Page 618 - sons-and-lovers

ture over the mantelpiece.
‘That’s how women are with me,’ said Paul. ‘They want
me like mad, but they don’t want to belong to me. And she
BELONGED to you all the time. I knew.’
The triumphant male came up in Dawes. He showed his
teeth more distinctly.
‘Perhaps I was a fool,’ he said.
‘You were a big fool,’ said Morel.
‘But perhaps even THEN you were a bigger fool,’ said
Dawes.
There was a touch of triumph and malice in it.
‘Do you think so?’ said Paul.
They were silent for some time.
‘At any rate, I’m clearing out to-morrow,’ said Morel.
‘I see,’ answered Dawes.
Then they did not talk any more. The instinct to murder
each other had returned. They almost avoided each other.
They shared the same bedroom. When they retired
Dawes seemed abstract, thinking of something. He sat on
the side of the bed in his shirt, looking at his legs.
‘Aren’t you getting cold?’ asked Morel.
‘I was lookin’ at these legs,’ replied the other.
‘What’s up with ‘em? They look all right,’ replied Paul,
from his bed.
‘They look all right. But there’s some water in ‘em yet.’
‘And what about it?’
‘Come and look.’
Paul reluctantly got out of bed and went to look at the
rather handsome legs of the other man that were covered

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