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if we could breed babies in bottles.’
’No!’ cried Olive. ‘That might leave all the more room for
fun.’
’I suppose,’ said Lady Bennerley, contemplatively, ‘if the
love-business went, something else would take its place.
Morphia, perhaps. A little morphine in all the air. It would
be wonderfully refreshing for everybody.’
’The government releasing ether into the air on Satur-
days, for a cheerful weekend!’ said Jack. ‘Sounds all right,
but where should we be by Wednesday?’
’So long as you can forget your body you are happy,’ said
Lady Bennerley. ‘And the moment you begin to be aware of
your body, you are wretched. So, if civilization is any good,
it has to help us to forget our bodies, and then time passes
happily without our knowing it.’
’Help us to get rid of our bodies altogether,’ said Win-
terslow. ‘It’s quite time man began to improve on his own
nature, especially the physical side of it.’
’Imagine if we floated like tobacco smoke,’ said Connie.
’It won’t happen,’ said Dukes. ‘Our old show will come
flop; our civilization is going to fall. It’s going down the
bottomless pit, down the chasm. And believe me, the only
bridge across the chasm will be the phallus!’
’Oh do! DO be impossible, General!’ cried Olive.
’I believe our civilization is going to collapse,’ said Aunt
Eva.
’And what will come after it?’ asked Clifford.
’I haven’t the faintest idea, but something, I suppose,’
said the elderly lady.

10 Lady Chatterly’s Lover