TO THE LIGHTHOUSEand bowed to her as if he did her homage. Withoutknowing why, she felt that he liked her better thanhe had ever done before; and with a feeling of reliefand gratitude she returned his bow and passed throughthe door which he held open for her.

It was necessary now to carry everything a stepfurther. With her foot on the threshold she waiteda moment longer in a scene which was vanishingeven as she looked, and then, as she moved and tookMinta’s arm and left the room, it changed, it shapeditself differently; it had become, she knew, giving onelast look at it over her shoulder, already the past.18

As usual, Lily thought. There was always somethingthat had to be done at that precise moment, some-thing that Mrs. Ramsay had decided for reasons ofher own to do instantly, it might be with every onestanding about making jokes, as now, not being ableto decide whether they were going into the smoking-room, into the drawing-room, up to the attics. Thenone saw Mrs. Ramsay in the midst of this hubbubstanding there with Minta’s arm in hers, bethink her‘Yes, it is time for that now,’ and so make off atonce with an air of secrecy to do something alone.And directly she went a sort of disintegration set in!they wavered about, went different ways, Mr. Bankestook Charles Tansley by the arm and went off tofinish on the terrace the discussion they had begunat dinner about politics, thus giving a turn to thewhole poise of the evening, making the weight fallin a different direction, as if, Lily thought, seeing132
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