Perhaps it was the middle of January in the present year that I first looked up and saw the mark[ings] on the wall. In order to fix a date it is necessary to remember what one saw. So now I think of the fire; the steady film of yellow light upon the page of my book; the three chrysanthemums in the round glass bowl on the mantelpiece. Yes, it must have been the winter time, and we had just finished our tea …
 
“The Mark on the Wall”
Virginia Woolf