"Poor Mr. Hannay," said she, "the worst you can say of him now is that he eats and drinks a little more than's good for him."
"And that he's married a wife who sets him the example," said Anne, returning from the window-sill refreshed.
"She keeps him straight, dear."
"Edith! I shall never understand you. You're angelically good. But it's horrible, the things you take for granted. 'She keeps him straight!'"
"You think I take for granted a natural tendency to crookedness. I don't—I don't. What I take for granted is a natural tendency to straightness, when it gets its way. It doesn't always get it, though, especially in a town like Scale."
"I wish we were out of it."
"So did I, dear, once; but I don't now. We must make the best of it."
"Has Walter paid any of that money back to Mr. Hannay?"
Edith looked up at her sister-in-law, startled by the hardness in her voice. She had meant to spare Anne's pride the worst blow, but something in her question stirred the fire that slept in Edith.
"No," she said, "he hasn't. He was going to, but Mr. Hannay cancelled the debt, in order that he might marry—that he might marry you."