!’

‘That is non-social,’ said Birkin, sarcastically.

‘Exactly,’ said Gerald. ‘Between me and a woman, the social question does not enter. It is my own affair.’

‘A ten-pound note on it,’ said Birkin.

‘You don’t admit that a woman is a social being?’ asked Ursula of Gerald.

‘She is both,’ said Gerald. ‘She is a social being, as far as society is concerned. But for her own private self, she is a free agent, it is her own affair, what she does.’

‘But won’t it be rather difficult to arrange the two halves?’ asked Ursula.