She longed to smooth it away, and she was afraid of it.

It seemed the stamp of a man who was not her man in Paul Morel.
There were some crimson berries among the leaves in the bowl.

He reached over and pulled out a bunch.
"If you put red berries in your hair," he said, "why would you look like some witch or priestess, and never like a reveller ?" She laughed with a naked, painful sound.
"I don't know," she said.
His vigorous warm hands were playing excitedly with the berries.
"Why can't you laugh ?" he said.

"You never laugh laughter.

You only laugh when something is odd or incongruous, and then it almost seems to hurt you." She bowed her head as if he were scolding her.
"I wish you could laugh at me just for one minute--just for one minute.
I feel as if it would set something free." "But"-- and she looked up at him with eyes frightened and struggling--"I do laugh at you--I DO." "Never! There's always a kind of intensity.