Disappointed in this, he presently crawled upstairs to the room where Owen was working and, handing to him the roll of papers he had been carrying, said: 'Mr Sweater had decided to 'ave this work done, so you can start on it as soon as you like.' It is impossible to describe, without appearing to exaggerate, the emotions experienced by Owen as he heard this announcement.

For one thing it meant that the work at this house would last longer than it would otherwise have done; and it also meant that he would be paid for the extra time he had spent on the drawings, besides having his wages increased--for he was always paid an extra penny an hour when engaged on special work, such as graining or sign-writing or work of the present kind.

But these considerations did not occur to him at the moment at all, for to him it meant much more.

Since his first conversation on the subject with Rushton he had though of little else than this work.
In a sense he had been DOING it ever since.

He had thought and planned and altered the details of the work repeatedly.