Haldane shrugged his shoulders, laughed, and made haste with his dinner, for with such a gusty and variable host he might not get a chance to finish it. As he glanced around the room, however, and saw how cosey and inviting it might be made by a little order and homelike arrangement, he determined to fix it up according to his own ideas, if he could accomplish it without actually coming to blows with the occupant.
"Who keeps house for you?" he asked.
"Didn't I tell you nobody could stand me!"
"Will you stand me for about half an hour while I fix up this room for you?"
"No!"
"What will you do if I attempt it?"
"I'll set the dog on you."
"Nothing worse?" asked Haldane, with a laughing glance at the lazy cur.
"You might take something."
An expression of sharp pain crossed the young man's face; the sunshine faded out of it utterly, and he said in a cold, constrained voice, as he rose from the table: