‘Do you mind?’ said Hermione, turning to Ursula and Gerald vaguely.

‘Not in the least,’ they replied.

‘Which room shall we do first?’ she said, turning again to Birkin, with the same gaiety, now she was going to DO something with him.

‘We’ll take them as they come,’ he said.

‘Should I be getting your teas ready, while you do that?’ said the labourer’s wife, also gay because SHE had something to do.

‘Would you?’ said Hermione, turning to her with the curious motion of intimacy that seemed to envelop the woman, draw her almost to Hermione’s breast, and which left the others standing apart. ‘I should be so glad. Where shall we have it?’