Page 178 - 1984

‘Real sugar. Not saccharine, sugar. And here’s a loaf of
bread—proper white bread, not our bloody stuff—and a lit-
tle pot of jam. And here’s a tin of milk—but look! This is the
one I’m really proud of. I had to wrap a bit of sacking round
it, because——’
But she did not need to tell him why she had wrapped it
up. The smell was already filling the room, a rich hot smell
which seemed like an emanation from his early childhood,
but which one did occasionally meet with even now, blow-
ing down a passage-way before a door slammed, or diffusing
itself mysteriously in a crowded street, sniffed for an instant
and then lost again.
‘It’s coffee,’ he murmured, ‘real coffee.’
‘It’s Inner Party coffee. There’s a whole kilo here,’ she
said.
‘How did you manage to get hold of all these things?’
‘It’s all Inner Party stuff. There’s nothing those swine
don’t have, nothing. But of course waiters and servants and
people pinch things, and—look, I got a little packet of tea
as well.’
Winston had squatted down beside her. He tore open a
corner of the packet.
‘It’s real tea. Not blackberry leaves.’
‘There’s been a lot of tea about lately. They’ve captured In-
dia, or something,’ she said vaguely. ‘But listen, dear. I want
you to turn your back on me for three minutes. Go and sit
on the other side of the bed. Don’t go too near the window.
And don’t turn round till I tell you.’
Winston gazed abstractedly through the muslin curtain.

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