‘I think they always do. But I should like them to like the purely individual thing in themselves, which makes them act in singleness. And they only like to do the collective thing.’

‘And I,’ said Gerald grimly, ‘shouldn’t like to be in a world of people who acted individually and spontaneously, as you call it. We should have everybody cutting everybody else’s throat in five minutes.’

‘That means YOU would like to be cutting everybody’s throat,’ said Birkin.

‘How does that follow?’ asked Gerald crossly.

‘No man,’ said Birkin, ‘cuts another man’s throat unless he wants to cut it, and unless the other man wants it