The final scene, the terrible scene which he believed had mattered
more than anything in the whole of his life (it might be an
exaggeration-but still so it did seem now) happened at three o’clock in
the afternoon of a very hot day. It was a trifle that led up to
it-Sally at lunch saying something about Dalloway, and calling him
"My name is Dalloway"; whereupon Clarissa suddenly stiffened,
coloured, in a way she had, and rapped out sharply, "We’ve had enough
of that feeble joke." That was all; but for him it was precisely as
if she had said, "I’m only amusing myself with you; I’ve an
understanding with Richard Dalloway." So he took it. He had not slept
for nights. "It’s got to be finished one way or the other," he said
to himself. He sent a note to her by Sally asking her to
meet him by the fountain at three.
"Something very important has happened," he scribbled at the end of
it.