I noticed that in front of it the grass plot had been cleared and there were flowers in the borders.

Within I found a very pretty and comfortable room arranged with unexpected tidiness.

As I looked about me I remembered having heard that Terence always kept a place in readiness for the return of his master.

All the rest of the place might be in ruin, but this room was pleasant and home-like.
It had once been a woman's room, I thought, from certain prettinesses, the blue, rose-wreathed carpet on the floor, the ceiling groined under its thatch and painted in blue with a crescent moon and stars in gold, the walls covered with silk set in panels.
But now it was a man's room, with the pleasant litter of a man's belongings.

There was a square writing-table in the window, with a wooden chair drawn up in front of it.