h a stomach-ache a mixture consisting of half a dozen expensive drugs.
He complained too that the young medical men were uneducated: their
reading consisted of The Sporting Times and The British Medical
Journal; they could neither write a legible hand nor spell correctly. For
two or three days Doctor South watched Philip closely, ready to fall on
him with acid sarcasm if he gave him the opportunity; and Philip, aware of
this, went about his work with a quiet sense of amusement. He was pleased
with the change of occupation. He liked the feeling of independence and of
responsibility. All sorts of people came to the consulting-room. He was
gratified because he seemed able to inspire his patients with confidence;
and it was entertaining to watch the process of cure which at a hospital
necessarily could be watched only at distant intervals. His rounds took
him into low-roofed cottages in which were fishing tackle and sails and
here and there mementoes of deep-sea travelling, a lacquer box from Japan,
spears and oars from Melanesia, or daggers from the bazaars of Stamboul;
there was an air of romance in the stuffy little rooms, and the salt of
the sea gave them a bitter freshness. Philip liked to talk to the
sailor-men, and when they found that he was not supercilious they told him
long yarns of the distant journeys of their youth.

Once or twice he made a mistake in diagnosis: (he had never seen a case of
measles before, and when he was confronted with the rash took it for an
obscure disease of the skin;) and once or twice his ideas of treatment
differed from Doctor South's. The first time this happened Doctor South
attacked him with savage irony; but Philip took it with good humour; he
had some gift for repartee, and he made one or two answers which caused
Doctor South to stop and look at him curiously. Philip's face was grave,
but his eyes were twinkling. The old gentleman could not avoid the
impression that Philip was chaffing him. He was used to being disliked and
feared by his assistants, and this was a new experience. He had half a
mind to fly into a passion and pack Philip off by the next train, he had
done that before with his assistants; but he had an uneasy feeling that
Philip then would simply laugh at him outright; and suddenly he felt
amused. His mouth formed itself into a smile against his will, and he
turned away. In a little while he grew conscious that Philip was amusing
himself systematically at his expense.