Atdtda32: A level of 'reality', 903

[Paul Nightingale]

Dally is unable to "get that deep into" worrying about her apparent betrayal
of Crouchmas, who is again viewed from a distance. Reintroduced on 899 he is
described by Ruperta; by implication the final paragraph on that page offers
his thoughts, "his mouth slightly open", a recollection of her "when they
were small children" that might underline her power over him. 61.4 adopts
Dally's pov ("... being a kept crumpet was not nearly the sordid horror she
might have imagined", 900); and then Lew refers to Crouchmas on 902. The
current section begins with Dally's introspective, and appears to be similar
to the earlier half-page section on 900, one that covers an unspecified
period of time; but then Hunter appears, his lengthy, and articulate, speech
one that silences Dally.

Is this overview a painterly affair? Cf. Hunter's first appearance on 127
and the painting of Constance, or his reappearance in Venice on 575, again
represented by his work (and he will now mention "the Great War everyone
expects imminently to sweep over us", another reminder of Venice on
576-577).

Lew, it seems, has insisted that Dally's "espionage expeditions" aren't
"personally directed against Crouchmas" (903); and her inability to read
documents must distance her from the likely, or possible, consequences for
Crouchmas. Hunter then notes Crouchmas' "simultaneous attachments to England
and Germany", and this passage recalls the ending of the previous section
when, in Lew's account, "Brother Crouchmas" (902) is no more than a
signifier of international relations.

Above the section break, Lew's reference to personal relations within
European royalty ("... the King is the Kaiser's uncle ..." etc, 903) is, in
Weber's typology, a case of the traditional authority currently being
superseded by bureaucracy as represented by Crouchmas. Down the page,
Hunter's reference to "England and Germany" might have worked as an
alternative to "King [and] Kaiser"; but the new "level of 'reality'"
involved follows Lew's own discussion of contemporary capitalism. Lew has
referred to Crouchmas' "personal account", but Dally's "espionage
expeditions" aren't "personally directed against Crouchmas", "the documents"
in question don't single him out significantly.