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healthiness. She was a splendid animal, without defect; and
physical perfection filled him always with admiring awe.
She made him feel unworthy.
Then, one day, about three weeks after they had come
back to London as they walked together, he noticed that
she was unusually silent. The serenity of her expression was
altered by a slight line between the eyebrows: it was the be-
ginning of a frown.
‘What’s the matter, Sally?’ he asked.
She did not look at him, but straight in front of her, and
her colour darkened.
‘I don’t know.’
He understood at once what she meant. His heart gave a
sudden, quick beat, and he felt the colour leave his cheeks.
‘What d’you mean? Are you afraid that... ?’
He stopped. He could not go on. The possibility that any-
thing of the sort could happen had never crossed his mind.
Then he saw that her lips were trembling, and she was try-
ing not to cry.
‘I’m not certain yet. Perhaps it’ll be all right.’
They walked on in silence till they came to the corner of
Chancery Lane, where he always left her. She held out her
hand and smiled.
‘Don’t worry about it yet. Let’s hope for the best.’
He walked away with a tumult of thoughts in his head.
What a fool he had been! That was the first thing that struck
him, an abject, miserable fool, and he repeated it to him-
self a dozen times in a rush of angry feeling. He despised
himself. How could he have got into such a mess? But at the

0 Of Human Bondage