St.John offered his services; he said that he had nothing to do, and that he might as well spend the day at the villa if he could be of use.

As if they were starting on a difficult expedition together, they parcelled out their duties between them, writing out an elaborate scheme of hours upon a large sheet of paper which was pinned to the drawing-room door.

Their distance from the town, and the difficulty of procuring rare things with unknown names from the most unexpected places, made it necessary to think very carefully, and they found it unexpectedly difficult to do the simple but practical things that were required of them, as if they, being very tall, were asked to stoop down and arrange minute grains of sand in a pattern on the ground.
It was St.John's duty to fetch what was needed from the town, so that Terence would sit all through the long hot hours alone in the drawing-room, near the open door, listening for any movement upstairs, or call from Helen.

He always forgot to pull down the blinds, so that he sat in bright sunshine, which worried him without his knowing what was the cause of it.

The room was terribly stiff and uncomfortable.