This embrace concluded, he sat down on the opposite side of her little table.

There was a fire in the grate, as there had been night and day for fifteen years.

There was a kettle on the hob, as there had been night and day for fifteen years.

There was a little mound of damped ashes on the top of the fire, and another little mound swept together under the grate, as there had been night and day for fifteen years.

There was a smell of black dye in the airless room, which the fire had been drawing out of the crape and stuff of the widow's dress for fifteen months, and out of the bier-like sofa for fifteen years.
'Mother, this is a change from your old active habits.' 'The world has narrowed to these dimensions, Arthur,' she rep lied, glancing round the room.