He was in bed on a cold morning, and he didn't want to rise without first having had the curtains parted to let warm light in.  He was struggling to accept that, if he wanted them parted, he'd have to do it himself.  A thought then followed that he may have by now — with a nature differently oriented — easily worked his way to having someone part the curtains for him.  For a moment, he did try to imagine them being parted (he couldn't tell by whom), but the feeling was not sublime.  They were parted at a prescribed time instead of in the moment he would have wished, and the way of the parting lacked care or grace. No, for him to bring in warm light, he'd have to rise from the bed he was in and part his own curtains.