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XXXIX

he Vicar of Blackstable would have nothing to do with
Tthe scheme which Philip laid before him. He had a great
idea that one should stick to whatever one had begun. Like
all weak men he laid an exaggerated stress on not changing
one’s mind.
‘You chose to be an accountant of your own free will,’ he
said.
‘I just took that because it was the only chance I saw of
getting up to town. I hate London, I hate the work, and
nothing will induce me to go back to it.’
Mr. and Mrs. Carey were frankly shocked at Philip’s idea
of being an artist. He should not forget, they said, that his
father and mother were gentlefolk, and painting wasn’t a
serious profession; it was Bohemian, disreputable, immoral.
And then Paris!
‘So long as I have anything to say in the matter, I shall not
allow you to live in Paris,’ said the Vicar firmly.
It was a sink of iniquity. The scarlet woman and she of
Babylon flaunted their vileness there; the cities of the plain
were not more wicked.
‘You’ve been brought up like a gentleman and Christian,
and I should be false to the trust laid upon me by your dead
father and mother if I allowed you to expose yourself to
such temptation.’