Page 687 - women-in-love

statement to make, and it must be made as she had thought
it.
‘I can’t see the use of going back,’ she continued. ‘It is
over between me and you—‘
She paused for him to speak. But he said nothing. He was
only talking to himself, saying ‘Over, is it? I believe it is over.
But it isn’t finished. Remember, it isn’t finished. We must
put some sort of a finish on it. There must be a conclusion,
there must be finality.’
So he talked to himself, but aloud he said nothing what-
ever.
‘What has been, has been,’ she continued. ‘There is noth-
ing that I regret. I hope you regret nothing—‘
She waited for him to speak.
‘Oh, I regret nothing,’ he said, accommodatingly.
‘Good then,’ she answered, ‘good then. Then neither of
us cherishes any regrets, which is as it should be.’
‘Quite as it should be,’ he said aimlessly.
She paused to gather up her thread again.
‘Our attempt has been a failure,’ she said. ‘But we can try
again, elsewhere.’
A little flicker of rage ran through his blood. It was as if
she were rousing him, goading him. Why must she do it?
‘Attempt at what?’ he asked.
‘At being lovers, I suppose,’ she said, a little baffled, yet so
trivial she made it all seem.
‘Our attempt at being lovers has been a failure?’ he re-
peated aloud.
To himself he was saying, ‘I ought to kill her here. There

687