Gerald sat talking to her one afternoon in the warm study down at the
Mill. Rupert had not yet come home.
'You are happy?' Gerald asked her, with a smile.
'Very happy!' she cried, shrinking a little in her brightness.
'Yes, one can see it.' 'Can one?' cried Ursula in surprise.
He looked up at her with a communicative smile.
'Oh yes, plainly.' She was pleased. She meditated a moment.
'And can you see that Rupert is happy as well?' He lowered his eyelids, and looked aside.
'Oh yes,' he said.
'Really!' 'Oh yes.' He was very quiet, as if it were something not to be talked about by
him. He seemed sad.
She was very sensitive to suggestion. She asked the question he wanted
her to ask.
'Why don't you be happy as well?' she said. 'You could be just the
same.' He paused a moment.
'With Gudrun?' he asked.
'Yes!' she cried, her eyes glowing. But there was a strange tension, an
emphasis, as if they were asserting their wishes, against the truth.
'You think Gudrun would have me, and we should be happy?' he said.
'Yes, I'm SURE!' she cried.
Her eyes were round with delight. Yet underneath she was constrained,
she knew her own insistence.
'Oh, I'm SO glad,' she added.
He smiled.
'What makes you glad?' he said.
'For HER sake,' she replied. 'I'm sure you'd--you're the right man for
her.' 'You are?' he said. 'And do you think she would agree with you?' 'Oh yes!' she exclaimed hastily. Then, upon reconsideration, very
uneasy: 'Though Gudrun isn't so very simple, is she? One doesn't know
her in five minutes, does one? She's not like me in that.' She laughed
at him with her strange, open, dazzled face.
'You think she's not much like you?' Gerald asked.
She knitted her brows.
'Oh, in many ways she is. But I never know what she will do when
anything new comes.' 'You don't?' said Gerald. He was silent for some moments. Then he moved
tentatively. 'I was going to ask her, in any case, to go away with me
at Christmas,' he said, in a very small, cautious voice.
'Go away with you? For a time, you mean?' 'As long as she likes,' he said, with a deprecating movement.
They were both silent for some minutes.
'Of course,' said Ursula at last, 'she MIGHT just be willing to rush
into marriage. You can see.' 'Yes,' smiled Gerald. 'I can see. But in case she won't--do you think
she would go abroad with me for a few days--or for a fortnight?' 'Oh yes,' said Ursula. 'I'd ask her.' 'Do you think we might all go together?' 'All of us?' Again Ursula's face lighted up. 'It would be rather fun,
don't you think?' 'Great fun,' he said.