Page 777 - of-human-bondage-

mas pudding which she had bought at a local grocer’s. They
stood themselves a bottle of wine. When they had dined
Philip sat in his arm-chair by the fire, smoking his pipe; and
the unaccustomed wine had made him forget for a while
the anxiety about money which was so constantly with him.
He felt happy and comfortable. Presently Mildred came in
to tell him that the baby wanted him to kiss her good-night,
and with a smile he went into Mildred’s bed-room. Then,
telling the child to go to sleep, he turned down the gas and,
leaving the door open in case she cried, went back into the
sitting-room.
‘Where are you going to sit?’ he asked Mildred.
‘You sit in your chair. I’m going to sit on the floor.’
When he sat down she settled herself in front of the fire
and leaned against his knees. He could not help remember-
ing that this was how they had sat together in her rooms in
the Vauxhall Bridge Road, but the positions had been re-
versed; it was he who had sat on the floor and leaned his
head against her knee. How passionately he had loved her
then! Now he felt for her a tenderness he had not known for
a long time. He seemed still to feel twined round his neck
the baby’s soft little arms.
‘Are you comfy?’ he asked.
She looked up at him, gave a slight smile, and nodded.
They gazed into the fire dreamily, without speaking to one
another. At last she turned round and stared at him curi-
ously.
‘D’you know that you haven’t kissed me once since I came
here?’ she said suddenly.

Of Human Bondage