Chapter 115 Chapter One Hundred and Fifteen

The weeks before the start of the winter term of the outpatient department are finally over.When October came, Philip settled down and began to study step by step.Back in the long-lost hospital, Philip found himself standing out among the new students.Students of different grades seldom communicate with each other, and most of Philip’s classmates at that time have obtained the qualifications to be doctors: some have left St. Luke’s Hospital and worked as assistants or doctors in rural hospitals or infirmaries; Some work at St. Luke's Hospital.After a two-year break, he felt refreshed and refreshed.He thought it was time to work vigorously.

The Athelny family was delighted with his turn of events.Philip gave presents to every one of his family by keeping some of his uncle's belongings unsold.He gave Sally a gold chain that had belonged to his aunt.She was born a pretty girl, and with an apprentice tailor, she had to go to work in the shop on Regent Street every morning at eight o'clock, and she worked all day.Sally had clear blue eyes, a broad forehead, and a mass of lustrous hair.She was plump and toned, with wide hips and full breasts.For this reason, the father who talked about her appearance kept reminding her not to gain weight.Her body is healthy, full of sensuality and feminine tenderness, so she has a charming charm.She had many suitors, but they all left angrily because she was unmoved.She gave the impression that, in her opinion, sex between a man and a woman was boring.Therefore, it is not difficult to imagine that those little boys would feel that Sally was out of reach.She is not very old, but she is mature and prudent.She had always assisted Madame Athelny in the household and in the care of her younger siblings, and over time she had taken on the air of a mother-in-law in her demeanor, which made her mother reproach her for being a bit forceful and wanting to have her own way in everything.She was always reticent; but as she grew older she seemed to have acquired a quiet sense of humour.At times she also opened her mouth to speak, which meant that despite her icy exterior, she could not help being interested in her fellow man.Philip found it difficult to form an intimacy with her, which he had with the rest of the family.Occasionally, her nonchalant expression annoyed him a little.There is a mystery about her that people can't figure out or solve.

While Philip was giving Sally the gold necklace, Athelny insisted noisily that Sally should thank Philip with a kiss, causing Sally to turn red and back away. "No, I don't kiss," Sally said. "You ignorant little girl!" cried Athelny. "Why not kiss?" "I don't like men kissing me," Sally replied. Philip watched her embarrassed with interest, and then directed Athelny's attention to other subjects.He does this without breaking a sweat.However, Mrs. Athelny apparently mentioned the matter to Sallie afterwards, for he was alone with her for a few minutes after Philip's second visit, and she took the opportunity of saying to him:

"I didn't want to kiss you last week, you don't hate me?" "No way," replied Philip, laughing. "It's not because I don't appreciate it," she said, her cheeks flushing a little as she said the preparatory polite words. "I will cherish this necklace forever, thank you so much for giving it to me." Philip always found it difficult to talk to her.She did what she had to do with quick hands and feet, but as if she didn't feel the need to talk.She's not at all unsociable, though.One Sunday afternoon, when the Athelnys were out together, Philip--whom they regarded as one of the writers--sat in the drawing-room reading by himself.Then Sally came in, and sat at the window, sewing.The girls' clothes were all made at home, so Sally couldn't spend Sunday in vain.Philip thought she wanted to speak to him, and put down his book.

"Keep reading your book," said Sally, "I just thought you're lonely here all by yourself, so I'm here to keep you company." "You are the least talkative person I ever met," said Philip. "We don't want another chatterbox in the house," she said. There wasn't a hint of sarcasm in her tone, it was just telling the truth.But it seemed to Philip, it seemed to her--My God! --Her father is no longer the strong man in her childhood!In her mind she connected her father's cheery conversation with his inexperienced virtues which brought the whole family into trouble, and compared his bombast with her mother's practical common sense.Although she found her father's cheerful disposition amusing, she might be a little impatient at times.Philip watched her intently while she buried herself in her sewing.She was healthy, stocky, and well-proportioned; it must have been a strange sight to see her standing among the flat-chested, pale-faced girls in the shop.Mildred was anemic.

After a while, it looked like someone was proposing to Sally.Occasionally she also went out with friends she had met in the workshop.She met a young man, Yu, an electrical engineer in a thriving company, who was the perfect suitor.One day she told her mother that the electrical engineer had proposed to her. "What do you say?" her mother asked. "Well, I told him I wasn't in a hurry to get married just yet." Sally paused, as she always did when she was thinking. "Seeing his anxious look, I told him that he could come to our house for tea on Sunday." This matter was on Athelny's mind.He rehearsed all afternoon for the role of the young man's father-in-law until he made the children laugh out loud.Not long after the rehearsal, Athelny rummaged through boxes, found a Turkish hat, and insisted on wearing it on his head.

"Athelny, look at your nonsense!" said his wife.On this day Mrs. Athelny wore her festive dress--black velvet.In recent years, she has gained weight, so the dress seems too tight. "You're messing up your daughter's chances like this." She tried desperately to get the hat off, but her little man slipped away like a loach. "Woman, let me go! There's nothing to tell me to take this hat off. Let the young man know when he comes in that this is no ordinary house he's going into." "Let him wear it, mother," said Sally in her calm, careless tone. "If Mr. Donaldson is not satisfied with the way he has been received, he can go his own way or not."

Philip thought that the young man was facing a severe trial.Athelny wore a brown velvet jacket, a sleek black tie, and a scarlet turkey cap, which would have amazed the innocent electrical engineer. .On his arrival he was greeted with the haughty Spanish grandeur of his host, and Madame Athelny received him in the most simple and unaffected manner.They sat in high-backed monkish chairs, before an ancient ironing table.Meanwhile Mrs. Athelny was pouring tea from a polished china teapot, which gave the merriment of the moment a local color of England and its countryside.She also made some small cakes with her own hands, and homemade jam was placed on the table.It was a tea-party in the farmhouse, and it seemed to Philip a special pleasure to be in the Jacobean house.For some absurd reason, Athelny suddenly began to talk about the history of Byzantium on a whim.He had been working on the last volumes of his great book, The History of Decline and Fall.Now, with a theatrical lift of his forefinger, he poured another scandal about Theodora and Irene into the ears of his astonished suitor.He chatted with his guest at length, while the young man fell into helpless silence and embarrassment, nodding his head now and then to show that he and his master had a little understanding.But Mrs. Athelny took Thorpe's rhetoric very seriously, and kept interrupting him, pouring out the young man's tea, and persuading him to use more cake and jam.Philip watched Sally, who sat there with downcast eyes, calm, silent and thoughtful.Her long eyelashes cast a charming shadow on her cheek.No one could tell whether she found the scene amusing, or liked the young man.She is really unpredictable.But one thing was for sure, that the electrical engineer was an imposing man with fair hair and a small white face, well groomed.He has good features, an honest and honest face, and is lovable.He was tall and well-proportioned.Philip could not help thinking that he would be the ideal mate for Sally, and happiness beckoned to the young pair.In this regard, Philip felt a kind of jealousy in his heart.

After a while the suitor got up and said it was time to take his leave.Sally stood up without saying a word, and silently accompanied him to the gate.When she returned to the living room, her father suddenly exclaimed: "Hey, Sally, we think your lad is very nice and we're ready to welcome him into our family. Please have the church announce the wedding announcement, and I'll be sure to compose a wedding song." Sally didn't answer her father's words, and silently started to clear away the tea things.Suddenly she cast a quick glance at Philip. "What do you think of him, Mr. Philip?"

She had always refused to call him Uncle Phil like her siblings, but she didn't want to call him by his first name. "I think you two are really made for each other, made for each other." Sally glanced at him again hastily, and then a faint blush came over her face as she sank back into her business. "I think he is a very good, well-spoken young man," remarked Madame Athelny. "I think he's just the sort of young man who would make any girl happy if she married him." Sally was silent for a minute or two.Now, looking at her in amazement, Philip reflected that her silence might be interpreted in two ways: she might be thinking of what her mother had just said;

"Sally, I'm talking to you, why are you silent?" her mother pressed, with a hint of sullenness in her words. "I thought he was a fool." "Then you don't want to accept his marriage proposal?" "Yes, I don't." "I don't know how much you want," said Mrs. Athelny.Obviously, she was very unhappy at this time. "He's a decent chap who can provide you with a very comfortable home. We've got enough to eat and drink here without you. It would be a disgrace not to take advantage of your opportunity. Besides, you might be able to hire a girl to do some rough work for you." Philip had never heard Mrs. Athelny describe the hardships of her life so plainly before.Only then did he understand what a heavy burden it must be to take care of every child's life. "Mother, don't talk too much," Sally said, as usual, in a gentle tone, "I don't want to marry him." "I think you're a cruel, cruel, selfish girl." "If you want me to work for myself, well, I can be a servant anytime, anywhere." "Don't be so stupid, you know your father would never let you be a servant." Philip caught Sally's eyes at once, and felt that there was a gleam of interest in her eyes.He murmured in his heart, which point of the conversation just now triggered her sense of humor.She's such an odd girl.