Ah! The first cigarette! His wanderings led him to the kitchen, or at least as far as the threshold thereof.

His wife was at work there.

Upon every handle or article that might soil she put soft brown paper, and in addition she often wore house-gloves; so that her hands remained immaculate; thus during the earlier hours of the day the house, especially in the region of fireplaces, had the air of being in curl-papers.
"I'm going out now, Alice," he said, after he had drawn on his finely polished boots.
"Very well, love," she replied, preoccupied with her work.

"Lunch as usual." She never demanded luxuriousness from him.

She had got him.