Anna glanced around the room. “This house is a sight for one maid to wrestle with,” said she; and her brother, beyond a glance of the utmost indifference around the chaotic room, did not seem to notice her remark at all. However, that she did not resent. Indeed, she herself was so far from taking the matter to heart that she laughed a little as she continued to survey the ruins.
“Well, it went off well; it was a pretty wedding,” said she, with a certain tone of pleasure.
Carroll turned to her quite eagerly. “You think Ina was pleased?” he said. “It was all as she wished it to be?”
“What could a girl have wished more?” cried Anna. “Everything was charming, just as it should be. All I think about is—”
“What?” asked her brother.
“We have danced,” said Anna. “What I want to know is, is the piper to be paid, or shall we have to dance to another tune by way of reprisal.”
“The piper is paid,” replied Carroll, shortly. He turned to go, but his sister stepped in front of him.
“How?” she said.
Carroll looked down at her.
“Yes, you are quite right, Arthur,” said she. “I am afraid. You are, or may reasonably be, rather a desperate man. You have never taken quite kindly to straits. If the piper is paid, I want to know how, for my own peace of mind. By the piper I mean the creditors for all this”—she glanced around the room—“the wedding flowers and feast and carriages.”