"Tha knows what tha knows. What dost ax for!" he said, a little fretfully.
"I want you to keep me, not to let me go," she said.
His eyes seemed full of a warm, soft darkness that could not think.
"When? Now?"
"Now in your heart. Then I want to come and live with you always, soon."
He sat naked on the bed, with his head dropped, unable to think.
"Don't you want it," she asked.
"Ay!" he said.
Then with the same eyes darkened with another flame of consciousness, almost like sleep, he looked at her.
"Dunna ax me nowt now," he said. "Let me be. I like thee. I luv thee when tha lies theer. A woman's a lovely thing when 'er's deep ter fuck, and cunt's good. Ah luv thee, thy legs, an' th' shape on thee, an' th' womanness on thee. Ah luv th' womanness on thee. Ah luv thee wi' my ba's an' wi' my heart. But dunna ax me nowt. Dunna ma'e me say nowt. Let me stop as I am while I can. Tha can ax me ivrything after. Now let me be, let me be!"