'And you ?' 'I don't know yet.

I can always go to Bertha's.' There was a silence.
Suddenly the girl turned to Gerald, and said, in a rather formal, polite voice, with the distant manner of a woman who accepts her position as a social inferior, yet assumes intimate CAMARADERIE with the male she addresses: 'Do you know London well ?' 'I can hardly say,' he laughed.

'I've been up a good many times, but I was never in this place before.' 'You're not an artist, then ?' she said, in a tone that placed him an outsider.
'No,' he replied.
'He's a soldier, and an explorer, and a Napoleon of industry,' said Birkin, giving Gerald his credentials for Bohemia.
'Are you a soldier ?' asked the girl, with a cold yet lively curiosity.
'No, I resigned my commission,' said Gerald, 'some years ago.' 'He was in the last war,' said Birkin.
'Were you really ?' said the girl.
'And then he explored the Amazon,' said Birkin, 'and now he is ruling over coal-mines.' The girl looked at Gerald with steady, calm curiosity.

He laughed, hearing himself described.

He felt proud too, full of male strength.
His blue, keen eyes were lit up with laughter, his ruddy face, with its sharp fair hair, was full of satisfaction, and glowing with life.