It was an unusually stifling day, and Aileen was tired enough to be meek when ’Possum bullied her into subsiding into a long chair.  She had risen at five o’clock, having found that the only way to work comfortably in such weather was to do so before the sun had time to grow vicious: therefore, the housework was done, and lunch prepared. ’Possum was slightly disgusted.  "I came hopin’ to be useful," she said, arranging Aileen’s feet comfortably.