Alice was cutting bread for toast.

The fire was of the right redness for toast, and a toasting-fork lay handy.

As winter advanced, Alice's teas had a tendency to become cosier and cosier, and also more luxurious, more of a ritualistic ceremony.

And to avoid the trouble and danger of going through a cold passage to the kitchen, she arranged matters so that the entire operation could be performed with comfort and decency in the sitting-room itself.
Priam was rolling cigarettes, many of them, and placing them, as he rolled them, in order on the mantelpiece.

A happy, mild couple! And a couple, one would judge from the richness of the tea, with no immediate need of money.