Of Human Bondage Read Online Free PDF

household got up half an hour earlier than
usual. No lying abed for a poor parson on the day of rest, Mr.
Carey remarked as Mary Ann knocked at the door punctually at eight.
It took Mrs. Carey longer to dress, and she got down to breakfast
at nine, a little breathless, only just before her husband. Mr.
Carey's boots stood in front of the fire to warm. Prayers were
longer than usual, and the breakfast more substantial. After
breakfast the Vicar cut thin slices of bread for the communion, and
Philip was privileged to cut off the crust. He was sent to the
study to fetch a marble paperweight, with which Mr. Carey pressed
the bread till it was thin and pulpy, and then it was cut into
small squares. The amount was regulated by the weather. On a very
bad day few people came to church, and on a very fine one, though
many came, few stayed for communion. There were most when it was
dry enough to make the walk to church pleasant, but not so fine
that people wanted to hurry away.
      Then Mrs. Carey brought the communion plate out of
the safe, which stood in the pantry, and the Vicar polished it with
a chamois leather. At ten the fly drove up, and Mr. Carey got into
his boots. Mrs. Carey took several minutes to put on her bonnet,
during which the Vicar, in a voluminous cloak, stood in the hall
with just such an expression on his face as would have become an
early Christian about to be led into the arena. It was
extraordinary that after thirty years of marriage his wife could
not be ready in time on Sunday morning. At last she came, in black
satin; the Vicar did not like colours in a clergyman's wife at any
time, but on Sundays he was determined that she should wear black;
now and then, in conspiracy with Miss Graves, she ventured a white
feather or a pink rose in her bonnet, but the Vicar insisted that
it should disappear; he said he would not go to church with the
scarlet woman: Mrs. Carey sighed as a woman but obeyed as a wife.
They were about to step into the carriage when the Vicar remembered
that no one had given him his egg. They knew that he must have an
egg for his voice, there were two women in the house, and no one
had the least regard for his comfort. Mrs. Carey scolded Mary Ann,
and Mary Ann answered that she could not think of everything. She
hurried away to fetch an egg, and Mrs. Carey beat it up in a glass
of sherry. The Vicar swallowed it at a gulp. The communion plate
was stowed in the carriage, and they set off.
      The fly came from The Red Lion and had a peculiar
smell of stale straw. They drove with both windows closed so that
the Vicar should not catch cold. The sexton was waiting at the
porch to take the communion plate, and while the Vicar went to the
vestry Mrs. Carey and Philip settled themselves in the vicarage
pew. Mrs. Carey placed in front of her the sixpenny bit she was
accustomed to put in the plate, and gave Philip threepence for the
same purpose. The church filled up gradually and the service
began.
      Philip grew bored during the sermon, but if he
fidgetted Mrs. Carey put a gentle hand on his arm and looked at him
reproachfully. He regained interest when the final hymn was sung
and Mr.Graves passed round with the plate.
      When everyone had gone Mrs. Carey went into Miss
Graves' pew to have a few words with her while they were waiting
for the gentlemen, and Philip went to the vestry. His uncle, the
curate, and Mr. Graves were still in their surplices. Mr. Carey
gave him the remains of the consecrated bread and told him he might
eat it. He had been accustomed to eat it himself, as it seemed
blasphemous to throw it away, but Philip's keen appetite relieved
him from the duty. Then they counted the money. It consisted of
pennies, sixpences and threepenny bits. There were always two
single shillings, one put in the plate by the Vicar and the other
by Mr. Graves; and sometimes there was a florin. Mr. Graves told
the Vicar who had given this. It was always a stranger to
Blackstable, and Mr. Carey wondered