He cannot endure the least untidiness in the
house. If papers are left lying loosely about, he silently puts
them evenly together. He brings all his office ways into the
dining-room; the pens must never be put aside unwiped and the ink-
bottles must be kept filled to a certain height. We do not get much
sun at any time of day in Homerton, and we face the west. Charles
wishes the blinds to be drawn when it shines, so that it may not
fade the curtains. We have few books excepting Rees's cyclopaedia,
and they are kept in a glazed case. If I look at one I have to put
it back directly I have done with it. I saw this place before I was
married, but it did not look then as it looks now, and I did not
comprehend how much Blackdeep was a part of me. The front door
always open in daytime, the hollyhocks down to the gate, the
strawberry beds, the currant and gooseberry bushes, the lilacs,
roses, the ragged orchard at the back, the going in and out without
'getting ready,' our living-room with Jim's pipes and tobacco on the
mantel-shelf, his gun over it, his fishing-tackle in the corner--I
little understood that such things and the ease which is felt when
our surroundings grow to us make a good part of the joy of life.
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