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‘Oh, there’s nothing like that here,’ she said. ‘You see,
about half our students are ladies, and they set a tone to
the place.’
The studio was large and bare, with gray walls, on which
were pinned the studies that had received prizes. A model
was sitting in a chair with a loose wrap thrown over her,
and about a dozen men and women were standing about,
some talking and others still working on their sketch. It was
the first rest of the model.
‘You’d better not try anything too difficult at first,’ said
Mrs. Otter. ‘Put your easel here. You’ll find that’s the easi-
est pose.’
Philip placed an easel where she indicated, and Mrs. Ot-
ter introduced him to a young woman who sat next to him.
‘Mr. Carey—Miss Price. Mr. Carey’s never studied before,
you won’t mind helping him a little just at first will you?’
Then she turned to the model. ‘La Pose.’
The model threw aside the paper she had been reading,
La Petite Republique, and sulkily, throwing off her gown,
got on to the stand. She stood, squarely on both feet with
her hands clasped behind her head.
‘It’s a stupid pose,’ said Miss Price. ‘I can’t imagine why
they chose it.’
When Philip entered, the people in the studio had looked
at him curiously, and the model gave him an indifferent
glance, but now they ceased to pay attention to him. Phil-
ip, with his beautiful sheet of paper in front of him, stared
awkwardly at the model. He did not know how to begin. He
had never seen a naked woman before. She was not young

Of Human Bondage