her,
a
virginity
which
he
could
never
break
,
and
which
dominated
him
as
by
a
spell
.
She
had
let
go
the
outer
world
,
but
within
herself
she
was
unbroken
and
unimpaired
.
She
only
sat
in
her
room
like
a
moping
,
dishevelled
hawk
,
motionless
,
mindless
.
Her
children
,
for
whom
she
had
been
so
fierce
in
her
youth
,
now
meant
scarcely
anything
to
her
.
She
had
lost
all
that
,
she
was
quite
by
herself
.
Only
Gerald
,
the
gleaming
,
had
some
existence
for
her
.
But
of
late
years
,
since
he
had
become
head
of
the
business
,
he
too
was
forgotten
.
Whereas
the
father
,
now
he
was
dying
,
turned
for
compassion
to
Gerald
.
There
had
always
been
opposition
between
the
two
of
them
.
Gerald
had
feared
and
despised
his
father
,
and
to
a
great
extent
had
avoided
him
all
through
boyhood
and
young
manhood
.
And
the
father
had
felt
very
often
a
real
dislike
of
his
eldest
son
,
which
,
never
wanting
to
give
way
to
,
he
had
refused
to
acknowledge
.
He
had
ignored
Gerald
as
much
as
possible
,
leaving
him
alone
.
Since
,
however
,
Gerald
had
come
home
and
assumed
responsibility
in
the
firm
,
and
had
proved
such
a
wonderful
director
,
the
father
,
tired
and
weary
of
all
outside
concerns
,
had
put
all
his
trust
of
these
things
in
his
son
,
implicitly
,
leaving
everything
to
him
,
and
assuming
a
rather
touching
dependence
on
the
young
enemy
.
This
immediately
roused
a
poignant
pity
and
allegiance
in
Gerald’s
heart
,
always
shadowed
by
contempt
and
by
unadmitted
enmity
.
For
Gerald
was
in
reaction
against
Charity
;
and
yet
he
was
dominated
by
it
,
it
assumed
supremacy
in
the
inner
life
,
and
he
could
not
confute
it
.
So
he
was
partly
subject
to
that
which
his
father
stood
for
,
but
he
was
in
reaction
against
it
.
Now
he
could
not
save
himself
.
A
certain
pity
and
grief
and
tenderness
for
his
father
overcame
him
,
in
spite
of
the
deeper
,
more
sullen
hostility
.
The
father
won
shelter
from
Gerald
through
compassion
.
But
for
love
he
had
Winifred
.
She
was
his
youngest
child
,
she
was
the
only
one
of
his
children
whom
he
had
ever
closely
loved
.
And
her
he
loved
with
all
the
great
,
overweening
,
sheltering
love
of
a
dying
man
.
He
wanted
to
shelter
her
infinitely
,
infinitely
,
to
wrap
her
in
warmth
and
love
and
shelter
,
perfectly
.
If
he
could
save
her
she
should
never
know
one
pain
,
one
grief
,
one
hurt
.
He
had
been
so
right
all
his
life
,
so
constant
in
his
kindness
and
his
goodness
.
And
this
was
his
last
passionate
righteousness
,
his
love
for
the
child
Winifred
.
Some
things
troubled
him
yet
.
The
world
had
passed
away
from
him
,
as
his
strength
ebbed
.
There
were
no
more
poor
and
injured
and
humble
to
protect
and
succour
.
These
were
all
lost
to
him
.
There
were
no
more
sons
and
daughters
to
trouble
him
,
and
to
weigh
on
him
as
an
unnatural
responsibility
.
These
too
had
faded
out
of
reality
.
All
these
things
had
fallen
out
of
his
hands
,
and
left
him
free
.
There
remained
the
covert
fear
and
horror
of
his
wife
,
as
she
sat
mindless
and
strange
in
her
room
,
or
as
she
came
forth
with
slow
,
prowling
step
,
her
head
bent
forward
.
But
this
he
put
away
.
Even
his
life-long
righteousness
,
however
,
would
not
quite
deliver
him
from
the
inner
horror
.
Still
,
he
could
keep
it
sufficiently
at
bay
.
It
would
never
break
forth
openly
.
Death
would
come
first
.
Then
there
was
Winifred
!
If
only
he
could
be
sure
about
her
,
if
only
he
could
be
sure
.
Since
the
death
of
Diana
,
and
the
development
of
his
illness
,
his
craving
for
surety
with
regard
to
Winifred
amounted
almost
to
obsession
.
It
was
as
if
,
even
dying
,
he
must
have
some
anxiety
,
some
responsibility
of
love
,
of
Charity
,
upon
his
heart
.
She
was
an
odd
,
sensitive
,
inflammable
child
,
having
her
father’s
dark
hair
and
quiet
bearing
,
but
being
quite
detached
,
momentaneous
.
She
was
like
a
changeling
indeed
,
as
if
her
feelings
did
not
matter
to
her
,
really
.
She
often
seemed
to
be
talking
and
playing
like
the
gayest
and
most
childish
of
children
,
she
was
full
of
the
warmest
,
most
delightful
affection
for
a
few
things
—
for
her
father
,
and
for
her
animals
in
particular
.
But
if
she
heard
that
her
beloved
kitten
Leo
had
been
run
over
by
the
motor-car
she
put
her
head
on
one
side
,
and
replied
,
with
a
faint
contraction
like
resentment
on
her
face
:
“
Has
he
?
”
Then
she
took
no
more
notice
.
She
only
disliked
the
servant
who
would
force
bad
news
on
her
,
and
wanted
her
to
be
sorry
.
She
wished
not
to
know
,
and
that
seemed
her
chief
motive
.
She
avoided
her
mother
,
and
most
of
the
members
of
her
family
.
She
loved
her
Daddy
,
because
he
wanted
her
always
to
be
happy
,
and
because
he
seemed
to
become
young
again
,
and
irresponsible
in
her
presence
.
She
liked
Gerald
,
because
he
was
so
self-contained
.
She
loved
people
who
would
make
life
a
game
for
her
.
She
had
an
amazing
instinctive
critical
faculty
,
and
was
a
pure
anarchist
,
a
pure
aristocrat
at
once
.
For
she
accepted
her
equals
wherever
she
found
them
,
and
she
ignored
with
blithe
indifference
her
inferiors
,
whether
they
were
her
brothers
and
sisters
,
or
whether
they
were
wealthy
guests
of
the
house
,
or
whether
they
were
the
common
people
or
the
servants
.
She
was
quite
single
and
by
herself
,
deriving
from
nobody
.
It
was
as
if
she
were
cut
off
from
all
purpose
or
continuity
,
and
existed
simply
moment
by
moment
.
The
father
,
as
by
some
strange
final
illusion
,
felt
as
if
all
his
fate
depended
on
his
ensuring
to
Winifred
her
happiness
.
She
who
could
never
suffer
,
because
she
never
formed
vital
connections
,
she
who
could
lose
the
dearest
things
of
her
life
and
be
just
the
same
the
next
day
,
the
whole
memory
dropped
out
,
as
if
deliberately
,
she
whose
will
was
so
strangely
and
easily
free
,
anarchistic
,
almost
nihilistic
,
who
like
a
soulless
bird
flits
on
its
own
will
,
without
attachment
or
responsibility
beyond
the
moment
,
who
in
her
every
motion
snapped
the
threads
of
serious
relationship
with
blithe
,
free
hands
,
really
nihilistic
,
because
never
troubled
,
she
must
be
the
object
of
her
father’s
final
passionate
solicitude
.
When
Mr
Crich
heard
that
Gudrun
Brangwen
might
come
to
help
Winifred
with
her
drawing
and
modelling
he
saw
a
road
to
salvation
for
his
child
.
He
believed
that
Winifred
had
talent
,
he
had
seen
Gudrun
,
he
knew
that
she
was
an
exceptional
person
.
He
could
give
Winifred
into
her
hands
as
into
the
hands
of
a
right
being
.
Here
was
a
direction
and
a
positive
force
to
be
lent
to
his
child
,
he
need
not
leave
her
directionless
and
defenceless
.
If
he
could
but
graft
the
girl
on
to
some
tree
of
utterance
before
he
died
,
he
would
have
fulfilled
his
responsibility
.
And
here
it
could
be
done
.
He
did
not
hesitate
to
appeal
to
Gudrun
.
Meanwhile
,
as
the
father
drifted
more
and
more
out
of
life
,
Gerald
experienced
more
and
more
a
sense
of
exposure
.
His
father
after
all
had
stood
for
the
living
world
to
him
.
Whilst
his
father
lived
Gerald
was
not
responsible
for
the
world
.
But
now
his
father
was
passing
away
,
Gerald
found
himself
left
exposed
and
unready
before
the
storm
of
living
,
like
the
mutinous
first
mate
of
a
ship
that
has
lost
his
captain
,
and
who
sees
only
a
terrible
chaos
in
front
of
him
.
He
did
not
inherit
an
established
order
and
a
living
idea
.
The
whole
unifying
idea
of
mankind
seemed
to
be
dying
with
his
father
,
the
centralising
force
that
had
held
the
whole
together
seemed
to
collapse
with
his
father
,
the
parts
were
ready
to
go
asunder
in
terrible
disintegration
.
Gerald
was
as
if
left
on
board
of
a
ship
that
was
going
asunder
beneath
his
feet
,
he
was
in
charge
of
a
vessel
whose
timbers
were
all
coming
apart
.
He
knew
that
all
his
life
he
had
been
wrenching
at
the
frame
of
life
to
break
it
apart
.
And
now
,
with
something
of
the
terror
of
a
destructive
child
,
he
saw
himself
on
the
point
of
inheriting
his
own
destruction
.
And
during
the
last
months
,
under
the
influence
of
death
,
and
of
Birkin’s
talk
,
and
of
Gudrun’s
penetrating
being
,
he
had
lost
entirely
that
mechanical
certainty
that
had
been
his
triumph
.
Sometimes
spasms
of
hatred
came
over
him
,
against
Birkin
and
Gudrun
and
that
whole
set
.
He
wanted
to
go
back
to
the
dullest
conservatism
,
to
the
most
stupid
of
conventional
people
.
He
wanted
to
revert
to
the
strictest
Toryism
.
But
the
desire
did
not
last
long
enough
to
carry
him
into
action
.
During
his
childhood
and
his
boyhood
he
had
wanted
a
sort
of
savagedom
.
The
days
of
Homer
were
his
ideal
,
when
a
man
was
chief
of
an
army
of
heroes
,
or
spent
his
years
in
wonderful
Odyssey
.
He
hated
remorselessly
the
circumstances
of
his
own
life
,
so
much
that
he
never
really
saw
Beldover
and
the
colliery
valley
.
He
turned
his
face
entirely
away
from
the
blackened
mining
region
that
stretched
away
on
the
right
hand
of
Shortlands
,
he
turned
entirely
to
the
country
and
the
woods
beyond
Willey
Water
.
It
was
true
that
the
panting
and
rattling
of
the
coal
mines
could
always
be
heard
at
Shortlands
.
But
from
his
earliest
childhood
,
Gerald
had
paid
no
heed
to
this
.
He
had
ignored
the
whole
of
the
industrial
sea
which
surged
in
coal-blackened
tides
against
the
grounds
of
the
house
.
The
world
was
really
a
wilderness
where
one
hunted
and
swam
and
rode
.
He
rebelled
against
all
authority
.
Life
was
a
condition
of
savage
freedom
.
Then
he
had
been
sent
away
to
school
,
which
was
so
much
death
to
him
.
He
refused
to
go
to
Oxford
,
choosing
a
German
university
.
He
had
spent
a
certain
time
at
Bonn
,
at
Berlin
,
and
at
Frankfurt
.
There
,
a
curiosity
had
been
aroused
in
his
mind
.
He
wanted
to
see
and
to
know
,
in
a
curious
objective
fashion
,
as
if
it
were
an
amusement
to
him
.
Then
he
must
try
war
.
Then
he
must
travel
into
the
savage
regions
that
had
so
attracted
him
.
The
result
was
,
he
found
humanity
very
much
alike
everywhere
,
and
to
a
mind
like
his
,
curious
and
cold
,
the
savage
was
duller
,
less
exciting
than
the
European
.
So
he
took
hold
of
all
kinds
of
sociological
ideas
,
and
ideas
of
reform
.
But
they
never
went
more
than
skin-deep
,
they
were
never
more
than
a
mental
amusement
.
Their
interest
lay
chiefly
in
the
reaction
against
the
positive
order
,
the
destructive
reaction
.
He
discovered
at
last
a
real
adventure
in
the
coal-mines
.
His
father
asked
him
to
help
in
the
firm
.
Gerald
had
been
educated
in
the
science
of
mining
,
and
it
had
never
interested
him
.
Now
,
suddenly
,
with
a
sort
of
exultation
,
he
laid
hold
of
the
world
.
There
was
impressed
photographically
on
his
consciousness
the
great
industry
.
Suddenly
,
it
was
real
,
he
was
part
of
it
.
Down
the
valley
ran
the
colliery
railway
,
linking
mine
with
mine
.
Down
the
railway
ran
the
trains
,
short
trains
of
heavily
laden
trucks
,
long
trains
of
empty
wagons
,
each
one
bearing
in
big
white
letters
the
initials
:
“
C
.
B
.
+
Co.
”
These
white
letters
on
all
the
wagons
he
had
seen
since
his
first
childhood
,
and
it
was
as
if
he
had
never
seen
them
,
they
were
so
familiar
,
and
so
ignored
.
Now
at
last
he
saw
his
own
name
written
on
the
wall
.
Now
he
had
a
vision
of
power
.
So
many
wagons
,
bearing
his
initial
,
running
all
over
the
country
.
He
saw
them
as
he
entered
London
in
the
train
,
he
saw
them
at
Dover
.
So
far
his
power
ramified
.
He
looked
at
Beldover
,
at
Selby
,
at
Whatmore
,
at
Lethley
Bank
,
the
great
colliery
villages
which
depended
entirely
on
his
mines
.
They
were
hideous
and
sordid
,
during
his
childhood
they
had
been
sores
in
his
consciousness
.
And
now
he
saw
them
with
pride
.
Four
raw
new
towns
,
and
many
ugly
industrial
hamlets
were
crowded
under
his
dependence
.
He
saw
the
stream
of
miners
flowing
along
the
causeways
from
the
mines
at
the
end
of
the
afternoon
,
thousands
of
blackened
,
slightly
distorted
human
beings
with
red
mouths
,
all
moving
subjugate
to
his
will
.
He
pushed
slowly
in
his
motor-car
through
the
little
market-top
on
Friday
nights
in
Beldover
,
through
a
solid
mass
of
human
beings
that
were
making
their
purchases
and
doing
their
weekly
spending
.
They
were
all
subordinate
to
him
.
They
were
ugly
and
uncouth
,
but
they
were
his
instruments
.
He
was
the
God
of
the
machine
.
They
made
way
for
his
motor-car
automatically
,
slowly
.
He
did
not
care
whether
they
made
way
with
alacrity
,
or
grudgingly
.
He
did
not
care
what
they
thought
of
him
.
His
vision
had
suddenly
crystallised
.
Suddenly
he
had
conceived
the
pure
instrumentality
of
mankind
.
There
had
been
so
much
humanitarianism
,
so
much
talk
of
sufferings
and
feelings
.
It
was
ridiculous
.
The
sufferings
and
feelings
of
individuals
did
not
matter
in
the
least
.
They
were
mere
conditions
,
like
the
weather
.
What
mattered
was
the
pure
instrumentality
of
the
individual
.
As
a
man
as
of
a
knife
:
does
it
cut
well
?
Nothing
else
mattered
.
Everything
in
the
world
has
its
function
,
and
is
good
or
not
good
in
so
far
as
it
fulfils
this
function
more
or
less
perfectly
.
Was
a
miner
a
good
miner
?
Then
he
was
complete
.
Was
a
manager
a
good
manager
?
That
was
enough
.
Gerald
himself
,
who
was
responsible
for
all
this
industry
,
was
he
a
good
director
?
If
he
were
,
he
had
fulfilled
his
life
.
The
rest
was
by-play
.
The
mines
were
there
,
they
were
old
.
They
were
giving
out
,
it
did
not
pay
to
work
the
seams
.
There
was
talk
of
closing
down
two
of
them
.
It
was
at
this
point
that
Gerald
arrived
on
the
scene
.
He
looked
around
.
There
lay
the
mines
.
They
were
old
,
obsolete
.
They
were
like
old
lions
,
no
more
good
.
He
looked
again
.
Pah
!
the
mines
were
nothing
but
the
clumsy
efforts
of
impure
minds
.
There
they
lay
,
abortions
of
a
half-trained
mind
.
Let
the
idea
of
them
be
swept
away
.
He
cleared
his
brain
of
them
,
and
thought
only
of
the
coal
in
the
under
earth
.
How
much
was
there
?
There
was
plenty
of
coal
.
The
old
workings
could
not
get
at
it
,
that
was
all
.
Then
break
the
neck
of
the
old
workings
.
The
coal
lay
there
in
its
seams
,
even
though
the
seams
were
thin
.
There
it
lay
,
inert
matter
,
as
it
had
always
lain
,
since
the
beginning
of
time
,
subject
to
the
will
of
man
.
The
will
of
man
was
the
determining
factor
.
Man
was
the
archgod
of
earth
.
His
mind
was
obedient
to
serve
his
will
.
Man’s
will
was
the
absolute
,
the
only
absolute
.
And
it
was
his
will
to
subjugate
Matter
to
his
own
ends
.
The
subjugation
itself
was
the
point
,
the
fight
was
the
be-all
,
the
fruits
of
victory
were
mere
results
.
It
was
not
for
the
sake
of
money
that
Gerald
took
over
the
mines
.
He
did
not
care
about
money
,
fundamentally
.
He
was
neither
ostentatious
nor
luxurious
,
neither
did
he
care
about
social
position
,
not
finally
.
What
he
wanted
was
the
pure
fulfilment
of
his
own
will
in
the
struggle
with
the
natural
conditions
.
His
will
was
now
,
to
take
the
coal
out
of
the
earth
,
profitably
.
The
profit
was
merely
the
condition
of
victory
,
but
the
victory
itself
lay
in
the
feat
achieved
.
He
vibrated
with
zest
before
the
challenge
.
Every
day
he
was
in
the
mines
,
examining
,
testing
,
he
consulted
experts
,
he
gradually
gathered
the
whole
situation
into
his
mind
,
as
a
general
grasps
the
plan
of
his
campaign
.
Then
there
was
need
for
a
complete
break
.
The
mines
were
run
on
an
old
system
,
an
obsolete
idea
.
The
initial
idea
had
been
,
to
obtain
as
much
money
from
the
earth
as
would
make
the
owners
comfortably
rich
,
would
allow
the
workmen
sufficient
wages
and
good
conditions
,
and
would
increase
the
wealth
of
the
country
altogether
.
Gerald’s
father
,
following
in
the
second
generation
,
having
a
sufficient
fortune
,
had
thought
only
of
the
men
.
The
mines
,
for
him
,
were
primarily
great
fields
to
produce
bread
and
plenty
for
all
the
hundreds
of
human
beings
gathered
about
them
.
He
had
lived
and
striven
with
his
fellow
owners
to
benefit
the
men
every
time
.
And
the
men
had
been
benefited
in
their
fashion
.
There
were
few
poor
,
and
few
needy
.
All
was
plenty
,
because
the
mines
were
good
and
easy
to
work
.
And
the
miners
,
in
those
days
,
finding
themselves
richer
than
they
might
have
expected
,
felt
glad
and
triumphant
.
They
thought
themselves
well-off
,
they
congratulated
themselves
on
their
good-fortune
,
they
remembered
how
their
fathers
had
starved
and
suffered
,
and
they
felt
that
better
times
had
come
.
They
were
grateful
to
those
others
,
the
pioneers
,
the
new
owners
,
who
had
opened
out
the
pits
,
and
let
forth
this
stream
of
plenty
.
But
man
is
never
satisfied
,
and
so
the
miners
,
from
gratitude
to
their
owners
,
passed
on
to
murmuring
.
Their
sufficiency
decreased
with
knowledge
,
they
wanted
more
.
Why
should
the
master
be
so
out-of-all-proportion
rich
?
There
was
a
crisis
when
Gerald
was
a
boy
,
when
the
Masters’
Federation
closed
down
the
mines
because
the
men
would
not
accept
a
reduction
.
This
lock-out
had
forced
home
the
new
conditions
to
Thomas
Crich
.
Belonging
to
the
Federation
,
he
had
been
compelled
by
his
honour
to
close
the
pits
against
his
men
.
He
,
the
father
,
the
Patriarch
,
was
forced
to
deny
the
means
of
life
to
his
sons
,
his
people
.
He
,
the
rich
man
who
would
hardly
enter
heaven
because
of
his
possessions
,
must
now
turn
upon
the
poor
,
upon
those
who
were
nearer
Christ
than
himself
,
those
who
were
humble
and
despised
and
closer
to
perfection
,
those
who
were
manly
and
noble
in
their
labours
,
and
must
say
to
them
:
“
Ye
shall
neither
labour
nor
eat
bread
.
”
It
was
this
recognition
of
the
state
of
war
which
really
broke
his
heart
.
He
wanted
his
industry
to
be
run
on
love
.
Oh
,
he
wanted
love
to
be
the
directing
power
even
of
the
mines
.
And
now
,
from
under
the
cloak
of
love
,
the
sword
was
cynically
drawn
,
the
sword
of
mechanical
necessity
.
This
really
broke
his
heart
.
He
must
have
the
illusion
and
now
the
illusion
was
destroyed
.
The
men
were
not
against
him
,
but
they
were
against
the
masters
.
It
was
war
,
and
willy
nilly
he
found
himself
on
the
wrong
side
,
in
his
own
conscience
.
Seething
masses
of
miners
met
daily
,
carried
away
by
a
new
religious
impulse
.
The
idea
flew
through
them
:
“
All
men
are
equal
on
earth
,
”
and
they
would
carry
the
idea
to
its
material
fulfilment
.
After
all
,
is
it
not
the
teaching
of
Christ
?
And
what
is
an
idea
,
if
not
the
germ
of
action
in
the
material
world
.
“
All
men
are
equal
in
spirit
,
they
are
all
sons
of
God
.
Whence
then
this
obvious
disquality
?
”
It
was
a
religious
creed
pushed
to
its
material
conclusion
.
Thomas
Crich
at
least
had
no
answer
.
He
could
but
admit
,
according
to
his
sincere
tenets
,
that
the
disquality
was
wrong
.
But
he
could
not
give
up
his
goods
,
which
were
the
stuff
of
disquality
.
So
the
men
would
fight
for
their
rights
.
The
last
impulses
of
the
last
religious
passion
left
on
earth
,
the
passion
for
equality
,
inspired
them
.
Seething
mobs
of
men
marched
about
,
their
faces
lighted
up
as
for
holy
war
,
with
a
smoke
of
cupidity
.
How
disentangle
the
passion
for
equality
from
the
passion
of
cupidity
,
when
begins
the
fight
for
equality
of
possessions
?
But
the
God
was
the
machine
.
Each
man
claimed
equality
in
the
Godhead
of
the
great
productive
machine
.
Every
man
equally
was
part
of
this
Godhead
.
But
somehow
,
somewhere
,
Thomas
Crich
knew
this
was
false
.
When
the
machine
is
the
Godhead
,
and
production
or
work
is
worship
,
then
the
most
mechanical
mind
is
purest
and
highest
,
the
representative
of
God
on
earth
.
And
the
rest
are
subordinate
,
each
according
to
his
degree
.
Riots
broke
out
,
Whatmore
pit-head
was
in
flames
.
This
was
the
pit
furthest
in
the
country
,
near
the
woods
.
Soldiers
came
.
From
the
windows
of
Shortlands
,
on
that
fatal
day
,
could
be
seen
the
flare
of
fire
in
the
sky
not
far
off
,
and
now
the
little
colliery
train
,
with
the
workmen’s
carriages
which
were
used
to
convey
the
miners
to
the
distant
Whatmore
,
was
crossing
the
valley
full
of
soldiers
,
full
of
redcoats
.
Then
there
was
the
far-off
sound
of
firing
,
then
the
later
news
that
the
mob
was
dispersed
,
one
man
was
shot
dead
,
the
fire
was
put
out
.
Gerald
,
who
was
a
boy
,
was
filled
with
the
wildest
excitement
and
delight
.
He
longed
to
go
with
the
soldiers
to
shoot
the
men
.
But
he
was
not
allowed
to
go
out
of
the
lodge
gates
.
At
the
gates
were
stationed
sentries
with
guns
.
Gerald
stood
near
them
in
delight
,
whilst
gangs
of
derisive
miners
strolled
up
and
down
the
lanes
,
calling
and
jeering
:
“
Now
then
,
three
ha’porth
o’
coppers
,
let’s
see
thee
shoot
thy
gun
.
”
Insults
were
chalked
on
the
walls
and
the
fences
,
the
servants
left
.
And
all
this
while
Thomas
Crich
was
breaking
his
heart
,
and
giving
away
hundreds
of
pounds
in
charity
.
Everywhere
there
was
free
food
,
a
surfeit
of
free
food
.
Anybody
could
have
bread
for
asking
,
and
a
loaf
cost
only
three-ha’pence
.
Every
day
there
was
a
free
tea
somewhere
,
the
children
had
never
had
so
many
treats
in
their
lives
.
On
Friday
afternoon
great
basketfuls
of
buns
and
cakes
were
taken
into
the
schools
,
and
great
pitchers
of
milk
,
the
schoolchildren
had
what
they
wanted
.
They
were
sick
with
eating
too
much
cake
and
milk
.
And
then
it
came
to
an
end
,
and
the
men
went
back
to
work
.
But
it
was
never
the
same
as
before
.
There
was
a
new
situation
created
,
a
new
idea
reigned
.
Even
in
the
machine
,
there
should
be
equality
.
No
part
should
be
subordinate
to
any
other
part
:
all
should
be
equal
.
The
instinct
for
chaos
had
entered
.
Mystic
equality
lies
in
abstraction
,
not
in
having
or
in
doing
,
which
are
processes
.
In
function
and
process
,
one
man
,
one
part
,
must
of
necessity
be
subordinate
to
another
.
It
is
a
condition
of
being
.
But
the
desire
for
chaos
had
risen
,
and
the
idea
of
mechanical
equality
was
the
weapon
of
disruption
which
should
execute
the
will
of
man
,
the
will
for
chaos
.
Gerald
was
a
boy
at
the
time
of
the
strike
,
but
he
longed
to
be
a
man
,
to
fight
the
colliers
.
The
father
however
was
trapped
between
two
half-truths
,
and
broken
.
He
wanted
to
be
a
pure
Christian
,
one
and
equal
with
all
men
.
He
even
wanted
to
give
away
all
he
had
,
to
the
poor
.
Yet
he
was
a
great
promoter
of
industry
,
and
he
knew
perfectly
that
he
must
keep
his
goods
and
keep
his
authority
.
This
was
as
divine
a
necessity
in
him
,
as
the
need
to
give
away
all
he
possessed
—
more
divine
,
even
,
since
this
was
the
necessity
he
acted
upon
.
Yet
because
he
did
not
act
on
the
other
ideal
,
it
dominated
him
,
he
was
dying
of
chagrin
because
he
must
forfeit
it
.
He
wanted
to
be
a
father
of
loving
kindness
and
sacrificial
benevolence
.
The
colliers
shouted
to
him
about
his
thousands
a
year
.
They
would
not
be
deceived
.
When
Gerald
grew
up
in
the
ways
of
the
world
,
he
shifted
the
position
.
He
did
not
care
about
the
equality
.
The
whole
Christian
attitude
of
love
and
self-sacrifice
was
old
hat
.
He
knew
that
position
and
authority
were
the
right
thing
in
the
world
,
and
it
was
useless
to
cant
about
it
.
They
were
the
right
thing
,
for
the
simple
reason
that
they
were
functionally
necessary
.
They
were
not
the
be-all
and
the
end-all
.
It
was
like
being
part
of
a
machine
.
He
himself
happened
to
be
a
controlling
,
central
part
,
the
masses
of
men
were
the
parts
variously
controlled
.
This
was
merely
as
it
happened
.
As
well
get
excited
because
a
central
hub
drives
a
hundred
outer
wheels
or
because
the
whole
universe
wheels
round
the
sun
.
After
all
,
it
would
be
mere
silliness
to
say
that
the
moon
and
the
earth
and
Saturn
and
Jupiter
and
Venus
have
just
as
much
right
to
be
the
centre
of
the
universe
,
each
of
them
separately
,
as
the
sun
.
Such
an
assertion
is
made
merely
in
the
desire
of
chaos
.
Without
bothering
to
think
to
a
conclusion
,
Gerald
jumped
to
a
conclusion
.
He
abandoned
the
whole
democratic-equality
problem
as
a
problem
of
silliness
.
What
mattered
was
the
great
social
productive
machine
.
Let
that
work
perfectly
,
let
it
produce
a
sufficiency
of
everything
,
let
every
man
be
given
a
rational
portion
,
greater
or
less
according
to
his
functional
degree
or
magnitude
,
and
then
,
provision
made
,
let
the
devil
supervene
,
let
every
man
look
after
his
own
amusements
and
appetites
,
so
long
as
he
interfered
with
nobody
.
So
Gerald
set
himself
to
work
,
to
put
the
great
industry
in
order
.
In
his
travels
,
and
in
his
accompanying
readings
,
he
had
come
to
the
conclusion
that
the
essential
secret
of
life
was
harmony
.
He
did
not
define
to
himself
at
all
clearly
what
harmony
was
.
The
word
pleased
him
,
he
felt
he
had
come
to
his
own
conclusions
.
And
he
proceeded
to
put
his
philosophy
into
practice
by
forcing
order
into
the
established
world
,
translating
the
mystic
word
harmony
into
the
practical
word
organisation
.
Immediately
he
saw
the
firm
,
he
realised
what
he
could
do
.
He
had
a
fight
to
fight
with
Matter
,
with
the
earth
and
the
coal
it
enclosed
.
This
was
the
sole
idea
,
to
turn
upon
the
inanimate
matter
of
the
underground
,
and
reduce
it
to
his
will
.
And
for
this
fight
with
matter
,
one
must
have
perfect
instruments
in
perfect
organisation
,
a
mechanism
so
subtle
and
harmonious
in
its
workings
that
it
represents
the
single
mind
of
man
,
and
by
its
relentless
repetition
of
given
movement
,
will
accomplish
a
purpose
irresistibly
,
inhumanly
.
It
was
this
inhuman
principle
in
the
mechanism
he
wanted
to
construct
that
inspired
Gerald
with
an
almost
religious
exaltation
.
He
,
the
man
,
could
interpose
a
perfect
,
changeless
,
godlike
medium
between
himself
and
the
Matter
he
had
to
subjugate
.
There
were
two
opposites
,
his
will
and
the
resistant
Matter
of
the
earth
.
And
between
these
he
could
establish
the
very
expression
of
his
will
,
the
incarnation
of
his
power
,
a
great
and
perfect
machine
,
a
system
,
an
activity
of
pure
order
,
pure
mechanical
repetition
,
repetition
ad
infinitum
,
hence
eternal
and
infinite
.
He
found
his
eternal
and
his
infinite
in
the
pure
machine-principle
of
perfect
co-ordination
into
one
pure
,
complex
,
infinitely
repeated
motion
,
like
the
spinning
of
a
wheel
;
but
a
productive
spinning
,
as
the
revolving
of
the
universe
may
be
called
a
productive
spinning
,
a
productive
repetition
through
eternity
,
to
infinity
.
And
this
is
the
God-motion
,
this
productive
repetition
ad
infinitum
.
And
Gerald
was
the
God
of
the
machine
,
Deus
ex
Machina
.
And
the
whole
productive
will
of
man
was
the
Godhead
.
He
had
his
life-work
now
,
to
extend
over
the
earth
a
great
and
perfect
system
in
which
the
will
of
man
ran
smooth
and
unthwarted
,
timeless
,
a
Godhead
in
process
.
He
had
to
begin
with
the
mines
.
The
terms
were
given
:
first
the
resistant
Matter
of
the
underground
;
then
the
instruments
of
its
subjugation
,
instruments
human
and
metallic
;
and
finally
his
own
pure
will
,
his
own
mind
.
It
would
need
a
marvellous
adjustment
of
myriad
instruments
,
human
,
animal
,
metallic
,
kinetic
,
dynamic
,
a
marvellous
casting
of
myriad
tiny
wholes
into
one
great
perfect
entirety
.
And
then
,
in
this
case
there
was
perfection
attained
,
the
will
of
the
highest
was
perfectly
fulfilled
,
the
will
of
mankind
was
perfectly
enacted
;
for
was
not
mankind
mystically
contra-distinguished
against
inanimate
Matter
,
was
not
the
history
of
mankind
just
the
history
of
the
conquest
of
the
one
by
the
other
?
The
miners
were
overreached
.
While
they
were
still
in
the
toils
of
divine
equality
of
man
,
Gerald
had
passed
on
,
granted
essentially
their
case
,
and
proceeded
in
his
quality
of
human
being
to
fulfil
the
will
of
mankind
as
a
whole
.
He
merely
represented
the
miners
in
a
higher
sense
when
he
perceived
that
the
only
way
to
fulfil
perfectly
the
will
of
man
was
to
establish
the
perfect
,
inhuman
machine
.
But
he
represented
them
very
essentially
,
they
were
far
behind
,
out
of
date
,
squabbling
for
their
material
equality
.
The
desire
had
already
transmuted
into
this
new
and
greater
desire
,
for
a
perfect
intervening
mechanism
between
man
and
Matter
,
the
desire
to
translate
the
Godhead
into
pure
mechanism
.
As
soon
as
Gerald
entered
the
firm
,
the
convulsion
of
death
ran
through
the
old
system
.
He
had
all
his
life
been
tortured
by
a
furious
and
destructive
demon
,
which
possessed
him
sometimes
like
an
insanity
.
This
temper
now
entered
like
a
virus
into
the
firm
,
and
there
were
cruel
eruptions
.
Terrible
and
inhuman
were
his
examinations
into
every
detail
;
there
was
no
privacy
he
would
spare
,
no
old
sentiment
but
he
would
turn
it
over
.
The
old
grey
managers
,
the
old
grey
clerks
,
the
doddering
old
pensioners
,
he
looked
at
them
,
and
removed
them
as
so
much
lumber
.
The
whole
concern
seemed
like
a
hospital
of
invalid
employees
.
He
had
no
emotional
qualms
.
He
arranged
what
pensions
were
necessary
,
he
looked
for
efficient
substitutes
,
and
when
these
were
found
,
he
substituted
them
for
the
old
hands
.
“
I’ve
a
pitiful
letter
here
from
Letherington
,
”
his
father
would
say
,
in
a
tone
of
deprecation
and
appeal
.
“
Don’t
you
think
the
poor
fellow
might
keep
on
a
little
longer
.
I
always
fancied
he
did
very
well
.
”
“
I’ve
got
a
man
in
his
place
now
,
father
.
He’ll
be
happier
out
of
it
,
believe
me
.
You
think
his
allowance
is
plenty
,
don’t
you
?
”
“
It
is
not
the
allowance
that
he
wants
,
poor
man
.
He
feels
it
very
much
,
that
he
is
superannuated
.
Says
he
thought
he
had
twenty
more
years
of
work
in
him
yet
.
”
“
Not
of
this
kind
of
work
I
want
.
He
doesn’t
understand
.
”
The
father
sighed
.
He
wanted
not
to
know
any
more
.
He
believed
the
pits
would
have
to
be
overhauled
if
they
were
to
go
on
working
.
And
after
all
,
it
would
be
worst
in
the
long
run
for
everybody
,
if
they
must
close
down
.
So
he
could
make
no
answer
to
the
appeals
of
his
old
and
trusty
servants
,
he
could
only
repeat
“
Gerald
says
.
”
So
the
father
drew
more
and
more
out
of
the
light
.
The
whole
frame
of
the
real
life
was
broken
for
him
.
He
had
been
right
according
to
his
lights
.
And
his
lights
had
been
those
of
the
great
religion
.
Yet
they
seemed
to
have
become
obsolete
,
to
be
superseded
in
the
world
.
He
could
not
understand
.
He
only
withdrew
with
his
lights
into
an
inner
room
,
into
the
silence
.
The
beautiful
candles
of
belief
,
that
would
not
do
to
light
the
world
any
more
,
they
would
still
burn
sweetly
and
sufficiently
in
the
inner
room
of
his
soul
,
and
in
the
silence
of
his
retirement
.
Gerald
rushed
into
the
reform
of
the
firm
,
beginning
with
the
office
.
It
was
needful
to
economise
severely
,
to
make
possible
the
great
alterations
he
must
introduce
.
“
What
are
these
widows’
coals
?
”
he
asked
.
“
We
have
always
allowed
all
widows
of
men
who
worked
for
the
firm
a
load
of
coals
every
three
months
.
”
“
They
must
pay
cost
price
henceforward
.
The
firm
is
not
a
charity
institution
,
as
everybody
seems
to
think
.
”
Widows
,
these
stock
figures
of
sentimental
humanitarianism
,
he
felt
a
dislike
at
the
thought
of
them
.
They
were
almost
repulsive
.
Why
were
they
not
immolated
on
the
pyre
of
the
husband
,
like
the
sati
in
India
?
At
any
rate
,
let
them
pay
the
cost
of
their
coals
.
In
a
thousand
ways
he
cut
down
the
expenditure
,
in
ways
so
fine
as
to
be
hardly
noticeable
to
the
men
.
The
miners
must
pay
for
the
cartage
of
their
coals
,
heavy
cartage
too
;
they
must
pay
for
their
tools
,
for
the
sharpening
,
for
the
care
of
lamps
,
for
the
many
trifling
things
that
made
the
bill
of
charges
against
every
man
mount
up
to
a
shilling
or
so
in
the
week
.
It
was
not
grasped
very
definitely
by
the
miners
,
though
they
were
sore
enough
.
But
it
saved
hundreds
of
pounds
every
week
for
the
firm
.
Gradually
Gerald
got
hold
of
everything
.
And
then
began
the
great
reform
.
Expert
engineers
were
introduced
in
every
department
.
An
enormous
electric
plant
was
installed
,
both
for
lighting
and
for
haulage
underground
,
and
for
power
.
The
electricity
was
carried
into
every
mine
.
New
machinery
was
brought
from
America
,
such
as
the
miners
had
never
seen
before
,
great
iron
men
,
as
the
cutting
machines
were
called
,
and
unusual
appliances
.
The
working
of
the
pits
was
thoroughly
changed
,
all
the
control
was
taken
out
of
the
hands
of
the
miners
,
the
butty
system
was
abolished
.
Everything
was
run
on
the
most
accurate
and
delicate
scientific
method
,
educated
and
expert
men
were
in
control
everywhere
,
the
miners
were
reduced
to
mere
mechanical
instruments
.
They
had
to
work
hard
,
much
harder
than
before
,
the
work
was
terrible
and
heart-breaking
in
its
mechanicalness
.
But
they
submitted
to
it
all
.
The
joy
went
out
of
their
lives
,
the
hope
seemed
to
perish
as
they
became
more
and
more
mechanised
.
And
yet
they
accepted
the
new
conditions
.
They
even
got
a
further
satisfaction
out
of
them
.
At
first
they
hated
Gerald
Crich
,
they
swore
to
do
something
to
him
,
to
murder
him
.
But
as
time
went
on
,
they
accepted
everything
with
some
fatal
satisfaction
.
Gerald
was
their
high
priest
,
he
represented
the
religion
they
really
felt
.
His
father
was
forgotten
already
.
There
was
a
new
world
,
a
new
order
,
strict
,
terrible
,
inhuman
,
but
satisfying
in
its
very
destructiveness
.
The
men
were
satisfied
to
belong
to
the
great
and
wonderful
machine
,
even
whilst
it
destroyed
them
.
It
was
what
they
wanted
.
It
was
the
highest
that
man
had
produced
,
the
most
wonderful
and
superhuman
.
They
were
exalted
by
belonging
to
this
great
and
superhuman
system
which
was
beyond
feeling
or
reason
,
something
really
godlike
.
Their
hearts
died
within
them
,
but
their
souls
were
satisfied
.
It
was
what
they
wanted
.
Otherwise
Gerald
could
never
have
done
what
he
did
.
He
was
just
ahead
of
them
in
giving
them
what
they
wanted
,
this
participation
in
a
great
and
perfect
system
that
subjected
life
to
pure
mathematical
principles
.
This
was
a
sort
of
freedom
,
the
sort
they
really
wanted
.
It
was
the
first
great
step
in
undoing
,
the
first
great
phase
of
chaos
,
the
substitution
of
the
mechanical
principle
for
the
organic
,
the
destruction
of
the
organic
purpose
,
the
organic
unity
,
and
the
subordination
of
every
organic
unit
to
the
great
mechanical
purpose
.
It
was
pure
organic
disintegration
and
pure
mechanical
organisation
.
This
is
the
first
and
finest
state
of
chaos
.
Gerald
was
satisfied
.
He
knew
the
colliers
said
they
hated
him
.
But
he
had
long
ceased
to
hate
them
.
When
they
streamed
past
him
at
evening
,
their
heavy
boots
slurring
on
the
pavement
wearily
,
their
shoulders
slightly
distorted
,
they
took
no
notice
of
him
,
they
gave
him
no
greeting
whatever
,
they
passed
in
a
grey-black
stream
of
unemotional
acceptance
.
They
were
not
important
to
him
,
save
as
instruments
,
nor
he
to
them
,
save
as
a
supreme
instrument
of
control
.
As
miners
they
had
their
being
,
he
had
his
being
as
director
.
He
admired
their
qualities
.
But
as
men
,
personalities
,
they
were
just
accidents
,
sporadic
little
unimportant
phenomena
.
And
tacitly
,
the
men
agreed
to
this
.
For
Gerald
agreed
to
it
in
himself
.
He
had
succeeded
.
He
had
converted
the
industry
into
a
new
and
terrible
purity
.
There
was
a
greater
output
of
coal
than
ever
,
the
wonderful
and
delicate
system
ran
almost
perfectly
.
He
had
a
set
of
really
clever
engineers
,
both
mining
and
electrical
,
and
they
did
not
cost
much
.
A
highly
educated
man
cost
very
little
more
than
a
workman
.
His
managers
,
who
were
all
rare
men
,
were
no
more
expensive
than
the
old
bungling
fools
of
his
father’s
days
,
who
were
merely
colliers
promoted
.
His
chief
manager
,
who
had
twelve
hundred
a
year
,
saved
the
firm
at
least
five
thousand
.
The
whole
system
was
now
so
perfect
that
Gerald
was
hardly
necessary
any
more
.
It
was
so
perfect
that
sometimes
a
strange
fear
came
over
him
,
and
he
did
not
know
what
to
do
.
He
went
on
for
some
years
in
a
sort
of
trance
of
activity
.
What
he
was
doing
seemed
supreme
,
he
was
almost
like
a
divinity
.
He
was
a
pure
and
exalted
activity
.
But
now
he
had
succeeded
—
he
had
finally
succeeded
.
And
once
or
twice
lately
,
when
he
was
alone
in
the
evening
and
had
nothing
to
do
,
he
had
suddenly
stood
up
in
terror
,
not
knowing
what
he
was
.
And
he
went
to
the
mirror
and
looked
long
and
closely
at
his
own
face
,
at
his
own
eyes
,
seeking
for
something
.
He
was
afraid
,
in
mortal
dry
fear
,
but
he
knew
not
what
of
.
He
looked
at
his
own
face
.
There
it
was
,
shapely
and
healthy
and
the
same
as
ever
,
yet
somehow
,
it
was
not
real
,
it
was
a
mask
.
He
dared
not
touch
it
,
for
fear
it
should
prove
to
be
only
a
composition
mask
.
His
eyes
were
blue
and
keen
as
ever
,
and
as
firm
in
their
sockets
.
Yet
he
was
not
sure
that
they
were
not
blue
false
bubbles
that
would
burst
in
a
moment
and
leave
clear
annihilation
.
He
could
see
the
darkness
in
them
,
as
if
they
were
only
bubbles
of
darkness
.
He
was
afraid
that
one
day
he
would
break
down
and
be
a
purely
meaningless
babble
lapping
round
a
darkness
.
But
his
will
yet
held
good
,
he
was
able
to
go
away
and
read
,
and
think
about
things
.
He
liked
to
read
books
about
the
primitive
man
,
books
of
anthropology
,
and
also
works
of
speculative
philosophy
.
His
mind
was
very
active
.
But
it
was
like
a
bubble
floating
in
the
darkness
.
At
any
moment
it
might
burst
and
leave
him
in
chaos
.
He
would
not
die
.
He
knew
that
.
He
would
go
on
living
,
but
the
meaning
would
have
collapsed
out
of
him
,
his
divine
reason
would
be
gone
.
In
a
strangely
indifferent
,
sterile
way
,
he
was
frightened
.
But
he
could
not
react
even
to
the
fear
.
It
was
as
if
his
centres
of
feeling
were
drying
up
.
He
remained
calm
,
calculative
and
healthy
,
and
quite
freely
deliberate
,
even
whilst
he
felt
,
with
faint
,
small
but
final
sterile
horror
,
that
his
mystic
reason
was
breaking
,
giving
way
now
,
at
this
crisis
.
And
it
was
a
strain
.
He
knew
there
was
no
equilibrium
.
He
would
have
to
go
in
some
direction
,
shortly
,
to
find
relief
.
Only
Birkin
kept
the
fear
definitely
off
him
,
saved
him
his
quick
sufficiency
in
life
,
by
the
odd
mobility
and
changeableness
which
seemed
to
contain
the
quintessence
of
faith
.
But
then
Gerald
must
always
come
away
from
Birkin
,
as
from
a
Church
service
,
back
to
the
outside
real
world
of
work
and
life
.
There
it
was
,
it
did
not
alter
,
and
words
were
futilities
.
He
had
to
keep
himself
in
reckoning
with
the
world
of
work
and
material
life
.
And
it
became
more
and
more
difficult
,
such
a
strange
pressure
was
upon
him
,
as
if
the
very
middle
of
him
were
a
vacuum
,
and
outside
were
an
awful
tension
.
He
had
found
his
most
satisfactory
relief
in
women
.
After
a
debauch
with
some
desperate
woman
,
he
went
on
quite
easy
and
forgetful
.
The
devil
of
it
was
,
it
was
so
hard
to
keep
up
his
interest
in
women
nowadays
.
He
didn’t
care
about
them
any
more
.
A
Pussum
was
all
right
in
her
way
,
but
she
was
an
exceptional
case
,
and
even
she
mattered
extremely
little
.
No
,
women
,
in
that
sense
,
were
useless
to
him
any
more
.
He
felt
that
his
mind
needed
acute
stimulation
,
before
he
could
be
physically
roused
.
CHAPTER
XVIII
.
RABBIT
Gudrun
knew
that
it
was
a
critical
thing
for
her
to
go
to
Shortlands
.
She
knew
it
was
equivalent
to
accepting
Gerald
Crich
as
a
lover
.
And
though
she
hung
back
,
disliking
the
condition
,
yet
she
knew
she
would
go
on
.
She
equivocated
.
She
said
to
herself
,
in
torment
recalling
the
blow
and
the
kiss
,
“
after
all
,
what
is
it
?
What
is
a
kiss
?
What
even
is
a
blow
?
It
is
an
instant
,
vanished
at
once
.
I
can
go
to
Shortlands
just
for
a
time
,
before
I
go
away
,
if
only
to
see
what
it
is
like
.
”
For
she
had
an
insatiable
curiosity
to
see
and
to
know
everything
.
She
also
wanted
to
know
what
Winifred
was
really
like
.
Having
heard
the
child
calling
from
the
steamer
in
the
night
,
she
felt
some
mysterious
connection
with
her
.
Gudrun
talked
with
the
father
in
the
library
.
Then
he
sent
for
his
daughter
.
She
came
accompanied
by
Mademoiselle
.
“
Winnie
,
this
is
Miss
Brangwen
,
who
will
be
so
kind
as
to
help
you
with
your
drawing
and
making
models
of
your
animals
,
”
said
the
father
.
The
child
looked
at
Gudrun
for
a
moment
with
interest
,
before
she
came
forward
and
with
face
averted
offered
her
hand
.
There
was
a
complete
sang-froid
and
indifference
under
Winifred’s
childish
reserve
,
a
certain
irresponsible
callousness
.
“
How
do
you
do
?
”
said
the
child
,
not
lifting
her
face
.
“
How
do
you
do
?
”
said
Gudrun
.
Then
Winifred
stood
aside
,
and
Gudrun
was
introduced
to
Mademoiselle
.
“
You
have
a
fine
day
for
your
walk
,
”
said
Mademoiselle
,
in
a
bright
manner
.
“
Quite
fine
,
”
said
Gudrun
.
Winifred
was
watching
from
her
distance
.
She
was
as
if
amused
,
but
rather
unsure
as
yet
what
this
new
person
was
like
.
She
saw
so
many
new
persons
,
and
so
few
who
became
real
to
her
.
Mademoiselle
was
of
no
count
whatever
,
the
child
merely
put
up
with
her
,
calmly
and
easily
,
accepting
her
little
authority
with
faint
scorn
,
compliant
out
of
childish
arrogance
of
indifference
.
“
Well
,
Winifred
,
”
said
the
father
,
“
aren’t
you
glad
Miss
Brangwen
has
come
?
She
makes
animals
and
birds
in
wood
and
in
clay
,
that
the
people
in
London
write
about
in
the
papers
,
praising
them
to
the
skies
.
”
Winifred
smiled
slightly
.
“
Who
told
you
,
Daddie
?
”
she
asked
.
“
Who
told
me
?
Hermione
told
me
,
and
Rupert
Birkin
.
”
“
Do
you
know
them
?
”
Winifred
asked
of
Gudrun
,
turning
to
her
with
faint
challenge
.
“
Yes
,
”
said
Gudrun
.
Winifred
readjusted
herself
a
little
.
She
had
been
ready
to
accept
Gudrun
as
a
sort
of
servant
.
Now
she
saw
it
was
on
terms
of
friendship
they
were
intended
to
meet
.
She
was
rather
glad
.
She
had
so
many
half
inferiors
,
whom
she
tolerated
with
perfect
good-humour
.
Gudrun
was
very
calm
.
She
also
did
not
take
these
things
very
seriously
.
A
new
occasion
was
mostly
spectacular
to
her
.
However
,
Winifred
was
a
detached
,
ironic
child
,
she
would
never
attach
herself
.
Gudrun
liked
her
and
was
intrigued
by
her
.
The
first
meetings
went
off
with
a
certain
humiliating
clumsiness
.
Neither
Winifred
nor
her
instructress
had
any
social
grace
.
Soon
,
however
,
they
met
in
a
kind
of
make-belief
world
.
Winifred
did
not
notice
human
beings
unless
they
were
like
herself
,
playful
and
slightly
mocking
.
She
would
accept
nothing
but
the
world
of
amusement
,
and
the
serious
people
of
her
life
were
the
animals
she
had
for
pets
.
On
those
she
lavished
,
almost
ironically
,
her
affection
and
her
companionship
.
To
the
rest
of
the
human
scheme
she
submitted
with
a
faint
bored
indifference
.
She
had
a
pekinese
dog
called
Looloo
,
which
she
loved
.
“
Let
us
draw
Looloo
,
”
said
Gudrun
,
“
and
see
if
we
can
get
his
Looliness
,
shall
we
?
”
“
Darling
!
”
cried
Winifred
,
rushing
to
the
dog
,
that
sat
with
contemplative
sadness
on
the
hearth
,
and
kissing
its
bulging
brow
.
“
Darling
one
,
will
you
be
drawn
?
Shall
its
mummy
draw
its
portrait
?
”
Then
she
chuckled
gleefully
,
and
turning
to
Gudrun
,
said
:
“
Oh
let’s
!
”
They
proceeded
to
get
pencils
and
paper
,
and
were
ready
.
“
Beautifullest
,
”
cried
Winifred
,
hugging
the
dog
,
“
sit
still
while
its
mummy
draws
its
beautiful
portrait
.
”
The
dog
looked
up
at
her
with
grievous
resignation
in
its
large
,
prominent
eyes
.
She
kissed
it
fervently
,
and
said
:
“
I
wonder
what
mine
will
be
like
.
It’s
sure
to
be
awful
.
”
As
she
sketched
she
chuckled
to
herself
,
and
cried
out
at
times
:
“
Oh
darling
,
you’re
so
beautiful
!
”
And
again
chuckling
,
she
rushed
to
embrace
the
dog
,
in
penitence
,
as
if
she
were
doing
him
some
subtle
injury
.
He
sat
all
the
time
with
the
resignation
and
fretfulness
of
ages
on
his
dark
velvety
face
.
She
drew
slowly
,
with
a
wicked
concentration
in
her
eyes
,
her
head
on
one
side
,
an
intense
stillness
over
her
.
She
was
as
if
working
the
spell
of
some
enchantment
.
Suddenly
she
had
finished
.
She
looked
at
the
dog
,
and
then
at
her
drawing
,
and
then
cried
,
with
real
grief
for
the
dog
,
and
at
the
same
time
with
a
wicked
exultation
:
“
My
beautiful
,
why
did
they
?
”
She
took
her
paper
to
the
dog
,
and
held
it
under
his
nose
.
He
turned
his
head
aside
as
in
chagrin
and
mortification
,
and
she
impulsively
kissed
his
velvety
bulging
forehead
.
“
’s
a
Loolie
,
’s
a
little
Loozie
!
Look
at
his
portrait
,
darling
,
look
at
his
portrait
,
that
his
mother
has
done
of
him
.
”
She
looked
at
her
paper
and
chuckled
.
Then
,
kissing
the
dog
once
more
,
she
rose
and
came
gravely
to
Gudrun
,
offering
her
the
paper
.
It
was
a
grotesque
little
diagram
of
a
grotesque
little
animal
,
so
wicked
and
so
comical
,
a
slow
smile
came
over
Gudrun’s
face
,
unconsciously
.
And
at
her
side
Winifred
chuckled
with
glee
,
and
said
:
“
It
isn’t
like
him
,
is
it
?
He’s
much
lovelier
than
that
.
He’s
so
beautiful-mmm
,
Looloo
,
my
sweet
darling
.
”
And
she
flew
off
to
embrace
the
chagrined
little
dog
.
He
looked
up
at
her
with
reproachful
,
saturnine
eyes
,
vanquished
in
his
extreme
agedness
of
being
.
Then
she
flew
back
to
her
drawing
,
and
chuckled
with
satisfaction
.
“
It
isn’t
like
him
,
is
it
?
”
she
said
to
Gudrun
.
“
Yes
,
it’s
very
like
him
,
”
Gudrun
replied
.
The
child
treasured
her
drawing
,
carried
it
about
with
her
,
and
showed
it
,
with
a
silent
embarrassment
,
to
everybody
.
“
Look
,
”
she
said
,
thrusting
the
paper
into
her
father’s
hand
.
“
Why
that’s
Looloo
!
”
he
exclaimed
.
And
he
looked
down
in
surprise
,
hearing
the
almost
inhuman
chuckle
of
the
child
at
his
side
.
Gerald
was
away
from
home
when
Gudrun
first
came
to
Shortlands
.
But
the
first
morning
he
came
back
he
watched
for
her
.
It
was
a
sunny
,
soft
morning
,
and
he
lingered
in
the
garden
paths
,
looking
at
the
flowers
that
had
come
out
during
his
absence
.
He
was
clean
and
fit
as
ever
,
shaven
,
his
fair
hair
scrupulously
parted
at
the
side
,
bright
in
the
sunshine
,
his
short
,
fair
moustache
closely
clipped
,
his
eyes
with
their
humorous
kind
twinkle
,
which
was
so
deceptive
.
He
was
dressed
in
black
,
his
clothes
sat
well
on
his
well-nourished
body
.
Yet
as
he
lingered
before
the
flower-beds
in
the
morning
sunshine
,
there
was
a
certain
isolation
,
a
fear
about
him
,
as
of
something
wanting
.
Gudrun
came
up
quickly
,
unseen
.
She
was
dressed
in
blue
,
with
woollen
yellow
stockings
,
like
the
Bluecoat
boys
.
He
glanced
up
in
surprise
.
Her
stockings
always
disconcerted
him
,
the
pale-yellow
stockings
and
the
heavy
heavy
black
shoes
.
Winifred
,
who
had
been
playing
about
the
garden
with
Mademoiselle
and
the
dogs
,
came
flitting
towards
Gudrun
.
The
child
wore
a
dress
of
black-and-white
stripes
.
Her
hair
was
rather
short
,
cut
round
and
hanging
level
in
her
neck
.
“
We’re
going
to
do
Bismarck
,
aren’t
we
?
”
she
said
,
linking
her
hand
through
Gudrun’s
arm
.
“
Yes
,
we’re
going
to
do
Bismarck
.
Do
you
want
to
?
”
“
Oh
yes-oh
I
do
!
I
want
most
awfully
to
do
Bismarck
.
He
looks
so
splendid
this
morning
,
so
fierce
.
He’s
almost
as
big
as
a
lion
.
”
And
the
child
chuckled
sardonically
at
her
own
hyperbole
.
“
He’s
a
real
king
,
he
really
is
.
”
“
Bonjour
,
Mademoiselle
,
”
said
the
little
French
governess
,
wavering
up
with
a
slight
bow
,
a
bow
of
the
sort
that
Gudrun
loathed
,
insolent
.
“
Winifred
veut
tant
faire
le
portrait
de
Bismarck
—
!
Oh
,
mais
toute
la
matiné
e
—
‘We
will
do
Bismarck
this
morning
!
’
—
Bismarck
,
Bismarck
,
toujours
Bismarck
!
C’est
un
lapin
,
n’est-ce
pas
,
mademoiselle
?
”
“
Oui
,
c’est
un
grand
lapin
blanc
et
noir
.
Vous
ne
l’avez
pas
vu
?
”
said
Gudrun
in
her
good
,
but
rather
heavy
French
.
“
Non
,
mademoiselle
,
Winifred
n’a
jamais
voulu
me
le
faire
voir
.
Tant
de
fois
je
le
lui
ai
demandé
,
‘Qu’est
ce
donc
que
ce
Bismarck
,
Winifred
?
’
Mais
elle
n’a
pas
voulu
me
le
dire
.
Son
Bismarck
,
c’etait
un
mystère
.
”
“
Oui
,
c’est
un
mystère
,
vraiment
un
mystère
!
Miss
Brangwen
,
say
that
Bismarck
is
a
mystery
,
”
cried
Winifred
.
“
Bismarck
,
is
a
mystery
,
Bismarck
,
c’est
un
mystère
,
der
Bismarck
,
er
ist
ein
Wunder
,
”
said
Gudrun
,
in
mocking
incantation
.
“
Ja
,
er
ist
ein
Wunder
,
”
repeated
Winifred
,
with
odd
seriousness
,
under
which
lay
a
wicked
chuckle
.
“
Ist
er
auch
ein
Wunder
?
”
came
the
slightly
insolent
sneering
of
Mademoiselle
.
“
Doch
!
”
said
Winifred
briefly
,
indifferent
.
“
Doch
ist
er
nicht
ein
König
.
Beesmarck
,
he
was
not
a
king
,
Winifred
,
as
you
have
said
.
He
was
only
—
il
n’était
que
chancelier
.
”
“
Qu’est
ce
qu’un
chancelier
?
”
said
Winifred
,
with
slightly
contemptuous
indifference
.
“
A
chancelier
is
a
chancellor
,
and
a
chancellor
is
,
I
believe
,
a
sort
of
judge
,
”
said
Gerald
coming
up
and
shaking
hands
with
Gudrun
.
“
You’ll
have
made
a
song
of
Bismarck
soon
,
”
said
he
.
Mademoiselle
waited
,
and
discreetly
made
her
inclination
,
and
her
greeting
.
“
So
they
wouldn’t
let
you
see
Bismarck
,
Mademoiselle
?
”
he
said
.
“
Non
,
Monsieur
.
”
“
Ay
,
very
mean
of
them
.
What
are
you
going
to
do
to
him
,
Miss
Brangwen
?
I
want
him
sent
to
the
kitchen
and
cooked
.
”
“
Oh
no
,
”
cried
Winifred
.
“
We’re
going
to
draw
him
,
”
said
Gudrun
.
“
Draw
him
and
quarter
him
and
dish
him
up
,
”
he
said
,
being
purposely
fatuous
.
“
Oh
no
,
”
cried
Winifred
with
emphasis
,
chuckling
.
Gudrun
detected
the
tang
of
mockery
in
him
,
and
she
looked
up
and
smiled
into
his
face
.
He
felt
his
nerves
caressed
.
Their
eyes
met
in
knowledge
.
“
How
do
you
like
Shortlands
?
”
he
asked
.
“
Oh
,
very
much
,
”
she
said
,
with
nonchalance
.
“
Glad
you
do
.
Have
you
noticed
these
flowers
?
”
He
led
her
along
the
path
.
She
followed
intently
.
Winifred
came
,
and
the
governess
lingered
in
the
rear
.
They
stopped
before
some
veined
salpiglossis
flowers
.
“
Aren’t
they
wonderful
?
”
she
cried
,
looking
at
them
absorbedly
.
Strange
how
her
reverential
,
almost
ecstatic
admiration
of
the
flowers
caressed
his
nerves
.
She
stooped
down
,
and
touched
the
trumpets
,
with
infinitely
fine
and
delicate-touching
finger-tips
.
It
filled
him
with
ease
to
see
her
.
When
she
rose
,
her
eyes
,
hot
with
the
beauty
of
the
flowers
,
looked
into
his
.
“
What
are
they
