‘My God!’ cried Gudrun. ‘But wouldn’t it be wonderful, if all England did suddenly go off like a display of fireworks.’

‘It couldn’t,’ said Ursula. ‘They are all too damp, the powder is damp in them.’

‘I’m not so sure of that,’ said Gerald.

‘Nor I,’ said Birkin. ‘When the English really begin to go off, EN MASSE, it’ll be time to shut your ears and run.’

‘They never will,’ said Ursula.

‘We’ll see,’ he replied.

‘Isn’t it marvellous,’ said Gudrun, ‘how thankful one can be, to be out of one’s country. I cannot believe myself, I am so transported, the moment I set foot on a foreign shore. I say to myself