was thankful he had been able to pay. It would have been horrible to be obliged to confess to Macalister
that he had not the money. He was dressing in the eye-department during the summer session, and
he had bought an ophthalmoscope off a student who had one to sell. He had not paid for this, but he
lacked the courage to tell the student that he wanted to go back on his bargain. Also he had to buy
certain books. He had about five pounds to go on with. It lasted him six weeks; then he wrote to his
uncle a letter which he thought very business-like; he said that owing to the war he had had grave losses
and could not go on with his studies unless his uncle came to his help. He suggested that the Vicar
should lend him a hundred and fifty pounds paid over the next eighteen months in monthly instalments; he
would pay interest on this and promised to refund the capital by degrees when he began to earn money.
He would be qualified in a year and a half at the latest, and he could be pretty sure then of getting an
assistantship at three pounds a week. His uncle wrote back that he could do nothing. It was not fair to
ask him to sell out when everything was at its worst, and the little he had he felt that his duty to himself
made it necessary for him to keep in case of illness. He ended the letter with a little homily. He had
warned Philip time after time, and Philip had never paid any attention to him; he could not honestly say
he was surprised; he had long expected that this would be the end of Philip's extravagance and want of
balance. Philip grew hot and cold when he read this. It had never occurred to him that his uncle would
refuse, and he burst into furious anger; but this was succeeded by utter blankness: if his uncle would not
help him he could not go on at the hospital. Panic seized him and, putting aside his pride, he wrote
again to the Vicar of Blackstable, placing the case before him more urgently; but perhaps he did not
explain himself properly and his uncle did not realise in what desperate straits he was, for he answered
that he could not change his mind; Philip was twenty-five and really ought to be earning his living. When
he died Philip would come into a little, but till then he refused to give him a penny. Philip felt in the letter
the satisfaction of a man who for many years had disapproved of his courses and now saw himself justified.