Of Human Bondage - W. Somerset Maugham [332]
The four weeks of his engagement at Farnley passed quickly. On the cliff a new town was springing up, with red-brick villas round the golf links, and a large hotel had recently been opened to cater for the summer visitors; but Philip went there seldom. Down below, by the harbor, the little stone houses of a past century were clustered in a delightful confusion, and the narrow streets, climbing down steeply, had an air of antiquity which appealed to the imagination. By the water’s edge were neat cottages with trim, tiny gardens in front of them; they were inhabited by retired captains in the merchant service, and by mothers or widows of men who had gained their living by the sea; and they had an appearance which was quaint and peaceful. Into the little harbor came tramps from Spain and the Levant, ships of small tonnage; and now and then a wind-jammer was borne in by the winds of romance. It reminded Philip of the dirty little harbor with its colliers at Blackstable, and he thought that there he had first acquired the desire, which was now an obsession, for Eastern lands and sunlit islands in a tropic sea. But here you felt yourself closer to the wide, deep ocean than on the shore of that North Sea which seemed always circumscribed; here you could draw a long breath as you looked out upon the even vastness; and the west wind, the dear soft salt wind of England, uplifted the heart and at the same time melted it to tenderness.
One evening, when Philip had reached his last week with Doctor South, a child came to the surgery door while the old doctor and Philip were making up prescriptions. It was a little ragged girl with a dirty face and bare feet. Philip opened the door.
“Please, sir, will you come to Mrs. Fletcher’s in Ivy Lane at once?”
“What’s the matter with Mrs. Fletcher?” called out Doctor South in his rasping voice.
The child took no notice of him, but addressed herself again to Philip.
“Please, sir, her little boy’s had an accident and will you come at once?”
“Tell Mrs. Fletcher I’m coming,” called out Doctor South.
The little girl hesitated for a moment, and putting a dirty finger in a dirty mouth stood still and looked at Philip.
“What’s the matter, kid?” said Philip, smiling.
“Please, sir, Mrs. Fletcher says, will the new doctor come?”
There was a sound in the dispensary and Doctor South came out into the passage.
“Isn’t Mrs. Fletcher satisfied with me?” he barked. “I’ve attended Mrs. Fletcher since she was born. Why aren’t I good enough to attend her filthy brat?”
The little girl looked for a moment as though she were going to cry, then she thought better of it; she put out her tongue deliberately at Doctor South, and, before he could recover from his astonishment, bolted off as fast as she could run. Philip saw that the old gentleman was annoyed.
“You look rather fagged, and it’s a goodish way to Ivy Lane,” he said, by way of giving him an excuse not to go himself.
Doctor South gave a low snarl.
“It’s a damned sight nearer for a man who’s got the use of both legs than for a man who’s only got one and a half.”
Philip reddened and stood silent for a while.
“Do you wish me to go or will you go yourself?” he said at last frigidly.
“What’s the good of my going? They want you.”
Philip took up his hat and went to see the patient. It was hard upon eight o’clock when he came back. Doctor South was standing in the dining-room with his back to the fireplace.
“You’ve been a long time,” he said.
“I’m sorry. Why didn’t you start dinner?”
“Because I chose to wait. Have you been all this while at Mrs. Fletcher’s?”
“No, I’m afraid I haven’t. I stopped to look at the sunset on my way back, and I didn’t think of the time.”
Doctor South did not reply, and the servant brought in some grilled sprats. Philip ate them with an excellent appetite. Suddenly Doctor South shot a question at him.
“Why did you look at the sunset?”
Philip answered with