Man must render himself up to her. He must be
quaffed to the dregs by her. Let him be HER MAN utterly, and she in
return would be his humble slave--whether she wanted it or not.
CHAPTER XX.
GLADIATORIAL
After the fiasco of the proposal, Birkin had hurried blindly away from
Beldover, in a whirl of fury. He felt he had been a complete fool, that
the whole scene had been a farce of the first water. But that did not
trouble him at all. He was deeply, mockingly angry that Ursula
persisted always in this old cry: 'Why do you want to bully me?' and in
her bright, insolent abstraction.
He went straight to Shortlands. There he found Gerald standing with his
back to the fire, in the library, as motionless as a man is, who is
completely and emptily restless, utterly hollow. He had done all the
work he wanted to do--and now there was nothing. He could go out in the
car, he could run to town. But he did not want to go out in the car, he
did not want to run to town, he did not want to call on the Thirlbys.
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