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‘Oh, it’s you.’
Philip stopped in embarrassment.
‘I thought I’d come in and see how you were.’
‘We were just working.’
Hunter broke into the conversation.
‘When did you get back?’
‘Five minutes ago.’
They sat and looked at him as though he was disturb-
ing them. They evidently expected him to go quickly. Philip
reddened.
‘I’ll be off. You might look in when you’ve done,’ he said
to Rose.
‘All right.’
Philip closed the door behind him and limped back to his
own study. He felt frightfully hurt. Rose, far from seeming
glad to see him, had looked almost put out. They might nev-
er have been more than acquaintances. Though he waited in
his study, not leaving it for a moment in case just then Rose
should come, his friend never appeared; and next morning
when he went in to prayers he saw Rose and Hunter sing-
ing along arm in arm. What he could not see for himself
others told him. He had forgotten that three months is a
long time in a schoolboy’s life, and though he had passed
them in solitude Rose had lived in the world. Hunter had
stepped into the vacant place. Philip found that Rose was
quietly avoiding him. But he was not the boy to accept a
situation without putting it into words; he waited till he was
sure Rose was alone in his study and went in.
‘May I come in?’ he asked.

11 Of Human Bondage