‘Oh yes,’ he said.

‘Really!’

‘Oh yes.’

He was very quiet, as if it were something not to be talked about by him. He seemed sad.

She was very sensitive to suggestion. She asked the question he wanted her to ask.

‘Why don’t you be happy as well?’ she said. ‘You could be just the same.’

He paused a moment.

‘With Gudrun?’ he asked.

‘Yes!’ she cried, her eyes glowing. But there was a strange tension, an emphasis, as if they were asserting their wishes, against the truth.