'Give me a chancel Wait till I've waved my hair!'

He read the paper for a little while, occasionally reading aloud
portions of it that she had already read, then complained that she took
no interest in public events.

'What do you think Archie brought home today,' she said to change the
subject, 'in his Noah's Ark? Two snails!' She laughed.

'Revolting! _I_ don't know where he gets his tastes from. Not from _my_
family, that I'm quite sure.' He yawned ostentatiously.

'I think I shall have a rest,' Bruce said presently. 'I had a very bad
night last night. I scarcely slept at all.'

'Poor boy!' Edith said kindly. She was accustomed to the convention of
Bruce's insomnia, and it would never have occurred to her to appear
surprised when he said he hadn't closed his eyes, though she happened to
know there was no cause for anxiety. If he woke up ten minutes before he
was called, he thought he had been awake all night; if he didn't he saw
symptoms of the sleeping sickness.

She arranged cushions on the sofa and pulled the blinds down. A minute
later he turned on the electric light and began to read again. Then he
turned it out, pulled up the blinds, and called her back.

'I want to speak to you about my friend Raggett,' he said seriously.
'I've asked him to dinner here tomorrow. What shall we have?'