Waiters stopped,diners raised their forks and held
them. Neville,who sits waiting with agonized intensity, nervously straightens
theforks in front of him.
We changed, we became unrecognizable, said Louis.
Our hands touch, our bodiesburst into fire. Their hearts pound and churn intheir
sides.
For this moment, this one moment, weare
together.
Thatis the truth; that is a fact, but beyond it all
is darkness andconjecture.
The greatprocession passes, flinging green boughs
and flowering branches. Shall we say love of Percivalbecause Percival is going to
India?
With infinite time before us, said Neville, we ask
what shall wedo?
We have cometogether, at a particular time, to this
particular spot. Shall we push through flowering meadowsand make daisy
chains?
The man lay livid with his throat cut in the
gutter, saidNeville.
You have lost a leader whom you would have
followed; andone of you has lost happiness and children. But I cannot, for Iam not
single and entire as you are.
Nothing, not the pursuit ofperfection through the
sand, nor fame, nor money, has meaning forme.
Then the blow; the world crashed; he breathed
heavily.
At that shores slipaway, chimneys flatten
themselves, the ship makes for the opensea.
Now the agony begins; now the horror has seized me
with itsfangs, said Neville.
Thesmell of carpets and furniture and scent
disgusts me.
I was this, Neville that, Rhoda different again,
andBernard too.
You stand in the door making us noticeyou. Now let
us issue from the darkness of solitude, said Louis.
But without Percival there is no solidity. How
signal to all time tocome that we, who stand in the street, in the lamplight,
lovedPercival?
Yet already signals begin, beckonings, attempts to
lure me back.
Horns and trumpets, said Rhoda, ring
out.
Now the agony begins; now the horror has seized me
with itsfangs, said Neville.