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‘I’ve never seen better,’ they said, ‘you didn’t grow it your-
self?’
‘Yes I did,’ he smiled, and a gleam of pride filled his intel-
ligent eyes.]
He took off his hat and changed his coat, glanced at the
letters and then at the men who were waiting to see him. He
made a slight sign with one finger, and the first in the queue
stepped into the office. They filed past him one by one and
answered his questions. He put them very briefly, keeping
his eyes fixed on the applicant’s face.
‘Age? Experience? Why did you leave your job?’
He listened to the replies without expression. When it
came to Philip’s turn he fancied that Mr. Gibbons stared at
him curiously. Philip’s clothes were neat and tolerably cut.
He looked a little different from the others.
‘Experience?’
‘I’m afraid I haven’t any,’ said Philip.
‘No good.’
Philip walked out of the office. The ordeal had been so
much less painful than he expected that he felt no partic-
ular disappointment. He could hardly hope to succeed in
getting a place the first time he tried. He had kept the news-
paper and now looked at the advertisements again: a shop
in Holborn needed a salesman too, and he went there; but
when he arrived he found that someone had already been
engaged. If he wanted to get anything to eat that day he
must go to Lawson’s studio before he went out to luncheon,
so he made his way along the Brompton Road to Yeoman’s
Row.

1 Of Human Bondage