Page 636 - of-human-bondage-

‘Mr. Carey—Mr. Kingsford.’
Philip, bitterly disappointed at not finding her alone, sat
down and took stock of the stranger. He had never heard
her mention his name, but he seemed to Philip to occupy
his chair as though he were very much at home. He was a
man of forty, clean-shaven, with long fair hair very neatly
plastered down, and the reddish skin and pale, tired eyes
which fair men get when their youth is passed. He had a
large nose, a large mouth; the bones of his face were promi-
nent, and he was heavily made; he was a man of more than
average height, and broad-shouldered.
‘I was wondering what had become of you,’ said Norah,
in her sprightly manner. ‘I met Mr. Lawson the other day—
did he tell you?—and I informed him that it was really high
time you came to see me again.’
Philip could see no shadow of embarrassment in her
countenance, and he admired the use with which she car-
ried off an encounter of which himself felt the intense
awkwardness. She gave him tea. She was about to put sugar
in it when he stopped her.
‘How stupid of me!’ she cried. ‘I forgot.’
He did not believe that. She must remember quite well
that he never took sugar in his tea. He accepted the incident
as a sign that her nonchalance was affected.
The conversation which Philip had interrupted went on,
and presently he began to feel a little in the way. Kings-
ford took no particular notice of him. He talked fluently
and well, not without humour, but with a slightly dogmatic
manner: he was a journalist, it appeared, and had some-