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remarks about the girls or the men who were set over them
which amused him by their unexpected drollery. She had a
way of saying a thing which was very characteristic, quite
gravely, as though there were nothing funny in it at all, and
yet it was so sharp-sighted that Philip broke into delighted
laughter. Then she would give him a little glance in which
the smiling eyes showed she was not unaware of her own
humour. They met with a handshake and parted as formally.
Once Philip asked her to come and have tea with him in his
rooms, but she refused.
‘No, I won’t do that. It would look funny.’
Never a word of love passed between them. She seemed
not to desire anything more than the companionship of
those walks. Yet Philip was positive that she was glad to be
with him. She puzzled him as much as she had done at the
beginning. He did not begin to understand her conduct; but
the more he knew her the fonder he grew of her; she was
competent and self controlled, and there was a charming
honesty in her: you felt that you could rely upon her in ev-
ery circumstance.
‘You are an awfully good sort,’ he said to her once a pro-
pos of nothing at all.
‘I expect I’m just the same as everyone else,’ she an-
swered.
He knew that he did not love her. It was a great affection
that he felt for her, and he liked her company; it was curi-
ously soothing; and he had a feeling for her which seemed
to him ridiculous to entertain towards a shop-girl of nine-
teen: he respected her. And he admired her magnificent