Page 704 - women-in-love

her life on his hands!
A weakness ran over his body, a terrible relaxing, a thaw,
a decay of strength. Without knowing, he had let go his
grip, and Gudrun had fallen to her knees. Must he see, must
he know?
A fearful weakness possessed him, his joints were turned
to water. He drifted, as on a wind, veered, and went drift-
ing away.
‘I didn’t want it, really,’ was the last confession of disgust
in his soul, as he drifted up the slope, weak, finished, only
sheering off unconsciously from any further contact. ‘I’ve
had enough—I want to go to sleep. I’ve had enough.’ He was
sunk under a sense of nausea.
He was weak, but he did not want to rest, he wanted to
go on and on, to the end. Never again to stay, till he came to
the end, that was all the desire that remained to him. So he
drifted on and on, unconscious and weak, not thinking of
anything, so long as he could keep in action.
The twilight spread a weird, unearthly light overhead,
bluish-rose in colour, the cold blue night sank on the snow.
In the valley below, behind, in the great bed of snow, were
two small figures: Gudrun dropped on her knees, like one
executed, and Loerke sitting propped up near her. That was
all.
Gerald stumbled on up the slope of snow, in the bluish
darkness, always climbing, always unconsciously climbing,
weary though he was. On his left was a steep slope with black
rocks and fallen masses of rock and veins of snow slashing
in and about the blackness of rock, veins of snow slashing

704 Women in Love