Consider the only scene... «Through the Window»
Oksident17 января 2017Consider the only scene which shows Tietjens and Valentine together, in those final two pages. He returns from Yorkshire carrying ‘a lump of wood’ (it is ‘aromatic’, so presumably a chunk of the Great Tree). Valentine’s greeting consists of a rebuke for his incompetence as an antiques dealer: he has foolishly left some prints in a jar which has now been taken away by someone else. ‘How could you? How could you? How are we going to feed and clothe a child if you do such things?’ She tells him to go off and get the prints back at once. Mark (now speaking again) points out to her that ‘the poor devil’s worn out’. But this appeal has no effect. Then: ‘Heavily, like a dejected bulldog, Christopher made for the gate. As he went up the green path beyond the hedge, Valentine began to sob. “How are we to live? How are we ever to live?” ’
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