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ficulty, he would overcome it. If he laid hold of any idea, he
would carry it through. He had the faculty of making order
out of confusion. Only let him grip hold of a situation, and
he would bring to pass an inevitable conclusion.
For a few moments she was borne away on the wild
wings of ambition. Gerald, with his force of will and his
power for comprehending the actual world, should be set
to solve the problems of the day, the problem of industrial-
ism in the modern world. She knew he would, in the course
of time, effect the changes he desired, he could re-organise
the industrial system. She knew he could do it. As an in-
strument, in these things, he was marvellous, she had never
seen any man with his potentiality. He was unaware of it,
but she knew.
He only needed to be hitched on, he needed that his hand
should be set to the task, because he was so unconscious.
And this she could do. She would marry him, he would
go into Parliament in the Conservative interest, he would
clear up the great muddle of labour and industry. He was
so superbly fearless, masterful, he knew that every problem
could be worked out, in life as in geometry. And he would
care neither about himself nor about anything but the pure
working out of the problem. He was very pure, really.
Her heart beat fast, she flew away on wings of elation,
imagining a future. He would be a Napoleon of peace, or a
Bismarck—and she the woman behind him. She had read
Bismarck’s letters, and had been deeply moved by them.
And Gerald would be freer, more dauntless than Bismarck.
But even as she lay in fictitious transport, bathed in the

620 Women in Love