Gerald watched him closely.

‘You think we ought to break up this life, just start and let fly?’ he asked.

‘This life. Yes I do. We’ve got to bust it completely, or shrivel inside it, as in a tight skin. For it won’t expand any more.’

There was a queer little smile in Gerald’s eyes, a look of amusement, calm and curious.

‘And how do you propose to begin? I suppose you mean, reform the whole order of society?’ he asked.

Birkin had a slight, tense frown between the brows. He too was impatient of the conversation.

‘I don’t propose at all,’ he replied. ‘When we really want to go for something better, we shall smash the old. Until then, any sort of proposal, or making proposals, is no more than a tiresome game for self-important people.’