“Yesterday.”
“Were you at a university?”
“No.”
“Last year when my assistant took a holiday they sent me a ’Varsity man. I told ’em not to do it again. Too damned gentlemanly for me.”
There was another pause. The dinner was very simple and very good. Philip preserved a sedate exterior, but in his heart he was bubbling over with excitement. He was immensely elated at being engaged as a locum; it made him feel extremely grown up; he had an insane desire to laugh at nothing in particular; and the more he thought of his professional dignity the more he was inclined to chuckle.
But Doctor South broke suddenly into his thoughts. “How old are you?”
“Getting on for thirty.”
“How is it you’re only just qualified?”
“I didn’t go in for the medical till I was nearly twenty-three, and I had to give it up for two years in the middle.”
“Why?”