Of Human Bondage | Page 4

in
which he could hide himself from the Red Indians who were lurking
behind the curtains. He put his ear to the floor and listened to the herd
of buffaloes that raced across the prairie. Presently, hearing the door
open, he held his breath so that he might not be discovered; but a
violent hand piled away a chair and the cushions fell down.
"You naughty boy, Miss Watkin WILL be cross with you."
"Hulloa, Emma!" he said.
The nurse bent down and kissed him, then began to shake out the
cushions, and put them back in their places.
"Am I to come home?" he asked.
"Yes, I've come to fetch you."
"You've got a new dress on."
It was in eighteen-eighty-five, and she wore a bustle. Her gown was of
black velvet, with tight sleeves and sloping shoulders, and the skirt had
three large flounces. She wore a black bonnet with velvet strings. She
hesitated. The question she had expected did not come, and so she
could not give the answer she had prepared.
"Aren't you going to ask how your mamma is?" she said at length.
"Oh, I forgot. How is mamma?"
Now she was ready.
"Your mamma is quite well and happy."
"Oh, I am glad."
"Your mamma's gone away. You won't ever see her any more." Philip
did not know what she meant.

"Why not?"
"Your mamma's in heaven."
She began to cry, and Philip, though he did not quite understand, cried
too. Emma was a tall, big-boned woman, with fair hair and large
features. She came from Devonshire and, notwithstanding her many
years of service in London, had never lost the breadth of her accent.
Her tears increased her emotion, and she pressed the little boy to her
heart. She felt vaguely the pity of that child deprived of the only love in
the world that is quite unselfish. It seemed dreadful that he must be
handed over to strangers. But in a little while she pulled herself
together.
"Your Uncle William is waiting in to see you," she said. "Go and say
good-bye to Miss Watkin, and we'll go home."
"I don't want to say good-bye," he answered, instinctively anxious to
hide his tears.
"Very well, run upstairs and get your hat."
He fetched it, and when he came down Emma was waiting for him in
the hall. He heard the sound of voices in the study behind the
dining-room. He paused. He knew that Miss Watkin and her sister were
talking to friends, and it seemed to him--he was nine years old--that if
he went in they would be sorry for him.
"I think I'll go and say good-bye to Miss Watkin."
"I think you'd better," said Emma.
"Go in and tell them I'm coming," he said.
He wished to make the most of his opportunity. Emma knocked at the
door and walked in. He heard her speak.
"Master Philip wants to say good-bye to you, miss."
There was a sudden hush of the conversation, and Philip limped in.
Henrietta Watkin was a stout woman, with a red face and dyed hair. In
those days to dye the hair excited comment, and Philip had heard much
gossip at home when his godmother's changed colour. She lived with
an elder sister, who had resigned herself contentedly to old age. Two
ladies, whom Philip did not know, were calling, and they looked at him
curiously.
"My poor child," said Miss Watkin, opening her arms.
She began to cry. Philip understood now why she had not been in to
luncheon and why she wore a black dress. She could not speak.

"I've got to go home," said Philip, at last.
He disengaged himself from Miss Watkin's arms, and she kissed him
again. Then he went to her sister and bade her good-bye too. One of the
strange ladies asked if she might kiss him, and he gravely gave her
permission. Though crying, he keenly enjoyed the sensation he was
causing; he would have been glad to stay a little longer to be made
much of, but felt they expected him to go, so he said that Emma was
waiting for him. He went out of the room. Emma had gone downstairs
to speak with a friend in the basement, and he waited for her on the
landing. He heard Henrietta Watkin's voice.
"His mother was my greatest friend. I can't bear to think that she's
dead."
"You oughtn't to have gone to the funeral, Henrietta," said her sister. "I
knew it would upset you."
Then one of the strangers spoke.
"Poor little boy, it's dreadful to think of him quite alone in the world. I
see he limps."
"Yes, he's got a club-foot. It was such a grief to his mother."
Then Emma came back. They called a