laughed Ursula.

‘Very dull!’ retorted Gudrun. ‘Really Ursula, it is dull, that’s just the word. One longs to be high-flown, and make speeches like Corneille, after it.’

Gudrun was becoming flushed and excited over her own cleverness.

‘Strut,’ said Ursula. ‘One wants to strut, to be a swan among geese.’

‘Exactly,’ cried Gudrun, ‘a swan among geese.’

‘They are all so busy playing the ugly duckling,’ cried Ursula, with mocking laughter. ‘And I don’t feel a bit like a humble and pathetic ugly duckling. I do feel like a swan among geese — I can’t help it. They make one feel so. And I don’t