Human Bondage - The Original Classic Edition. Maugham W

could he think of any that would have suited her better. She had begun as Miss Wilkinson, and it seemed inseparable from his impression of her. He frowned a little: somehow or other he saw her now at her worst; he could not forget his dismay when she turned round and he saw her in her camisole and the short petticoat; he remembered the slight roughness of her skin and the sharp, long lines on the side of the neck. His triumph was short-lived. He reckoned out her age again, and he did not see how she could be less than forty. It made the affair ridiculous. She was plain and old. His quick fancy showed her to him, wrinkled, haggard, made-up, in those frocks which were too showy for her position and too young for her years. He shuddered; he felt suddenly that he never wanted to see her again; he could not bear the thought of kissing her. He was horrified with himself. Was that love?

       He took as long as he could over dressing in order to put back the moment of seeing her, and when at last he went into the dining-room it was with a sinking heart. Prayers were over, and they were sitting down at breakfast.

       "Lazybones," Miss Wilkinson cried gaily.

       He looked at her and gave a little gasp of relief. She was sitting with her back to the window. She was really quite nice. He wondered why he had thought such things about her. His self-satisfaction returned to him.

       He was taken aback by the change in her. She told him in a voice thrilling with emotion immediately after breakfast that she loved him; and when a little later they went into the drawing-room for his singing lesson and she sat down on the music-stool she put up her face in the middle of a scale and said:

       "Embrasse-moi."

       When he bent down she flung her arms round his neck. It was slightly uncomfortable, for she held him in such a position that he felt

       rather choked.

       "Ah, je t'aime. Je t'aime. Je t'aime," she cried, with her extravagantly

       French accent.

       Philip wished she would speak English.

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       "I say, I don't know if it's struck you that the gardener's quite likely to pass the window any minute."

       "Ah, je m'en fiche du jardinier. Je m'en refiche, et je m'en contrefiche."

       Philip thought it was very like a French novel, and he did not know why it slightly irritated him. At last he said:

       "Well, I think I'll tootle along to the beach and have a dip."

       "Oh, you're not going to leave me this morning--of all mornings?" Philip did not quite know why he should not, but it did not mat-ter.

       "Would you like me to stay?" he smiled.

       "Oh, you darling! But no, go. Go. I want to think of you mastering the salt sea waves, bathing your limbs in the broad ocean." He got his hat and sauntered off.

       "What rot women talk!" he thought to himself.

       But he was pleased and happy and flattered. She was evidently frightfully gone on him. As he limped along the high street of Blackstable he looked with a tinge of superciliousness at the people he passed. He knew a good many to nod to, and as he gave them a smile of recognition he thought to himself, if they only knew! He did want someone to know very badly. He thought he would write to Hayward, and in his mind composed the letter. He would talk of the garden and the roses, and the little French governess, like an exotic flower amongst them, scented and perverse: he would say she was French, because--well, she had lived in France so long that she almost was, and besides it would be shabby to give the whole thing away too exactly, don't you know; and he would tell Hayward how he had seen her first in her pretty muslin dress and of the flower she had given him. He made a delicate idyl of it: the sunshine and the sea gave it passion and magic, and the stars added poetry, and the old vicarage garden was a fit and exquisite setting. There was something Meredithian about it: it was not quite Lucy Feverel and not quite Clara Middleton; but it was inexpressibly charming. Philip's heart beat quickly. He was so delighted with his fancies that he began thinking of them again as soon as he crawled back, dripping and cold, into his bathing-machine. He thought of the object of his affections. She had the most adorable little nose and large brown eyes--he would describe her to Hayward--and masses of soft brown hair, the sort of hair it was delicious to bury your face in, and a skin which was like ivory and sunshine, and her cheek was like a red, red rose. How old was she? Eighteen perhaps, and he called her Musette. Her laughter was like a rippling brook, and her voice was so soft, so low, it was the sweetest music he had ever heard.

       "What ARE you thinking about?"

       Philip stopped suddenly. He was walking slowly home.

       "I've been waving at you for the last quarter of a mile. You ARE absent-minded." Miss Wilkinson was standing in front of him, laughing at his surprise.

       "I thought I'd come and meet you." "That's awfully nice of you," he said. "Did I startle you?"

       "You did a bit," he admitted.

       He wrote his letter to Hayward all the same. There were eight pages of it.

       The fortnight that remained passed quickly, and though each evening, when they went into the garden after supper, Miss Wilkinson remarked that one day more had gone, Philip was in too cheerful spirits to let the thought depress him. One night Miss Wilkinson suggested that it would be delightful if she could exchange her situation in Berlin for one in London. Then they could see one

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       another constantly. Philip said it would be very jolly, but the prospect aroused no enthusiasm in him; he was looking forward to a wonderful life in London, and he preferred not to be hampered. He spoke a little too freely of all he meant to do, and allowed Miss Wilkinson to see that already he was longing to be off.

       "You wouldn't talk like that if you loved me," she cried. He was taken aback and remained silent.

       "What a fool I've been," she muttered.