A certain violent sympathy, however, came up in
her for this mud-child. He seemed to be the very stuff of the
underworld of life. There was no going beyond him.
Ursula too was attracted by Loerke. In both sisters he commanded a
certain homage. But there were moments when to Ursula he seemed
indescribably inferior, false, a vulgarism.
Both Birkin and Gerald disliked him, Gerald ignoring him with some
contempt, Birkin exasperated.
'What do the women find so impressive in that little brat?' Gerald
asked.
'God alone knows,' replied Birkin, 'unless it's some sort of appeal he
makes to them, which flatters them and has such a power over them.'
Gerald looked up in surprise.
'DOES he make an appeal to them?' he asked.
'Oh yes,' replied Birkin. 'He is the perfectly subjected being,
existing almost like a criminal. And the women rush towards that, like
a current of air towards a vacuum.'
'Funny they should rush to that,' said Gerald.
'Makes one mad, too,' said Birkin. 'But he has the fascination of pity
and repulsion for them, a little obscene monster of the darkness that
he is.
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