- Uh oh. This chapter begins with Neville declaring, "He is dead." He says that "his" horse tripped, and "he" was thrown. And Neville is totally devastated. Hmm, wasn't Percival supposed to be riding horses in India (5b.1)?
- After crumpling the telegram delivering the news, Neville imagines the scene of the accident and reflects on the many examples, prior to this point, of the person in question leaving him and then returning. Oh dear, this does sound like Percival. Neville stares out at the street at life continuing, totally oblivious to his grief.
- Neville then contemplates how to go on, noting that he feels profoundly alone. He imagines how the death could have been prevented and says that this dead friend would have "done justice" for another 50 years, had he lived (5b.4).
- Finally, he provides the name of the person who has died: unfortunately, it is Percival. Neville watches a boy almost fall as he boards a bus and then notes that Percival who fell and died. He continues to be stunned.
- Meanwhile, Bernard is torn between feelings of grief over Percival and happiness, as his son has just been born. Like Neville, he reflects on the world going on without Percival.
- Also, he tries to imagine where Percival's body is (and in what condition), and he thinks about Percival more generally. He attempts to process this huge blow and considers how life goes on from here. He also thinks about what remains of Percival, now that he is dead.
- Then, Bernard thinks about daily routines and "sequences," and asserts that he refuses to go along with them right now in the wake of this tragedy (5b.12).
- Bernard now visits a museum, staring at "cold Madonnas" (5b.12). He thinks of Percival, saying that these pictures somehow bring his friend back to him. He contemplates Percival's meaning to him and compares himself to his departed friend.
- Bernard then imagines his own funeral.
- Finally, Bernard is getting tired of being outside of the "machine" of normal routines and sequences, exhausted from being "glutted" with emotion (5b.16). He thinks of the other people who are suffering in the wake of Percival's death, naming Neville in particular.
- However, he doesn't want to be with Neville right now, because he wants to laugh and resume the rhythms of normal life a bit. So he resolves to go visit Jinny and "do penance" for refusing to go to Hampton Court with Percival years ago (5b.16). (No, you didn't miss something—this is the first time this "slight" on Bernard's part has been mentioned.)
- Now we're in Rhoda's perspective, and she's reflecting on her own emotions and observations in the wake of Percival's death (and as is often the case in this novel, they're pretty abstract). She resolves to pick violets, bind them together, and provide them to Percival as an offering.
- Rhoda then asserts that Percival has given her some kind of gift through his death, revealing a "terror" and leaving her to "undergo this humiliation" (5b.20-21). Hmm, doesn't sound much like a gift. Wonder what that means…
- Rhoda offers more reflections on the world around her (which, peppered with words like "impure," "greedy," and "coarse," seem fairly negative) and expresses feelings of solitude (5b.21).
- She goes and buys stockings, asserting that she "could believe that beauty is once more set flowing" (5b.22). Guess she really likes stockings?
- Now she arrives in Oxford Street, observing her surroundings, thinking of her friends, and imagining their reactions to Percival's death.
- Then, she contemplates where to go next, considering a museum or Hampton Court. But instead, she arrives in a music hall and settles into the audience, listening to a woman sing.
- Later, Rhoda reflects on language and its attempts to describe, lamenting the difficulty of determining "the thing that lies beneath the semblance of the thing" (5b.26). She indicates that Percival's death has given her access to this "thing" beneath representations.
- Rhoda thinks some more about Percival, and then notes she's going to take a trip to Greenwich. There, she sees ships about to depart for India (just like Percival's did), and she throws her "offering" of violets into the river.