The Voyage Out

re going to bed. The thump of jugs set down on the floor above could be heard and the clink of china, for there was not as thick a partition between the rooms as one might wish, so Miss Allan,

imer of English Literature-Beowulf to Swinburne-which would have a paragraph on Wordsworth. She was deep in the fifth book, stopping indeed to pencil a note, when a pair of boots dropped, one after another, on the floor above her. She looked up and speculated. Whose boots were they, she wondered. She then became aware of a swishing sound next door-a woman, clearly,

secrated this hour, and the most majestic of all domestic actions, to talk of love between women; but Miss Warrington being alone could not talk; she could only look with extreme solic

tty-possibly," she drew herself up a little.

dmit to herself that she was in love with him or that she wanted to marry him, yet she spent every minute when she was alo

f life in a country parsonage had as yet had no proposal of marriage. The hour of confidences was often a sad one, and she had been known to jump into bed, treating her hair unkindly, feeling hersel

ing-table. A brown volume lay there stamped with the figure of the year. She proceeded to write in the square ugly

venture to Aunt E. P.M.-Played lawn-tennis with Mr. Perrott and Evelyn M. Don't like Mr. P. Have a feeling that he is not 'quite,' though clever certainly. Beat them. Day sp

a few minutes her breathing showed that she was asleep. With its profoundly peaceful sighs and h

h a lean form, terribly like the body of a dead person, the body indeed of William Pepper, asleep too. Thirty-six, thirty-seven, thirty-eight-here were three Portuguese men of business, asleep presumably, since a snore came w

in a peevish but solicitous voice. Her husband was b

sleep," he replied. "I

er can sleep when I'm wa

y remarked, "Well then, we'll turn

r a light still burnt in the room where the boots had dropped so heavily above Miss Allan's head. Here was the gentleman who, a few hours previously, in the shade of the curtain, had seemed to consist entirely of legs. Deep in an arm-chair he was reading the third volume of Gibbon's History of the Decline and Fall of Rome by candle-light. As he read he knocked the ash automatically, now and

what I forgo

said Hirst, rai

way the last words

ou forgot to s

e for feelings?" asked Mr. Hewet. He had

Gibbon Mr. Hirst smiled at the question of his

ust what we do allow for? We put love up there, and all the rest somewhere down below

t of bed to tell me th

id Hewet vaguely, "mer

o longer impressed one with the majesty of his intellect, but with the pathos of his young yet ugly body, for

n the bed with his chin resting on his knees, p

said Hirst. "You're s

y are stupid?"

said Hirst, hopping briskly across the room, "unless

an-all fat women

" said Hirst, who was taking advantage

them," s

id Hirst. "They were much like other w

say everything's different. No two people are

ypes. Don't take us,-take this hotel. You could draw circles

hen by doing that

e circle," Hirst continued. "Miss Warrington, Mr. Arthur Venning, Mr. Perrott, Ev

ne in our circl

to get out, but you can't. You onl

rcle," said Hewet. "I'

n ingrowing toe-nail?" said Hirst, ex

Hewet. "The world is profoundly pleasant

continuity-that's what's so odd bout you," he went on. "At the age of twenty-seven, which is nearly thirt

was neatly brushing the rims of his toe-nails

ou, Hirst,"

apacity for not thinking; two: people like you bet

rs most?" said Hewet. Lying now flat on the be

s not the difficulty. The difficulty is,

le hens in your ci

ost of one,

t they were many, but in private the subject was allowed to lapse. The fact that he had money enough to do no work, and that he had left Cambridge after two terms

in and out-knocking into things-dashing from side to side-collecting numbers-more and more and more, t

tums had spun over the edge of the counter

eks alone in this hotel?" asked

oceeded

never is alone, and one never

g?" sai

l we see of each other is a speck, like the wick in the middle of that flame. The flame goes about with us ever

bubble yours mus

ble could run into so

th burst?" p

said, stretching his arms to their full width, as though even so they could hardly clasp t

s I used to, Hewet," said Hirst. "You don'

njoying yourself

gly beautiful. Did you notice how the top of the mountain turned yellow to-night? Really we must take our

ewet energetically. "We'll ask the e

Warrington and Miss Allan and Mrs. Elliot and the re

an lay hands on," went on Hewet. "What's the name of the little o

never get the don

escorts Miss Warrington; Pepper advances alone on a white ass; provisions equally distri

rong," said Hirst. "Putti

at an expedition like that wo

ld say," said Hirst. "The time usua

was now padding softly round the room, and stopped to sti

odern Love or John Donne? You see, I contemplate pauses when people get tired of loo

ll enjoy herse

one of the saddest things I know-the way elderly ladie

as one w

dim p

t length

ews and

r love w

e that

ad vaca

n, the

he only one of us who can

if you must go to bed, draw my curtain. Few

dy beneath his arm, and in their beds next door t

pty streets marked the places where their cities were built. Red and yellow omnibuses were crowding each other in Piccadilly; sumptuous women were rocking at a standstill; but here in the darkness an owl flitted from tree to tree, and when the breeze lifted the branches the moon flashed as if it were a torch. Until all people should awake again the houseless animals were abroad, the tigers and the stags, and the elephants coming down in the darkness to drink at pools. The wind at night blowing over the h

usual circled vaguely, picking up papers

o-day?" asked Mrs. Elliot drift

ssion was habitually plaintive. Her eyes moved from thing to thing as though the

ma out into the town," said Susa

r age," said Mrs. Elliot, "coming a

ie on board ship," Susan replied.

a lot to complain of!" She shook her head. Her eyes wandered about the table, and she remarked irrelevant

sant voice of Miss Allan, who was searching for the thick

ives in such an excessively

Mrs. Elliot. "I find a fl

e very happy here then,

edingly fond of mountains." Perceiving The Tim

husband," said Mrs.

iss Warrington, and taking up the

people scarce consider news read there as news, any more than a programme bought from a man in the street inspires confidence in what it says. A

ry, who was beautifully clean and had red rubbed into his handsome worn face like traces of paint

at themselves down in

I was telling my husband how much you reminded me of a dear old friend of mine-Mary Umpleby. She w

said that he resembles an elder

ink it a compliment to remind people of some on

s if it hadn't been for her garden. The soil was very much against her-a blessing in disguise; she had to be up at dawn-out in all weathers. And then

monopolising the paper," said

he debate," said Mrs. Thornbury, ac

s in the navy. My interests are equally balanced, though; I have sons

ow him, I expec

ury. "But I feel one ought to be very clever to talk to hi

pasmodic column, for the Irish members had been brawling three weeks ago at Westminster over a questio

?" Mrs. Thornbury

e only read about the discover

unded on the past, aren't we, Mr. Hewet? My soldier son says that there is still a great deal to be learnt from Hannibal. One ought to know so much more than one does. Somehow when I read the paper, I begin with the d

them as naked black men," said Miss All

y, perceiving that the gaunt young man w

worst of coming from the upper classes," he continued, "is

lly dropped his eyeglasses. The sheets fell in th

ell?" asked his

terday in the streets of Westminster when she perceived a c

anyway," Mr. Thornbury

forgotten," Miss

e Minister has reserved his

a Harris of Eeles Park, Brondesb

ticed by workmen for some days, was rescued,

, I suppose," com

Mr. Hughling Elliot, who had joined the group. "You might read y

ible, and quoted French phrases so exquisitely that it was hard to believe that

young men. "We ought to sta

his wife pleaded, giving him an angular parc

as a drop had melted off his spare ribs, the bones would have lain bare. The ladies were left al

to eleven,"

sked Mrs.

eplied Mi

mured Mrs. Thornbury, as the squar

has a hard life,"

rnbury. "Unmarried women-earning their

retty cheerful,"

ng," said Mrs. Thornbury.

hat women want,"

f us than ever now. Sir Harley Lethbridge was telling me only the other day how difficult it is to find boys

wn, as one may call it, of a woman's life. I, who kno

Thornbury. "The conditions are so muc

does not change,

from the young," said Mrs. Thornbury.

y doesn't mind," said Mrs. Ell

much for the children of others,

occupation. It's so disconcerting to find girls just beginning doing

ns-clubs-that you could h

. "I look strong, because of my colour; bu

family should make any difference. And there is no training like the training that brothers and sisters g

o the elder lady's experience, an

ne of those great dancing bears-they shouldn't be allowed; the other-it was a horrid stor

Thornbury murmured absentmindedly, adjusting her spectacles

ied a clergyman at Minehead-ignoring the drunken women, the golden animals of Crete, the movements of battalions, the dinners,

cle; iced drinks were served under the palms; the long blinds were pulled down with a shriek, turning all the light yellow. The clock now had a silent hall to tick in, and an audience of four or five somnolent merchants. By degrees white figures with shady hats came in at the door, admitting a wedge of the hot summer day, and shutting it out again. After resting in the dimness for a minute, they went upstairs. Simultaneously, the clock wheezed one, and the gong sounded, beginning softly, working itself into a frenzy, and cea

new faces there might be, hazarding guesses as to who they were and what they did. Mrs. Paley, although well over seventy and

in white, with paint in the hollows of her cheeks, who was always late, and always attended by a

t that Mr. Venning had come to her in the garden, and had sat there quite half an hour while she read aloud to her aunt. Men and women sought different corners where they could lie unobserved, and from two to four it might be said without exaggeration that the hotel was inhabited by bodies without souls. Disastrous would have been the result if a fire or a death had sudd

sleep, they met each other in the hall, and Mrs.

Mrs. Elliot, whose husband was still out, to join her at

a long way in this c

n back to fet

ntemplating a plateful. "Not sweet biscuits, which I d

an usual. "But it's so difficult after Oxfordshire, where there are so many trees. The

be moved. Finally the old lady was placed so that the light wavered over her, as though she were a fish in a net. Susan poured ou

good humour. "One of my nephews the other day asked for a glass of sherry-at five o'clock!

n tea," said Mr. Venning. "That'

ng it was necessary, when Mr. Perrott came to Santa Marina about a Company, for Mr. Venning to come too. He was a barrister also, but he loathed a profession which kept him indoors over books, and directly his widowed mother died he was going, so he confided

ruel the way they treat dogs in

all shot," sai

arling puppies

nothing to eat." A great wedge of cake was handed Susan on the

ar dog at home,"

e air of one making a confidence. "I always suspect th

s morning, Miss Warring

ry which Mrs. Elliot had embarked upon of a wire-haired terrier, white with just one black spot, belonging to an unc

he town this evening?"

t-" Sus

e said. "You're always doi

she said, under cover

he returned, "no young

ke to come,"

d up and exclaimed, "Oh, Hugh! H

. Paley. "Susan, run and get some

Mr. Elliot. "You know Mr. Ambr

dejected flower drooping in his buttonhole, like an exhausted animal over a gate, added to the effect of length and untidiness. He was introduced to the others. M

r, "has a house here, which he has lent us. I was sitting on a rock think

dolefully to Susan. "Nor is it true that ban

already

ife. "You tourists eat up all the eggs, Helen tells me. That's an eye-sore too"-he nodded h

dering the price," said Mrs. Paley seriously. "But

n wish I had! Everyone ought to stay

t Ridley, who seemed to be criticising her h

honestly say I do. I should not allow any one to travel until they had visited Kent and Dorsetshire-Ken

ke the flat and other people like the d

mistake. She's either very ugly, appallingly uncomfortable, or absolutely terrifying. I don't know which alarms me most-a cow or a tree. I once met a co

her own mind that Mr. Hirst was a dreadful young man, and that although he had such an a

ones?" enquired Hughling Elliot. He knew by this time exactly what scholarships a

is lips together very t

leave. Politeness required him to thank Mrs. Elliot for his tea,

and Hewet, and Hewet answered

wn with Arthur, when Mrs. Paley beckoned her back. She could not understand from the book how Double Demon patience is