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70 TO THE LIGHTHOUSEit. To eight people she had said relentlessly that (andthe bill for the greenhouse would be fifty pounds).For that reason, knowing what was before them—loveand ambition and being wretched alone in drearyplaces—she had often the feeling: Why must theygrow up and lose it all? And then she said to herself,brandishing her sword at life, nonsense. They willbe perfectly happy. And here she was, she reflected,feeling life rather sinister again, making Minta marryPaul Rayley; because whatever she might feel abouther own transaction and she had had experienceswhich need not happen to everyone (she did not namethem to herself); she was driven on, too quickly sheknew, almost as if it were an escape for her too, to saythat people must marry; people must have children.

Was she wrong in this, she asked herself, reviewingher conduct for the past week or two, and wonderingif she had indeed put any pressure upon Minta, whowas only twenty-four, to make up her mind. Shewas uneasy. Had she not laughed about it? Wasshe not forgetting again how strongly she influencedpeople? Marriage needed—oh all sorts of qualities(the bill for the greenhouse would be fifty pounds);one—she need not name it—that was essential;the thing she had with her husband. Had theythat?

'Then he put on his trousers and ran away like amadman,’ she read. ‘But outside a great storm wasraging and blowing so hard that he could scarcelykeep his feet; houses and trees toppled over, themountains trembled, rocks rolled into the sea, thesky was pitch black, and it thundered and lightened,and the sea came in with black waves as high as