Page 783 - of-human-bondage-

iodoform. Philip received no letters, and there was no girl’s
photograph among his belongings. If he was in love with
someone, he was very clever at hiding it; and he answered
all Mildred’s questions with frankness and apparently with-
out suspicion that there was any motive in them.
‘I don’t believe he’s in love with anybody else,’ she said to
herself at last.
It was a relief, for in that case he was certainly still in love
with her; but it made his behaviour very puzzling. If he was
going to treat her like that why did he ask her to come and
live at the flat? It was unnatural. Mildred was not a woman
who conceived the possibility of compassion, generosity, or
kindness. Her only conclusion was that Philip was queer.
She took it into her head that the reasons for his conduct
were chivalrous; and, her imagination filled with the ex-
travagances of cheap fiction, she pictured to herself all sorts
of romantic explanations for his delicacy. Her fancy ran riot
with bitter misunderstandings, purifications by fire, snow-
white souls, and death in the cruel cold of a Christmas
night. She made up her mind that when they went to Brigh-
ton she would put an end to all his nonsense; they would be
alone there, everyone would think them husband and wife,
and there would be the pier and the band. When she found
that nothing would induce Philip to share the same room
with her, when he spoke to her about it with a tone in his
voice she had never heard before, she suddenly realised that
he did not want her. She was astounded. She remembered
all he had said in the past and how desperately he had loved
her. She felt humiliated and angry, but she had a sort of na-

Of Human Bondage