Page:A Room of One's Own (Hogarth 1929).djvu/24

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Was that what men hummed at luncheon parties before the war? And the women?

My heart is like a singing bird Whose nest is in a water’d shoot;My heart is like an apple tree Whose boughs are bent with thick-set fruit;My heart is like a rainbow shell That paddles in a halcyon sea;My heart is gladder than all these Because my love is come to me.

Was that what women hummed at luncheon parties before the war?

There was something so ludicrous in thinking of people humming such things even under their breath at luncheon parties before the war that I burst out laughing, and had to explain my laughter by pointing at the Manx cat, who did look a little absurd, poor beast, without a tail, in the middle of the lawn. Was he really born so, or had he lost his tail in an accident? The tailless cat, though some are said to exist in the Isle of Man, is rarer than one thinks. It is a queer animal, quaint rather than beautiful. It is strange what a difference a tail makes—you know the sort of things one says as a lunch party breaks up and people are finding their coats and hats.

This one, thanks to the hospitality of the host, had