THE SEARCHLIGHT, a Short Story by Virginia Woolf

In a world suspended between history and modernity, Mrs. Ivimey gathers guests on a grand balcony overlooking a moonless park, while searchlights slice through the night, dancing like ghostly sentinels across the sky. As she begins a tale that spans centuries, Mrs. Ivimey transports her audience to the remote Yorkshire moors of her ancestors, where her great-grandfather, a solitary boy, once peered through an ancient telescope and witnessed a forbidden scene—a kiss that changed the course of his life. Haunted by questions of love, legacy, and the mysteries of the universe, her story unfolds in fragments, each revelation exposing the fragile boundary between past and present. But as the lights above sweep back and forth, Mrs. Ivimey’s narrative takes on a life of its own, weaving together the dreams of a forgotten youth with the stark realities of the night, until her listeners are left questioning what they have seen—and what remains hidden in the dark.