time, and rushed into his way without any choice. He would want to control you entirely. He cannot allow that there is any other mind than his own. And then the real clumsiness of his mind is its lack of self-criticism. No, I think it would be perfectly intolerable.’

‘Yes,’ assented Ursula vaguely. She only half agreed with Gudrun. ‘The nuisance is,’ she said, ‘that one would find almost any man intolerable after a fortnight.’

‘It’s perfectly dreadful,’ said Gudrun. ‘But Birkin — he is too positive. He couldn’t bear it if you called your soul your own. Of him that is strictly true.’

‘Yes,’ said Ursula. ‘You must have HIS soul.’