Page 236 - women-in-love

Gudrun quivered at the sight of the wrapped up paw.
‘Oh I can manage with one hand. The canoe is as light as
a feather,’ he said. ‘There’s Rupert!—Rupert!’
Birkin turned from his social duties and came towards
them.
‘What have you done to it?’ asked Ursula, who had been
aching to put the question for the last half hour.
‘To my hand?’ said Gerald. ‘I trapped it in some machin-
ery.’
‘Ugh!’ said Ursula. ‘And did it hurt much?’
‘Yes,’ he said. ‘It did at the time. It’s getting better now. It
crushed the fingers.’
‘Oh,’ cried Ursula, as if in pain, ‘I hate people who hurt
themselves. I can FEEL it.’ And she shook her hand.
‘What do you want?’ said Birkin.
The two men carried down the slim brown boat, and set
it on the water.
‘You’re quite sure you’ll be safe in it?’ Gerald asked.
‘Quite sure,’ said Gudrun. ‘I wouldn’t be so mean as to
take it, if there was the slightest doubt. But I’ve had a canoe
at Arundel, and I assure you I’m perfectly safe.’
So saying, having given her word like a man, she and Ur-
sula entered the frail craft, and pushed gently off. The two
men stood watching them. Gudrun was paddling. She knew
the men were watching her, and it made her slow and rather
clumsy. The colour flew in her face like a flag.
‘Thanks awfully,’ she called back to him, from the water,
as the boat slid away. ‘It’s lovely—like sitting in a leaf.’
He laughed at the fancy. Her voice was shrill and strange,

236 Women in Love