ut on their ships, and knew exactly
what were their routes, and from men who had been on them what were the
advantages and disadvantages of each line. He put aside the Orient and the
P. & O. It was difficult to get a berth with them; and besides their
passenger traffic allowed the medical officer little freedom; but there
were other services which sent large tramps on leisurely expeditions to
the East, stopping at all sorts of ports for various periods, from a day
or two to a fortnight, so that you had plenty of time, and it was often
possible to make a trip inland. The pay was poor and the food no more than
adequate, so that there was not much demand for the posts, and a man with
a London degree was pretty sure to get one if he applied. Since there were
no passengers other than a casual man or so, shipping on business from
some out-of-the-way port to another, the life on board was friendly and
pleasant. Philip knew by heart the list of places at which they touched;
and each one called up in him visions of tropical sunshine, and magic
colour, and of a teeming, mysterious, intense life. Life! That was what he
wanted. At last he would come to close quarters with Life. And perhaps,
from Tokyo or Shanghai it would be possible to tranship into some other
line and drip down to the islands of the South Pacific. A doctor was
useful anywhere. There might be an opportunity to go up country in Burmah,
and what rich jungles in Sumatra or Borneo might he not visit? He was
young still and time was no object to him. He had no ties in England, no
friends; he could go up and down the world for years, learning the beauty
and the wonder and the variedness of life.

Now this thing had come. He put aside the possibility that Sally was
mistaken; he felt strangely certain that she was right; after all, it was
so likely; anyone could see that Nature had built her to be the mother of
children. He knew what he ought to do. He ought not to let the incident
divert him a hair's breadth from his path. He thought of Griffiths; he
could easily imagine with what indifference that young man would have
received such a piece of news; he would have thought it an awful nuisance
and would at once have taken to his heels, like a wise fellow; he would
have left the girl to deal with her troubles as best she could. Philip
told himself that if this had happened it was because it was inevitable.
He was no more to blame than Sally; she was a girl who knew the world