said Birkin, ‘don’t be so matter-of-fact. Close the account in your own soul, if you like. It is there you can’t close it.’

‘How do you know I can’t?’

‘Knowing you.’

Gerald meditated for some moments.

‘It seems to me the right thing to do, you know, with the Pussums, is to pay them.’

‘And the right thing for mistresses: keep them. And the right thing for wives: live under the same roof with them. Integer vitae scelerisque purus — ’ said Birkin.

‘There’s no need to be nasty about it,’ said Gerald.

‘It bores me. I’m