Page 922 - of-human-bondage-

CXIII

t the beginning of the last week in August Philip entered
Aupon his duties in the ‘district.’ They were arduous, for
he had to attend on an average three confinements a day.
The patient had obtained a ‘card’ from the hospital some
time before; and when her time came it was taken to the
porter by a messenger, generally a little girl, who was then
sent across the road to the house in which Philip lodged.
At night the porter, who had a latch-key, himself came
over and awoke Philip. It was mysterious then to get up in
the darkness and walk through the deserted streets of the
South Side. At those hours it was generally the husband
who brought the card. If there had been a number of babies
before he took it for the most part with surly indifference,
but if newly married he was nervous and then sometimes
strove to allay his anxiety by getting drunk. Often there
was a mile or more to walk, during which Philip and the
messenger discussed the conditions of labour and the cost
of living; Philip learnt about the various trades which were
practised on that side of the river. He inspired confidence
in the people among whom he was thrown, and during the
long hours that he waited in a stuffy room, the woman in la-
bour lying on a large bed that took up half of it, her mother
and the midwife talked to him as naturally as they talked
to one another. The circumstances in which he had lived

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