Page 254 - of-human-bondage-

‘Yes, please,’ said Philip.
The office-boy went out and in a moment returned.
‘Will you come this way?’
Philip followed him across the passage and was shown
into a room, small and barely furnished, in which a lit-
tle, thin man was standing with his back to the fireplace.
He was much below the middle height, but his large head,
which seemed to hang loosely on his body, gave him an odd
ungainliness. His features were wide and flattened, and he
had prominent, pale eyes; his thin hair was sandy; he wore
whiskers that grew unevenly on his face, and in places where
you would have expected the hair to grow thickly there was
no hair at all. His skin was pasty and yellow. He held out his
hand to Philip, and when he smiled showed badly decayed
teeth. He spoke with a patronising and at the same time
a timid air, as though he sought to assume an importance
which he did not feel. He said he hoped Philip would like
the work; there was a good deal of drudgery about it, but
when you got used to it, it was interesting; and one made
money, that was the chief thing, wasn’t it? He laughed with
his odd mixture of superiority and shyness.
‘Mr. Carter will be here presently,’ he said. ‘He’s a little
late on Monday mornings sometimes. I’ll call you when he
comes. In the meantime I must give you something to do.
Do you know anything about book-keeping or accounts?’
‘I’m afraid not,’ answered Philip.
‘I didn’t suppose you would. They don’t teach you things
at school that are much use in business, I’m afraid.’ He con-
sidered for a moment. ‘I think I can find you something to