uined woman, and Queen can't understand."

And in the bewildering voluptuous brightness and luxury of the room
G.J. had the sensation of being a poor, baffled ghost groping in the
night of existence. Concepcion's left arm slipped over the edge of
the day-bed and hung limp and pale, the curved fingers touching the
carpet.

Chapter 27

THE CLYDE

She was sitting up on the chaise-longue and had poured out the tea--he
had pushed the tea-table towards the chaise-longue--and she was
talking in an ordinary tone just as though she had not immodestly
bared her spirit to him and as though she knew not that he realised
she had done so. She was talking at length, as one who in the past had
been well accustomed to giving monologues and to holding drawing-rooms
in subjection while she chattered, and to making drawing-rooms feel
glad that they had consented to subjection. She was saying:

"You've no idea what the valley of the Clyde is now. You can't have.
It's filled with girls, and they come into it every morning by train
to huge stations specially built for them, and they make the most
ghastly things for killing other girls' lovers all day, and they go
back by train at night. Only some of them work all night. I had to
leave my own works to organise the canteen of a new filling factory.
Five thousand girls in that factory. It's frightfully dangerous. They
have to wear special clothing. They have to take off every stitch from
their bodies in one room, and run in their innocence and nothing else
to another room where the special clothing is. That's the only way
to prevent the whole place being blown up one beautiful day. But five
thousand of them! You can't imagine it. You'd like to, G.J., but you
can't. However, I didn't stay there very long. I wanted to go back to
my own place. I was adored at my own place. Of course the men adored
me. They used to fight about me sometimes. Terrific men. Nothing
ever made me happier than that, or so happy. But the girls were more
interesting. Two thousand of them there. You'd never guess it, because
they were hidden in thickets of machinery. But see them rush out
endlessly to the canteen for tea! All sorts. Lots of devils and cats.
Some lovely creatures, heavenly creatures, as fine as a queen. They
adored me too. They didn't at first, some of them. But they soon
tumbled to it that I was the modern woman, and that they'd never
seen me before, and it was a great discovery. Absurdly easy