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CXIV

he three weeks which the appointment lasted drew to
Tan end. Philip had attended sixty-two cases, and he was
tired out. When he came home about ten o’clock on his last
night he hoped with all his heart that he would not be called
out again. He had not had a whole night’s rest for ten days.
The case which he had just come from was horrible. He had
been fetched by a huge, burly man, the worse for liquor, and
taken to a room in an evil-smelling court, which was filth-
ier than any he had seen: it was a tiny attic; most of the
space was taken up by a wooden bed, with a canopy of dirty
red hangings, and the ceiling was so low that Philip could
touch it with the tips of his fingers; with the solitary candle
that afforded what light there was he went over it, frizzling
up the bugs that crawled upon it. The woman was a blowsy
creature of middle age, who had had a long succession of
still-born children. It was a story that Philip was not unac-
customed to: the husband had been a soldier in India; the
legislation forced upon that country by the prudery of the
English public had given a free run to the most distress-
ing of all diseases; the innocent suffered. Yawning, Philip
undressed and took a bath, then shook his clothes over the
water and watched the animals that fell out wriggling. He
was just going to get into bed when there was a knock at the
door, and the hospital porter brought him a card.

0 Of Human Bondage