'I should like to see this "dear little room near by," Meg.'
'You can't,' I said. 'It's all in a muddle and my things aren't put away.'
'I should like,' reiterated Ross, in his most maddening manner, 'to see this "dear little room near by."'
So of course he saw it. He wandered slowly round it, gazing at the works of art, until he came to 'The Believer's Vision,' which seemed to fascinate him. After a long pause in front of it he said, 'Well, it 'ud wreck my faith completely,' and then he collected an armful of my clothing and proceeded to hang it up in the other room that had been so carefully prepared for him.
'Oh, Ross, don't,' I begged. 'I much prefer the little room.'
'Why didn't you choose it at first?' he said with unanswerable logic, 'and why isn't there a fire in it?'
'I made the other room so nice for you,' I wailed, and we can't all have fires; coal is so expensive.'
'Parsons say the war has taught us many things,' said Ross, 'but I never expected it would teach you to go without a fire because it happened to be expensive. Why, it's a modern miracle, and ought to be reported to the Pope.'
'But it's difficult to get, as well.'
'Then we'll buy millions of logs and cartloads of peat,' he said. 'You're not going to sleep in this room without a fire, or any other room for the matter of that. Why, it's like an ice-house after India. Come on, Nannie, help me to get this female gear out of my dug-out. Don't be cross, old girl!'