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XXXVIII

t the end of the year there was a great deal to do. Philip
Awent to various places with a clerk named Thompson
and spent the day monotonously calling out items of ex-
penditure, which the other checked; and sometimes he was
given long pages of figures to add up. He had never had a
head for figures, and he could only do this slowly. Thomp-
son grew irritated at his mistakes. His fellow-clerk was a
long, lean man of forty, sallow, with black hair and a ragged
moustache; he had hollow cheeks and deep lines on each
side of his nose. He took a dislike to Philip because he was
an articled clerk. Because he could put down three hun-
dred guineas and keep himself for five years Philip had
the chance of a career; while he, with his experience and
ability, had no possibility of ever being more than a clerk
at thirty-five shillings a week. He was a cross-grained man,
oppressed by a large family, and he resented the supercil-
iousness which he fancied he saw in Philip. He sneered at
Philip because he was better educated than himself, and
he mocked at Philip’s pronunciation; he could not forgive
him because he spoke without a cockney accent, and when
he talked to him sarcastically exaggerated his aitches. At
first his manner was merely gruff and repellent, but as he
discovered that Philip had no gift for accountancy he took
pleasure in humiliating him; his attacks were gross and silly,

Of Human Bondage