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he story which Philip made out in one way and another
Twas terrible. One of the grievances of the women-stu-
dents was that Fanny Price would never share their gay
meals in restaurants, and the reason was obvious: she had
been oppressed by dire poverty. He remembered the lun-
cheon they had eaten together when first he came to Paris
and the ghoulish appetite which had disgusted him: he
realised now that she ate in that manner because she was
ravenous. The concierge told him what her food had con-
sisted of. A bottle of milk was left for her every day and
she brought in her own loaf of bread; she ate half the loaf
and drank half the milk at mid-day when she came back
from the school, and consumed the rest in the evening. It
was the same day after day. Philip thought with anguish of
what she must have endured. She had never given anyone
to understand that she was poorer than the rest, but it was
clear that her money had been coming to an end, and at last
she could not afford to come any more to the studio. The
little room was almost bare of furniture, and there were no
other clothes than the shabby brown dress she had always
worn. Philip searched among her things for the address of
some friend with whom he could communicate. He found a
piece of paper on which his own name was written a score
of times. It gave him a peculiar shock. He supposed it was

Of Human Bondage