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lit and noisy with traffic, he caught her up.
‘Mildred,’ he called.
She walked on and would neither look at him nor answer.
He repeated her name. Then she stopped and faced him.
‘What d’you want? I saw you hanging about Victoria.
Why don’t you leave me alone?’
‘I’m awfully sorry. Won’t you make it up?’
‘No, I’m sick of your temper and your jealousy. I don’t
care for you, I never have cared for you, and I never shall
care for you. I don’t want to have anything more to do with
you.’
She walked on quickly, and he had to hurry to keep up
with her.
‘You never make allowances for me,’ he said. ‘It’s all very
well to be jolly and amiable when you’re indifferent to any-
one. It’s very hard when you’re as much in love as I am. Have
mercy on me. I don’t mind that you don’t care for me. After
all you can’t help it. I only want you to let me love you.’
She walked on, refusing to speak, and Philip saw with
agony that they had only a few hundred yards to go before
they reached her house. He abased himself. He poured out
an incoherent story of love and penitence.
‘If you’ll only forgive me this time I promise you you’ll
never have to complain of me in future. You can go out with
whoever you choose. I’ll be only too glad if you’ll come with
me when you’ve got nothing better to do.’
She stopped again, for they had reached the corner at
which he always left her.
‘Now you can take yourself off. I won’t have you coming

Of Human Bondage