THE WINDOW
as perhaps they are stepping out of the Tube or
ringing a doorbell, descends on people, making
them symbolical, making them representative, came
upon them, and made them in the dusk standing,
looking, the symbols of marriage, husband and
wife. Then, after an instant, the symbolical
outline which transcended the real figures sank
down again, and they became, as they met them,
Mr. and Mrs. Ramsay watching the children
throwing catches. But still for a moment,
though Mrs. Ramsay greeted them with her
usual smile (oh, she’s thinking we're going to get
married, Lily thought) and said, *“ I have triumphed
to-night,” meaning that for once Mr. Bankes
had agreed to dine with them and not run off
to his own lodging where his man cooked vegetables
 properly ; still, for one moment, there was
a sense of things having been blown apart, of
space, of irresponsibility as the ball soared high,
and they followed it and lost it and saw the one
star and the draped branches. In the failing
light they all looked sharp-edged and ethereal
and divided by great distances. Then, darting
backwards over the vast space (for it seemed as
if solidity had vanished altogether), Prue ran
full tilt into them and caught the ball brilliantly
high up in her left hand, and her mother said,
“Haven’t they come back yet?” whereupon
I1§