- After Vanessa and the children have gone, Virginia watches from the parlor as the sun goes down outside.
- Virginia suddenly decides, half unconsciously, to take a walk. Quickly and quietly, without telling anyone that she's going, she gets dressed and slips out the door.
- As she crosses through the garden, Virginia stops to take another look at the dead bird on its bed of roses and grass. It doesn't seem as beautiful now as it did in the sunny afternoon; now it just looks like a piece of waste that needs to be thrown out.
- In fact, under the evening sky, everything suddenly seems like "rubbish" to Virginia (15.6-7).
- Virginia leaves the garden and heads out into the street, and she soon she decides to head toward the train station. "She will go, she thinks, to London; she will simply go to London, like Nelly on her errand," and, once there, she will simply keep on walking from one street to another (15.11).
- When she gets to the train station, Virginia learns that she will have to wait twenty-three minutes for the next train to London. She considers her plan, imagining how worried Leonard will be if she gets on a train. She could be back home before midnight, but she knows that Leonard "will be insane with worry" while she's gone (15.12).
- Virginia decides to go to London, anyway, and to call Leonard once she's there so that he'll know where she is at least.
- Virginia buys a ticket, then sits on a bench to wait for her train.
- When there are just fifteen minutes left before the train arrives, Virginia decides to take a quick walk around the block to help pass the time.
- As she walks, Virginia suddenly notices Leonard coming towards her. Rather than run away, she decides to walk towards him.
- Virginia doesn't tell Leonard that she nearly got on a train to London. Instead, as they walk back home together, she says: "It's time for us to move back to London, don't you think?" (15.34)
- Realizing how badly Virginia craves the hustle and bustle of the city, Leonard agrees to talk about it as they eat supper at home.