Page 594 - of-human-bondage-

back. He felt a shadow of annoyance in Mildred’s eyes when
she saw him, and his heart sank.
‘You’ve been a devil of a time,’ said Griffiths, with a smile
of welcome.
‘I met some men I knew. I’ve been talking to them, and I
couldn’t get away. I thought you’d be all right together.’
‘I’ve been enjoying myself thoroughly,’ said Griffiths. ‘I
don’t know about Mildred.’
She gave a little laugh of happy complacency. There was a
vulgar sound in the ring of it that horrified Philip. He sug-
gested that they should go.
‘Come on,’ said Griffiths, ‘we’ll both drive you home.’
Philip suspected that she had suggested that arrange-
ment so that she might not be left alone with him. In the cab
he did not take her hand nor did she offer it, and he knew all
the time that she was holding Griffiths’. His chief thought
was that it was all so horribly vulgar. As they drove along
he asked himself what plans they had made to meet with-
out his knowledge, he cursed himself for having left them
alone, he had actually gone out of his way to enable them to
arrange things.
‘Let’s keep the cab,’ said Philip, when they reached the
house in which Mildred was lodging. ‘I’m too tired to walk
home.’
On the way back Griffiths talked gaily and seemed in-
different to the fact that Philip answered in monosyllables.
Philip felt he must notice that something was the mat-
ter. Philip’s silence at last grew too significant to struggle
against, and Griffiths, suddenly nervous, ceased talking.