Page 327 - sons-and-lovers

me to wait on you—the rest is for Miriam.’
He could not bear it. Instinctively he realised that he was
life to her. And, after all, she was the chief thing to him, the
only supreme thing.
‘You know it isn’t, mother, you know it isn’t!’
She was moved to pity by his cry.
‘It looks a great deal like it,’ she said, half putting aside
her despair.
‘No, mother—I really DON’T love her. I talk to her, but I
want to come home to you.’
He had taken off his collar and tie, and rose, bare-throat-
ed, to go to bed. As he stooped to kiss his mother, she threw
her arms round his neck, hid her face on his shoulder, and
cried, in a whimpering voice, so unlike her own that he
writhed in agony:
‘I can’t bear it. I could let another woman—but not her.
She’d leave me no room, not a bit of room—-‘
And immediately he hated Miriam bitterly.
‘And I’ve never—you know, Paul—I’ve never had a hus-
band—not really—-‘
He stroked his mother’s hair, and his mouth was on her
throat.
‘And she exults so in taking you from me—she’s not like
ordinary girls.’
‘Well, I don’t love her, mother,’ he murmured, bowing
his head and hiding his eyes on her shoulder in misery. His
mother kissed him a long, fervent kiss.
‘My boy!’ she said, in a voice trembling with passionate
love.

Sons and Lovers