said Rosalind with weak bitterness, "that you might
have stuck by me."

The two were walking down East Heath Road to the tram-lines where the
motor buses started for Charing Cross.

"It was you who dragged me into it, and the least you could do was to
stick. Why didn't you keep quiet instead of forcing our hands?"

"I couldn't keep quiet. I'll go with you straight or I won't go with you
at all."

"You know what's the matter with you? It's your family. You'll never be
any good to us, you'll never be any good to yourself till you've chucked
them and got away. For years--ever since you've been born--you've simply
been stewing there in the family juice until you're soaked with it. You
oughtn't to be living at home. You ought to be on your own--like me."

"You're talking rot, Rosalind. If my people were like yours I'd have to
chuck them, I suppose; but they're not. They're angels."

"That's why they're so dangerous. They couldn't influence you if they
weren't angels."

"They don't influence me the least little bit. I'd like to see them try.
They're much too clever. They know I'd be off like a shot if they did.
Why, they let me do every mortal thing I please--turn the schoolroom
into a meeting hall for your friends to play the devil in. That
Blackadder girl was yelling the house down, yet they didn't say
anything. And your people aren't as bad as you make out, you know. You
couldn't live on your own if your father didn't give you an allowance. I
like Mrs. Jervis."

"Because she likes you."

"Well, that's a reason. It isn't the reason why I like my own mother,
because she doesn't like me so very much. That's why she lets me do what
I like. She doesn't care enough to stop me. She only really cares for
Dad and John and Nicky and Michael."

Rosalind looked fierce and stubborn.

"That's what's the matter with all of you," she said.

"What is?"

"Caring like that. It's all sex. Sex instinct, sex feeling. Maud's
right. It's what we're up against all the time."

Dorothy said to herself, "That's what's the matter with Rosalind, if she
only knew it."

Rosalind loved Michael and Michael detested her, and Nicky didn't like
her very much. She always looked fierce and stubborn when she heard
Michael's name.

Rosalind went on. "When it comes to sex you don't revolt. You sit down."

"I do revolt. I'm revolting now. I go much farther than you do. I think
the marriage laws are rotten; I think divorce ought to be for
inco