CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Connie decided to leave on Saturday with her father. She would take the Orient Express to Paris and arrive in London on Monday. She sent Mellors a letter explaining her plans and asked that they meet Monday, at around seven in the evening.

On the train, her father noticed that she seemed a little sad. She was not even admiring the beautiful countryside through which they were passing.

"Pretty boring, the idea of returning to Wragby," he said.

"I may never go back, actually," she quickly responded.

"Are you serious?" he asked in great surprise, "So suddenly?"

"I'm pregnant with another man's child."

"Whose?"

"You don't know him."

"What will you do?"

"I'm not sure. I suppose that I could just give the child to Clifford, but I'm not sure that I want to."

"Well, it's my opinion that one can never depend on one's love for others. You may love this man now, but what about a year or two from now. If I were you, I'd just bring up the baby at Wragby for the fun of it."

"But he's the only real man I've ever known, father."

"Ah, well, a real man is very hard to find, indeed."

He was happy to hear that his favorite daughter had found another man, for he had never liked Clifford. Once they arrived in London, he drove Connie to her hotel and then went on his way to his club.

Inside Connie's room, a letter waited for her from Mellors, asking that they meet at the Golden Cock at seven o'clock.

When she saw him that evening, on Adam Street, he was wearing a suit. He looked very different from the gamekeeper she had once known. However, immediately, all of her worries and nervousness left her. His smile and loving greeting made her feel calm and safe. She knew then that she had made the right decision to be with him.

They talked over dinner.

"Was it terrible?" she asked him.

"Yes, I suppose it was. I was happy that you were far away from it all. Although, I don't think that anyone believed any of the stories about us. Not even your Clifford."

"I'm pregnant."

Mellors did not say anything. He seemed a little sad. This upset Connie. She asked him if he was happy to hear the news, but he only said that he worried about the future, for it was so uncertain.

"I could always give the child to Clifford. Is that what you want?" she asked him.

"What do you want to do?"

"I want to be with you."

"But what can I give you? I have no desire to make lots of money. I know my purpose in life and I'm comfortable with it, but I don't think anyone else can understand it, including you."

"But what I love about your ability to be so physically caring, so gentle and manly at the same time. Everyone needs that, and yet so few people actually experience it."

"I suppose that I'm afraid of your money and the people that come with it, really," he said, lowering his head like an embarrassed child.

"You should believe in the love between us and not worry about all of those other things. They're all so unimportant. Come, let's go to your room and hold one another."

In his room, they both undressed. He admired her naked, pregnant body and thought that maybe he should not touch her. She, however, grabbed hold of him and made him promise never to leave her.

"OK. If that's what you want, then I'll never leave you," he said.

"Now, kiss the child and tell it that you're happy it's coming!" she insisted.

He put his face between her legs and kissed the lips of her vagina, and at that moment he felt the deepest love for her that he had ever felt. He then entered her, and her earlier words about his "gentle manliness" seemed to make complete sense. He saw himself as the model of human tenderness, and she was his partner through it all. A great happiness came over him.

When it was all over and they lay silent next to each other, Connie asked him about his wife.

"Ah, that woman!" he said angrily, "I tried to love her long ago, but she wouldn't ever let me. I tell you, there's no way to help her. Her life will never get any better. If it were allowed, I would've killed her a long time ago, just to end her pitiful life. I think that our divorce will happen in September. I'm afraid that you and I can't be together until then."

Connie did not know what to do. She would have the baby earlier than that, and she, too, needed to divorce Clifford. It was all so complicated. Why couldn't they just disappear to another part of the world?

When she told her father, his first thought was that the gamekeeper was only with her for her money. He immediately became angry and embarrassed.

"Oh, but he's really a man!" she argued, "I'm sure you'd like him if you met him. Anyway, I'm planning to tell people that it's another man's child."

"Whose?"

"My friend, Duncan Forbes."

"And he won't mind?"

"No. I think he'll actually be honored by it."

Then, even though both men did not like the idea, it was arranged for Sir Malcolm and Mellors to meet one another. They met at a restaurant, just the two of them. Most of the dinner was spent talking about India and Mellors' experience in the military. When the beer finally started to go to their heads, it was then that they began to talk a little more seriously, but not too seriously.

"Tell me, my boy! Was she good in bed, my daughter?" Sir Malcolm asked with a smile.

"Great!" he answered, "I feel it an honor to have such a woman carrying my child."

"Well, it's about time she found a real man who could fuck her like she was meant to be fucked! I like you! I'm sure you've got a big penis between those thin legs of yours! Gamekeeper or not, if there's anything you ever need, you can just ask me and I'll do what I can. But now, what are we to do about the present situation?"

However, they never did get around to answering that last question. They spent the rest of the time talking about women and fucking.

Another meeting was then arranged. This one was between Mellors and Duncan Forbes, for the artist only agreed to have his name used if he could meet the gamekeeper. As for Mellors, he had to accept the plan, for it was really the cleanest way for he and Connie to divorce their spouses. So, he, along with Connie and Hilda, went to the artist's apartment, one evening, for dinner.

The two men did not get along from the beginning. Mellors, after being asked his opinion, expressed his dislike of the artist's work. He felt that it had no feeling in it at all. The artist immediately hated him and argued that he liked to avoid "common feelings" in his work. However, the gamekeeper told him the only feeling he found in his art was self-pity.

Over dinner, the artist agreed to allow his name to be used if Connie would let him paint her picture. She agreed with no problem, but Mellors did not like the idea of letting this man have a look at her naked body. However, Connie managed to convince him that it was really a small favor to ask. And so, it was agreed that Forbes would be named the father.

(end of section)