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The old, eccentric man is accompanied by a younger man, William, whose quiet stoicism provides a distinct contrast to the old man’s character. The elderly man walks with “a curiously uneven and shaky” step, and he talks incessantly and excitedly, with gestures that are “irresolute and pointless.” He seems mad to observers, and he reveals a personal obsession with the spirits of the dead, whom he believes communicate to him their experiences in heaven. He talks about building a machine to help him communicate with the dead, blending superstition with a superficial understanding of science. The horrors of World War I have obviously affected and overwhelmed him, driving him to this obsession, and he now longs to help widows communicate with their late spouses. Despite his obsession and excitement, he is easily distracted from it. As Woolf’s descriptions of him end, his quiet, younger friend simply points at a flower with his walking stick. Within moments, the man’s memories or fantasies overtake him. He bends his ear to the flower, and he “seemed to answer a voice speaking from it.” He murmurs of the forests of Uruguay, mermaids, and women drowned at sea, and William patiently moves him along in the garden.
