Page 599 - women-in-love

The tables, of white scrubbed wood, were placed round
three sides of the room, as in a Gasthaus. Birkin and Ursula
sat with their backs to the wall, which was of oiled wood,
and Gerald and Gudrun sat in the corner next them, near
to the stove. It was a fairly large place, with a tiny bar, just
like a country inn, but quite simple and bare, and all of oiled
wood, ceilings and walls and floor, the only furniture being
the tables and benches going round three sides, the great
green stove, and the bar and the doors on the fourth side.
The windows were double, and quite uncurtained. It was
early evening.
The coffee came—hot and good—and a whole ring of
cake.
‘A whole Kuchen!’ cried Ursula. ‘They give you more
than us! I want some of yours.’
There were other people in the place, ten altogether, so
Birkin had found out: two artists, three students, a man and
wife, and a Professor and two daughters—all Germans. The
four English people, being newcomers, sat in their coign
of vantage to watch. The Germans peeped in at the door,
called a word to the waiter, and went away again. It was not
meal-time, so they did not come into this dining-room, but
betook themselves, when their boots were changed, to the
Reunionsaal.
The English visitors could hear the occasional twanging
of a zither, the strumming of a piano, snatches of laughter
and shouting and singing, a faint vibration of voices. The
whole building being of wood, it seemed to carry every
sound, like a drum, but instead of increasing each partic-

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