Chapter 89 Chapter Eighty-Nine

Philip's conversation with Athelny was interrupted by a sound of footsteps clattering up the stairs.Athelny ran to open the door for the children returning from Sunday school, who swarmed in laughing and shouting.Athelny asked, smiling, how they were doing at Sunday-school.Sally stayed only a moment, for her mother bade her go and get tea while her father was playing with the children.Athelny began to tell the children a fairy tale by Hans Andersen.Far from being timid, these kids quickly came to the conclusion that Philip wasn't scary.Jenny came over and stood beside Philip. After a while, she climbed onto Philip's body and sat comfortably on his lap.For Philip, who lived a lonely life as a bachelor, this was the first time he was in a small family full of family happiness.When the sun fell on the children who were listening to the fairy tale with rapt attention, his eyes narrowed and smiled involuntarily.The life of his new friend, which at first seemed eccentric, now seemed perfectly natural and perfect.Sally went back into the room.

"Hey, kids, tea's ready," Sally called. Jenny slipped off Philip's lap and ran with the other children to the kitchen.Sally was just beginning to spread the cloth on the long Spanish table. "Says mother, isn't she coming here for your tea too?" asked Sally. "I can go and fetch the children tea." "Please tell your mother that we both would be honored and proud to have her in your company," said Athelny mockingly. In Philip's opinion, Athelny could do without speaking, and a speech was always inseparable from the gorgeous words of an orator.

"Well, I'll spread a tablecloth for mother, too," Sally responded. Presently Sally came back, holding a platter with a loaf of bread, a loaf of butter, and a jar of strawberry jam.Her father joked with her as she laid them out on the table.He said it was time for Sally to go out and see the world.He told Philip that the couples of suitors were waiting for her at the Sunday-school gate, each one vying to accompany her home, but she was so pompous that she ignored them. "Dad, don't talk about it," Sally said reproachfully, with her cold but good-natured smile on her face.

"A tailor's clerk went into the army because Sally wouldn't say hello. And an engineer, mind you, this time an engineer because Sally didn't want to share a hymn-book with him at church." After this incident, I began to drink heavily. After you know all this, I'm afraid you don't even dare to look at her. I'm really worried, what will happen to her after her hair is tied?" "Mother brought the tea herself," Sally said flatly. "Sally never listens to me," laughed Athelny, looking at Sally with loving, proud eyes. "She only knows what to do all day long, and she doesn't care about wars, revolutions, and commotions. What a wife she'll be to an honest man!"

Madame Athelny came in with tea.As soon as she sat down she cut the bread and butter.It amused Philip to see her treating her husband like a child.She smeared Athelny with jam, and cut bread and butter into slices so that he could put them in his mouth without trouble.She took off her hat.Her festive dress seemed a little tighter, like the farmer's wife he sometimes visited with his uncle when he was a child.It wasn't until this moment that he understood why her voice sounded so familiar.Her accent was very close to that of the inhabitants of Blackstable. "Where are you from?" Philip asked Madame Athelny.

"I'm from Kent, originally from Fern." "I suppose so. My uncle is vicar of Blackstable." "It's funny to say," said Mrs. Athelny. "I was wondering at church just now if you were related to Mr. Carey. I've seen Mr. Carey many times. One of my cousins ​​was married to Roxley Farm over Blackstable Church. Barker's. I used to live there a few days when I was a girl. Don't you think it's funny?" Madame Athelny looked at Philip again with interest, and her dim eyes shone again.She asked Philip if he knew the place of Fern.Fern was only ten miles from Blackstable, a pretty village where Philip's uncle the Vicar sometimes went to say thanksgiving at harvest time.Madame Athelny also gave the names of several farmers near the village.She was glad to be able to talk once more about the country of her girlhood, and it was a real pleasure for her to look back on the past and the familiar people that were etched in her mind by the memory peculiar to a woman of her class. One of life's great pleasures.This also made Philip feel an inexplicable emotion in his heart.A wisp of the country seems to have melted into this paneled room in central London.Philip seemed to see the loam of Kent, towering with tall elms, and smelled a rich and fragrant smell, which was made more pungent and stronger by the salty taste of the North Sea wind.

The clock struck ten before Philip got up to take his leave.At eight o'clock the children came in to say good-bye to him, and put up their little faces freely for Philip to kiss.He is full of compassion for these children.Lisalie just held out a hand to him. "Sally never kissed a gentleman whom she only met once," joked her father. "Then you must ask me again," went on Philip. "Just ignore what my father says," Sally said with a smile. "She's a young girl with the most self-control," added her father. Philip and Athelny had an evening supper of bread, cheese, and beer, while Athelny made the children go to bed.When Philip went into the kitchen to say good-bye to Mrs. Athelny (where she had been sitting resting and reading the Weekly Dispatch), Mrs. Athelny kindly invited him to come back later.

"As long as Athelny is not out of work, there is always a good Sunday meal," said Mrs. Athelny to Philip. "It would be very nice if you could come and have a talk with him." On the following Saturday, Philip received a postcard from Athelny, saying that his family was eagerly looking forward to Philip's lunch with them on Sunday.But Philip, fearing that the Athelnys were not in such a good financial position as he said, wrote back, saying that he was only coming for tea.Philip bought a large raisin cake with him when he went, so as not to accept hospitality empty-handed.He then found that the whole Athelny family was very happy to see him.And the piece of cake he brought completely won the children's favor with him.Philip had refreshments in the kitchen with everyone, and there was a lot of laughter during the dinner.

Philip soon got into the habit of going to Athelny's every Sunday.He was deeply loved by Athelny's children because he was innocent and never angry.And the simplest reason is that he likes them too.Whenever Philip came to ring the doorbell, a child would poke his head out of the window, and if he was sure that Philip had arrived, the children would rush downstairs to open the door to meet him, and then one by one they would throw themselves into Philip's arms.They fought over each other to sit beside Philip at tea.It was not long before they called him Uncle Philip. Athelny was very eloquent, so Philip gradually learned about Athelny's life at different times.Athelny had worked many jobs in his life, but in Philip's impression, Athelny always managed to mess up every job he did.He worked in a tea plantation in Ceylon and in America as a traveling salesman selling Italian wine.He had been secretary of the Toledo Water Company longer than he had held any other job.He had worked as a reporter, at one point as a police-court reporter for an evening paper.He has also been deputy editor of a newspaper in the Midlands and editor of another on the Riviera.Athelny collected a lot of anecdotes from his various occupations, which he shook off with great interest whenever he wanted to amuse himself.He is full of books and books, and his main interest is in reading some rare books from home and abroad; when he tells stories full of profound and difficult knowledge, he is really eloquent and eloquent, like a child, seeing the faces of the audience. He was smug with a look of surprise on his face.Three or four years ago, he was reduced to absolute poverty and had to accept a job as a press agent for a large calico company.He thought he knew people well, and felt that he lost his ability after accepting this job. However, with his wife's insistence and the family's livelihood, he bit the bullet and did it.