Page 246 - women-in-love

themselves away, galloping off into the evening, becoming
tiny in the distance, and still not stopping.
Gudrun remained staring after them, with a mask-like
defiant face.
‘Why do you want to drive them mad?’ asked Gerald,
coming up with her.
She took no notice of him, only averted her face from
him. ‘It’s not safe, you know,’ he persisted. ‘They’re nasty,
when they do turn.’
‘Turn where? Turn away?’ she mocked loudly.
‘No,’ he said, ‘turn against you.’
‘Turn against ME?’ she mocked.
He could make nothing of this.
‘Anyway, they gored one of the farmer’s cows to death,
the other day,’ he said.
‘What do I care?’ she said.
‘I cared though,’ he replied, ‘seeing that they’re my cat-
tle.’
‘How are they yours! You haven’t swallowed them. Give
me one of them now,’ she said, holding out her hand.
‘You know where they are,’ he said, pointing over the hill.
‘You can have one if you’d like it sent to you later on.’
She looked at him inscrutably.
‘You think I’m afraid of you and your cattle, don’t you?’
she asked.
His eyes narrowed dangerously. There was a faint domi-
neering smile on his face.
‘Why should I think that?’ he said.
She was watching him all the time with her dark, dilat-

246 Women in Love