wasp with a teaspoon on the bank! And it wasstill going on, Mrs. Ramsay mused, gliding like aghost among the chairs and tables of that drawing-room on the banks of the Thames where she hadbeen so very, very cold twenty years ago; but nowshe went among them like a ghost; and it fascinatedher, as if, while she had changed, that particularday, now become very still and beautiful, had re-mained there, all these years. Had Carrie written tohim herself? she asked.

"Yes. She says they're building a new billiardroom," he said. No! No! That was out of the ques-tion! Building a billiard room! It seemed to herimpossible.

Mr. Bankes could not see that there was anythingvery odd about it. They were very well off now.Should he give her love to Carrie?

"Oh," said Mrs. Ramsay with a little start, "No,"she added, reflecting that she did not know this Car-rie who built a new billiard room. But how strange,she repeated, to Mr. Bankes's amusement, that they132