The four weeks of his engagement at Farnley passed quickly. On the cliff a new town was springing up, with red brick villas round golf links, and a large hotel had recently been opened to cater for the summer visitors; but Philip went there seldom. Down below, by the harbour, the little stone houses of a past century were clustered in a delightful confusion, and the narrow streets, climbing down steeply, had an air of antiquity which appealed to the imagination. By the water’s edge were neat cottages with trim, tiny gardens in front of them; they were inhabited by retired captains in the merchant service, and by mothers or widows of men who had gained their living by the sea; and they had an appearance which was quaint and peaceful. In the little harbour came tramps from Spain and the Levant, ships of small tonnage; and now and then a windjammer was borne in by the winds of romance. It reminded Philip of the dirty little harbour with its colliers at Blackstable, and he thought that there he had first acquired the desire, which was now an obsession, for Eastern lands and sunlit islands in a tropic sea. But here you felt yourself closer to the wide, deep ocean than on the shore of that North Sea which seemed always circumscribed; here you could draw a long breath as you looked out upon the even vastness; and the west wind, the dear soft salt wind of England, uplifted the heart and at the same time melted it to tenderness.
One evening, when Philip had reached his last week with Doctor South, a child came to the surgery door while the old doctor and Philip were making up prescriptions. It was a little ragged girl with a dirty face and bare feet. Philip opened the door.
“Please, sir, will you come to Mrs. Fletcher’s in Ivy Lane at once?”
“What’s the matter with Mrs. Fletcher?” called out Doctor South in his rasping voice.
The child took no notice of him, but addressed herself again to Philip.
“Please, sir, her little boy’s had an accident and will you come at once?”
“Tell Mrs. Fletcher I’m coming,” called out Doctor South.
The little girl hesitated for a moment, and putting a dirty finger in a dirty mouth stood still and looked at Philip.
“What’s the matter, Kid?” said Philip, smiling.
“Please, sir, Mrs. Fletcher says, will the new doctor come?” There was a sound in the dispensary and Doctor South came out into the passage.