And hushes half the babbling Wye,
And makes a silence in the hills.
In Memoriam.
I
Just to Explain
I. Who Everybody is
Virginia and her sister Ursula are my most intimate friends. Virginia—really quite a harmless girl—imagines she has a scientific bias. Ursula—domesticated to the backbone—led a strenuous life in the pursuit of experimental psychology, till she switched off to wash hospital saucepans.
It will be so obvious that I scarcely need add: What little common sense the trio possesses is centred in ME.
Abigail is my housemaid; her title to fame is the fact that she is the only servant I have ever been able to induce to remain more than a fortnight at one stretch in the country. The others, including those who are orphans, always have a parent who suddenly breaks its leg—after they have been about ten days away—and wires for them to come home at once.