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[夜与日].(night.and.day).(英)弗吉尼亚·伍尔芙.文字版-第111部分


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Virginia Woolf 

repeated his message and suggested that they should all 
spend the evening at the play。 Katharine accepted the 
suggestion with such cordiality that it was strange to 
find her of no clear mind as to the precise spectacle she 
wished to see。 She left the choice entirely to Ralph and 
William; who; taking counsel fraternally over an evening 
paper; found themselves in agreement as to the merits of 
a musichall。 This being arranged; everything else followed 
easily and enthusiastically。 Cassandra had never 
been to a musichall。 Katharine instructed her in the peculiar 
delights of an entertainment where Polar bears follow 
directly upon ladies in full evening dress; and the 
stage is alternately a garden of mystery; a milliner’s bandbox; 
and a friedfish shop in the Mile End Road。 Whatever 
the exact nature of the program that night; it fulfilled 
the highest purposes of dramatic art; so far; at least; 
as four of the audience were concerned。 

No doubt the actors and the authors would have been 
surprised to learn in what shape their efforts reached 
those particular eyes and ears; but they could not have 
denied that the effect as a whole was tremendous。 The 

hall resounded with brass and strings; alternately of enormous 
pomp and majesty; and then of sweetest lamentation。 
The reds and creams of the background; the lyres 
and harps and urns and skulls; the protuberances of plaster; 
the fringes of scarlet plush; the sinking and blazing 
of innumerable electric lights; could scarcely have been 
surpassed for decorative effect by any craftsman of the 
ancient or modern world。 

Then there was the audience itself; bareshouldered; 
tufted and garlanded in the stalls; decorous but festal in 
the balconies; and frankly fit for daylight and street life 
in the galleries。 But; however they differed when looked 
at separately; they shared the same huge; lovable nature 
in the bulk; which murmured and swayed and quivered all 
the time the dancing and juggling and lovemaking went 
on in front of it; slowly laughed and reluctantly left off 
laughing; and applauded with a helterskelter generosity 
which sometimes became unanimous and overwhelming。 
Once William saw Katharine leaning forward and clapping 
her hands with an abandonment that startled him。 Her 
laugh rang out with the laughter of the audience。 

397 



Night and Day 

For a second he was puzzled; as if this laughter disclosed 
something that he had never suspected in her。 
But then Cassandra’s face caught his eye; gazing with 
astonishment at the buffoon; not laughing; too deeply 
intent and surprised to laugh at what she saw; and for 
some moments he watched her as if she were a child。 

The performance came to an end; the illusion dying out 
first here and then there; as some rose to put on their 
coats; others stood upright to salute “God Save the King;” 
the musicians folded their music and encased their instruments; 
and the lights sank one by one until the house was 
empty; silent; and full of great shadows。 Looking back over 
her shoulder as she followed Ralph through the swing doors; 
Cassandra marveled to see how the stage was already entirely 
without romance。 But; she wondered; did they really 
cover all the seats in brown holland every night? 

The success of this entertainment was such that before 
they separated another expedition had been planned for 
the next day。 The next day was Saturday; therefore both 
William and Ralph were free to devote the whole afternoon 
to an expedition to Greenwich; which Cassandra 

had never seen; and Katharine confused with Dulwich。 
On this occasion Ralph was their guide。 He brought them 
without accident to Greenwich。 

What exigencies of state or fantasies of imagination 
first gave birth to the cluster of pleasant places by which 
London is surrounded is matter of indifference now that 
they have adapted themselves so admirably to the needs 
of people between the ages of twenty and thirty with 
Saturday afternoons to spend。 Indeed; if ghosts have any 
interest in the affections of those who succeed them they 
must reap their richest harvests when the fine weather 
es again and the lovers; the sightseers; and the holiday
makers pour themselves out of trains and omnibuses 
into their old pleasuregrounds。 It is true that they go; 
for the most part; unthanked by name; although upon 
this occasion William was ready to give such discriminating 
praise as the dead architects and painters received 
seldom in the course of the year。 They were walking by 
the river bank; and Katharine and Ralph; lagging a little 
behind; caught fragments of his lecture。 Katharine smiled 
at the sound of his voice; she listened as if she found it 

398 



Virginia Woolf 

a little unfamiliar; intimately though she knew it; she 
tested it。 The note of assurance and happiness was new。 
William was very happy。 She learnt every hour what sources 
of his happiness she had neglected。 She had never asked 
him to teach her anything; she had never consented to 
read Macaulay; she had never expressed her belief that 
his play was second only to the works of Shakespeare。 
She followed dreamily in their wake; smiling and delighting 
in the sound which conveyed; she knew; the rapturous 
and yet not servile assent of Cassandra。 

Then she murmured; “How can Cassandra—” but changed 
her sentence to the opposite of what she meant to say 
and ended; “how could she herself have been so blind?” 
But it was unnecessary to follow out such riddles when 
the presence of Ralph supplied her with more interesting 
problems; which somehow became involved with the little 
boat crossing the river; the majestic and careworn City; 
and the steamers homeing with their treasury; or starting 
in search of it; so that infinite leisure would be necessary 
for the proper disentanglement of one from the 
other。 He stopped; moreover; and began inquiring of an 

old boatman as to the tides and the ships。 In thus talking 
he seemed different; and even looked different; she 
thought; against the river; with the steeples and towers 
for background。 His strangeness; his romance; his power 
to leave her side and take part in the affairs of men; the 
possibility that they should together hire a boat and cross 
the river; the speed and wildness of this enterprise filled 
her mind and inspired her with such rapture; half of love 
and half of adventure; that William and Cassandra were 
startled from their talk; and Cassandra exclaimed; “She 
looks as if she were offering up a sacrifice! Very beautiful;” 
she added quickly; though she repressed; in deference 
to William; her own wonder that the sight of Ralph 
Denham talking to a boatman on the banks of the Thames 
could move any one to such an attitude of adoration。 

That afternoon; what with tea and the curiosities of 
the Thames tunnel and the unfamiliarity of the streets; 
passed so quickly that the only method of prolonging it 
was to plan another expedition for the following day。 
Hampton Court was decided upon; in preference to 
Hampstead; for though Cassandra had dreamt as a child 

399 



Night and Day 

of the brigands of Hampstead; she had now transferred 
her affections pletely and for ever to William III。 
Accordingly; they arrived at Hampton Court about lunchtime 
on a fine Sunday morning。 Such unity marked their 
expressions of admiration for the redbrick building that 
they might have e there for no other purpose than to 
assure each other that this palace was the stateliest palace 
in the world。 They walked up and down the Terrace; 
four abreast; and fancied themselves the owners of the 
place; and calculated the amount of good to the world 
produced indubitably by such a tenancy。 

“The only hope for us;” said Katharine; “is that William 
shall die; and Cassandra shall be given rooms as the widow 
of a distinguished poet。” 

“Or—” Cassandra began; but checked herself from the liberty 
of envisaging Katharine as the widow of a distinguished 
lawyer。 Upon this; the third day of junketing; it was tiresome 
to have to re

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