Chapter 58 Chapter 58

When Philip woke up the next morning, the first thing he thought of was Mildred.He suddenly had an idea: Why not pick her up at Victoria Station, walk with her for a while, and send her to work in the store.Philip shaved hastily, dressed hastily, went out and hopped on the bus to the station.He arrived at the station at 7:40 and carefully watched the incoming trains, and saw the bustling stream of people pouring out of the carriages.At this time in the morning, the bus is full of clerks and shop assistants rushing to work.They crowded onto the platform and hurried forward, some in pairs, some alone (there were a lot of them), and from time to time they saw girls in groups of three or four.In this early morning, everyone was pale, and most of them were ugly, with a look of trance.The young people walked briskly, as if walking on the concrete platform had some fun, while the others seemed to be driven by some kind of machine, and just kept their heads on the road: they all had frowns and anxious faces.

Philip finally saw Mildred.He couldn't wait to meet him. "Good morning!" said he, "I thought I'd better come and see you, and wonder how you are doing after the play last night." It was not difficult to see that she was very unhappy to meet Philip here.She wears a long brown coat and a sailor hat. "Oh, I'm fine. I don't have time to dawdle." "Would you mind if I walked you down Victoria Street?" "It's getting late, and I must hurry," said he, looking at Philip's lame leg. Philip blushed deeply. "I'm sorry, then I won't delay you."

"Please." Mildred walked on, and Philip came home dejectedly for breakfast.He hated Mildred to death.He knew how stupid he was to be so fascinated by her.like her.This kind of woman will definitely not take herself seriously, and she will definitely be disgusted with her own disability.Philip became cruel and decided not to go to the pastry shop for tea in the afternoon.But when the time comes, he will still be alive.Involuntarily went.This cannot but make him hate himself.Mildred nodded and smiled at him when he came in. "I thought I was rude to you this morning," she said. "You have to know, I never expected you to come, it was so unexpected."

"Oh, it doesn't matter at all." He just felt a sudden lightness all over his body.Such a short personal statement was enough to make him feel grateful. "Why don't you sit down?" said Philip, "you're not expected to attend to it at the moment." "Just sit for a while, I don't care anyway." Philip looked at her, but for a moment could not think of words to say.He searched desperately, eager to find a topic to keep her by his side.He wanted to tell Mildred that she held a special place in his heart.Philip fell in love with him sincerely this time, but instead he was hesitant, not knowing how to woo his sweetheart.

"Where's your friend with the nice mustache? Why haven't I seen him lately?" "Oh, he's gone back to Birmingham. He's there on business. He just comes up to London now and then." "Is he in love with you?" "You'd better ask him himself," she laughed. "I don't understand, even if he really fell in love with me, it has nothing to do with you." A sarcasm was on the tip of his tongue, but he had learned to restrain himself. "I don't understand why you're saying that to me," was all he ended up saying.

Mildred looked at Philip with her icy eyes. "You don't seem to think much of me," Philip added. "Why do I have to put you in my eyes?" "It's really not necessary." Philip reached for the newspaper he had brought. "You're such a temper," said Mildred, noticing Philip's disapproving gesture, "that you're so quick to get angry with people." Philip smiled, and looked at Mildred with something entreating. "Will you do me a favor?" "That depends on what's going on." "Allow me to take you to the train station tonight."

"up to you." After tea, Philip left the restaurant and went back to his lodgings.At eight o'clock in the evening, the dim sum shop closed, and he waited outside the shop. "You're a queer man," said Mildred, coming out of the door, "and I can't read your mind at all." "I don't think it's hard to read my mind, if you really want to," replied Philip, not without sarcasm. "You are waiting for me here, have you been seen by other girls in the shop?" "I don't know, I don't care anyway." "You know, they're all laughing at you, saying you're obsessed with me."

"You don't mind me," muttered Philip. "Look at you trying to bicker with me again." When he got to the station, Philip bought a ticket and said he would take her home. "You seem to have nothing to do," she said. "I think time is my own, and I can spend it as I like." They always seem to be deliberately bickering.In fact Philip resented himself for having fallen in love with such a woman.She seemed to be insulting him all the time, and every time he received a cold reception, the resentment in his heart increased.But that evening Mildred was more agreeable and more talkative than usual.She told Philip that both her parents were dead.She meant to let Philip know that she did not have to earn a living, but that she went out to work only for fun and to be bored.

"My aunt doesn't approve of me coming out to find work. My family doesn't have to worry about food and clothing, and everything is quite satisfactory. Don't think that I have to come out to earn a living." Philip knew that she was not telling the truth.People in her class always like to put on airs to make money, and she, of course, is afraid that people will say that she is earning a living, which will make her lose face, so she must make up a set of words. "Our relatives are also decent," she said. Philip smiled lightly, but he couldn't escape Mildred's eyes.

"What are you laughing at?" She immediately asked, "Do you think I'm not telling the truth?" "Of course I believe what you say," he replied. Mildred looked at Philip suspiciously.After a while she could not help showing Philip her former glory. "My father keeps a carriage all the year round, and the family employs three servants, a cook, a maid, and a day laborer. Beautiful roses are planted in the yard of our house, and they beat passers-by at our door, I used to stop by and ask whose house it was, and say those roses are beautiful. Of course, it's not a good feeling to let myself hang out with those girls in the store all day. I really want to quit. I don't care about the shop work, don't you think of me that way, I hate being in the company of first-rate people."

They sat face to face in the carriage, and Philip listened sympathetically to Mildred's ramblings, and was rather pleased.Her innocence not only amuses him, but also touches him.Mildred's cheeks were a little flushed, and Philip thought it would be pretty if he could kiss the tip of her chin now. "As soon as you came into our shop, I saw that you were a gentleman through and through. Your father was a connoisseur of respectable work?" "It's a doctor." "Anyone who's an expert in a respectable profession, I know at a glance. There's always something special about them. I don't know what it is, but you can tell it at a glance." They walked out of the station together. "Hey, I want you to go to another play with me." "I have no opinion." "Can't you just say I want to go?" "Why do you have to say that?" "If you don't want to talk, don't talk. Let's fix a time. Saturday night, don't you think?" "Row." Then they made further arrangements, and as they walked and talked, they came to the corner of Mildred's street.She held out her hand to Philip, who took it. "Well, I should like to call you Mildred." "Call it that way if you like, I don't care anyway." "You call me Philip, too, don't you?" "If I can remember then, I'll call you that. But it seems easier to call you Mr. Carey." Philip pulled her gently towards him, but she fell back. "What are you doing?" "Wouldn't you like to kiss me before parting?" he whispered. "How presumptuous!" she said. Mildred withdrew her hand abruptly, and hurried towards her home. Philip bought tickets for Saturday night.It wasn't the day Mildred got off work early, so she didn't have time to rush home to change, so she planned to take a coat with her when she went out in the morning and change it in a hurry in the shop after work.If she was happy to meet a female manager, she might be able to get Mildred to leave work early at seven o'clock.Philip promised to wait outside the pastry shop at a quarter past seven.He was eagerly looking forward to this opportunity of excursion, for he expected Mildred to give him a kiss after the play, on the way to the station in the carriage.Sitting in a carriage, it is very convenient for a man to reach out to hook a girl's waist (this is where a carriage is slightly better than a modern taxi); just for this fun, it is worth spending a night. Unexpectedly, on Saturday afternoon, when Philip entered the store for tea and wanted to further finalize the evening date, he ran into the man with the beautiful mustache coming out of the store.Philip now knew him as Miller, a naturalized German who had been in England for many years and had Anglicized his own name.Philip had heard him speak before, and although he could speak fluent and idiomatic English, his tone of voice was different from that of a native Englishman after all.Philip knew he was flirting with Mildred and felt a strong jealousy for him.Fortunately Mildred's cool nature made it easier for him, and it would have hurt him still more if she had been open.He thought that since Mildred was not easily moved, the rival's situation could never be more favorable than his.But Philip's heart sank at the moment, for it immediately occurred to him that Miller's sudden appearance might interfere with this excursion which he had been dreaming of for days.He walked into the store door, his heart was up and down.The waitress came up to him and asked him what refreshment he would like, which was brought in a short while. "I'm sorry," she said, with a really sad look on her face, "but I really can't go tonight." "why?" "Why put on a stern face about such a thing?" she said with a smile. "It's not my fault. My aunt was ill last night, and the maids are off tonight, so I must stay at home with her. She can't be left alone, don't you?" "It's all right. Let's not go to the theater. I'll take you home." "But you have already bought the ticket, what a pity to waste it." Philip took the theater ticket out of his pocket and tore it up in front of her. "What are you doing?" "Think about it, how could I go to that boring comedy opera alone? I went to that stuff, not entirely because of you!" "Even if you really wanted to take me home, I wouldn't want you to." "I'm afraid there is another appointment." "I don't know what you mean by that. You are as selfish as any man in the world. You only think of yourself. My aunt is not feeling well, so you can't blame me." Mildred finished speaking, opened the bill casually, turned and walked away.Philip knew very little about women, or he would have known that it was best to pretend to be deaf and dumb and believe even the most obvious lies in such cases.He made up his mind to stay near the bakery to see if Mildred was going out with the German.This is also his misfortune, he wants to find out everything.At seven o'clock, Philip stood on the sidewalk opposite the pastry shop, looking around, but there was no sign of Miller.In less than ten minutes Mildred came out of the shop in the same cloak and scarf as she had been when Philip took her to the Steftesbury Theatre.She was obviously not going home at the moment.Philip couldn't dodge in time, and was spotted by Mildred.She was startled for a moment, then walked straight towards him. "What are you doing here?" she said. "A little air," Philip answered. "You're spying on me, you scumbag. I still think you're a gentleman." "You think a gentleman would be interested in a man like you?" grumbled Philip. He was so angry that he couldn't hold it back, even if the trouble got out of hand, he would not hesitate.He wanted to fight back, and hurt her heart severely. "I think as long as I'm happy, why can't I change my mind. I have to go out with you. Tell you, I'm going home now. You are not allowed to follow me, and you are not allowed to spy on me." "Did you see Miller today?" "That's none of your business. As a matter of fact I didn't see him, and see where you go." "I saw him this afternoon. He just came out when I went in." "So what if he's here? I could go out with him if I wanted to, can't I? I don't see what you're talking about?" "Did he keep you waiting?" "Why, I'd rather wait for him than have you wait for me. I advise you to take my words into consideration. You'd better go home now and attend to your own affairs." Philip's mood changed suddenly, his anger suddenly turned into despair, and his voice trembled when he spoke. "I said, don't be so unkind to me, Mildred. You know how much I like you. I think I love you from the bottom of my heart. Don't you want to change your mind? I've been looking forward to this day Late. You see, he didn't come. He didn't think of you at all. Come with me to dinner, please? I'll get two more theater tickets, and we can go wherever you want." "I don't want to, I tell you. It's no use saying what you want. Now I've made up my mind, and once I've made up my mind, I'll never change it." Philip looked at her blankly, and his heart felt like a knife.On the sidewalk, the bustling crowd hurried past them, and the continuous stream of carriages and buses made a constant rattle.He found that Mildred was looking around, with an expression clearly afraid of missing Miller who was caught in the crowd. "I can't stand it," moaned Philip. "It's so shameful to always be so humble. If I go now, I won't come to you again. Unless you come with me tonight, you won't see me again." "Perhaps you think you can frighten me by saying this, don't you? Let me tell you the truth: my eyes are quiet without you." "Okay, let's make a clean break." Philip nodded and walked away on a limp, very slowly, wishing Mildred would call him back.Passing a lamppost, he stopped, looked back, thinking that maybe she would beckon him back--he was willing to forget the past, willing to endure any humiliation--but she had already turned and walked away, obviously she didn't I didn't take him to heart.Philip now realized that Mildred wished she could get rid of him.