THEY GO HOME 567

already and you can see the blue beyond; the rumbles
and shrieks and snortings are only part of the tuning up;
and even the smoky smell has the savour of adventure.
There had been moments during the last two days when
this week-end, this arrival at Victoria, had loomed in
Miss Matfield's mind like some unusually desperate
appointment at the dentist's, and at the thought of it
something coldly writhed inside her. Now that she was
here, however, she was less introspective and her spirits
gradually rose. It was almost better that something
extremely unpleasant should happen than that nothing
at all should happen; and it was very unlikely that
anything extremely unpleasant would happen. She
responded to the lively and adventurous bustle of the
station. 'As she strolled over to the bookstall,, carrying
her small suitcase, she felt tall, healthy, strong, a fine
woman of the world. One or two middle-aged men had
smiled in her direction and several young men had
looked earnestly at her, all of which meant that she was
looking her best. The bookstall offered her an almost
unlimited choice of reading matter, light periodicals,
heavy periodicals, books that were "amazing successes,"'
books that were "very outspoken/' books that were
simply "great bargains." She did not accept any of
them, but the knowledge that they were there somehow
gave her pleasure. It was impossible to resist a holiday
feeling. The sight of all the fussy and bewildered
people, of whom there were an unusually large number,
the people who went rushing up to any man in a rail-
way uniform, who looked in despair at the notice-boards,
who mopped their brows and snapped at one another,
who blankly surveyed great mounds of luggage, who
flitted like uneasy ghosts from one platform entrance to