"I got a bun, and that supported me well all through the meeting for which I was nearly late."
"A bun! only a bun! Oh Luke, you really are impossible. Of course," she added as she rose, "you must have a proper meal now."
"No, have tea early and give me an egg. That's all I feel inclined for."
He made his way towards his writing table, then stopped short.
"Who has been moving my papers?" he asked.
Rachel started. She had never heard Luke speak so irritably before.
"I have been tidying up," she said, "I hope I have done no mischief. All the letters I have put in the top drawer. See, here they are," opening the drawer quickly, "and your larger papers and books I have laid together. They are quite all right. I was most careful of them."
Luke checked the expression of impatience that he was about to use, and only said:
"I'd rather that they had been left just as I put them. It delays me to have to hunt for letters."
"But the room had to look tidy," said Rachel distressed, "and I thought that if anyone came in to see me and happened to be shown into the dining-room you would not care for your letters to be strewn about. You remember you left in a hurry."