‘Quite,’ said Birkin. ‘Only it bores me rather, when you become aphoristic.’

‘Damn you, Rupert, you want all the aphorisms your own way,’ said Gerald.

‘No. I want them out of the way, and you’re always shoving them in it.’

Gerald smiled grimly at this humorism. Then he made a little gesture of dismissal, with his eyebrows.

‘You don’t believe in having any standard of behaviour at all, do you?’ he challenged Birkin, censoriously.

‘Standard — no. I hate standards. But they’re necessary for the common ruck. Anybody who is anything can just be himself and do as he likes.’