ed his wife down the ship's side.

The boat separating from the vessel made off towards the land, and for
some minutes Helen, Ridley, and Rachel leant over the rail, watching.
Once Mrs. Dalloway turned and waved; but the boat steadily grew smaller
and smaller until it ceased to rise and fall, and nothing could be seen
save two resolute backs.

"Well, that's over," said Ridley after a long silence. "We shall never
see _them_ again," he added, turning to go to his books. A feeling of
emptiness and melancholy came over them; they knew in their hearts that
it was over, and that they had parted for ever, and the knowledge filled
them with far greater depression than the length of their acquaintance
seemed to justify. Even as the boat pulled away they could feel other
sights and sounds beginning to take the place of the Dalloways, and the
feeling was so unpleasant that they tried to resist it. For so, too,
would they be forgotten.

In much the same way as Mrs. Chailey downstairs was sweeping the
withered rose-leaves off the dressing-table, so Helen was anxious to
make things straight again after the visitors had gone. Rachel's obvious
languor and listlessness made her an easy prey, and indeed Helen had
devised a kind of trap. That something had happened she now felt pretty
certain; moreover, she had come to think that they had been strangers
long enough; she wished to know what the girl was like, partly of course
because Rachel showed no disposition to be known. So, as they turned
from the rail, she said:

"Come and talk to me instead of practising," and led the way to the
sheltered side where the deck-chairs were stretched in the sun. Rachel
followed her indifferently. Her mind was absorbed by Richard; by the
extreme strangeness of what had happened, and by a thousand feelings of
which she had not been conscious before. She made scarcely any attempt
to listen to what Helen was saying, as Helen indulged in commonplaces to
begin with. While Mrs. Ambrose arranged her embroidery, sucked her silk,
and threaded her needle, she lay back gazing at the horizon.

"Did you like those people?" Helen asked her casually.

"Yes," she replied blankly.

"You talked to him, didn't you?"

She said nothing for a minute.

"He kissed me," she said without any change of tone.

Helen started, looked at her, but could not make out what she felt.

"M-m-m'yes," she said, after a pause. "I thought he was that kind of
man."

"What kind of