forgetting; to slip out again。
Then Brangwen; talking to the child; or to the dog between
his knees; would be aware of his wife; as; in her tight; dark
bodice and her lace fichu; she was reaching up to the corner
cupboard。 He realized with a sharp pang that she belonged to
him; and he to her。 He realized that he lived by her。 Did he own
her? Was she here for ever? Or might she go away? She was not
really his; it was not a real marriage; this marriage between
them。 She might go away。 He did not feel like a master; husband;
father of her children。 She belonged elsewhere。 Any moment; she
might be gone。 And he was ever drawn to her; drawn after her;
with ever…raging; ever…unsatisfied desire。 He must always turn
home; wherever his steps were taking him; always to her; and he
could never quite reach her; he could never quite be satisfied;
never be at peace; because she might go away。
At evening; he was glad。 Then; when he had finished in the
yard; and e in and washed himself; when the child was put to
bed; he could sit on the other side of the fire with his beer on
the hob and his long white pipe in his fingers; conscious of her
there opposite him; as she worked at her embroidery; or as she
talked to him; and he was safe with her now; till morning。 She
was curiously self…sufficient and did not say very much。
Occasionally she lifted her head; her grey eyes shining with a
strange light; that had nothing to do with him or with this
place; and would tell him about herself。 She seemed to be back
again in the past; chiefly in her childhood or her girlhood;
with her father。 She very rarely talked of her first husband。
But sometimes; all shining…eyed; she was back at her own home;
telling him about the riotous times; the trip to Paris with her
father; tales of the mad acts of the peasants when a burst of
religious; self…hurting fervour had passed over the country。
She would lift her head and say:
〃When they brought the railway across the country; they made
afterwards smaller railways; of shorter width; to e down to
our town…a hundred miles。 When I was a girl; Gisla; my German
gouvernante; was very shocked and she would not tell me。 But I
heard the servants talking。 I remember; it was Pierre; the
coachman。 And my father; and some of his friends; landowners;
they had taken a wagon; a whole railway wagon……that you