As he went upstairs to bed, he dismissed worries from his mind.
The old quiet, the old comfort of home.

Not a sound but that of pattering rain in the still night.

As always, the room smelt of lavender, blended with that indescribable fragrance which comes of extreme cleanliness in an old country house.

But for changed wall paper and carpet, everything was as Will remembered it ever since he could remember anything at all; the same simple furniture, the same white curtains, the same pictures, the same little hanging shelf, with books given to him in childhood.

He thought of the elder brother who had died at school, and lay in the little churchyard far away.