"But they say our educational system is very good as it is."
"As far as it goes; but we still have one system for the rich and another for the poor, and we shall never get equality of mind till we have equality of educational opportunity. But that's only a detail. It all hangs together. As far as I'm concerned, it sums itself up in the urging that takes me back among simple people because—because I love them, Vio; that's the only word for it, and in their way they've loved me."
She crossed the room aimlessly.
"Other—other people have—have loved you, as you call it, who—who mayn't have been simple."
"Y-yes. But—but in the cup they handed to me there were bitter ingredients. In the cup I'm talking of there was only ... love. It was a blind, stumbling, awkward, mannish love, if you like; but it was ... love. It was the pure, unadulterated thing, as unconscious of itself as the air is. The girl who was here this afternoon is an example of it. For anything I know, she was an idiot to have come; but she came, poor soul, because she thought—"
"Well, what did she think?"
"That if Dick Stroud were out of the way I should have a better chance with you."
She was still moving aimlessly about the room, picking up small objects and putting them down again.
"She said—she said he'd been tagging around after her, it's her expression, for nearly three years."
"To my practically certain knowledge that is so."