Slide to View Image: Opacity 0%
199Although it amused her to indulge she enjoyed phrase-making inprivateHe wore a wig in the House of Commons, & she ably assisted himat the head of the stairs. Between them they had produced, amongother children this perfectly incongruous creature, with thispassion for the open air & a hole, it seemed to Mrs. Ramsay,perpetuallyalways in the heel of her stocking.Seeing her there in thatbelievedasportentous atmosphere where,it seemed toMrs. Ramsay, a maidwas always removing in a dust pan the sand which the parrot hadscattered, & conversation was almost entirely reduced to that theinteresting but after all limited topic the topic the exploitsof that bird, Mrs. Ramsay had asked her to lunch, to dinner, to tea, tostay with them finally - which had resulted in some friction with her mother,only to be appeased by more calling, more conversation more gravel;&with Mrs. Doyle for some reason suspected, her. Indeed, Mrs.upon whichRamsay divined that here was another occasion occasion ofMrs. Ramsayhad no passionatelove for the parrotbirdwas notnaturallyattached to parrotsmisunderstanding.She was accused of dominating, & of interfering, ofmaking people do her will rather than their own - a perfectlygenuinely believed;baseless accusation;Mrs. Ramsay thought, & yet if she had hadtime & wealth, she would have liked to give give expression to asmalltake one or two things in hand, certainly;to get a really goodfor one thing:hospital built up inthese islands; that was a matter she had setthe sale ofon foot. & would see or &do something to impro make itillegal to sell dirty milk - &often milk was delivered at herin a state which was possibly dangerousto health, illegal; tofound a model dairy near London. When the childrenwere older, she would have time for perhaps for doing more -ah, but she never wanted them to grow a day older!They were adorable, just as they were; & it made hermiserable to see them growinginto long legged monsters -Cam & Jamestheyhad beenwhenlike James & Camwho only a year or two agolike mere bundles of delight - & she had been able tocarry them about with her now. Now they squabbledof first rateimportance, &one she intendedto carrythroughsomehow: