Next, he sheered to the left, to escape the foot of the bed; but this sheer, if too generous, brought him against the corner of the table.

With a sudden twitch and lurch, he terminated the sheer and bore off to the right along a sort of canal, one bank of which was the bed, the other the table.

When the one chair in the room was at its usual place before the table, the canal was unnavigable.

When the chair was not in use, it reposed on top of the bed, though sometimes he sat on the chair when cooking, reading a book while the water boiled, and even becoming skilful enough to manage a paragraph or two while steak was frying.

Also, so small was the little corner that constituted the kitchen, he was able, sitting down, to reach anything he needed.