1006
PARTISAN REVIEW
sensual pattern of Gilbert and Heinrich and Bernard and the others,
only more violently as it seems, and the blood is pulsing in my head
as it used to then, only more loudly.
Suddenly he heard himself saying in a clear, artificial voice "I'm
so glad that we should have become such good friends, Sven, and I
hope you are too. I don't expect you realize what a very lonely man I
am in some ways. Oh! I know how lucky I am in my family, but
they're terribly narrow, I felt perhaps that you were feeling that too.
Richard, for example" by now Edwin was talking at break neck
speed "he lives in books, takes no pleasure in the life around him.
Now you must find that very strange, being so strong and lithe and
weIl-made. Yes I'm afraid the truth of the matter is that my family are
all what we call in England kill-joys, that
is
they get no real fun out
of life. That's what I've so admired about you, you obviously get so
much
fun out of life. I think it's probably because I've allowed my
wife to dominate the family so. You'll think it funny of me to say so,
but I'm not really very much of a woman's man. I think women are
inclined rather to be kill-joys. Do
you
think so?"
"Do
I?"
said Sven "do I think that women kill joy? No, oh no.
Certainly not that" and he began to shake with laughter, but seeing
Edwin's face twisted with combined excitement and alarm he con–
trolled his amusement and added "but I think I so well understand
what you may mean, you must tell me about this. But not here, I
think, for it
is
now getting so dark and a rain spot has faIlen on my
face so that I think there will be a storm. Shall you not tell me in the
town down there?"
"Of course!" said Edwin eagerly and he began to clamber down
the hill. "We'll go into Milkford and I'll ring up from there to say
we've been caught by the storm.
If
we can't get a car we may have
to stay the night there. You won't mind that, will you? It'll give us a
real chance to get to know each other, and they say the Bull's really a
very decent old pub."
At first there had only been a few heavy drops of rain falling
through the trees in the wood. Richard, who had reached the death of
Stefan Trofimovich, positively refused to move, and even Mrs. Rack–
ham who was being once more horrified and entranced by the vul–
garity of Mrs. Elton preferred to take no notice. Then quite sud-
