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The Voyage Out by Virginia Woolf
page 41 of 493 (08%)
lie buried," the diary stated. Their tour was thoroughly unconventional,
and followed no meditated plan. The foreign correspondents of the
_Times_ decided their route as much as anything else. Mr. Dalloway
wished to look at certain guns, and was of opinion that the African
coast is far more unsettled than people at home were inclined to
believe. For these reasons they wanted a slow inquisitive kind of ship,
comfortable, for they were bad sailors, but not extravagant, which would
stop for a day or two at this port and at that, taking in coal while
the Dalloways saw things for themselves. Meanwhile they found themselves
stranded in Lisbon, unable for the moment to lay hands upon the precise
vessel they wanted. They heard of the _Euphrosyne_, but heard also that
she was primarily a cargo boat, and only took passengers by special
arrangement, her business being to carry dry goods to the Amazons, and
rubber home again. "By special arrangement," however, were words of high
encouragement to them, for they came of a class where almost everything
was specially arranged, or could be if necessary. On this occasion all
that Richard did was to write a note to Lord Glenaway, the head of the
line which bears his title; to call on poor old Jackson; to represent to
him how Mrs. Dalloway was so-and-so, and he had been something or other
else, and what they wanted was such and such a thing. It was done. They
parted with compliments and pleasure on both sides, and here, a
week later, came the boat rowing up to the ship in the dusk with the
Dalloways on board of it; in three minutes they were standing together
on the deck of the _Euphrosyne_. Their arrival, of course, created some
stir, and it was seen by several pairs of eyes that Mrs. Dalloway was
a tall slight woman, her body wrapped in furs, her head in veils, while
Mr. Dalloway appeared to be a middle-sized man of sturdy build, dressed
like a sportsman on an autumnal moor. Many solid leather bags of a
rich brown hue soon surrounded them, in addition to which Mr. Dalloway
carried a despatch box, and his wife a dressing-case suggestive of a
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