"This muddling style of house-keeping is what you've not lately been
used to, I suppose?" he said, when they were a little apart.
"No; but I like it; it reminds me so pleasantly that everything here in
dear old Hintock is just as it used to be. The oil is--not quite nice;
but everything else is."
"The oil?"
"On the chairs, I mean; because it gets on one's dress. Still, mine is
not a new one."
Giles found that Creedle, in his zeal to make things look bright, had
smeared the chairs with some greasy kind of furniture-polish, and
refrained from rubbing it dry in order not to diminish the mirror-like
effect that the mixture produced as laid on. Giles apologized and
called Creedle; but he felt that the Fates were against him.