Page 416 - of-human-bondage-

LIII

aking the paper with him Mr. Carey retired to his study.
TPhilip changed his chair for that in which his uncle had
been sitting (it was the only comfortable one in the room),
and looked out of the window at the pouring rain. Even
in that sad weather there was something restful about the
green fields that stretched to the horizon. There was an in-
timate charm in the landscape which he did not remember
ever to have noticed before. Two years in France had opened
his eyes to the beauty of his own countryside.
He thought with a smile of his uncle’s remark. It was
lucky that the turn of his mind tended to flippancy. He had
begun to realise what a great loss he had sustained in the
death of his father and mother. That was one of the differ-
ences in his life which prevented him from seeing things in
the same way as other people. The love of parents for their
children is the only emotion which is quite disinterested.
Among strangers he had grown up as best he could, but he
had seldom been used with patience or forbearance. He
prided himself on his self-control. It had been whipped into
him by the mockery of his fellows. Then they called him
cynical and callous. He had acquired calmness of demean-
our and under most circumstances an unruffled exterior, so
that now he could not show his feelings. People told him he
was unemotional; but he knew that he was at the mercy of

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