By seven o'clock that evening the studio was practically ready for Amory to come into it. It certainly looked exceedingly comfortable. A fire had been lighted, more for the sake of decorative effect than from any need of one, and the smell of the excellent little dinner Cosimo had cooked filled the room with a delightfully homelike smell. Potatoes roasted in their jackets in the ashes, liver-and-bacon keeping warm on the two hot plates inside the fender, a pancake ready for pouring into the pan, cheese, fruit, coffee in a little lustre jug only needing the hot water to be poured upon it, and half a bottle of "Veuve Dodo" (an Australian burgundy) from the wineshop in the King's Road--Cosimo had seen to all. Mrs. 'Ill herself, coming in to give a last look round, had found nothing wanting. "Well, nobody can say as 'ow you won't be snug--can they, Florence?" Mrs. 'Ill said, leaving it delicately in doubt whether she meant the pronoun to be taken as in the plural. "A prettier little 'ome, all things considered, I never see. I always says as it isn't riches as makes contentment; and you 'aven't far to go for your potatoes anyway, which is just downstairs, also apples and oranges. And eggs I can always supply, though my experience is as artists puts too much trust in eggs, which hasn't the nourishment of meat when all's said, and not cheaper when you take your 'ealth into consideration, as all of us must, young or old and married or not. Nor winkles, though I'm fond of 'em myself, but not to rely on. Bring the bucket, Florence, and I 'ope you've taken notice, so you can tell 'Orris when 'e comes out next week.... Oh, thank you, sir; I don't deny it would be acceptable, the smell of turps being that drying--and wishing you good night and sweet dreams...." And Mrs. 'Ill and Jellies curtsied elaborately and left them. "She _almost_ said the Creek wasn't five minutes away!" Cosimo laughed when they had gone. "And that idea was a great success of yours, to put the slippers I'd been whitewashing inside the fender. Jellies's eyes nearly fell into them when she saw them! _Aren't_ people funny!... Well, let's have the first meal in the new place...." He put a pinch of salt into the coffee-jug and reached for the liver-and-bacon.