‘There weren’t even any words,’ she said. ‘He knocked Loerke down and stunned him, he half strangled me, then he went away.’

To herself she was saying:

‘A pretty little sample of the eternal triangle!’ And she turned ironically away, because she knew that the fight had been between Gerald and herself and that the presence of the third party was a mere contingency — an inevitable contingency perhaps, but a contingency none the less. But let them have it as an example of the eternal triangle, the trinity of hate. It would be simpler for them.

Birkin went away, his manner cold and abstracted. But she knew he would do things for her, nevertheless, he would see her through. She smiled slightly to herself, with