Page 732 - of-human-bondage-

what all.’
He saw that she was crying again. He remembered how
she had come to him when Emil Miller had deserted her
and how she had wept. The recollection of her suffering and
of his own humiliation seemed to render more overwhelm-
ing the compassion he felt now.
‘If I could only get out of it!’ she moaned. ‘I hate it so. I’m
unfit for the life, I’m not the sort of girl for that. I’d do any-
thing to get away from it, I’d be a servant if I could. Oh, I
wish I was dead.’
And in pity for herself she broke down now completely.
She sobbed hysterically, and her thin body was shaken.
‘Oh, you don’t know what it is. Nobody knows till they’ve
done it.’
Philip could not bear to see her cry. He was tortured by
the horror of her position.
‘Poor child,’ he whispered. ‘Poor child.’
He was deeply moved. Suddenly he had an inspiration. It
filled him with a perfect ecstasy of happiness.
‘Look here, if you want to get away from it, I’ve got an
idea. I’m frightfully hard up just now, I’ve got to be as eco-
nomical as I can; but I’ve got a sort of little flat now in
Kennington and I’ve got a spare room. If you like you and
the baby can come and live there. I pay a woman three and
sixpence a week to keep the place clean and to do a little
cooking for me. You could do that and your food wouldn’t
come to much more than the money I should save on her. It
doesn’t cost any more to feed two than one, and I don’t sup-
pose the baby eats much.’

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