Page 308 - women-in-love

CHAPTER XVII

THE INDUSTRIAL

MAGNATE

In Beldover, there was both for Ursula and for Gudrun
an interval. It seemed to Ursula as if Birkin had gone out
of her for the time, he had lost his significance, he scarcely
mattered in her world. She had her own friends, her own
activities, her own life. She turned back to the old ways with
zest, away from him.
And Gudrun, after feeling every moment in all her veins
conscious of Gerald Crich, connected even physically with
him, was now almost indifferent to the thought of him. She
was nursing new schemes for going away and trying a new
form of life. All the time, there was something in her urg-
ing her to avoid the final establishing of a relationship with
Gerald. She felt it would be wiser and better to have no more
than a casual acquaintance with him.
She had a scheme for going to St Petersburg, where she
had a friend who was a sculptor like herself, and who lived
with a wealthy Russian whose hobby was jewel-making.
The emotional, rather rootless life of the Russians appealed
to her. She did not want to go to Paris. Paris was dry, and
essentially boring. She would like to go to Rome, Munich,

308 Women in Love