THE LIGHTHOUSE

Then he put on his hat.

‘Bring those parcels,’ he said, nodding his head atthe things Nancy had done up for them to take tothe Lighthouse. ‘The parcels for the Lighthouse men,’he said. He rose and stood in the bow of the boat, verystraight and tall, for all the world, James thought, asif he were saying, ‘There is no God,’ and Cam thought,as if he were leaping into space, and they both roseto follow him as he sprang, lightly like a young man,holding his parcel, on to the rock.13

‘He must have reached it,’ said Lily Briscoe aloud,feeling suddenly completely tired out. For the Light-house had become almost invisible, had melted awayinto a blue haze, and the effort of looking at it andthe effort of thinking of him landing there, which bothseemed to be one and the same effort, had stretchedher body and mind to the utmost. Ah, but she wasrelieved. Whatever she had wanted to give him, whenhe left her that morning, she had given him at last.

‘He has landed,’ she said aloud. ‘It is finished.'Then, surging up, puffing slightly, old Mr. Carmi-chael stood beside her, looking like an old pagan God,shaggy, with weeds in his hair and the trident (it wasonly a French novel) in his hand. He stood by heron the edge of the lawn, swaying a little in his bulk,and said, shading his eyes with his hand: ‘They willhave landed,’ and she felt that she had been right.They had not needed to speak. They had been think-ing the same things and he had answered her withouther asking him anything. He stood there spreading his241

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