‘Oh no,’ replied Gerald. ‘They arrange themselves naturally — we see it now, everywhere.’

‘Don’t you laugh so pleasantly till you’re out of the wood,’ said Birkin.

Gerald knitted his brows in momentary irritation.

‘Was I laughing?’ he said.

‘IF,’ said Hermione at last, ‘we could only realise, that in the SPIRIT we are all one, all equal in the spirit, all brothers there — the rest wouldn’t matter, there would be no more of this carping and envy and this struggle for power, which destroys, only destroys.’

This speech was received in silence, and almost immediately the party rose from