212520_The_Adve ... _Way_Through_The_World.pdf - OUDL Home

526 THE ADVENTURES OF PHILIP
when he is in a passion, and glares at me as if he would like to
seize me by the throat ; and after a word or two he goes off, and
I hear him curse the boys in the passage. One day it will be on
me that he will turn, I feel sure of that. I tell you the slavery
is beginning to be awful. I wake of a night and groan and chafe,
and poor Char, too, wakes and asks, ' What is it, Philip ?' I say
it is rheumatism. Rheumatism !" Of course to Philip's malady
his friends tried to apply the commonplace anodynes and consolations.
He must be gentle in his bearing. He must remember
that his employer had not been bred a gentleman, and that, though
rough and coarse in language, Mugford had a kind heart. " There
is no need to tell me he is not a gentleman, I know that," says
poor Phil. "He is kind to Char and the child, that is the
truth, and so is his wife. I am a slave for all that. He is my
driver. He feeds me. He hasn't beat me yet. When I was away
at Paris I did not feel the chain so much. But it is scarcely tolerable
now, when I have to see my gaoler four or five times a week.
My poor little Char, why did I drag you into this slavery ?"
"Because you wanted a consoler, I suppose," remarks one of
Philip's comforters. "And do you suppose Charlotte would be
happier if she were away from you ? Though you live up two pair
of stairs, is any home happier than yours, Philip ? You often own
as much, when you are in happier moods. Who has not his work
to do, and his burden to bear ? You say sometimes that you are
imperious and hot-tempered. Perhaps your slavery, as you call
it, may be good for you."
"I have doomed myself and her to it," says Philip, hanging
down his head.
"Does she ever repine ?" asks his adviser. "Does she not
think herself the happiest little wife in the world ? See here, Philip,
here is a note from her yesterday in which she says as much. Do
you want to know what the note is about, sir?" says the lady,
with a smile. "Well, then, she wanted a receipt for that dish
which you liked so much on Friday, and she and Mrs. Brandon will
make it for you."
" And if it consisted of minced Charlotte," says Philip's other
friend, " you know she would cheerfully chop herself up, and have
herself served with a little cream-sauce and sippets of toast for your
honour's dinner."
This was undoubtedly true. Did not Job's friends make many
true remarks when they visited him in his affliction ? Patient as
he was the patriarch groaned and lamented, and why should not
poor Philip be allowed to grumble, who was not a model of patience
at all ? He was not broke in as yet. The mill-horse was restive