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But three or four days later, when she brought him his
tea, Mildred said to him:
‘You remember what you promised the other night? You
mean to keep that, don’t you?’
‘Yes.’
He knew exactly what she meant and was prepared for
her next words.
‘Because I’m going out with that gentleman I told you
about tonight.’
‘All right. I hope you’ll enjoy yourself.’
‘You don’t mind, do you?’
He had himself now under excellent control.
‘I don’t like it,’ he smiled, ‘but I’m not going to make my-
self more disagreeable than I can help.’
She was excited over the outing and talked about it will-
ingly. Philip wondered whether she did so in order to pain
him or merely because she was callous. He was in the hab-
it of condoning her cruelty by the thought of her stupidity.
She had not the brains to see when she was wounding him.
‘It’s not much fun to be in love with a girl who has no
imagination and no sense of humour,’ he thought, as he lis-
tened.
But the want of these things excused her. He felt that if
he had not realised this he could never forgive her for the
pain she caused him.
‘He’s got seats for the Tivoli,’ she said. ‘He gave me my
choice and I chose that. And we’re going to dine at the Cafe
Royal. He says it’s the most expensive place in London.’
‘He’s a gentleman in every sense of the word,’ thought

Of Human Bondage