Women in Love

Gudrun was away in London, having a little show of her work, with a

friend, and looking round, preparing for flight from Beldover. Come

what might she would be on the wing in a very short time. She received

a letter from Winifred Crich, ornamented with drawings.

'Father also has been to London, to be examined by the doctors. It made

him very tired. They say he must rest a very great deal, so he is

mostly in bed. He brought me a lovely tropical parrot in faience, of

Dresden ware, also a man ploughing, and two mice climbing up a stalk,

also in faience. The mice were Copenhagen ware. They are the best, but

mice don't shine so much, otherwise they are very good, their tails are

slim and long. They all shine nearly like glass. Of course it is the

glaze, but I don't like it. Gerald likes the man ploughing the best,

his trousers are torn, he is ploughing with an ox, being I suppose a

German peasant. It is all grey and white, white shirt and grey

trousers, but very shiny and clean. Mr Birkin likes the girl best,

under the hawthorn blossom, with a lamb, and with daffodils painted on

her skirts, in the drawing room. But that is silly, because the lamb is

not a real lamb, and she is silly too.

'Dear Miss Brangwen, are you coming back soon, you are very much missed

here. I enclose a drawing of father sitting up in bed. He says he hopes

you are not going to forsake us. Oh dear Miss Brangwen, I am sure you

won't. Do come back and draw the ferrets, they are the most lovely

noble darlings in the world. We might carve them in holly-wood, playing

against a background of green leaves. Oh do let us, for they are most

beautiful.

'Father says we might have a studio. Gerald says we could easily have a

beautiful one over the stables, it would only need windows to be put in

the slant of the roof, which is a simple matter. Then you could stay

here all day and work, and we could live in the studio, like two real

artists, like the man in the picture in the hall, with the frying-pan

and the walls all covered with drawings. I long to be free, to live the

free life of an artist. Even Gerald told father that only an artist is

free, because he lives in a creative world of his own--' Gudrun caught the drift of the family intentions, in this letter.

Gerald wanted her to be attached to the household at Shortlands, he was

using Winifred as his stalking-horse. The father thought only of his

child, he saw a rock of salvation in Gudrun. And Gudrun admired him for

his perspicacity. The child, moreover, was really exceptional. Gudrun

was quite content. She was quite willing, given a studio, to spend her

days at Shortlands. She disliked the Grammar School already thoroughly,

she wanted to be free. If a studio were provided, she would be free to

go on with her work, she would await the turn of events with complete

serenity. And she was really interested in Winifred, she would be quite

glad to understand the girl.