It looked as if it had never twitched at all. And
as their hands touched the link was forged between themonce more.
And she held out her handwhich came through the
slit of her white glove.
Hismeagre dress clothes made him look unkempt,
insignificant, angular. He paused; struck a match, and twitchedagain. The
birdsseemed alive still, but swooning under their rich damp feathers. She dipped her
spoon in a plate of cleargolden fluid. But she could get nofurther than the
stream.
Bunny was someone plump and soft and comic; he was
thin andhard and serious.
Ernest woke; and seeing her sitting bolt upright
beside him he asked:Whats the matter?
Theystood in the purple ploughed field
outside.
It was cold,with fog in the air, and Rosalind was
sitting over the fire, sewing.
She was stitching, too, in the small dark room that
overlookedthe stable yard. He was slim, lissome, witheyes like licked stones. At
last she reached the Natural History Museum; sheused to like it when she was a
child.
The leathery eyelids were creased greylyover their
eyes. And again he was a little boy inthe alley where they sold dogs on
Sunday.
She was being melted; dispersed; dissolvedinto
nothingness; and would soon faint. Dalloway was married, gave parties; wasnt his
sort at all.
So she tried Bunny next; but that wasworse. Then
Miss Antonia raised her glass to the mermaid. The wind lashed the panes of glass;
shots volleyed in the Park and atree fell. There were the wood in which they
livedand the outlying prairies and the swamp. But even though he snored, his nose
remainedperfectly still.
It was cold,with fog in the air, and Rosalind was
sitting over the fire, sewing. Was itpossible that he was really Ernest; and that
she was really married toErnest? Then he heard soft slow footstepsapproaching; a
rustle in the corridor. Dalloway was married, gave parties; wasnt his sort at all.
And they shrivelled as ifthe bodies inside the clothes had shrunk.
Ernest woke; and seeing her sitting bolt upright
beside him he asked:Whats the matter? The leathery eyelids were creased greylyover
their eyes.
As they sipped their eyes becamelustrous like half
precious stones held to the light. His nose twitched veryslightly when he ate. Feet
could be heardtrampling, yet shuffling, along the corridor towards the
gallery.
And he waited there, flattened against the wall.
Certainly helooked handsome and she looked shy. Hammondflattened himself against the
wall.
And he went in and shut the door of hisprivate room
behind him.