“I don’t know, mater. I just—don’t—know,” he said in answer to her question, Were they happy? “I—love Elizabeth, you see. I—I don’t think I could live without her. Only, sometimes—I wonder— She’s such a babe still. It’s something I can’t talk about, mater. It’s between us two alone.”

“Yes, darling. I don’t want you to try to talk about it. Only, Stephen, don’t be too absorbed in your book. That’s only a thing. Elizabeth’s more than that.”

“Oh, come now, mater, I can’t be expected to chuck work just because I’m married! Other men have to be away all day at an office.”

“I know, dear. But they come away from their work, and don’t have to sit up until the small hours at it.”

He was silent for a moment.

“I do my best work at night, mater. You know that. And there are weeks when I don’t touch a pen from one day’s end to another.”

“My dear, if you’re selfish in refusing to—to adapt yourself to Elizabeth, it’s unfair to her. I think you’ve got a long way to go—both of you.”

Chapter Sixteen

Towards the end of October Stephen’s pen began to run dry; he grew restless, short-tempered, and finally decided that he would give up attempting to write for a few weeks. So the manuscript was locked in a drawer, and Stephen emerged from his absorption. He suggested that they should go to London for a time; Elizabeth was only too delighted. She had contrived to amuse herself successfully, with the house and the garden, and the car, which she had learned to drive, but these were, after all, only Things. She longed to see her family again, and London; she longed too to be free from Queen’s Halt and its traditions just for a short breathing space, and to escape from Nina, with her abstruse witticisms, and flood of reminiscence. Those reminiscences galled Elizabeth, but she had not the courage to say so. Sooner or later, when Stephen and Nina were together, would crop up those deadly words, Do you remember? To the third person who did not remember, who did not know, or want to know, the people mentioned, who saw no humour in the old jokes and catchwords, the reminiscences were not only boring, but unbelievably annoying. They implied a close intimacy between Stephen and Nina, an age-long friendship, and a perfect understanding.