Page 956 - of-human-bondage-

CXVII

hilip had written to Athelny to tell him that he was do-
Ping a locum in Dorsetshire and in due course received
an answer from him. It was written in the formal manner
he affected, studded with pompous epithets as a Persian dia-
dem was studded with precious stones; and in the beautiful
hand, like black letter and as difficult to read, upon which
he prided himself. He suggested that Philip should join him
and his family in the Kentish hop-field to which he went
every year; and to persuade him said various beautiful and
complicated things about Philip’s soul and the winding ten-
drils of the hops. Philip replied at once that he would come
on the first day he was free. Though not born there, he had
a peculiar affection for the Isle of Thanet, and he was fired
with enthusiasm at the thought of spending a fortnight so
close to the earth and amid conditions which needed only a
blue sky to be as idyllic as the olive groves of Arcady.
The four weeks of his engagement at Farnley passed
quickly. On the cliff a new town was springing up, with red
brick villas round golf links, and a large hotel had recent-
ly been opened to cater for the summer visitors; but Philip
went there seldom. Down below, by the harbour, the little
stone houses of a past century were clustered in a delightful
confusion, and the narrow streets, climbing down steeply,
had an air of antiquity which appealed to the imagina-