- As we return to the world of Virginia Woolf, we find her sitting in the kitchen with her sister, drinking tea.
- As Vanessa chats about domestic matters, Virginia keeps on thinking about her heroine, Clarissa Dalloway. If Clarissa won't die, someone else will—"someone with sorrow and genius enough to turn away from the seductions of the world, its cups and its coats" (13.8).
- Just as Virginia brings herself back to her conversation with Vanessa, the cook, Nelly, returns from her errand to London.
- Nelly is in a foul mood—having been forced to go to into the city for China tea and candied ginger has put her into a funk—but Virginia feels "unaccountably happy" to be sitting in her kitchen with her sister, appreciating life.
- As Nelly turns her back to them, Virginia leans forward and kisses Vanessa happily. Vanessa kisses her back.