trouble, exactly! Instead of wanting a woman for herself, he wants his IDEAS fulfilled. Which, when it comes to actual practice, is not good enough.’

‘Oh no. Best go slap for what’s womanly in woman, like a bull at a gate.’ Then he seemed to glimmer in himself. ‘You think love is the ticket, do you?’ he asked.

‘Certainly, while it lasts — you only can’t insist on permanency,’ came Gudrun’s voice, strident above the noise.

‘Marriage or no marriage, ultimate or penultimate or just so-so? — take the love as you find it.’

‘As you please, or as you don’t please,’ she echoed. ‘Marriage is a social arrangement, I take it, and has nothing to do with the question of love.’