Page 256 - women-in-love

‘Kiss me before we go,’ came his voice softly from out of
the shadow above.
She stopped her work in real, momentary astonishment.
‘But why?’ she exclaimed, in pure surprise.
‘Why?’ he echoed, ironically.
And she looked at him fixedly for some moments. Then
she leaned forward and kissed him, with a slow, luxurious
kiss, lingering on the mouth. And then she took the lan-
terns from him, while he stood swooning with the perfect
fire that burned in all his joints.
They lifted the canoe into the water, Gudrun took her
place, and Gerald pushed off.
‘Are you sure you don’t hurt your hand, doing that?’ she
asked, solicitous. ‘Because I could have done it PERFECT-
LY.’
‘I don’t hurt myself,’ he said in a low, soft voice, that ca-
ressed her with inexpressible beauty.
And she watched him as he sat near her, very near to
her, in the stern of the canoe, his legs coming towards hers,
his feet touching hers. And she paddled softly, lingeringly,
longing for him to say something meaningful to her. But he
remained silent.
‘You like this, do you?’ she said, in a gentle, solicitous
voice.
He laughed shortly.
‘There is a space between us,’ he said, in the same low,
unconscious voice, as if something were speaking out of
him. And she was as if magically aware of their being bal-
anced in separation, in the boat. She swooned with acute

256 Women in Love