Page 675 - of-human-bondage-

Philip flushed, all the more because the surgeon spoke
obviously with a humorous intention, and his brow-beat-
en dressers laughed obsequiously. It was in point of fact
a subject which Philip, since coming to the hospital, had
studied with anxious attention. He had read everything in
the library which treated of talipes in its various forms. He
made the boy take off his boot and stocking. He was four-
teen, with a snub nose, blue eyes, and a freckled face. His
father explained that they wanted something done if pos-
sible, it was such a hindrance to the kid in earning his living.
Philip looked at him curiously. He was a jolly boy, not at all
shy, but talkative and with a cheekiness which his father re-
proved. He was much interested in his foot.
‘It’s only for the looks of the thing, you know,’ he said to
Philip. ‘I don’t find it no trouble.’
‘Be quiet, Ernie,’ said his father. ‘There’s too much gas
about you.’
Philip examined the foot and passed his hand slowly
over the shapelessness of it. He could not understand why
the boy felt none of the humiliation which always oppressed
himself. He wondered why he could not take his deformi-
ty with that philosophic indifference. Presently Mr. Jacobs
came up to him. The boy was sitting on the edge of a couch,
the surgeon and Philip stood on each side of him; and in
a semi-circle, crowding round, were students. With ac-
customed brilliancy Jacobs gave a graphic little discourse
upon the club-foot: he spoke of its varieties and of the forms
which followed upon different anatomical conditions.
‘I suppose you’ve got talipes equinus?’ he said, turning

Of Human Bondage