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For all his high society upbringing, Philip Carlyle didn't mind the dirt and mud that covered the circus grounds after heavy rains. It's not that he enjoyed it, but despite the circus troupe's first opinion of him, he isn't a clean freak stuck up who thinks he's above dirt.
After all, his parents could go on for hours complaining to their wealthy friends about how their only son, instead of reading poems or studying history, would go out to run after butterflies and how his expensive clothes would get green from the grass.
Nature always called Philip in a strange way he couldn't explain with words, not even in his plays was he able to portray it.
Now, since he joined P. T. Barnum and the circus he knows it was probably the freedom it showed him. The untamable force of nature made him feel like he too could be unstoppable and perhaps stand up to his parents and say "I had enough!". He tried times and times again but standing in front of his parents it was as if all his confidence and courage drained from him.
But that didn't matter anymore because he was with a new family now. Disgraced and disowned maybe, but happy and in love. And thinking back to that night when P. T. Barnum lured him to the circus it was P. T.'s undeterrable dedication, like a force of nature, that made Philip feel like he was surrounded by a storm. A storm like those from before, and it once again gave him confidence, only this time it felt never ending and it finally gave him the key to his cage.
Oh how he hoped this would be the end of all his struggling, after all he achieved freedom. What better could out there?
But the circus wasn't very welcoming with him at first. He was different from them, he came from a world they couldn't even dream of belonging to, and just like that he didn't belong in the circus world.
That was until a week or half before the fire. While P. T. Barnum was off chasing after dreams and a Nightingale, lost in money and name, Philip was left to manage the circus alone.
It didn't surprise him when it happened, he awaited this moment since the night he stood up for Anne to his parents in the theatre, yet reading the newest newspaper headline stating "Philip Carlyle's last Carlyle scandal!" still hurt. He was officially disowned from the Carlyle name and stripped from all inheritance.
He shook it off. He didn't care about that life anymore. He found his peace in an outcast group and he was fine with this. He finally belongs with them.
It took about a week for one of the circus troupe members to see the newspapers and immediately, Philip Carlyle's disownment was a hot topic in P. T. Barnum's Circus. Even Charity and the girls visited, which they hadn't in weeks since Barnum left, to comfort Philip but to Charity's surprise Phillip didn't need much comforting, just support. And support did he get! The troupe wasn't immediately buddy buddy with him but they certainly didn't despise him as much as before.
It helped him ignore the stinging Anne's rejection left in his heart.
In Philip's eyes that was enough of a win.