Page 302 - lady-chatterlys-lover

’Then I’d have to do without.’
Again she pondered, before she asked:
’And do you think you’ve always been right with wom-
en?’
’God, no! I let my wife get to what she was: my fault a
good deal. I spoilt her. And I’m very mistrustful. You’ll
have to expect it. It takes a lot to make me trust anybody,
inwardly. So perhaps I’m a fraud too. I mistrust. And ten-
derness is not to be mistaken.’
She looked at him.
’You don’t mistrust with your body, when your blood
comes up,’ she said. ‘You don’t mistrust then, do you?’
’No, alas! That’s how I’ve got into all the trouble. And
that’s why my mind mistrusts so thoroughly.’
’Let your mind mistrust. What does it matter!’
The dog sighed with discomfort on the mat. The ash-
clogged fire sank.
’We ARE a couple of battered warriors,’ said Connie.
’Are you battered too?’ he laughed. ‘And here we are re-
turning to the fray!’
’Yes! I feel really frightened.’
’Ay!’
He got up, and put her shoes to dry, and wiped his own
and set them near the fire. In the morning he would grease
them. He poked the ash of pasteboard as much as possi-
ble out of the fire. ‘Even burnt, it’s filthy,’ he said. Then he
brought sticks and put them on the hob for the morning.
Then he went out awhile with the dog.
When he came back, Connie said:

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