Party members.'
'With members of the Inner Party?'
'Not with those swine, no. But there's plenty that would if they got
half a chance. They're not so holy as they make out.'
His heart leapt. Scores of times she had done it: he wished it had
been hundreds -- thousands. Anything that hinted at corruption always
filled him with a wild hope. Who knew, perhaps the Party was rotten under
the surface, its cult of strenuousness and self-denial simply a sham
concealing iniquity. If he could have infected the whole lot of them with
leprosy or syphilis, how gladly he would have done so! Anything to rot, to
weaken, to undermine! He pulled her down so that they were kneeling face to
face.
'Listen. The more men you've had, the more I love you. Do you
understand that?'
'Yes, perfectly.'
'I hate purity, I hate goodness! I don't want any virtue to exist
anywhere. I want everyone to be corrupt to the bones.'
'Well then, I ought to suit you, dear. I'm corrupt to the bones.'
'Yo