ed herself as a woman. Hermione
was like a man, she believed only in men's things. She betrayed the
woman in herself. And Birkin, would he acknowledge, or would he deny
her?

'Yes,' said Hermione, as each woman came out of her own separate
reverie. 'It would be a mistake--I think it would be a mistake--'

'To marry him?' asked Ursula.

'Yes,' said Hermione slowly--'I think you need a man--soldierly,
strong-willed--' Hermione held out her hand and clenched it with
rhapsodic intensity. 'You should have a man like the old heroes--you
need to stand behind him as he goes into battle, you need to SEE his
strength, and to HEAR his shout--. You need a man physically strong,
and virile in his will, NOT a sensitive man--.' There was a break, as
if the pythoness had uttered the oracle, and now the woman went on, in
a rhapsody-wearied voice: 'And you see, Rupert isn't this, he isn't. He
is frail in health and body, he needs great, great care. Then he is so
changeable and unsure of himself--it requires the greatest patience and
understanding to help him. And I don't think you are patient. You would
have to be prepared to suffer--dreadfully. I can't TELL you how much
suffering it would take to make him happy. He lives an INTENSELY
spiritual life, at times--too, too wonderful. And then come the
reactions. I can't speak of what I have been through with him. We have
been together so long, I really do know him, I DO know what he is. And
I feel I must say it; I feel it would be perfectly DISASTROUS for you
to marry him--for you even more than for him.' Hermione lapsed into
bitter reverie. 'He is so uncertain, so unstable--he wearies, and then
reacts. I couldn't TELL you what his re-actions are. I couldn't TELL
you the agony of them. That which he affirms and loves one day--a
little latter he turns on it in a fury of destruction. He is never
constant, always this awful, dreadful reaction. Always the quick change
from good to bad, bad to good. And nothing is so devastating,
nothing--'

'Yes,' said Ursula humbly, 'you must have suffered.'

An unearthly light came on Hermione's face. She clenched her hand like
one inspired.

'And one must be willing to suffer--willing to suffer for him hourly,
daily--if you are going to help him, if he is to keep true to anything
at all--'

'And I don't WANT to suffer hourly and daily,' said Ursula. 'I don't, I
should be ashamed. I think it is degrading not to be happy.'

Hermione stopped and looke