Page 248 - lady-chatterlys-lover

’Ay, poor devil!’ he said, with sympathy. There was a
pause.
’You won’t forget me when I’m gone, will you?’ she asked.
Again he lifted his eyes and looked full at her.
’Forget?’ he said. ‘You know nobody forgets. It’s not a
question of memory;’
She wanted to say: ‘When then?’ but she didn’t. Instead,
she said in a mute kind of voice: ‘I told Clifford I might have
a child.’
Now he really looked at her, intense and searching.
’You did?’ he said at last. ‘And what did he say?’
’Oh, he wouldn’t mind. He’d be glad, really, so long as it
seemed to be his.’ She dared not look up at him.
He was silent a long time, then he gazed again on her
face.
’No mention of ME, of course?’ he said.
’No. No mention of you,’ she said.
’No, he’d hardly swallow me as a substitute breeder. Then
where are you supposed to be getting the child?’
’I might have a love-affair in Venice,’ she said.
’You might,’ he replied slowly. ‘So that’s why you’re go-
ing?’
’Not to have the love-affair,’ she said, looking up at him,
pleading.
’Just the appearance of one,’ he said.
There was silence. He sat staring out the window, with
a faint grin, half mockery, half bitterness, on his face. She
hated his grin.
’You’ve not taken any precautions against having a child