I begin to doubt it!’

‘That you will ever love a woman?’

‘Well — yes — what you would truly call love — ’

‘You doubt it?’

‘Well — I begin to.’

There was a long pause.

‘Life has all kinds of things,’ said Birkin. ‘There isn’t only one road.’

‘Yes, I believe that too. I believe it. And mind you, I don’t care how it is with me — I don’t care how it is — so long as I don’t feel — ’ he paused, and a blank, barren look passed over his face, to express his feeling — ’so