Women in Love

'Do you remember,' came the quick voice of the Russian, 'the letters he

used to send. "Desire is holy-"' 'Oh yes!' cried Halliday. 'Oh, how perfectly splendid. Why, I've got

one in my pocket. I'm sure I have.' He took out various papers from his pocket book.

'I'm sure I've--HIC! OH DEAR!--got one.' Gerald and Gudrun were watching absorbedly.

'Oh yes, how perfectly--HIC!--splendid! Don't make me laugh, Pussum, it

gives me the hiccup. Hic!--' They all giggled.

'What did he say in that one?' the Pussum asked, leaning forward, her

dark, soft hair falling and swinging against her face. There was

something curiously indecent, obscene, about her small, longish, dark

skull, particularly when the ears showed.

'Wait--oh do wait! NO-O, I won't give it to you, I'll read it aloud.

I'll read you the choice bits,--hic! Oh dear! Do you think if I drink

water it would take off this hiccup? HIC! Oh, I feel perfectly

helpless.' 'Isn't that the letter about uniting the dark and the light--and the

Flux of Corruption?' asked Maxim, in his precise, quick voice.

'I believe so,' said the Pussum.

'Oh is it? I'd forgotten--HIC!--it was that one,' Halliday said,

opening the letter. 'HIC! Oh yes. How perfectly splendid! This is one

of the best. "There is a phase in every race--"' he read in the

sing-song, slow, distinct voice of a clergyman reading the Scriptures,

'"When the desire for destruction overcomes every other desire. In the

individual, this desire is ultimately a desire for destruction in the

self"--HIC!--' he paused and looked up.

'I hope he's going ahead with the destruction of himself,' said the

quick voice of the Russian. Halliday giggled, and lolled his head back,

vaguely.

'There's not much to destroy in him,' said the Pussum. 'He's so thin

already, there's only a fag-end to start on.' 'Oh, isn't it beautiful! I love reading it! I believe it has cured my

hiccup!' squealed Halliday. 'Do let me go on. "It is a desire for the

reduction process in oneself, a reducing back to the origin, a return

along the Flux of Corruption, to the original rudimentary conditions of

being--!" Oh, but I DO think it is wonderful. It almost supersedes the

Bible-' 'Yes--Flux of Corruption,' said the Russian, 'I remember that phrase.' 'Oh, he was always talking about Corruption,' said the Pussum. 'He must

be corrupt himself, to have it so much on his mind.' 'Exactly!' said the Russian.