Page 112 - of-human-bondage-

ing bitter things, which caught people on the raw; he said
them because they amused him, hardly realising how much
they hurt, and was much offended when he found that his
victims regarded him with active dislike. The humiliations
he suffered when first he went to school had caused in him
a shrinking from his fellows which he could never entirely
overcome; he remained shy and silent. But though he did
everything to alienate the sympathy of other boys he longed
with all his heart for the popularity which to some was so
easily accorded. These from his distance he admired extrav-
agantly; and though he was inclined to be more sarcastic
with them than with others, though he made little jokes
at their expense, he would have given anything to change
places with them. Indeed he would gladly have changed
places with the dullest boy in the school who was whole of
limb. He took to a singular habit. He would imagine that he
was some boy whom he had a particular fancy for; he would
throw his soul, as it were, into the other’s body, talk with his
voice and laugh with his heart; he would imagine himself
doing all the things the other did. It was so vivid that he
seemed for a moment really to be no longer himself. In this
way he enjoyed many intervals of fantastic happiness.
At the beginning of the Christmas term which followed
on his confirmation Philip found himself moved into an-
other study. One of the boys who shared it was called Rose.
He was in the same form as Philip, and Philip had always
looked upon him with envious admiration. He was not
good-looking; though his large hands and big bones sug-
gested that he would be a tall man, he was clumsily made;

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