Page 696 - of-human-bondage-

‘You should read Spanish,’ he said. ‘It is a noble tongue.
It has not the mellifluousness of Italian, Italian is the lan-
guage of tenors and organ-grinders, but it has grandeur: it
does not ripple like a brook in a garden, but it surges tumul-
tuous like a mighty river in flood.’
His grandiloquence amused Philip, but he was sensitive
to rhetoric; and he listened with pleasure while Athelny,
with picturesque expressions and the fire of a real enthu-
siasm, described to him the rich delight of reading Don
Quixote in the original and the music, romantic, limpid,
passionate, of the enchanting Calderon.
‘I must get on with my work,’ said Philip presently.
‘Oh, forgive me, I forgot. I will tell my wife to bring me
a photograph of Toledo, and I will show it you. Come and
talk to me when you have the chance. You don’t know what
a pleasure it gives me.’
During the next few days, in moments snatched when-
ever there was opportunity, Philip’s acquaintance with the
journalist increased. Thorpe Athelny was a good talker. He
did not say brilliant things, but he talked inspiringly, with
an eager vividness which fired the imagination; Philip, liv-
ing so much in a world of make-believe, found his fancy
teeming with new pictures. Athelny had very good man-
ners. He knew much more than Philip, both of the world
and of books; he was a much older man; and the readiness
of his conversation gave him a certain superiority; but he
was in the hospital a recipient of charity, subject to strict
rules; and he held himself between the two positions with
ease and humour. Once Philip asked him why he had come