Page 447 - of-human-bondage-

material and a crochet shawl over her head. They reached
the restaurant and sat down at a table. She looked round
with satisfaction. The red shades to the candles on the ta-
bles, the gold of the decorations, the looking-glasses, lent the
room a sumptuous air.
‘I’ve never been here before.’
She gave Philip a smile. She had taken off her cloak; and
he saw that she wore a pale blue dress, cut square at the neck;
and her hair was more elaborately arranged than ever. He
had ordered champagne and when it came her eyes spar-
kled.
‘You are going it,’ she said.
‘Because I’ve ordered fiz?’ he asked carelessly, as though
he never drank anything else.
‘I WAS surprised when you asked me to do a theatre with
you.’ Conversation did not go very easily, for she did not
seem to have much to say; and Philip was nervously con-
scious that he was not amusing her. She listened carelessly
to his remarks, with her eyes on other diners, and made no
pretence that she was interested in him. He made one or two
little jokes, but she took them quite seriously. The only sign
of vivacity he got was when he spoke of the other girls in the
shop; she could not bear the manageress and told him all her
misdeeds at length.
‘I can’t stick her at any price and all the air she gives her-
self. Sometimes I’ve got more than half a mind to tell her
something she doesn’t think I know anything about.’
‘What is that?’ asked Philip.
‘Well, I happen to know that she’s not above going to

Of Human Bondage