Page 478 - sons-and-lovers

sighed.
‘Now we’re back at the ordinary level,’ he said.
She sat down, panting, on the tussocky grass. Her cheeks
were flushed pink. He kissed her, and she gave way to joy.
‘And now I’ll clean thy boots and make thee fit for re-
spectable folk,’ he said.
He kneeled at her feet, worked away with a stick and tufts
of grass. She put her fingers in his hair, drew his head to her,
and kissed it.
‘What am I supposed to be doing,’ he said, looking at her
laughing; ‘cleaning shoes or dibbling with love? Answer me
that!’
‘Just whichever I please,’ she replied.
‘I’m your boot-boy for the time being, and nothing else!’
But they remained looking into each other’s eyes and laugh-
ing. Then they kissed with little nibbling kisses.
‘T-t-t-t!’ he went with his tongue, like his mother. ‘I tell
you, nothing gets done when there’s a woman about.’
And he returned to his boot-cleaning, singing softly. She
touched his thick hair, and he kissed her fingers. He worked
away at her shoes. At last they were quite presentable.
‘There you are, you see!’ he said. ‘Aren’t I a great hand at
restoring you to respectability? Stand up! There, you look as
irreproachable as Britannia herself!’
He cleaned his own boots a little, washed his hands in a
puddle, and sang. They went on into Clifton village. He was
madly in love with her; every movement she made, every
crease in her garments, sent a hot flash through him and
seemed adorable.