Of Human Bondage Read Online Free Page B

Mission Hall, went to Mr.
Carey and told him that he hoped he would say a few words. It
appeared that the candidate had asked Josiah Graves to take the
chair. This was more than Mr. Carey could put up with. He had firm
views upon the respect which was due to the cloth, and it was
ridiculous for a churchwarden to take the chair at a meeting when
the Vicar was there. He reminded Josiah Graves that parson meant
person, that is, the vicar was the person of the parish. Josiah
Graves answered that he was the first to recognise the dignity of
the church, but this was a matter of politics, and in his turn he
reminded the Vicar that their Blessed Saviour had enjoined upon
them to render unto Caesar the things that were Caesar's. To this
Mr. Carey replied that the devil could quote scripture to his
purpose, himself had sole authority over the Mission Hall, and if
he were not asked to be chairman he would refuse the use of it for
a political meeting. Josiah Graves told Mr. Carey that he might do
as he chose, and for his part he thought the Wesleyan Chapel would
be an equally suitable place. Then Mr. Carey said that if Josiah
Graves set foot in what was little better than a heathen temple he
was not fit to be churchwarden in a Christian parish. Josiah Graves
thereupon resigned all his offices, and that very evening sent to
the church for his cassock and surplice. His sister, Miss Graves,
who kept house for him, gave up her secretaryship of the Maternity
Club, which provided the pregnant poor with flannel, baby linen,
coals, and five shillings. Mr. Carey said he was at last master in
his own house. But soon he found that he was obliged to see to all
sorts of things that he knew nothing about; and Josiah Graves,
after the first moment of irritation, discovered that he had lost
his chief interest in life. Mrs. Carey and Miss Graves were much
distressed by the quarrel; they met after a discreet exchange of
letters, and made up their minds to put the matter right: they
talked, one to her husband, the other to her brother, from morning
till night; and since they were persuading these gentlemen to do
what in their hearts they wanted, after three weeks of anxiety a
reconciliation was effected. It was to both their interests, but
they ascribed it to a common love for their Redeemer. The meeting
was held at the Mission Hall, and the doctor was asked to be
chairman. Mr. Carey and Josiah Graves both made speeches.
      When Mrs. Carey had finished her business with the
banker, she generally went upstairs to have a little chat with his
sister; and while the ladies talked of parish matters, the curate
or the new bonnet of Mrs. Wilson – Mr. Wilson was the richest man
in Blackstable, he was thought to have at least five hundred a
year, and he had married his cook – Philip sat demurely in the
stiff parlour, used only to receive visitors, and busied himself
with the restless movements of goldfish in a bowl. The windows were
never opened except to air the room for a few minutes in the
morning, and it had a stuffy smell which seemed to Philip to have a
mysterious connection with banking.
      Then Mrs. Carey remembered that she had to go to the
grocer, and they continued their way. When the shopping was done
they often went down a side street of little houses, mostly of
wood, in which fishermen dwelt (and here and there a fisherman sat
on his doorstep mending his nets, and nets hung to dry upon the
doors), till they came to a small beach, shut in on each side by
warehouses, but with a view of the sea. Mrs. Carey stood for a few
minutes and looked at it, it was turbid and yellow, [and who
knows what thoughts passed through her mind?] while Philip
searched for flat stones to play ducks and drakes. Then they walked
slowly back. They looked into the post office to get the right
time, nodded to Mrs. Wigram the doctor's wife, who sat at her
window sewing, and so got home.
      Dinner was at one o'clock; and on Monday, Tuesday,
and Wednesday it consisted of