Chapter 116 Chapter One Hundred and Sixteen

During his last year at St. Luke's, Philip had to study hard.He was content with life, and felt that he was no longer concerned with love, and that he still had enough money to meet his needs, which was a very comfortable thing.He had heard some people talk about money in such a contemptuous tone, and he wondered if this person really lived a day without money.He knew that financial straitenedness would make a man small, mean, and greedy, that it would distort his character and make him see the world from a vulgar point of view.When one has to weigh every penny, money becomes extraordinarily important: one ought to have a knack for estimating the exact value of money.Philip lived alone, seeing no one except to see the Athelnys, but nevertheless he did not feel alone.He is busy making various assumptions for his future life, and sometimes reminisces about the past.Occasionally, he missed his old relatives and friends, but he did not visit them.He wished he could get an update on Nora Nesbitt's life.Now she was Nora of another husband's name, but Philip could not recall the name of the man to whom Nora was to be married.He was glad he had made the acquaintance of Nora: she was a wonderful person with a good heart and a strong will.One evening, about half-past eleven, he saw Lawson walking along Piccadilly.Lawson was in evening dress, and had probably just come from the theater and was going back to the lodgings.Driven by a moment of emotion, Philip quickly flashed into an alley.He and Lawson had not seen each other for two years, and he felt that the broken friendship could never be restored now.Besides, he had nothing to talk to Lawson about.Art was no longer interested in Philip, and it seemed to him that he now appreciated beauty better than he had when he was a child, but art seemed to him worthless.He was preoccupied with extracting materials from the complex and chaotic life to design a pattern of life, and the materials he used to design the pattern of life seemed to make his previous considerations of paint and words seem insignificant.Lawson was just what Philip needed.Friendship with Lawson is the theme of his carefully designed life pattern.Ignoring the fact that the painter could no longer interest me was purely sentimental.

Sometimes Philip thought of Mildred too.He deliberately avoided the streets where he might run into her, but occasionally out of curiosity, perhaps out of a deeper emotion he did not want to admit, when he thought Mildred might be in Piccadilly. He wandered around in the area around the Boulevard and Regent Street.At this time, whether he longed to see her or was afraid of seeing her, even he himself couldn't tell.Once, he saw a figure who looked like Mildred from the back, and for a moment he mistook that woman for Mildred.Suddenly, a strange feeling came to him: an inexplicable, heart-wrenching pain, mingled with fear and sickening panic.He took three steps and made two steps to catch up, but when he saw it, he realized that he had misjudged the person.At this moment, whether he felt disappointed or relieved, he didn't even know.

At the beginning of August Philip passed his last subject--surgical science--and received his diploma.He had spent seven years at St. Luke's Hospital, and was approaching thirty.His heart beat with contentment as he descended the steps of the Royal College of Surgeons with the diploma paper certifying his qualifications in hand. "And now I'm really starting to step into life," he thought silently. The next day, he went to the secretary's office to register his name and wait to be assigned a hospital position.The secretary was a jolly little man with a black beard, and Philip found him always agreeable.After congratulating Philip on his success, the secretary went on:

"I don't think you'd like to go to the south coast and be a substitute physician for a month? Three guineas a week, with board and lodging." "I have no objection," Philip answered. "Farnley, Dorset. There's Dr. South over there. You'll have to go right away. Dr. South's assistant went off in a huff. I think it must be a good place." The manner in which the secretary spoke made Philip suspicious.He felt something strange. "Who is it, then?" asked Philip. The secretary hesitated for a moment, then laughed in a conciliatory tone.

"Well, the thing is, I know he's a rather stubborn, funny old man. The responsible agencies don't want to send him assistants. He talks bluntly and sticks out what's on his mind, but people don't Don't like it." "But do you think he would be satisfied with a man just qualified as a doctor? Besides, I'm a novice." "He should be happy to have you as his assistant," the secretary said diplomatically. Philip thought for a while.He thought, he has nothing to do in the last few weeks, so why not do it if he has a chance to make some money?He could save the money and use it for travel expenses for vacations in Spain.The vacation to Spain was a wish he had made to himself when he was accepted as a trainee by St. Luke's Hospital.If nothing was given to him there, he could go to another hospital.

"Okay, I'll go." "If you want to go, you have to go this afternoon. Do you think it is suitable? If it is suitable, I will send a telegram immediately." Philip wished he had delayed his departure a few days longer, but then he reflected that he had only seen the Athelnys the night before (he had run to tell them the good news as soon as he had passed his examinations), and he did not fail to set off at once. The reason there.He doesn't have much luggage to take.Shortly after the clock struck seven that night he left Farnley Station, took a cab and drove straight to Dr. South's hospital.It was a wide, low stucco house, with brocade on the walls.He was ushered into the outpatient room, where an old man was writing at his desk.When the maid led Philip into the consulting room, the old man looked up, but he neither got up nor said a word, but just stared at Philip.Philip was startled.

"I suppose you were expecting me," said Philip first. "The secretary at St. Luke's Hospital sent you a telegram this morning." "I put dinner off for half an hour, would you like to take a shower?" "Okay," Philip went on. Philip found Dr. South's queer temper amusing.At this point, he has stood up.Philip noticed that the old man before him was of medium height, lean, with silver hair cut short.A big mouth is tightly squeezed, it looks like there are no long lips.He had sideburns, but otherwise, his face was cleansed.The broad chin made his face square, and the sideburns set off the squareness of his face.He wore a brown tweed uniform with a wide white stiff neckerchief.His clothes hung loosely, as if they had been made for another large man.He looked like a respectable farmer in the mid-nineteenth century.At this moment, he opened the door.

"That's the dining room," he said, pointing to the opposite door. "The first door on the landing, that's your bedroom. Come down for dinner after you shower." During dinner Philip knew that Dr. South was watching him, but he said very little.Philip felt that he did not want to hear his assistant speak. "When did you qualify as a doctor?" asked Dr. South suddenly. "yesterday." "Go to college?" "No." "Last year, when my assistants were away on vacation, they sent me a college student. I told them to stop doing that kind of thing. I can't stand a college student acting like a gentleman."

Then, there was another silence.The dinner was simple but delicious.Philip was silent on the outside, but his heart was churning.He was overjoyed to be here as a temporary physician.He suddenly felt that he had grown up a lot, and really wanted to laugh wildly like a madman, but he didn't know what to laugh at.He thought of the dignity of being a doctor, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt like giggling. But Dr. South's sudden question interrupted his train of thought. "How old are you?" "Almost thirty." "Then how did you get qualified as a doctor?"

"I didn't start studying medicine until I was nearly twenty-three, and I had to stop for two years in between." "why?" "Poor." Dr. South cast him a queer glance, and fell silent again.When supper was over, Dr. South rose from the table. "Do you know what it's like to practice medicine here?" "Nothing," replied Philip. "Mainly for the fishermen and their families. I run the union and the fisherman's hospital. For a while I was the only doctor here, but then they came again because they tried to make the place a seaside resort. There is a doctor who opened a hospital on a cliff. So people who have a little money go to him to see a doctor. Only those who can't afford the doctor come to me."

Philip could see that the rivalry with the doctor was undoubtedly a problem of the old man's. "I have no experience, as you know," said Philip. "You, people like you, don't understand anything." After Dr. South finished speaking, he left Philip and walked out of the restaurant alone.As the maid came out to clear the table, she told Philip that Dr. South saw patients every evening from six to seven.When the evening's work was over Philip took a book from the bedroom, lit his pipe, and buried himself in reading.It was a very pleasant diversion, for for the last few months he had read nothing but medical books.At ten o'clock Dr. South walked in, looking at Philip without blinking.Philip was usually afraid of his feet falling off the ground when he was reading, so he was resting on a chair at this time. "Seems like you're going to have a lot of fun," said Dr. South with a stern face that, if he hadn't been in the mood right now, he would have jumped at the touch of a button. "Do you resent it?" asked Philip, with twinkling eyes. Dr. South glared at him, but did not answer his question directly. "What book are you reading?" "Paulgren Pickle by Smollett." "I also happen to know that Smollett wrote a novel called 'Bergren Pickle'." "I'm sorry. Excuse me, all medical practitioners don't like literature very much, do they?" Philip put the novel on the table, and Dr. South picked it up.This is a middle volume of an edition belonging to the parish of Blackstable.The book was thin, upholstered in dull Moroccan suede, and its title was engraved in copperplate.The incisions on the pages of the book are all gilded, but due to the age, the book exudes a musty smell.While Dr. South was holding the novel in his hands, Philip leaned forward unconsciously, and a smile came into his eyes.But his expression did not escape Dr. South's eyes. "Do you feel silly?" he asked coldly. "I think you must like reading books very much. As long as you see someone holding a book, you can know what kind of person he is." Dr. South immediately put the novel back on the table. "Breakfast at half past eight." After saying that, he turned around and left. "What a funny old fellow!" Philip murmured to himself. It was not long before Philip found out why Dr. South's assistants found him so difficult.First, he strongly opposed all new discoveries in the medical profession in the past three decades.Certain medicines, which were said to have strange curative effects, became popular for a while, but were abandoned within a few years, and he could not tolerate such a situation.Dr. South was a student at St. Luke's Hospital, and when he walked out of the hospital, he took with him some common compound medicines. A wide variety of fashionable medicines are equally effective.Philip was surprised to find that Dr. South was skeptical of the sterile method, and only reluctantly accepted it because everyone agreed with it.But he took precautions with his patients that Philip had long known, and insisted on applying to soldiers in the hospital the precautions used for children, with a degree of scrupulousness that was almost outrageous. "I've seen antimicrobials come and beat everything else, and then I've seen aseptic take over. What a harp!" Those young people who were originally sent were only familiar with the rules of the big hospital, and under the subtle influence of the atmosphere in the big hospital, they always showed an air of disdain for ordinary doctors.They have seen intractable diseases in the ward.Although they know how to treat kidney diseases with unknown causes, they are helpless when they encounter colds and other diseases. What they have is only some book knowledge, but they are conceited and arrogant.Dr. South watched them silently with his lips pressed together, entertaining himself at every opportunity by showing them how ignorant and arrogant they were.The main purpose here is to see doctors for fishermen, and they can't make much money, so the doctors make their own medicines.Once, Dr. South said to his assistant, if a fisherman was given a potion for a stomach ache, half of the expensive medicine was mixed in it, how could the hospital survive.He also complained about the uneducated young assistants who read nothing but the Sports News and the British Medical Journal, and wrote illegible and often misspelled letters.For two or three days Dr. South kept a constant watch on Philip's every move, and if he caught him an erroneous fault he would make a mockery of him.And Philip was also aware of this, and worked in silence, amused to himself.At this time, Philip felt sincerely happy about his career change.He likes to work without restraint, and he also likes to carry a little weight on his shoulders.He felt immense joy in his heart, because he seemed to be able to inspire and build confidence in patients through his conversation.He was really happy to see the whole process of medical treatment with his own eyes; if he was in a big hospital, he could only stand and watch from afar.He often went to the doctor, so he often went in and out of a small house with a low roof, where fishing gear and sails were displayed, and occasionally there were souvenirs of long-sea voyages, such as clay pots from Japan, spears and oars from Malaysia. Or a dagger from the Butanbul bazaar, etc.There was an air of legend in the stuffy rooms, and the salty smell of the sea gave them a pungent freshness.Philip liked to chat with the sailors, and the sailors, seeing that he was not overbearing, would tell him at length about their youthful voyages. Once or twice, he made the mistake of misdiagnosing.He had never seen measles before.One day, a patient with a rash came to see him, but he diagnosed it as a skin disease of unknown etiology.On one or two other occasions, his treatment was exactly the opposite of what Dr. South had envisioned.The first time Dr. South rebuked him sharply, while he listened with interest; and Philip, who had a gift for quick replies, answered a word or two which made the present Dr. South who said that he was stunned suddenly, looked at him with surprised eyes.Philip had a serious face, but his eyes were shining.The old gentleman could not help thinking that Philip was laughing at himself.In the past, his assistants hated and feared him, and he was used to it, but it was the first time in his life that he encountered Philip's virtue.He really wanted to give Philip a good swearing and tell him to pack up and take the next train.That's how he used to treat his assistants in the old days.However, he was uneasy in his heart, thinking that if it was true, Philip would definitely ridicule him on the spot. Thinking about it, he suddenly felt that the things in front of him were quite interesting.He opened his mouth slightly, smiled reluctantly, then turned and walked away.After a while it dawned on him that Philip was trying to make fun of him.He was taken aback at first, but soon he was happy too. "Fucking thick-skinned," he chuckled to himself, "fucking thick-skinned!"