"You don't understand," she lisped, getting more confused. "I mean after--when--I mean after the wedding."
The devil! I had never thought of that! And I, old sinner though I was, I looked just as shamefaced as she.
"I'll have to speak to the cabinet-maker," I said.
"George," she observed with a very important air, "forgive me, but I understand more about such matters than you."
"Eh, eh," I said, and shook my finger at her. It had always been such fun for me to shock her old-maidishness.
She blushed scarlet, and said:
"I saw wonderful, perfectly wonderful bedroom furniture at my friends, Frau von Housselle and Countess Finkenstein. You must have your bedroom furnished the same way."
"Go ahead," I said.
I'll have to tell you, gentlemen, why I gave in so easily. I knew my father-in-law-to-be, the old miser, would not want to spend a single cent on a trousseau. So I had said I had everything. Then I had to hustle and order whatever was needed from Berlin and Königsberg. Of course, I had forgotten about the bed.
"What would you rather have," my sister went on, "pink silk covered with plain net, or blue with Valenciennes lace? Perhaps it would be a good idea to tell the decorator who is doing the dining-room to paint a few Cupids on the ceiling."