He glanced round the room, and his quick eye noted its curiously forlorn appearance. It was not untidy, exactly; it told no open tale of tumult; but the cushions were crushed, a flower or two here and there was wilted; there was a slight film of dust on the window-sill and on the polished table. In the houses of some of his friends this might have meant mere carelessness and a mind above trifles like dust and disorder, but with Mrs. Farren it was a phenomenon full of meaning. To her, the beauty of an ordered life was more than a mere phrase; it was a dogma to be preached, a cult to be practised with passion and concentration.Dorothy L. Sayers, The Five Red Herrings (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2003), Kindle location 1003 (orig. pub. 1931).
Later:
'I like to have everything orderly and clean,' said Mrs. Farren.
'There is a real beauty in cleanliness and decency. Even inanimate things may breathe out a kind of loveliness if they are well cared-for. Do you not think so?'Id. at loc. 1587.
