Page 625 - women-in-love

tom, when they swung as it were in a fall to earth, in the
diminishing motion.
They came to rest. But when she rose to her feet, she
could not stand. She gave a strange cry, turned and clung to
him, sinking her face on his breast, fainting in him. Utter
oblivion came over her, as she lay for a few moments aban-
doned against him.
‘What is it?’ he was saying. ‘Was it too much for you?’
But she heard nothing.
When she came to, she stood up and looked round, as-
tonished. Her face was white, her eyes brilliant and large.
‘What is it?’ he repeated. ‘Did it upset you?’
She looked at him with her brilliant eyes that seemed
to have undergone some transfiguration, and she laughed,
with a terrible merriment.
‘No,’ she cried, with triumphant joy. ‘It was the complete
moment of my life.’
And she looked at him with her dazzling, overweening
laughter, like one possessed. A fine blade seemed to enter
his heart, but he did not care, or take any notice.
But they climbed up the slope again, and they flew down
through the white flame again, splendidly, splendidly.
Gudrun was laughing and flashing, powdered with snow-
crystals, Gerald worked perfectly. He felt he could guide
the toboggan to a hair-breadth, almost he could make it
pierce into the air and right into the very heart of the sky. It
seemed to him the flying sledge was but his strength spread
out, he had but to move his arms, the motion was his own.
They explored the great slopes, to find another slide. He felt

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