He thought always of the two of them as being
side by side. His imagination became childishly romantic. The open
down about him with its scrub of thorn and yew became the wilderness
of the world, and through it they went--in armour, weightless
armour--and they wore long swords. There was a breeze blowing and
larks were singing and something, something dark and tortuous dashed
suddenly in headlong flight from before their feet. It was an
ethical problem such as those Mrs. Skelmersdale nursed in her bosom.
But at the sight of Amanda it had straightened out--and fled. . . .
And interweaving with such imaginings, he was some day to record,
there were others. She had brought back to his memory the fancies
that had been aroused in his first reading of Plato's REPUBLIC; she
made him think of those women Guardians, who were the friends and
mates of men. He wanted now to re-read that book and the LAWS. He
could not remember if the Guardians were done in the LAWS as well as
in the REPUBLIC. He wished he had both these books in his rucksack,
but as he had not, he decided he would hunt for them in Chichester.
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