During his last year at St. Luke’s Philip had to work hard. He was contented with life. He found it very comfortable to be heart-free and to have enough money for his needs. He had heard people speak contemptuously of money: he wondered if they had ever tried to do without it.
He knew that the lack made a man petty, mean, grasping; it distorted his character and caused him to view the world from a vulgar angle; when you had to consider every penny, money became of grotesque importance: you needed a competency to rate it at its proper value.
He lived a solitary life, seeing no one except the Athelnys, but he was not lonely; he busied himself with plans for the future, and sometimes he thought of the past. His recollection dwelt now and then on old friends, but he made no effort to see them.
He would have liked to know what was become of Norah Nesbit; she was Norah something else now, but he could not remember the name of the man she was going to marry; he was glad to have known her: she was a good and a brave soul. One evening about half past eleven he saw Lawson, walking along Piccadilly; he was in evening clothes and might be supposed to be coming back from a theatre.
Philip gave way to a sudden impulse and quickly turned down a side street. He had not seen him for two years and felt that he could not now take up again the interrupted friendship. He and Lawson had nothing more to say to one another. Philip was no longer interested in art; it seemed to him that he was able to enjoy beauty with greater force than when he was a boy; but art appeared to him unimportant.
He was occupied with the forming of a pattern out of the manifold chaos of life, and the materials with which he worked seemed to make preoccupation with pigments and words very trivial. Lawson had served his turn. Philip’s friendship with him had been a motive in the design he was elaborating: it was merely sentimental to ignore the fact that the painter was of no further interest to him.
Sometimes Philip thought of Mildred. He avoided deliberately the streets in which there was a chance of seeing her; but occasionally some feeling, perhaps curiosity, perhaps something deeper which he would not acknowledge, made him wander about Piccadilly and Regent Street during the hours when she might be expected to be there.
He did not know then whether he wished to see her or dreaded it. Once he saw a back which reminded him of hers, and for a moment he thought it was she; it gave him a curious sensation: it was a strange sharp pain in his heart, there was fear in it and a sickening dismay; and when he hurried on and found that he was mistaken he did not know whether it was relief that he experienced or disappointment.
At the beginning of August Philip passed his surgery, his last examination, and received his diploma. It was seven years since he had entered St. Luke’s Hospital. He was nearly thirty. He walked down the stairs of the Royal College of Surgeons with the roll in his hand which qualified him to practice, and his heart beat with satisfaction.
Next day he went to the secretary’s office to put his name down for one of the hospital appointments. The secretary was a pleasant little man with a black beard, whom Philip had always found very affable. He congratulated him on his success, and then said:
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"我想你不会愿意去南部海滨当一个月的代理医师吧?一周薪水三个畿尼,还提供食宿之便。"
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‘I suppose you wouldn’t like to do a locum for a month on the South coast? Three guineas a week with board and lodging .’
‘It’s at Farnley, in Dorsetshire. Doctor South. You’d have to go down at once; his assistant has developed mumps . I believe it’s a very pleasant place.’
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那秘书说话的态度使得菲利普心生狐疑。他觉得事情有些蹊跷。
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There was something in the secretary’s manner that puzzled Philip. It was a little doubtful.
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"那么究竟是谁难缠呀?"菲利普问。
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‘What’s the crab in it?’ he asked.
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那位秘书迟疑了一下,接着带着调和的声调哈哈笑了笑。
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The secretary hesitated a moment and laughed in a conciliating fashion.
‘Well, the fact is, I understand he’s rather a crusty, funny old fellow. The agencies won’t send him anyone any more. He speaks his mind very openly, and men don’t like it.’
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"可是,你想他对一个刚刚取得医生资格的人会满意吗?再说,我是初出茅庐的新手呀。"
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‘But d’you think he’ll be satisfied with a man who’s only just qualified? After all I have no experience.’
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"能有你当助手,他应该感到高兴才是,"那秘书耍起了外交辞令来了。
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‘He ought to be glad to get you,’ said the secretary diplomatically.
Philip thought for a moment. He had nothing to do for the next few weeks, and he was glad of the chance to earn a bit of money. He could put it aside for the holiday in Spain which he had promised himself when he had finished his appointment at St. Luke’s or, if they would not give him anything there, at some other hospital.
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"好吧,我去。"
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‘All right. I’ll go.’
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"要去你今天下午就得去。你说合适吗?要合适,我马上就去发电报。"
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‘The only thing is, you must go this afternoon. Will that suit you? If so, I’ll send a wire at once.’
Philip would have liked a few days to himself; but he had seen the Athelnys the night before (he had gone at once to take them his good news) and there was really no reason why he should not start immediately. He had little luggage to pack.
Soon after seven that evening he got out of the station at Farnley and took a cab to Doctor South’s. It was a broad low stucco house, with a Virginia creeper growing over it. He was shown into the consulting-room. An old man was writing at a desk. He looked up as the maid ushered Philip in. He did not get up, and he did not speak; he merely stared at Philip. Philip was taken aback.
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"我想您在等我吧,"菲利普首先开口说道。"今天上午,圣路加医院的秘书给您拍了封电报。"
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‘I think you’re expecting me,’ he said. ‘The secretary of St. Luke’s wired to you this morning.’
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"我将晚饭推迟了半个钟头、你想洗个澡吗?"
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‘I kept dinner back for half an hour. D’you want to wash?’
Doctor South amused him by his odd manner. He got up now, and Philip saw that he was a man of middle height, thin, with white hair cut very short and a long mouth closed so tightly that he seemed to have no lips at all; he was clean-shaven but for small white whiskers, and they increased the squareness of face which his firm jaw gave him. He wore a brown tweed suit and a white stock. His clothes hung loosely about him as though they had been made for a much larger man. He looked like a respectable farmer of the middle of the nineteenth century. He opened the door.
‘There is the dining-room,’ he said, pointing to the door opposite. ‘Your bed-room is the first door you come to when you get on the landing. Come downstairs when you’re ready.’
There was another pause. The dinner was very simple and very good. Philip preserved a sedate exterior , but in his heart he was bubbling over with excitement. He was immensely elated at being engaged as a locum; it made him feel extremely grown up; he had an insane desire to laugh at nothing in particular; and the more he thought of his professional dignity the more he was inclined to chuckle .
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可是索思大夫突然发问,打断了他的思路。
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But Doctor South broke suddenly into his thoughts.
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"你今年多大啦?"
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‘How old are you?’
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"快三十了。"
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‘Getting on for thirty.’
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"那怎么才取得医生资格的呢?"
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Please sign in to unlock the rest
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"我将近二十三岁时才开始学医,而中间我还不得不停了两年。"
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"为什么?"
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"穷呗。"
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‘Poverty.’
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索思大夫神情古怪地瞥了他一眼,又沉默不语了。晚饭吃完时,索思大夫从桌子边站了起来。
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Doctor South gave him an odd look and relapsed into silence. At the end of dinner he got up from the table.