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for success in that calling; and finally it was suggested that
he should become articled to a solicitor. They wrote to the
family lawyer, Albert Nixon, who was co-executor with the
Vicar of Blackstable for the late Henry Carey’s estate, and
asked him whether he would take Philip. In a day or two
the answer came back that he had not a vacancy, and was
very much opposed to the whole scheme; the profession was
greatly overcrowded, and without capital or connections a
man had small chance of becoming more than a managing
clerk; he suggested, however, that Philip should become a
chartered accountant. Neither the Vicar nor his wife knew
in the least what this was, and Philip had never heard of
anyone being a chartered accountant; but another letter
from the solicitor explained that the growth of modern
businesses and the increase of companies had led to the for-
mation of many firms of accountants to examine the books
and put into the financial affairs of their clients an order
which old-fashioned methods had lacked. Some years be-
fore a Royal Charter had been obtained, and the profession
was becoming every year more respectable, lucrative, and
important. The chartered accountants whom Albert Nixon
had employed for thirty years happened to have a vacancy
for an articled pupil, and would take Philip for a fee of three
hundred pounds. Half of this would be returned during the
five years the articles lasted in the form of salary. The pros-
pect was not exciting, but Philip felt that he must decide on
something, and the thought of living in London over-bal-
anced the slight shrinking he felt. The Vicar of Blackstable
wrote to ask Mr. Nixon whether it was a profession suited

Of Human Bondage