d we will wander about on the face of the earth,' he said, 'and
we'll look at the world beyond just this bit.'

There was a long silence. Her face was radiant like gold, as she sat
thinking.

'I don't want to inherit the earth,' she said. 'I don't want to inherit
anything.'

He closed his hand over hers.

'Neither do I. I want to be disinherited.'

She clasped his fingers closely.

'We won't care about ANYTHING,' she said.

He sat still, and laughed.

'And we'll be married, and have done with them,' she added.

Again he laughed.

'It's one way of getting rid of everything,' she said, 'to get
married.'

'And one way of accepting the whole world,' he added.

'A whole other world, yes,' she said happily.

'Perhaps there's Gerald--and Gudrun--' he said.

'If there is there is, you see,' she said. 'It's no good our worrying.
We can't really alter them, can we?'

'No,' he said. 'One has no right to try--not with the best intentions
in the world.'

'Do you try to force them?' she asked.

'Perhaps,' he said. 'Why should I want him to be free, if it isn't his
business?'

She paused for a time.

'We can't MAKE him happy, anyhow,' she said. 'He'd have to be it of
himself.'

'I know,' he said. 'But we want other people with us, don't we?'

'Why should we?' she asked.

'I don't know,' he said uneasily. 'One has a hankering after a sort of
further fellowship.'

'But why?' she insisted. 'Why should you hanker after other people? Why
should you need them?'

This hit him right on the quick. His brows knitted.

'Does it end with just our two selves?' he asked, tense.

'Yes--what more do you want? If anybody likes to come along, let them.
But why must you run after them?'

His face was tense and unsatisfied.

'You see,' he said, 'I always imagine our being really happy with some
few other people--a little freedom with people.'

She pondered for a moment.

'Yes, one does want that. But it must HAPPEN. You can't do anything for
it with your will. You always seem to think you can FORCE the flowers
to come out. People must love us because they love us--you can't MAKE
them.'

'I know,' he said. 'But must one take no steps at all? Must one just go
as if one were alone in the world--the only creature in the world?'

'You've got me,' she said. 'Why should you NEED others? Why must you
force people to agree with you? Why can't you be single by yourself, as
you are always saying? You try to bully Gerald-