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hilip was moved into the Sixth, but he hated school now
Pwith all his heart, and, having lost his ambition, cared
nothing whether he did ill or well. He awoke in the morning
with a sinking heart because he must go through another
day of drudgery. He was tired of having to do things because
he was told; and the restrictions irked him, not because they
were unreasonable, but because they were restrictions. He
yearned for freedom. He was weary of repeating things that
he knew already and of the hammering away, for the sake
of a thick-witted fellow, at something that he understood
from the beginning.
With Mr. Perkins you could work or not as you chose. He
was at once eager and abstracted. The Sixth Form room was
in a part of the old abbey which had been restored, and it
had a gothic window: Philip tried to cheat his boredom by
drawing this over and over again; and sometimes out of his
head he drew the great tower of the Cathedral or the gate-
way that led into the precincts. He had a knack for drawing.
Aunt Louisa during her youth had painted in water colours,
and she had several albums filled with sketches of church-
es, old bridges, and picturesque cottages. They were often
shown at the vicarage tea-parties. She had once given Philip
a paint-box as a Christmas present, and he had started by
copying her pictures. He copied them better than anyone

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