‘Did I startle you?’ said Birkin, shaking hands with her. ‘I thought you had heard me come in.’

‘No,’ she faltered, scarcely able to speak. He laughed, saying he was sorry. She wondered why it amused him.

‘It is so dark,’ he said. ‘Shall we have the light?’

And moving aside, he switched on the strong electric lights. The class-room was distinct and hard, a strange place after the soft dim magic that filled it before he came. Birkin turned curiously to look at Ursula. Her eyes were round and wondering, bewildered, her mouth quivered slightly. She looked like one who is suddenly wakened. There was a living, tender beauty, like a tender light of dawn shining from her face. He looked at her with a