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Anne of Avonlea - A Dramatic Reading · Anne of Avonlea - A Dramatic Reading

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  Chapter one, an irate neighbor, a tall, slim girl half past sixteen
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  with serious gray eyes and hair which her friends called auburn, had sat down
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  on the broad red sandstone doorstep of a Prince Edward Island farm house one ripe
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  afternoon in August, firmly resolved to construe so many lines of Virgil. But
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  an August afternoon, with blue hazes scarfing the harvest slopes, little winds whispering
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  elfishly in the poplars, and a dancing slender of red poppies outflaming against the
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  dark coppice of young firs in a corner of the cherry orchard was fitter for
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  dreams than dead languages. The Virgil soon slipped unheeded to the ground, and
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  Anne her chin propped on her clasped hands, and her eyes on the splendid
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  mass of fluffy clouds that were heaping up just over mister j. A.
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  Harrison's house, like a great white mountain, was far away in a delicious
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  world where a certain school teacher was doing a wonderful work shaping the destinies of
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  future statesman and inspiring youthful minds and hearts with high and lofty ambitions, to
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  be sure, if you came down to harsh facts, which it must be
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  confessed, Anne seldom did until she had to. It did not seem likely
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  that there was much promising material for celebrities in Avonlea School. But you could
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  never tell what might happen if a teacher used her influence for good. Anne
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  had certain rose tinted ideals of what a teacher might accomplish if she only went
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  the right way about it. Anne, she was in the midst of a
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  delightful scene forty years hence, with a famous personage. Just exactly what he
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  was to be famous for was left in convenient haziness. But Anne thought it
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  would be rather nice to have him a college president or a Canadian premier,
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  bowing low over her wrinkled hand and assuring her that it was she who had
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  first kindled his ambition, and that all his success in life was due to
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  the lessons she had instilled so long ago in Avonlea School. This pleasant vision
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  was shattered by a most unpleasant interruption. Am your little Jersey cow came scuttling
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  down the lane, and five seconds later mister Harrison arrived. If arrived be
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  not too mild a term to describe the manner of his irruption into the yard.
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  He bounced over the fence without waiting to open the gate, and angrily
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  confronted astonished Anne, who had risen to her feet and stood looking at him
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  in some bewilderment. Mister Harrison was their new right hand neighbor, and she
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  had never met him before, although she had seen him once or twice in
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  early April, before Anne had come home from Queen's, mister Robert Bell,
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  whose farm adjoined the Cuthbert Place on the west, had sold out and moved
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  to Charlottetown. His farm had been bought by a certain mister J. A.
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  Harrison, whose name and the fact that he was a new brunswick Man
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  were all that was known about him. But before he had been a month
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  in Avonlea, he had won the reputation of being an awed person, a
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  crank. Missus Rachel Lynde said. Missus Rachel was an outspoken lady. As
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  those of you who may have already made her acquaintance will remember, mister Harrison
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  was certainly different from other people, and that is the essential characteristic of a
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  crank. As everybody knows in the first place, he kept house for himself
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  and had publicly stated that he wanted no fools of women around his diggings.
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  Feminine Avonlea took its revenge by the gruesome tales it related about his housekeeping and
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  cooking. He had hired Little John Henry Carter of White Sands, and John
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  Henry started the stories. For one thing, there was never any stated time
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  for meals in the Harrison establishment. Mister Harrison got a bite when he felt
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  hungry, and if John Henry were around at the time, he came in
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  for a share, but if he were not, he had to wait until
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  mister Harrison's next hungry spell. John Henry mournfully averred that he would have starved
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  to death if it wasn't that he got home on Sundays and got a good
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  filling up, and that his mother always gave him a basket of grub to
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  take back with him on Monday mornings. As for washing dishes, mister Harrison
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  never made any pretense of doing it unless a rainy Sunday came. Then he
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  went to work and washed them all at once in the rainwater hogshead and left
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  them to drain dry again. Mister Harrison was close. When he was asked
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  to subscribe to the Reverend mister Allan's salary, he said he'd wait and see
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  how many dollars worth of good he got out of his preaching. First,
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  he didn't believe in buying a pig in a poke. And when Missus Lynde
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  went to ask for a contribution to missions, and incidentally to see the inside
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  of the house, he told her there were more heathens among the old woman
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  gossips in Avonlea than anywhere else he knew of, and he'd cheerfully contribute to
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  a mission for Christianizing them if she'd undertake it. Missus Rachel got herself away
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  and said it was a mercy. Poor Missus Robert Bell was safe in her
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  grave, for it would have broken her heart to see the state of her
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  house, in which she used to take so much pride. Why she scrubbed
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  the kitchen floor every second day, Missus Lynde told Marilla Cuthbert indignantly, and
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  if you could see it now, I had to hold up my skirts as
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  I walked across it. Finally, mister Harrison kept a pair called ginger nobody
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  in Avonlea had ever kept a parrot before. Consequently, that proceeding was considered
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  barely respectable, and such a parrot, if you took John Henry Carter's word
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  for it, never was such an unholy bird, it swore terribly. Missus
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  Carter would have taken John Henry away at once if she had been sure she
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  could get another place for him. Besides, Ginger had bitten a piece right
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  out of the back of John Henry's neck one day when he had stooped down
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  too near the cage. Missus Carter showed everybody the mark when the luckless John
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  Henry went home on Sundays. All these things flashed through Anne's mind as mister
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  Harrison stood quite speechless with wrath apparently before her in his most amiable mood.
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  Mister Harrison could not have been considered a handsome man. He was short and
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  fat and bald, and now with his round face purple with rage, and
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  his prominent blue eyes almost sticking out of his head, Anne thought he was
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  really the ugliest person she had ever seen. All at once, Missus Harrison
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  found his voice. I'm not gonna put up with this, he spluttered,
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  Not a day longer, do you hear Miss, bless my soul. This
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  is the third time, Miss, the third time patience has ceased to be
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  a virtue. Miss. I warned your aunt last time not to let it
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  occur again, and she's led it. She's done it. What does she
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  mean by it? That is what I want to know. That is what
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  I'm here about. Miss. Will you explain what the trouble is? Asked
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  Anne in her most dignified manner. She had been practicing it considerably of late
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  to have it in good working order when school began, but it had no
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  apparent effect on the irate Ja Harrison. Trouble? Is it, bless my
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  soul? Trouble enough? I should think the trouble is missed that I found
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  that Jersey cow of your aunt's and my oats again, not half an hour
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  ago, the third time, Mark you. I found her in last Tuesday,
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  and I found her in yesterday. I came here and told your aunt
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  not to let it occur again. She has let it occur again. Where's
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  your aunt? Miss? I just want to see her for a minute,
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  to give her a piece of my mind, a piece of j. A.
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  Harrison's mind. Miss, If you mean Miss Marilla Cuthbert, She is
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  not my aunt, and she has gone down to East Grafton to see a
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  distant relative of hers who is very ill, said Anne, with due increase
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  of dignity at every word. I am very sorry that my cow should have
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  broken into your oats. She is my cow and not miss Cuthbert's. Matthew
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  gave her to me three years ago when she was a little calf, and
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  he bought her from mister Bell. Sorry. Miss sorry, isn't good to
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  help matters any You'd better go and look at the havoc that animal has made
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  my oats, troubled them from center to circumference. Miss I am very sorry,
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  repeated Anne firmly. But perhaps if you kept your fences in better repair,
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  Dolly might not have broken in. It is your part of the line
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  fence that separates your oat field from our pasture, and I noticed the other
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  day that it was not in very good condition. My fence is all right,
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  snapped mister Harrison, angrier than ever at this carrying of the war into
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  the enemy's country. The jail fence couldn't keep a demon of a cow like
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  that out. And I can tell you, you red headed snippet, that
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  if the cow is yours. As you say, you would be better employed
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  in watching her out of other people's grain than in sitting round ringing yellow covered
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  novels with a scathing glance at the innocent, tan colored Virgil by Anne's feet.
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  Something at that moment was red beside Anne's hair, which had always been
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  a tender point with her. I'd rather have red hair than none at all,
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  except a little fringe round my ears, She flashed the shot told for
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  mister Harrison was really very sensitive about his bald head. His anger choked him
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  up again, and he could only glare speechlessly at Anne, who recovered her
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  temper and followed up her advantage. I can make allowance for you, mister
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  Harrison, because I have an imagination. I can easily imagine how very trying
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  it must be to find a cow in your oats. And I shall not
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  cherish any hard feelings against you for the things you've said. I promise you
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  that Dolly shall never break into your oats again. I give you my word
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  of honor on that point. Well mind you, She doesn't, muttered mister
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  Harrison in a somewhat subdued tone, but he stamped off angrily enough, and
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  Anne heard him growling to himself until he was out of earshot. Grievously disturbed
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  in mind, Anne marched across the yard and shut the naughty jersey up in
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  the milking pen. She can't possibly get out of that unless she tears the
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  fence down, she reflected. She looks pretty quiet now. I dare say
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  she has sickened herself on those oats. I wish i'd sold her to mister
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  Shearer when he wanted her last week, but I thought it was just as
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  well to wait until we had the auction of the stock and let them all
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  go together. I believe it is true about mister Harrison being a crank.
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  Certainly there's nothing of the kindred spirit about him. Anne had always a weather
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  eye opened for kindred spirits. Marilla Cuthbert was driving into the yard as Anne
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  returned from the house, and the latter flew to get tea ready. They
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  discussed the matter at the tea table. I'll be glad when the auction is
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  over, said Marilla. It is too much responsibility, having said so much,
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  stalk about the place, and nobody but that unreliable Martin to look after
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  them. He has never come back yet, and he promised that he would
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  certainly be back last night if I'd give him the day off to go to
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  his aunt's funeral. I don't know how many aunts he is. God,
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  I am sure that's the fourth that's died since he hired here a year ago.
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  I'll be more than thankful when the crop is in and mister Barry takes
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  over the farm. We'll have to keep Dolly shut up in the pen till
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  Martin comes, for she must be put in the back pasture, and the
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  fences there have to be fixed. I declare it is a world of trouble.
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  As Rachel says, here's poor Mary Keith dying, and what is to
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  become of those two children of hers is more than I know. She has
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  a brother in British Columbia, and she has written to him about them,
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  but she hasn't heard from him yet. What are the children like? How
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  old are they six? Past? They're twins? Oh, I've always been
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  especially interested in twins, ever since missus Hammond had so many, said Anne
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  eagerly, are they pretty? Goodness? You couldn't tell they were too dirty.
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  Davy had been out making mud pies, and Dora went out to call
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  him in. Davy pushed her head first into the biggest pie, and then
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  because she cried, he got into it himself and wallowed in it to show
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  her it was nothing to cry about. Mary said Dora was really a very
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  good child, but that Davy was full of mischief. He has never had
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  any bringing up, you might say. His father died when he was a
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  baby, and Mary has been sick almost ever since. I'm always sorry for
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  children that have no bringing up, said Anne soberly. You know I hadn't
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  any till you took me in hand. I hope their uncle will look after
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  them. Just what relation is missus Keith to you, Mary, None in
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  the world. It was her husband. He was our third cousin. There's
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  missus Lynde coming through the yard. I thought she'd be up to hear about
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  Mary. Don't tell her about mister Harrison and the cow, implored Anne.
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  Marilla promised, but the promise was quite unnecessary, for Missus Lynde was no
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  sooner fairly seated than she said. I saw mister Harrison chasing your jersey out
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  of his oats today when I was coming home from Carmody. I thought he
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  looked pretty mad. Did he make much of a rumpus. Anne and Marilla
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  furtively exchanged amused smiles. Few things in Avonlea ever escaped Missus Lynde. It
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  was only that morning. Anne had said, if you went to your own
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  room at midnight, locked the door, pulled down the blind, and sneezed,
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  Missus Lynde would ask you the next day how your cold was. I
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  believe he did, admitted Marilla. I was away. He gave Anne a
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  piece of his mind. I think he is a very disagreeable man, said
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  Anne, with a resentful toss of her ruddy head. You never said a
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  truer word, said Missus Rachel solemnly. I knew there'd be trouble when Robert
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  Bell sold his place to a new Brunswick man. That's what I don't know
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  what Avonlea is coming to. With so many strange people rushing into it,
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  it'll soon not be safe to go to sleep in our bits. Why what
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  other strangers are coming in, asked Marilla. Haven't you heard? Well,
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  there's a family of Donalds. For one thing, they have rented Peter Sloan's
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  old house. Peter has hired the man to run his mill. They belong
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  down east and nobody knows anything about them. Then that shiftless Timothy Cotton family
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  are going to move up from White Sands, and they'll simply be a burden
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  on the public. He is in consumption when he isn't stealing, and his
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  wife is a slack twisted creature that can't turn her hand to a thing.
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  She washes her dishes sitting down. Missus George Pye has taken her husband's orphan
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  nephew, Anthony Pye. He'll be going to school to you, Anne,
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  so you may expect trouble. That's what Anne. You'll have another strange pupil
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  too. Paul Irving is coming from the States to live with his grandmother.
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  You remember his father, Marilla Stephen Irving him that jilted Lavender Lewis over at
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  Grafton. I don't think he jilted her. There was a quarrel. I
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  suppose there was blame on both sides. Well, anyway, he didn't marry
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  her, and she's been as queer as possible ever since, they say,
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  living all by herself from that little stone house she calls Echo Lodge. Stephen
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  went off to the States and went into business with his uncle and married a
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  Yankee he's never been home since, though his mother has been up to see
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  him once or twice. His wife died two years ago, and he sent
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  in the boy home to his mother for a spell. He's ten years old,
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  and I don't know if he'll be a very desirable pupil. You can
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  never tell about those Yankees. Missus Lynde looked upon all people who had the
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  misfortune to be born or brought up elsewhere than in Prince Edward Island with a
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  decided can any good thing come out of Nazareth air? They might be good
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  people, of course, but you were on the safe side in doubting it.
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  She had a special prejudice against Yankees. Her husband had been cheated out
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  of ten dollars by an employer for whom he had once worked in Boston,
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  and neither angels, nor principalities, nor powers could have I convinced Missus Rachel
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  that the whole United States was not responsible for it. Avonlea school won't be
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  the worse for a little new blood, said Marilla Drily. And if this
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  boy is anything like his father, he'll be all right. Steve Irving was
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  the nicest boy that was ever raised in these parts. Though some people did
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  call him proud. I should think missus Irving would be very glad to have
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  the child. She has been very lonesome since her husband died. Oh the
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  boy may be well enough, but he'll be different from heavenle children, said
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  missus Rachel, as if that clinched the matter. Missus Rachel's opinions concerning any
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  person, place, or thing were always warranted to wear. What's this I
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  hear about your going to start up a village improvement society? Anne, I
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  was just talking it over with some of the girls and boys at the last
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  debating club, said Anne, flushing. They thought it would be rather nice,
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  and so do mister and missus Allen. Lots of villages have them.
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  Now, Well, you'll get into no end of hot water if you do.
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  Better leave it alone, Anne, that's what people don't like being improved.
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  Oh, we are not going to try to improve the people. It
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  is Avonlea itself. There are lots of things which might be done to make
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  it prettier. For instance, if we could coax mister Levi Bolter to pull
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  down that dreadful old house on his upper farm, wouldn't that be an improvement
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  It certainly would, admitted Missus Rachel that old Ruin has been an eyesore to
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  the settlement for years. But if you improvers can coax Levi Bolter to do
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  anything for the public that he isn't to be paid for doing, may I
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  be there to see and hear the process. That's what I don't want to
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  discourage you, Anne, for there may be something in your idea, though
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  I suppose you did get it out of some rubbishy Yankee magazine. But you'll
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  have your hands full with your school, and I advise you as a friend
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  not to bother with your improvements, that's what. But there I know you'll
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  go ahead with it if you've set your mind on it. You are always
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  one to carry a thing through. Somehow, something about the firm outlines of
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  Anne's lips told that Missus Rachel was not far astray this estimate. Anne's heart
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  was bent on forming the Improvement Society. Gilbert Blythe who was to teach in
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  White Sands but would always be home from Friday night to Monday morning, was
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  enthusiastic about it, and most of the other folks were willing to go in
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  for anything that meant occasional meetings and consequently some fun. As for what the
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  improvements were to be, nobody had any very clear idea except Anne and Gilbert.
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  They had talked them over and planned them out until an ideal Avonlea existed
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  in their minds. If nowhere else, Missus Rachel had still another item of
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  news. They've given the Carmody School to a Priscilla Grant. Didn't you go
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  to Queen's with a girl of that name? Anne? Yes, indeed Priscilla
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  to teach it Carmody. How perfectly lovely, exclaimed Anne, her gray eyes
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  lighting up until they looked like evening stars, causing Missus Lynde to wonder anew
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  if she would ever get it settled to her satisfaction whether Anne Shirley were really
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  a pretty girl or not. End of chapter one, Chapter two, Selling
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  in haste and repenting at leisure, Anne drove over to Carmody on a shopping
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  expedition the next afternoon and took Diana Barry with her. Diana was, of
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  course a pledged member of the Improvement Society, and the two girls talked about
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  little else all the way to Carmody and back. The very first thing we
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  ought to do when we get started is to have that hall painted, said
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  Diana as they drove past the Avonlea Hall, a rather shabby building set down
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  in a wooded hollow, with spruce trees hooding it about on all sides.
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  It's a disgraceful looking place, and we must attend to it. Even before
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  we try to get mister Levi Bolta to pull his house down. Father says
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  we'll never succeed in doing that. Levi Bolter is too mean to spend the
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  time it would take. Perhaps he'll let the boys take it down if they
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  promised to haul the boards and split them up for him for kindling wood,
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  said Anne. Hopefully, we must do our best and be content to go
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  slowly at first. We can't expect to improve everything all at once. We'll
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  have to educate public sentiment first. Of course, Diana wasn't exactly sure what
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  educating public sentiment meant, but it sounded fine, and she felt rather proud
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  that she was going to belong to a society with such an aim in view.
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  I thought of something last night that we could do, Anne. You
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  know that three cornered piece of ground were the roads from Carmody and Newbridge and
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  White Sands, meet. It's all grown over with young spruce. But wouldn't
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  it be nice to have them all cleared out and just leave the two or
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  three birch trees that are on it splendid, agreed Anne gaily, And have
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  a rustic seat put under the birches, and when spring comes we'll have a
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  flower bed made in the middle of it in plant geraniums. Yes, only
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  we'll have to devise some way of getting old missus Hiram Sloane to keep her
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  car off the road, or she'll eat our geraniums up, laughed Diana.
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  I begin to see what you mean by educating public sentiment. Anne, there's
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  the old bolter house. Now. Did you ever see such a rookery and
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  perched right close to the road too? An old house with its windows gone
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  always makes me think of something dead with its eyes picked out. I think
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  an old deserted house is such a sad sight, said Anne dreamily. It
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  always seems to me to be thinking about its past and mourning for its old
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  time joys. Marilla says that a large family was raised in that old house
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  long ago, and that it was a real pretty place with a lovely garden
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  and roses climbing all over it. It was full of little children and laughter
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  and songs. And now it is empty, and nothing ever wanders through it
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  but the wind. How lonely and sorrowful it must feel. Perhaps they all
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  come back on moonlit nights, the ghosts of the little children of long ago,
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  and the roses and the songs, and for a little while the old
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  house can dream at his young and joyous again. Diana shook her head.
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  I never imagine things like that about places now, Anne, don't you remember
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  how cross mother and Marilla were when we imagined ghosts into the Wanton Wood.
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  To this day, I can't go through that bush comfortably after dark. And
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  if I begin imagining such things about the old boat house, I'd be frightened
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  to pass it too. Besides, those children aren't dead. They're all grown
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  up and doing well, and one of them is a butcher. And flowers
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  and songs couldn't have ghosts anyhow, Anne smothered a little sigh. She loved
• 21:42
  Diana dearly, and they had always been good comrades. But she had long
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  ago learned that when she wandered into the realm of fancy, she must go
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  alone. The way to it was by an enchanted path where not even her
• 21:53
  dearest might follow her. A thundershower came up while the girls were at Carmody.
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  It did not last long, however, and the drive home through lanes
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  where the rain drops sparkled on the boughs, and little leafy valleys where the
• 22:06
  drenched ferns gave out spicy odors, was delightful. But just as they turned
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  into the Cuthbert Lane, Anne saw something that spoiled the beauty of the landscape
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  for her. Before them, on the right extended mister Harrison's broad, gray
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  green fields of late oats, wet and luxuriant, and there, standing squarely
• 22:25
  in the middle of it, up to her sleek sides in the lush growth,
• 22:29
  and blinking at them calmly over the intervening tassels, was a jersey cow.
• 22:33
  Anne dropped the reins and stood up with a tightening of the lips that
• 22:37
  boded no good to the predatory quadruped. Not a word, said she,
• 22:41
  but she climbed nimbly down over the wheels and whisked across the fence. Before
• 22:45
  Diana understood what had happened, Anne come back shrieked the latter as soon as
• 22:52
  she found her voice. You ruin your prison, That wat grain ruin it?
• 22:57
  She doesn't hear me. Well, she'll never get that cow out by
• 23:02
  herself. I must go and help her. Of course, Anne was charging
• 23:06
  through the grain like a mad thing. Diana hopped briskly down, tied the
• 23:10
  horse securely to a post, turned the skirt of her pretty gingham dress over
• 23:14
  her shoulders, mounted the fence, and started in pursuit of her frantic friend.
• 23:18
  She could run faster than Anne, who was hampered by her clinging and
• 23:22
  drenched skirt, and soon overtook her. Behind them, they left a trail
• 23:26
  that would break mister Harrison's heart when he should see it. Anne, for
• 23:30
  mercy's sake, stop, panted, poor Diana. I'm right out of breath,
• 23:37
  and you are wit to the skin. I must get that cow out
• 23:41
  before mister Harrison seize her. Gasped Anne, I don't care if I'm drowned,
• 23:48
  if we can only do that. But the Jersey cow appeared to see
• 23:53
  no good reason for being hustled out of her luscious browsing ground. No sooner
• 23:57
  had the two breathless girls near her, then she turned and bolted squarely for
• 24:02
  the opposite corner of the field, head her off, screamed, Anne,
• 24:07
  Run, Diana Run. Diana did run. Anne tried to, and the
• 24:11
  wicked jersey went around the field as if she were possessed privately. Diana thought
• 24:17
  she was. It was fully ten minutes before they headed her off and drove
• 24:21
  her through the corner gap into the Cuthbert Lane. There is no denying that
• 24:25
  Anne was in anything but an angelic temper at that present moment, nor did
• 24:29
  it soothe her in the least to behold a buggy halted just outside the lane,
• 24:33
  wherein sat mister Shearer of Carmody and his son, both of whom wore
• 24:37
  a broad smile. I guess you'd better have sold me that cow when I
• 24:40
  wanted to buy a last weekend, chuckled mister Shearer. I'll sell her to
• 24:45
  you now if you want her, said her flushed and disheveled owner. You
• 24:48
  may have her this very minute done. I'll give you twenty four as I
• 24:52
  offered before, and Jim here can drive her right over to Carmody. She'll
• 24:56
  go to town with the rest of the shipman this evening. Miss to read
• 25:00
  Brighton wants a jersey cow. Five minutes later, Jim Shearer and the Jersey
• 25:03
  cow were marching up the road, and impulsive Anne was driving along the Green
• 25:07
  Gables lane with her twenty dollars. What will Marilla say, asked Diana.
• 25:14
  Oh, she won't care. Dolly was my own cow, and it isn't
• 25:18
  likely she'd bring more than twenty dollars at the auction. But oh dear,
• 25:21
  if mister Harrison sees that grain, he will know she has been in again.
• 25:23
  And after my giving him my word of honor that i'd never let it
• 25:26
  happen, Well, it has taught me a lesson not to give my word
• 25:30
  of honor about cows. A cow that could jump over or break through our
• 25:33
  milk pen fence couldn't be trusted anywhere. Marilla had gone down to Missus Lynde's,
• 25:38
  and when she returned knew all about Dolly's sill and transfer. For Missus
• 25:44
  Lynde had seen most of the transaction from her window and guessed the rest.
• 25:48
  I suppose it's just as well she's gone, though you do do things in
• 25:52
  a dreadful, headlong fashion. Anne. I don't see how she got out
• 25:55
  of the pen, though she must have broken some of the boards off.
• 25:59
  I didn't think of looking, said Anne, But I'll go and see.
• 26:02
  Now Martin has never come back yet, perhaps some more of his aunts have
• 26:06
  died. I think it's something like mister Peter Sloane and the octogenarians. The
• 26:11
  other evening, Missus Sloane was reading a newspaper and she said to mister Sloane,
• 26:15
  I see here that another octogenarian has just died. What is an octogenarian?
• 26:18
  Peter? And mister Sloane said he didn't know, but they must be
• 26:22
  very sickly creatures, for you never heard tell of them, but they were
• 26:25
  dying. That's the way with Martin's aunts. Martin's just like all the rest
• 26:30
  of those French, said Marilla in disgust. You can't depend on them for
• 26:33
  a day. Marilla was looking over Anne's Carmity purchases when she heard a shrill
• 26:38
  shriek in the barnyard. A minute later, Anne dashed into the kitchen,
• 26:42
  wringing her hands. Anne, Shirley, what's the matter now, oh Marilla,
• 26:48
  whatever shall I do? This is terrible and it's all my fault.
• 26:52
  Oh well, I ever learned to stop and reflect a little before doing reckless
• 26:55
  things. Missus Lynde always told me I would do something dreadful some day,
• 26:59
  and now I've done it. Anne, you are the most exasperating girl.
• 27:03
  What is it you've done? Sold mister Harrison's jersey cow, the one he
• 27:07
  bought from mister Bell to mister Shearer, Dolly is out in the milking pen
• 27:11
  this very minute, Anne, Shirley, are you dreaming? I only wish
• 27:17
  I were. There's no dream about it, though. It's very like a
• 27:19
  nightmare. And mister Harrison's cow is in Charlottetown by this time, Oh Marilla,
• 27:25
  I thought i'd finished getting into scrapes, and here I am in the
• 27:27
  very worst one I ever was in in my life. What can I do
• 27:33
  do? There's nothing to do, child, except go and see mister Harrison
• 27:37
  about it. We can offer him our jersey in exchange. If he doesn't
• 27:40
  want to take the money, she is just as good as his. I'm
• 27:44
  sure he'll be awfully cross and disagreeable about it, though, moaned Anne.
• 27:48
  I dare say he will. He seems to be an irritable sort of a
• 27:51
  man. I'll go and explain to him if you like. No, Indeed,
• 27:55
  I'm not as mean as that, exclaimed Anne. This is all my
• 27:57
  fault, and I'm certainly not going to let you take my punishment. I'll
• 28:02
  go myself, and i'll go at once. The sooner it's over, the
• 28:04
  better, for it will be terribly humiliating. Poor Anne got her hat and
• 28:08
  her twenty dollars and was passing out when she happened to glance through the open
• 28:12
  pantry door. On the table reposed a nutcake which she had baked that morning,
• 28:18
  A particularly toothsome concoction, iced with pink icing and adorned with walnuts.
• 28:23
  Anne had intended it for Friday evening, when the youth of Avonlea were to
• 28:27
  meet at Green Gables to organize the Improvement Society. But what were they compared
• 28:32
  to the justly offended mister Harrison. Anne thought that cake ought to soften the
• 28:37
  heart of any man, especially one who had to do his own cooking,
• 28:40
  and she promptly popped it into a box. She would take it to mister
• 28:44
  Harrison as a peace offering, that is, if he gives me a chance
• 28:47
  to say anything at all, she thought ruefully as she climbed the lane fence
• 28:52
  and started on a short cut across the fields, golden in the light of
• 28:55
  the dreamy August evening. I know now just how people feel who are being
• 29:00
  led to execution. End of Chapter two, Chapter three, Mister Harrison at
• 29:07
  home. Mister Harrison's house was an old fashioned, low eaved, whitewashed structure
• 29:12
  set against a thick spruce grove. Mister Harrison himself was sitting on his vine
• 29:18
  shaded veranda in his shirt sleeves, enjoying his evening pipe when he realized who
• 29:23
  was coming up the path. He sprang suddenly to his feet, bolted into
• 29:26
  the house, and shut the door. This was merely the uncomfortable result of
• 29:30
  his surprise, mingled with a good deal of shame over his outburst of temper
• 29:34
  the day before, but it nearly swept the remnant of her courage from Anne's
• 29:38
  heart. If he's so cross now, what will he be when he hears
• 29:42
  what I've done? She reflected miserably as she rapped at the door. But
• 29:47
  mister Harrison opened it, smiling sheepishly, and invited her to enter in a
• 29:52
  tone quite mild and friendly, if somewhat nervous. He had laid aside his
• 29:56
  pipe and donned his coat. He offered Anne a very dusty chair, very
• 30:00
  politely, and her reception would have passed off pleasantly enough if it had not
• 30:04
  been for the tell tale of a parrot who was peering through the bars of
• 30:07
  his cage with wicked golden eyes. No sooner had Anne seated herself than Ginger
• 30:12
  exclaimed, what's my soul? What's that mad headed snippet came here? For?
• 30:18
  It would be hard to say whose face was the redder, mister Harrison's
• 30:21
  or Anne's. Don't you mind that parrot, said mister Harrison, casting a
• 30:26
  furious glance at Ginger. He's he's always talking nonsense. I got him from
• 30:30
  my brother, who was a sailor. Sailors don't always use the choicest language,
• 30:36
  and parrots are very imitative birds, so I should think, said poor
• 30:40
  Anne, the remembrance of her errand quelling her resentment. She couldn't afford to
• 30:45
  snub mister Harrison under the circumstances. That was certain when you had just sold
• 30:49
  a man's jersey cow off hand, without his knowledge or consent, you must
• 30:53
  not mind if his parrot repeated uncomplimentary things. Nevertheless, the red headed snow
• 31:00
  it was not quite so meek as she might otherwise have been. I've come
• 31:03
  to confess something to you, mister Harrison, she said resolutely. It's about
• 31:10
  that Jersey cow. Bless my soul, exclaimed mister Harrison, nervously. Has
• 31:15
  she gone and broken into my oats again? Well, never mind, never
• 31:19
  mind? If she has, it's no difference, not at all. I
• 31:23
  was too hasty yesterday. That's a fact. Never mind if she has.
• 31:27
  Oh if it were only that, sighed Anne. But it's ten times worse.
• 31:32
  I don't bless my soul. Do you mean she has gotten into my
• 31:34
  wheat? No, no, not the wheat. But then it's the cabbages.
• 31:37
  She's broken into my cabbages as I was raising for exhibition. Eh,
• 31:41
  it's not the cabbages, mister Harrison. I'll tell you everything. That is
• 31:45
  what I came for, but please don't interrupt me. It makes me so
• 31:48
  nervous. Just let me tell my story, and don't say anything till I
• 31:52
  get through, and then, no doubt you'll say plenty, Anne concluded.
• 31:56
  But in thought only, I won't say another word, mister Harrison, and
• 32:00
  he didn't. But Ginger was not bound by any contract of silence, and
• 32:05
  kept ejaculating bradhead snippet at intervals until Anne felt quite wild. I shut my
• 32:10
  jersey cow up in our pen yesterday. This morning I went to Carmody,
• 32:15
  and when I came back, I saw a jersey cow in your oats,
• 32:17
  Diana, and I chased her out. And you can't imagine what a hard
• 32:21
  time we had. I was so dreadfully wet and tired and vexed. And
• 32:24
  mister Shearer came by that very minute and offered to buy the cow. I
• 32:29
  sold her to him on the spot for twenty dollars. It was wrong of
• 32:31
  me. I should have waited and consulted Marilla, of course, but I'm
• 32:36
  dreadfully given to doing things without thinking. Everybody who knows me will tell you
• 32:39
  that mister Shearer took the cow right away to ship her on the afternoon train.
• 32:44
  Brad headed Snippet quote a Ginger in a tone of profound contempt. At
• 32:50
  this point, mister Harrison arose, and, with an expression that would have
• 32:52
  struck terror into any bird but a parrot, carried Ginger's cage into an adjoining
• 32:58
  room and shut the door. Gin shrieked, swore, and otherwise conducted himself
• 33:02
  in keeping with his reputation, but finding himself left alone, relapsed into sulky
• 33:07
  silence. Excuse me and go on, said mister Harrison, sitting down again.
• 33:13
  My brother the Selah never taught that burn any matters. I went home,
• 33:16
  and after tea, I went out to the milking pen. Mister Harrison.
• 33:21
  Anne leaned forward, clasping her hands with her old childish gesture, while
• 33:25
  her big gray eyes gazed imploringly into mister Harrison's embarrassed face. I found my
• 33:31
  cow still shut up in the pen. It was your cow I had sold
• 33:35
  to mister Shearer. Bless my soul, exclaimed mister Harrison, in blank amazement
• 33:40
  at this unlooked for conclusion. What a very extraordinary thing. Oh, it
• 33:45
  isn't in the least extraordinary that I should be getting myself and other people into
• 33:49
  scrapes, said Anne mournfully. I'm noted for that. You might suppose i'd
• 33:53
  have grown out of it by this time. I'll be seventeen next March,
• 33:58
  But it seems that I haven't, Miss Harrison, Is it too much to
• 34:00
  hope that you'll forgive me? I'm afraid it's too late to get your cow
• 34:05
  back. But here is the money for her, or you can have mine
• 34:07
  in exchange if you'd rather she's a very good cow. If I can't express
• 34:12
  how sorry I am for it all, Tut tut, said mister Harrison,
• 34:15
  briskly, don't say another word about it. Miss It's of no consequence,
• 34:19
  no consequence, whatever accidents will happen. I'm too hasty myself, sometimes,
• 34:23
  Miss far too hasty, but I can't help speaking out just what I think.
• 34:29
  And folks must take me as they find me. If that cow had
• 34:31
  been in my cabbages now, but never mind, she wasn't, so it's
• 34:35
  all right. I think i'd rather have your cow in exchange, since you
• 34:37
  want to be rid of her. Oh thank you, mister Harrison. I'm
• 34:42
  so glad you are not vexed. I was afraid you would be, and
• 34:45
  I suppose you were scared to death to come here and tell me after the
• 34:47
  fuss I made yesterday. But you mustn't mind me. I'm a terrible outspoken
• 34:52
  old fellow, that's all awful, apt to tell the truth, no matter
• 34:55
  if it is a bit plain. So is missus Lynde, said Anne,
• 35:00
  before she could prevent herself. Who, miss Lynde, don't you tell me
• 35:04
  I'm like that old gossip, said mister Harrison. Irritably. I'm not not
• 35:07
  a bit. What have you got in that box? A cake? Said
• 35:12
  Anne archly. In her relief at mister Harrison's unexpected amiability. Her spirit soared
• 35:17
  upward feather light. I brought it over for you. I thought perhaps you
• 35:22
  didn't have cake very often. I don't. That's a fact, and I'm
• 35:25
  mighty fond of it too. I'm much obliged to you. It looks good
• 35:29
  on top. I hope it's good all the way through. It is,
• 35:32
  said Anne gaily, confident. I have made cakes in my time that were
• 35:36
  not as missus Allan could tell you. But this one is all right.
• 35:39
  I made it for the Improvement Society, but I can make another for them.
• 35:43
  Well, i'll tell you what, miss you must help me eat it.
• 35:45
  I'll put the kettle on and we'll have a cup of tea. How
• 35:49
  will that do? Will you let me make the tea? Said Anne dubiously.
• 35:52
  Mister Harrison chuckled. He I see you have much confidence in my ability
• 35:58
  to make tea. You're wrong. I can brew up as good a jarm
• 36:00
  of tea as you ever drank. But go ahead yourself. Fortunately it rain
• 36:05
  last Sunday, so there's plenty of clean dishes. Anne hopped briskly up and
• 36:08
  went to work. She washed the teapot in several waters before she put the
• 36:13
  tea to steep. Then she swept the stove and set the table, bringing
• 36:16
  the dishes out of the pantry. The state of that pantry horrified Anne,
• 36:21
  but she wisely said nothing. Mister Harrison told her where to find the bread
• 36:24
  and butter and a can of peaches. Anne adorned the table with a bouquet
• 36:29
  from the garden and shut her eyes to the stains on the tablecloth. Soon
• 36:32
  the tea was ready, and Anne found herself sitting opposite mister Harrison at his
• 36:37
  own table, pouring his tea for him and chatting freely to him about her
• 36:40
  school and friends and plans. She could hardly believe the evidence of her senses.
• 36:45
  Mister Harrison had brought Ginger back, averring that the poor bird would be
• 36:50
  lonesome, and Anne, feeling that she could forgive everybody and everything, offered
• 36:53
  him a walnut. But Ginger's feelings had been grievously hurt, and he rejected
• 36:59
  all over to her a friendship. He sat moodily on his perch and ruffled
• 37:02
  his feathers up until he looked like a mere ball of green and gold.
• 37:07
  Why do you call him Ginger? Asked Anne, who liked appropriate names and
• 37:10
  thought Ginger accorded not at all with such gorgeous plumage. My brother, the
• 37:15
  sailor named him. Maybe had some reference to his temper. I think a
• 37:20
  lot of that bird, though you'd be surprised if you knew how much he
• 37:22
  has his faults. Of course, that bird has cost me a good deal
• 37:27
  one way and another. Some people object to his swearing habits, but he
• 37:30
  can't be broken of them. I've tried, Other people have tried. Some
• 37:35
  folks have prejudices against parrots. Silly, ain't it. I like them myself.
• 37:39
  Ginger's a lot of company to me. Nothing would induce me to give
• 37:44
  up that bird. Nothing in the world. Miss Mister Harrison flung the last
• 37:47
  sentence at Anne as explosively as if he suspected her of some latent design of
• 37:52
  persuading him to give Ginger up. Anne, however, was beginning to like
• 37:57
  the queer, fussy, fidgety little man, and before the meal was over
• 38:00
  they were quite good friends. Mister Harrison found out about the Improvement Society and
• 38:06
  was disposed to approve of it. That's right, go ahead. There's lots
• 38:08
  of room for improvement in this settlement and in the people too. Oh,
• 38:14
  I don't know, flashed Anne to herself or to her particular cronies. She
• 38:19
  might admit that there were some small imperfections easily removable in Avonlea and its inhabitants,
• 38:24
  but to hear a practical outsider like mister Harrison saying it was an entirely
• 38:29
  different thing. I think Avonlea is a lovely place, and the people in
• 38:32
  it are very nice too. I guess you've got a spice of temper,
• 38:37
  commented mister Harrison, surveying the flushed cheeks and indignant eyes opposite him. It
• 38:42
  goes with hair like yours. I reckon ivonly. It's a pretty decent play,
• 38:45
  So I wouldn't have located here. But I suppose even you will admit
• 38:50
  that it has some faults. I like it all the better for them,
• 38:53
  said loyal Anne. I don't like places or people either that haven't any faults.
• 38:59
  I think a truly perfect person would be very uninteresting. Missus Milton White
• 39:02
  says she never met a perfect person, but she's heard enough about one her
• 39:06
  husband's first wife. Don't you think it must be very uncomfortable to be married
• 39:10
  to a man whose first wife was perfect. It would be more uncomfortable to
• 39:14
  be married to the perfect wife, declared mister Harrison with a sudden and inexplicable
• 39:20
  warmth. When tea was over, Anne insisted on washing the dishes, although
• 39:23
  mister Harrison assured her that there were enough in the house to do for weeks.
• 39:28
  Yet she would dearly have loved to sweep the floor also, but no
• 39:31
  broom was visible, and she did not like to ask where it was,
• 39:35
  for fear there wasn't one at all. You might run across and talk to
• 39:37
  me once in a while, suggested mister Harrison when she was leaving. Tisn't
• 39:42
  far and folks ought to be neighborly. I'm kind of interested in that society
• 39:45
  of yours. Seems to me there'll be some fun in it. Who are
• 39:50
  you going to tackle first? We are not going to meddle with people.
• 39:53
  It is only places we mean to improve, said Anne in a dignified tone.
• 39:59
  She rather s spected that mister Harrison was making fun of the project.
• 40:02
  When she had gone, mister Harrison watched her from the window, a lithe
• 40:07
  girlish shape tripping lightheartedly across the fields in the sunset afterglow. I'm a crusty,
• 40:13
  lonesome, crabbed old chap, he said aloud. But there's something about
• 40:16
  that little girl makes me feel young again, and it's such a pleasant sensation.
• 40:22
  I'd like to have it repeated once in a while. Red heyes,
• 40:24
  nebt, croaked ginger mockingly. Mister Harrison shook his fist at the parrot.
• 40:30
  You want to read bird, he muttered, I almost wish I'd wrung your
• 40:34
  neck when my brother, the sailor brought you home. Will you never be
• 40:37
  done getting me into trouble? Anne ran home blithely and recounted her adventures to
• 40:42
  Marilla, who had been not a little alarmed by her long absence and was
• 40:45
  on the point of starting out to look for her. It's a pretty good
• 40:50
  world, after all, isn't it, Marilla concluded Anne happily. Missus Lynde
• 40:54
  was complaining the other day that it wasn't much of a world, she said,
• 40:58
  whenever you looked forward to anything please, you were sure to be more
• 41:00
  or less disappointed. Perhaps that is true, but there is a good side
• 41:05
  to it too. The bad things don't always come up to your expectations either.
• 41:08
  They nearly always turn out ever so much better than you think. I
• 41:13
  looked forward to a dreadfully unpleasant experience when I went over to mister Harrison's tonight,
• 41:17
  and instead he was quite kind and I had almost a nice time.
• 41:22
  I think we're going to be real good friends if we make plenty of allowances
• 41:24
  for each other. And everything has turned out for the best. But all
• 41:29
  the same, Marilla, I shall certainly never again sell a cow before making
• 41:32
  sure to whom she belongs. And I do not like parrots. End of
• 41:37
  chapter three, Chapter four, different opinions. One evening, at sunset,
• 41:45
  Jane Andrews, Gilbert Blythe and Anne Shirley were lingering by a fence in the
• 41:50
  shadow of gently swaying spruce boughs, where a wood cut known as the Birch
• 41:54
  Path joined the main road. Jane had been up to spend the afternoon with
• 41:59
  Anne, who walked part of the way home with her. At the fence,
• 42:02
  they met Gilbert, and all three were now talking about the fateful morrow,
• 42:07
  for that morrow was the first of September and the schools would open.
• 42:10
  Jane would go to Newbridge and Gilbert to White Sands. You both have the
• 42:15
  advantage of me, sighed Anne. You're going to teach children who don't know
• 42:21
  you. But I have to teach my own old schoolmates. And missus Lynde
• 42:24
  says she's afraid they won't respect me as they would a stranger unless I'm very
• 42:28
  cross from the first. But I don't believe a teacher should be cross.
• 42:31
  Oh, it seems to me such a responsibility. I guess we'll get on
• 42:36
  all right, said Jane comfortably. Jane was not troubled by any aspirations to
• 42:40
  be an influence for good. She meant to earn her salary fairly, please
• 42:45
  the trustees, and get her name on the school inspector's role of honor.
• 42:50
  Further ambitions, Jane had none. The main thing will be to keep order,
• 42:54
  and a teacher has to be a little cross to do that. If
• 42:58
  my pupils won't do as I can tell them, I shall punish them.
• 43:01
  How give them a good whipping? Of course, Oh Jane, you wouldn't,
• 43:07
  cried Anne, shocked. Jane. You couldn't. Indeed I could and
• 43:12
  would if they deserved it, said Jane. Decidedly. I could never whip
• 43:16
  a child, said Anne, with equal decision. I don't believe in it
• 43:21
  at all. Miss Stacy never whipped any of us, and she had perfect
• 43:24
  order, and mister Phillips was always whipping, and he had no order at
• 43:28
  all. No, if I can't get along without whipping, I shall not
• 43:31
  try to teach school. There are better ways of managing. I shall try
• 43:36
  to win my pupils affections, and then they will want to do what I
• 43:38
  tell them. But suppose they don't, said practical Jane, I wouldn't whip
• 43:44
  them anyhow. I'm sure it wouldn't do any good. Oh, don't whip
• 43:47
  your pupils, Jane, dear, no matter what they do. What do
• 43:51
  you think about it? Gilbert demanded Jane. Don't you think there are some
• 43:55
  children who really need a whipping? Now? And then? Don't you think
• 44:00
  it's a cruel, barbarous thing to whip a child? Any child? Exclaimed
• 44:04
  Anne, her face flushing with earnestness. Well, said Gilbert, slowly torn
• 44:09
  between his real convictions and his wish to measure up to Anne's ideal. There's
• 44:14
  something to be said on both sides. I don't believe in whipping children much.
• 44:19
  I think, as you say, Anne, that there are better ways
• 44:21
  of managing as a rule, and that corporal punishment should be a last resort.
• 44:25
  But on the other hand, as Jane says, I believe there is
• 44:28
  an occasional child who can't be influenced in any other way, and who in
• 44:31
  short needs a whipping and would be improved by it. Corporal punishment is a
• 44:37
  last resort, is to be my rule. Gilbert, having tried to please
• 44:40
  both sides, succeeded, as is usual and eminently right in pleasing neither.
• 44:45
  Jane tossed her head. I'll whip my pupils when they're naughty. It's the
• 44:51
  shortest and easiest way of convincing them. Anne gave Gilbert a disappointed glance.
• 44:57
  I shall never whip a child, she repeated firmly. I feel sure it
• 45:00
  isn't either right or necessary. Suppose a boyce ask you back when you told
• 45:06
  him to do something, said Jane. I'd keep him in after school and
• 45:10
  talk kindly and firmly to him, said Anne. There is some good in
• 45:15
  every person, if you can find it. It is a teacher's duty to
• 45:19
  find and develop it. That is what our school management professor at Queen's told
• 45:22
  us, you know, do you suppose you could find any good in a
• 45:25
  child by whipping him? It's far more important to influence the children, aright,
• 45:30
  than it is even to teach them the three rs, Professor Rennie says.
• 45:34
  But the inspector examines them in the three rs, mind you, and
• 45:37
  he won't give you a good report if they don't come up to his standard,
• 45:42
  protested Jane. I'd rather have my pupils love me and look back to
• 45:46
  me in after years as a real helper than be on the roll of honor,
• 45:50
  asserted Anne decidedly. Wouldn't you punish children at all when they misbehaved?
• 45:54
  Asked Gilbert. Oh, yes, I suppose I shall have to, although
• 45:59
  I know I'll hate to do it. But you can keep them in at
• 46:01
  recess, or stand them on the floor, or give them lines to write.
• 46:05
  I suppose you won't punish the girls by making them sit with the boys,
• 46:09
  said Jane slyly. Gilbert and Anne looked at each other and smiled rather
• 46:15
  foolishly. Once upon a time Anne had been made to sit with Gilbert for
• 46:19
  punishment, and sad and bitter had been the consequences thereof Well, time will
• 46:24
  tell which is the best way, said Jane philosophically. As they parted,
• 46:30
  Anne went back to Green Gables by way of birch Path, shadowy, rustling
• 46:35
  fern scented through Violet Vale and past Willolmere, where darkened light kissed each other
• 46:39
  under the firs, and down through Lover's Lane, spots she and Diana had
• 46:45
  so named long ago. She walked slowly, enjoying the sweetness of wood and
• 46:50
  field and the starry summer twilight, and thinking soberly about the new duties she
• 46:54
  was to take up on the morrow. When she reached the yard at Green
• 46:58
  Gables, Missus Lynne's loud, decided tones floated out through the open kitchen window.
• 47:04
  Missus Lynde has come up to give me good advice about tomorrow, thought
• 47:07
  Anne, with a grimace. But I don't believe I'll go in. Her
• 47:12
  advice is much like Pepper, I think excellent in small quantities, but rather
• 47:15
  scorching in her doses. I'll run over and have a chat with mister Harrison
• 47:20
  instead. This was not the first time Anne had run over and chatted with
• 47:23
  mister Harrison since the notable affair of the Jersey Cow. She had been there
• 47:28
  several evenings, and mister Harrison and she were very good friends, although there
• 47:32
  were times and seasons when Anne found the outspokenness on which he prided himself rather
• 47:37
  trying, Ginger still continued to regard her with suspicion and never failed to greet
• 47:43
  her sarcastically as red headed snippet. Mister Harrison had tried vainly to break him
• 47:47
  up the habit by jumping excitedly up whenever he saw Anne coming and exclaiming,
• 47:52
  bless my soul, here's that pretty girl again, or something equally flattering.
• 47:58
  But Ginger saw through the scheme and scorned it. Anne was never to know
• 48:01
  how many compliments mister Harrison paid her behind her back. He certainly never paid
• 48:07
  her any to her face. Well, I suppose you've been back in the
• 48:09
  woods laying in a supply of switches for tomorrow, was his greeting as Anne
• 48:14
  came up the veranda steps. No, indeed, said Anne indignantly. She
• 48:19
  was an excellent target for teasing because she always took things so seriously. I
• 48:23
  shall never have a switch in my school, mister Harrison. Of course,
• 48:28
  I shall have to have a pointer, but I shall use it for pointing
• 48:30
  only, so you mean to strap them instead. Well, I don't know,
• 48:35
  but you're right. I switched things more at the time, but the
• 48:37
  strap smarts longer. That's fact. I shall not use anything of the sort.
• 48:42
  I'm not going to whip my pupils. Bless my soul, exclaimed mister
• 48:46
  Harrison in genuine astonishment. How do you lay out to keep order? Then
• 48:51
  I shall govern by affection, mister Harrison. It won't do, said mister
• 48:55
  Harrison. Won't do it all, Anne, spare the rod and spoil the
• 49:00
  child. When I went to school, the master whit me regular every day
• 49:04
  because he said, if I wasn't in mischief just then, I was plotting
• 49:07
  it. Methods have changed since your school days, mister Harrison, but human
• 49:12
  nature hasn't. Mark my words, You'll never manage the young fry unless you
• 49:15
  keep a rod and pickle for them. The thing is impossible. Well,
• 49:20
  I'm going to try my way first, said Anne, who had a fairly
• 49:22
  strong will of her own and was apt to cling very tenaciously to her theories.
• 49:28
  You are pretty stubborn, I reckon, was mister Harrison's way of putting
• 49:30
  it. Well, well, we'll see someday when you get riled up,
• 49:36
  and people with hair like yours are desperate app to get riled You'll forget all
• 49:38
  your pretty little notions and give some of them a wailing. You're too young
• 49:43
  to be teaching anyhow, far too young and childish all together. Anne went
• 49:47
  to bed that night in a rather pessimistic mood. She slept poorly and was
• 49:52
  so pale and tragic at breakfast next morning that Marilla was alarmed and insisted on
• 49:58
  making her take a cup of scorching g tea. Anne sipped it patiently,
• 50:02
  although she could not imagine what good ginger tea would do. Had it been
• 50:07
  some magic brew potent to confer age and experience, Anne would have swallowed a
• 50:12
  quart of it without flinching. Marilla, What if I fail, You'll hardly
• 50:16
  fail completely in one day, and there's plenty more days coming, said Marilla.
• 50:22
  The trouble with you, Anne, is that she'll expect to teach those
• 50:25
  children everything and reform all their faults right off, and if you can't,
• 50:30
  you'll think you failed. End of Chapter four, Chapter five, A full
• 50:37
  fledged school, ma'am. When Anne reached the school that morning for the first
• 50:45
  time in her life, she had traversed the birch path, deaf and blind
• 50:47
  to its beauties, all was quiet and still. The preceding teacher had trained
• 50:52
  the children to be in their places at her arrival, and when Anne entered
• 50:57
  the schoolroom, she was confronted by primro of, shining morning faces and bright
• 51:01
  inquisitive eyes. She hung up her hat and faced her pupils, hoping that
• 51:07
  she did not look as frightened and foolish as she felt, and that they
• 51:09
  would not perceive how she was trembling. She had sat up until nearly twelve
• 51:15
  the preceding night composing a speech she meant to make to her pupils upon opening
• 51:19
  the school. She had revised and improved it painstakingly, and then she had
• 51:23
  learned it off by heart. It was a very good speech and had some
• 51:28
  very fine ideas in it, especially about mutual help and earnest striving after knowledge.
• 51:34
  The only trouble was that she could not now remember a word of it
• 51:37
  after what seemed to her a year about ten seconds in reality. She said,
• 51:42
  faintly, take your testaments, please, and sank breathlessly into her chair
• 51:46
  under cover of the rustle and clatter of desk lids that followed. While the
• 51:51
  children read their verses. Anne marshaled her shaky wits into order and looked over
• 51:54
  the array of little pilgrims to the grown up land. Most of them were,
• 51:59
  of course, or quite well known to her. Her own classmates had
• 52:01
  passed out in the preceding year, but the rest had all gone to school
• 52:05
  with her, excepting the primer class and ten newcomers to Avonlea. Anne secretly
• 52:09
  felt more interest in these ten than in those whose possibilities were already fairly well
• 52:15
  mapped out to her. To be sure, they might be just as commonplace
• 52:17
  as the rest, but on the other hand, there might be a genius
• 52:21
  among them. It was a thrilling idea. Sitting by himself at a corner
• 52:25
  desk was Anthony Pye. He had a dark, sullen little face and was
• 52:30
  staring at Anne with a hostile expression in his black eyes. Anne instantly made
• 52:35
  up her mind that she would win that boy's affection and discomfit the pies utterly.
• 52:39
  In the other corner, another strange boy was sitting with Artie Sloane,
• 52:44
  a jolly looking little chap with a snub nose, freckled face, and big,
• 52:47
  light blue eyes fringed with whitish lashes, probably the doneal boy, and
• 52:52
  if resemblance went for anything, his sister was sitting across the aisle with Mary
• 52:57
  bell. Anne wondered what sort of mother the childild had to send her to
• 53:00
  school. Dressed as she was, she wore a faded pink silk dress,
• 53:05
  trimmed with a great deal of cotton lace, soiled white kid slippers and silk
• 53:08
  stockings. Her sandy hair was tortured into innumerable kinky and unnatural curls, surmounted
• 53:15
  by a flamboyant bow of pink ribbon bigger than her head. Judging from her
• 53:20
  expression, she was very well satisfied with herself. A pale little thing with
• 53:23
  smooth ripples of fine, silky fawn colored hair flowing over her shoulders, must
• 53:29
  and thought, be Annetta Belle, whose parents had formerly lived in the Newbridge
• 53:32
  School district, but by reason of hauling their house fifty yards north of its
• 53:37
  old site, were now in Avonlea. Three pallid little girls crowded into one
• 53:42
  seat were certainly Cottons, and there was no doubt that the small beauty with
• 53:45
  the long brown curls and hazel eyes, who was casting coquettish looks at Jack
• 53:51
  Gillis. Over the edge of her testament was Prilly Rogerson, whose father had
• 53:54
  recently married a second wife and brought Prillie home from her grandmother's in Grafton.
• 54:00
  A tall, awkward girl in a back seat who seemed to have too many
• 54:02
  feet in hands. Anne could not place at all, but later on discovered
• 54:07
  that her name was Barbara Shaw and that she had come to live with an
• 54:09
  Avonlea aunt. She was also to find that if Barbara ever managed to walk
• 54:15
  down the aisle without falling over her own or somebody else's feet, the Avonlea
• 54:19
  scholars wrote the unusual fact up on the porch wall to commemorate it. But
• 54:23
  when Anne's eyes met those of the boy at the front desk facing her own,
• 54:27
  a queer little thrill went over her, as if she had found her
• 54:30
  genius. She knew this must be Paul Irving, and that Missus Rachel Lynde
• 54:35
  had been right for once when she prophesied that he would be unlike the Avonlea
• 54:38
  children. More than that, Anne realized that he was unlike other children anywhere,
• 54:44
  and that there was a soul subtly akin to her own. Gazing at
• 54:47
  her. Out of the very dark blue eyes that were watching her so intently.
• 54:52
  She knew Paul was ten, but he looked no more than eight.
• 54:55
  He had the most beautiful little face she had ever seen in a child,
• 54:59
  feet satures of exquisite delicacy and refinement framed in a halo of chestnut curls.
• 55:05
  His mouth was delicious, being full without pouting, the crimson lips just softly
• 55:09
  touching and curving into finely finished little corners that narrowly escaped being dimpled. He
• 55:15
  had a sober, grave, meditative expression, as if his spirit was much
• 55:19
  older than his body. But when Anne smiled softly at him, it vanished
• 55:22
  in a sudden, answering smile, which seemed an illumination of his whole being,
• 55:28
  as if some lamp had suddenly kindled into flame inside of him, irradiating
• 55:31
  him from top to toe. Best of all, it was involuntary, born
• 55:36
  of no external effort or motive, but simply the outflashing of a hidden personality.
• 55:40
  Rare and fine and sweet. With a quick interchange of smiles, Anne
• 55:45
  and Paul were fast friends forever before a word had passed between them. The
• 55:50
  day went by like a dream. Anne could never clearly recall it. Afterwards.
• 55:54
  It almost seemed as if it were not she who was teaching, but
• 55:58
  somebody else. She heard class and worked sums and set copies. Mechanically,
• 56:02
  the children behaved quite well. Only two cases of discipline occurred. Morley Andrews
• 56:07
  was caught driving a pair of trained crickets in the aisle. Anne stood Morley
• 56:12
  on the platform for an hour, and which Morley felt much more keenly confiscated
• 56:16
  his crickets. She put them in a box, and on the way from
• 56:20
  school, set them free in violent veil. But Morley believed then and ever
• 56:23
  afterwards that she took them home and kept them for her own amusement. The
• 56:29
  other culprit was Anthony Pye, who poured the last drops of water from his
• 56:32
  slate bottle down the back of Arelia Clay's neck. Anne kept Anthony in at
• 56:37
  recess and talked to him about what was expected of gentlemen, admonishing him that
• 56:40
  they never poured water down ladies necks. She wanted all her boys to be
• 56:45
  gentlemen. She said. Her little lecture was quite kind and touching, but
• 56:50
  unfortunately Anthony remained absolutely untouched. He listened to her in silence with the same
• 56:55
  sullen expression, and whistled scornfully as he went out. Anne sighed and then
• 57:00
  cheered herself up by remembering that winning a pie's affections, like the building of
• 57:06
  Rome, wasn't the work of a day. In fact, it was doubtful
• 57:08
  whether some of the pies had any affections to win. But Anne hoped better
• 57:13
  things of Anthony, who looked as if he might be a rather nice boy
• 57:16
  if one ever got behind his sullenness. When school was dismissed and the children
• 57:21
  had gone, Anne dropped wearily into her chair, Her head ached, and
• 57:24
  she felt woefully discouraged. There was no real reason for discouragement, since nothing
• 57:30
  very dreadful had occurred, but Anne was very tired and inclined to believe that
• 57:35
  she would never learn to like teaching, and how terrible it would be to
• 57:37
  be doing something you didn't like every day for well say forty years. Anne
• 57:44
  was of two minds whether to have her cry out then and there, or
• 57:46
  wait till she was safely in her own white room at home. Before she
• 57:51
  could decide, there was a click of heels and a silken swish on the
• 57:53
  porch floor, and Anne found herself confronted by a lady whose appearance made her
• 57:59
  recall a recent criticism of mister Harrison's on an over dressed female he had seen
• 58:02
  in a Charlottetown store. She looked like a head on collision between a fashion
• 58:07
  plate and a nightmare. The newcomer was gorgeously arrayed in a pale blue summer
• 58:13
  silk, puffed, frilled, and shred wherever puff, frilled or shurring could
• 58:16
  possibly be placed. Her head was surmounted by a huge white chiffon hat bedecked
• 58:22
  with three long but rather stringy ostrich feathers. A veil of pink chiffon,
• 58:28
  lavishly sprinkled with huge black dots, hung like a flounce from the hat brim
• 58:31
  to her shoulders, and floated off in two airy streamers behind her. She
• 58:37
  wore all the jewelry that could be crowded on one small woman, and a
• 58:39
  very strong odor of perfume attended her. I am Missus Donnell, Missus H.
• 58:46
  B. Donnell, announced this vision, and I have come in to
• 58:52
  see you about something Clarisa Meira told me when she came home to dinner today
• 59:00
  alloyed me excessively. I'm sorry, faltered Anne, vainly trying to recollect any
• 59:06
  incident of the morning connected with the Donneal children. Clarsa Myira told me that
• 59:12
  you pronounced our name Donell. Now, Miss Shirley, the correct pronunciation of
• 59:17
  our name is Donnell, accent on the last syllable. I hope you'll remember
• 59:23
  this in the future, I'll try, to gasped Anne, choking back a
• 59:29
  wild desire to laugh. I know by experience that it's very unpleasant to have
• 59:34
  one's name spelled wrong, and I suppose it must be even worse to have
• 59:37
  it pronounced wrong. Certainly it is. And Clarice Elmira also informed me that
• 59:44
  you call my son Jacob. He told me his name was Jacob, protested
• 59:49
  Anne. I might well have expected that, said missus H. B.
• 59:54
  Donnell, in a tone which implied that gratitude in children was not to be
• 59:59
  looked for in degenerate age. That boy has such plebeian tastes, Miss Shirley.
• 1:00:06
  When he was born, I wanted to call him Saint Clair. It
• 1:00:09
  sounds so aristocratic, doesn't it. But his father insisted he should be called
• 1:00:15
  Jacob after his uncle. I yielded, because Uncle Jacob was a rich old
• 1:00:22
  bachelor. And what do you think, Miss Shirley, when our innocent boy
• 1:00:27
  was five years old, Uncle Jacob actually went and got married, and now
• 1:00:32
  he has three boys of his own. Did you ever hear of such ingratitude?
• 1:00:39
  The moment the invitation to the wedding, for he had the impertinence to
• 1:00:45
  send us an invitation, Miss Shirley came to the house, I said,
• 1:00:50
  no more Jacobs for me. Thank you. From that day I called my
• 1:00:57
  son Saint Clair, and Saint Clair I am detailed. He shall be called.
• 1:01:01
  His father obstinately continues to call him Jacob, and the boy himself has
• 1:01:07
  a perfectly unaccountable preference for the vulgar name. But Saint Clair he is,
• 1:01:14
  and Saint Clair he shall remain. You will kindly remember this, Miss Shirley,
• 1:01:20
  Will you not thank you? I told Clarisse Amira that I was sure
• 1:01:25
  it was only a misunderstanding and that a wood would set it right. Darnell
• 1:01:34
  accent on the last syllable, and Saint Clair on Newcount Jacob, you remember,
• 1:01:42
  thank you. When missus H. B. Darnell had skimmed away,
• 1:01:46
  Anne locked the school door and went home. At the foot of the hill,
• 1:01:51
  she found Paul. Irving by the birch path, he held out to
• 1:01:53
  her a cluster of the dainty little wild orchids which Avonlea children called rice lilies.
• 1:02:00
  Please, teacher, I found these in mister Wright's field, he said,
• 1:02:04
  shyly, and I came back to give them to you because I thought
• 1:02:07
  you were the kind of lady that would like them, and because he lifted
• 1:02:12
  his big, beautiful eyes. I like you, teacher, you darling,
• 1:02:16
  said Anne, taking the fragrant spikes, as if Paul's words had been a
• 1:02:21
  spell of magic. Discouragement and weariness passed from her spirit, and hope upwelled
• 1:02:27
  in her heart like a dancing fountain. She went through the birch path light
• 1:02:30
  footedly, attended by the sweetness of her orchids, as by a benediction.
• 1:02:36
  Well, how did you get along, Marilla wanted to know. Ask me
• 1:02:40
  that a month later, and I may be able to tell you. I
• 1:02:44
  can't now. I don't know myself. I'm too near it. My thoughts
• 1:02:47
  feel as if they had been all stirred up until they were thick and muddy.
• 1:02:51
  The only thing I feel really sure of having accomplished today is that I
• 1:02:54
  taught Cliffy Wright that a is a he never knew it before. Isn't it
• 1:03:00
  something to have started a soul along a path that may end? In Shakespeare
• 1:03:02
  in Paradise Lost. Missus Lynde came up later on with more encouragement. That
• 1:03:08
  good lady had waylaid the school children at her gate and demanded of them how
• 1:03:12
  they liked their new teacher. And every one of them said they liked you
• 1:03:15
  splendid Anne, except Anthony Pye. I must admit he didn't. He said
• 1:03:21
  you weren't any good, just like all girl teachers. There's the pie Levin
• 1:03:25
  for you. But never mind. I'm not going to mind, said Anne
• 1:03:30
  quietly, And I'm going to make Anthony Pye like me yet patience and kindness
• 1:03:34
  will surely win him. Well, you never can tell about a pie,
• 1:03:37
  said Missus Rachel cautiously. They go by contraries like dreams, often as not.
• 1:03:44
  As for that Dannell woman, she'll get no dannelling for me. I
• 1:03:49
  can assure you the name is Donnell and always has been. The woman is
• 1:03:52
  crazy, that's what she has. A pug dog she calls Queinny, and
• 1:03:57
  it has its meals at the table along with the face eating off a china
• 1:04:00
  plate. I'd be afraid of a judgment if I was her, Thomas says.
• 1:04:05
  Donell himself is a sensible, hard working man, but he hadn't much
• 1:04:10
  gumption when he picked out a wife. That's what. End of chapter five,
• 1:04:15
  Chapter six, All sorts of conditions of men and women. A September
• 1:04:21
  day on Prince Edward Island Hills. A crisp wind blowing up over the sand
• 1:04:27
  dunes from the sea. A long red road winding through fields and woods,
• 1:04:30
  now looping itself about a corner of thickset spruces, now threading a plantation of
• 1:04:35
  young maples, with great feathery sheets of ferns beneath them, now dipping down
• 1:04:41
  into a hollow where a brook flashed out of the woods and into them again,
• 1:04:45
  now basking in open sunshine, between ribbons of golden rod and smoke,
• 1:04:48
  blue asters air, a thrill with the pipings of myriads of crickets, those
• 1:04:53
  glad little pensioners of the summer hills. A plump brown pony ambling along the
• 1:04:58
  road, two girls behind him, full to the lips with the simple,
• 1:05:01
  priceless joy of youth and life. Oh this is a day left over from
• 1:05:06
  Eden, isn't it? Diana? And Anne sighed for sheer happiness. The
• 1:05:12
  air has magic in it. Look at the purple in the cup of the
• 1:05:15
  harvest valley, Diana, and oh, do smell the dying fur. It's
• 1:05:18
  coming up from that little sunny hollow where mister even Wright has been cutting fence
• 1:05:21
  poles. Bliss is it on such a day to be alive? But to
• 1:05:26
  smell dying fur is very heaven. That's two thirds Wordsworth and one third Anne
• 1:05:30
  Shirley. It doesn't seem possible that there should be dying fur in Heaven,
• 1:05:34
  does it? And yet it doesn't seem to me that Heaven would be quite
• 1:05:38
  perfect if you couldn't get a whiff of dead fur as you went through its
• 1:05:41
  woods. Perhaps we'll have the odor there without the death. Yes, I
• 1:05:45
  think that will be the way. That delicious aroma must be the souls of
• 1:05:48
  the furs, And of course it will be just souls in heaven. Creese,
• 1:05:53
  Heaven's souls, said practical Diana. But the smell of bid fur is
• 1:05:59
  certainly lovely. I'm going to make a cushion and fill it with fur needles.
• 1:06:03
  You'd better make one, too, Anne, I think I shall and
• 1:06:06
  use it for my naps. I'd be certain to dream I was a dry
• 1:06:10
  add or a wood nymph then. But just this minute, I'm well content
• 1:06:14
  to be Anne Shirley, Avonlea School. Ma'am driving over a road like this
• 1:06:17
  on such a sweet, friendly day. It's a lovely day, but we
• 1:06:21
  have anything but a lovely task before us, sighed Diana, why on earth
• 1:06:28
  did you offer to canvass this road? Anne? Almost all the cranks in
• 1:06:32
  Avonlea live along it, and we'll probably be treated as if we were begging
• 1:06:36
  for ourselves. It's the very worst road of all. That is why I
• 1:06:42
  chose it. Of course, Gilbert and Fred would have taken this road if
• 1:06:45
  we had asked them. But you see, Diana, I feel myself responsible
• 1:06:48
  for the a V I s since I was the first to suggest it,
• 1:06:53
  and it seems to me that I ought to do the most disagreeable things.
• 1:06:56
  I'm sorry on your account, but you needn't say a word at the cranky
• 1:06:59
  places. I'll do all the talking, Missus Lynde would say, I was
• 1:07:02
  well able to missus. Lynde doesn't know whether to approve of our enterprise or
• 1:07:06
  not. She inclines to when she remembers that mister and Missus Allan are in
• 1:07:11
  favor of it, but the fact that village improvement societies first originated in the
• 1:07:15
  States as account against it. So she is halting between two opinions, and
• 1:07:19
  only success will justify us. In Missus Lynde's eyes, Priscilla is going to
• 1:07:24
  write a paper for our next improvement meeting, and I expect it will be
• 1:07:28
  good for her aunt is such a clever writer, and no doubt it runs
• 1:07:30
  in the family. I shall never forget the thrill it gave me when I
• 1:07:33
  found out that Missus Charlotte E. Morgan was Priscilla's aunt. It seemed so
• 1:07:39
  wonderful that I was a friend of the girl whose aunt wrote Edgewood Days in
• 1:07:43
  the rosebud Garden. Where does missus Morgan live in Toronto? And Priscilla says
• 1:07:47
  she is coming to the island for a visit next summer, and if it
• 1:07:50
  is possible, Priscilla is going to arrange to have us meet her. That
• 1:07:55
  seems almost too good to be true, but it's something pleasant to imagine after
• 1:07:59
  you go to bed. The Avonlea Village Improvement Society was an organized fact.
• 1:08:03
  Gilbert Blythe was president, Fred Wright vice president, Anne Shirley's secretary, and
• 1:08:10
  Diana Barry treasurer. The Improvers, as they were promptly christened, were to
• 1:08:15
  meet once a fortnight at the homes of the members. It was admitted that
• 1:08:17
  they could not expect to affect many improvements so late in the season, but
• 1:08:21
  they meant to plan the next summer's campaign, collect and discuss ideas, write
• 1:08:27
  and read papers, and, as Anne said, educate the public sentiment.
• 1:08:31
  Generally, there was some disapproval, of course, and which the Improvers felt
• 1:08:36
  much more keenly a good deal of ridicule. Mister Elisha Wright was reported to
• 1:08:42
  have said that a more appropriate name for the organization would be Courting Club.
• 1:08:45
  Missus Hiram Sloane declared she had heard the Improvers meant to plow up all the
• 1:08:50
  road sides and set them out with geraniums. Mister Levi Bolter warned his neighbors
• 1:08:56
  that the Improverers would insist that everybody pulled down his house and reads build it
• 1:09:00
  after plans approved by the society. Mister James Spencer sent them word that he
• 1:09:04
  wished they would kindly shovel down the Church Hill. Even Wright told Anne that
• 1:09:10
  he wished the improvers could induce Old Josiah Sloane to keep his whiskers trimmed.
• 1:09:15
  Mister Lawrence Bell said he would whitewash his barns if nothing else would please them,
• 1:09:18
  but he would not hang lace curtains in the cow stable windows. Mister
• 1:09:23
  Major Spencer asked Clifton Sloane, an improver who drove the milk to the Carmody
• 1:09:28
  Cheese factory, if it was true that everybody would have to have his milk
• 1:09:30
  stand hand painted next summer and keep an embroidered centerpiece on it, in spite
• 1:09:35
  of or perhaps human nature being what it is. Because of this, the
• 1:09:41
  society went gamely to work at the only improvement they could hope to bring about
• 1:09:45
  that fall. At the second meeting in the Barry parlor, Oliver Sloane moved
• 1:09:49
  that they start a subscription to re shingle and paint the hall. Julia Bell
• 1:09:54
  seconded it, with an uneasy feeling that she was doing something not exactly ladylike.
• 1:09:59
  Gilbert put the motion. It was carried unanimously, and Anne gravely recorded
• 1:10:03
  it in her minutes. The next thing was to appoint a committee and Gertie
• 1:10:08
  Pye, determined not to let Julia Bell carry off all the Laurels, boldly
• 1:10:13
  moved that Miss Jane Andrews be chairman of said committee, this motion being also
• 1:10:17
  duly seconded and carried. Jane returned the compliment by appointing Gerty on the committee
• 1:10:23
  along with Gilbert, Anne, Diana, and Fred Wright. The committee chose
• 1:10:28
  their routes in private conclave. Anne and Diana were told off for the New
• 1:10:31
  Bridge Road, Gilbert and Fred for the White Sands Road, and Jane and
• 1:10:35
  Gerty for the Carmody Road. Because, explained Gilbert to Anne as they walked
• 1:10:41
  home together through the Haunted Wood, the pies all live along that road,
• 1:10:45
  and they won't give a cent unless one of themselves Tanvas is them. The
• 1:10:48
  next Saturday, Anne and Diana started out. They drove to the end of
• 1:10:53
  the road and canvassed homeward, calling first on the Andrews girls. If Catherine
• 1:10:58
  is alone, we may get something, said Diana, but if Eliza is
• 1:11:02
  there, we won't. Eliza was there very much so, and looked even
• 1:11:08
  grimmer than usual. Miss Eliza was one of those people who give you the
• 1:11:12
  impression that life is indeed a veil of tears, and that a smile,
• 1:11:15
  never to speak of a laugh, is a waste of nervous energy, truly
• 1:11:19
  reprehensible. The Andrews girls had been girls for fifty odd years and seemed likely
• 1:11:25
  to remain girls to the end of their earthly pilgrimage. Catherine, it was
• 1:11:29
  said, had not entirely given up hope, but Eliza, who was born
• 1:11:32
  a pessimist, had never had any. They lived in a little brown house
• 1:11:36
  built in a sunny corner, scooped out of Mark Andrews's beech woods. Eliza
• 1:11:42
  complained that it was terrible hot in summer, but Catherine was wont to say
• 1:11:45
  it was lovely and warm in winter. Eliza was sewing patchwork, not because
• 1:11:50
  it was needed, but simply as a protest against the frivolous lace Catherine was
• 1:11:55
  crocheting. Eliza listened with a frown and Catherine with a smile as the girls
• 1:12:00
  explained their errand to be sure, whenever Catherine caught Eliza's eye, she discarded
• 1:12:04
  the smile in guilty confusion, but it crept back the next moment. If
• 1:12:10
  I had money to waste, said Eliza grimly, I'd burn it up and
• 1:12:15
  have the fun of seeing a blaze, maybe, but I wouldn't give it
• 1:12:18
  to that hall. Not a cent. It's no benefit to the settiment,
• 1:12:25
  just a place for young folks to meet and carry on when they's better be
• 1:12:30
  home in their beds. Oh, Eliza, young folks must have some amusement,
• 1:12:35
  protested Catherine. I don't see the necessity. We didn't get about to
• 1:12:41
  halls and places when we were young. Catherine Andrews, this world is getting
• 1:12:45
  worse every day. I think it's getting better, said Catherine firmly. You
• 1:12:53
  think Miss Eliza's voice expressed the utmost contempt. It doesn't signify what you think,
• 1:13:00
  Catherine Andrews. Facts is facts. Well, I always like to look
• 1:13:05
  on the bright side, Eliza. There isn't any bright side. Oh indeed
• 1:13:12
  there is, cried Anne, who couldn't endure such heresy in silence? Why
• 1:13:16
  there are ever so many bright sides? Miss Andrews, it's really a beautiful
• 1:13:20
  world. You won't have such a high opinion of it when you've lived as
• 1:13:26
  long in it as I have retorted Miss Eliza sourly, and you won't be
• 1:13:30
  so enthusiastic about improving it either. How is your mother, Diana, Dear
• 1:13:38
  me, but she has failed of late. She looks terrible run down and
• 1:13:43
  how long is it before Marilla expects to be stone blind? Anne? The
• 1:13:49
  doctor thinks her eyes will not get any worse if she is very careful,
• 1:13:53
  Faltered Anne, Eliza shook her head. Doctors always talk like that, just
• 1:13:59
  to keep people cheer up. I wouldn't have much hope if I was her.
• 1:14:03
  It's best to be prepared for the worst. But oughtn't we be prepared
• 1:14:08
  for the best, too, pleaded Anne. It's just as likely to happen
• 1:14:13
  as the worst, not in my experience, and I've fifty seven years to
• 1:14:17
  set against your sixteen, retorted Eliza, going are you well? I hope
• 1:14:24
  this new society of yours will be able to keep Avonlea from running any further
• 1:14:28
  downhill, but I haven't much hope of it. Anne and Diana got themselves
• 1:14:33
  thankfully out and drove away as fast as the fat pony could go. As
• 1:14:39
  they rounded the curve below the beech wood, a plump figure came speeding over
• 1:14:43
  mister Andrews's pasture, waving to them excitedly. It was Catherine Andrews, and
• 1:14:47
  she was so out of breath that she could hardly speak, but she thrust
• 1:14:50
  a couple of quarters into Anne's hand. That's my contribution to painting the hall,
• 1:14:57
  she gasped. I'd like to give you a dollar, but I don't
• 1:15:00
  dare take more from my egg money, for Eliza would find out if I
• 1:15:04
  did. I'm real interested in your society, and I believe you're going to
• 1:15:11
  do a lot of good. I'm an optimist. I have to be living
• 1:15:15
  with Eliza. I must hurry back before she misses me. She thinks I'm
• 1:15:23
  feeding the hands. I hope you'll have good luck canvassing, and don't be
• 1:15:28
  cast down over what Eliza said. The world is getting better. It certainly
• 1:15:33
  is. The next house was Daniel Blair's. Now it all depends on whether
• 1:15:40
  his wife is home or not, said Diana as they jolted along a deep
• 1:15:45
  rutted lane. If she is, we won't get a sent everybody, says.
• 1:15:48
  Dan Blair doesn't dare have his hair cut without asking her permission. And
• 1:15:54
  it's certain she's very close to state it moderately. She says she has to
• 1:16:00
  be just before she's generous, but missus Lynde says she's so much before that
• 1:16:06
  generosity never catches up with her at all. Anne related their experience at the
• 1:16:11
  Blair place to Marilla. That evening, we tied the horse and then rapped
• 1:16:15
  at the kitchen door. Nobody came, but the door was open, and
• 1:16:18
  we could hear somebody in the pantry going on dreadfully. We couldn't make out
• 1:16:23
  the words, but Diana says she knows they were swearing by the sound of
• 1:16:26
  them. I can't believe that of mister Blair, for he is always so
• 1:16:30
  quiet and meek. But at least he had great provocation for Marilla. When
• 1:16:34
  that poor man came to the door, red as a beat, with perspiration
• 1:16:38
  streaming down his face. He had on one of his wife's big gingham aprons.
• 1:16:43
  I can't get this sterned thing off, he said, for the strings
• 1:16:45
  are tied in a hard knot and I can't bust em, so you'll have
• 1:16:48
  to excuse me, ladies. We begged him not to mention it and went
• 1:16:53
  in and sat down. Mister Blair sat down too. He twisted the apron
• 1:16:58
  around to his back and rolled it up, but he did look so ashamed
• 1:17:00
  and worried that I felt sorry for him, And Diana said she feared we
• 1:17:04
  had called at an inconvenient time. Oh not at all, said mister Blair,
• 1:17:09
  trying to smile. You know, he is always very polite. I'm
• 1:17:12
  a little busy getting ready to bake a cake, as it were. My
• 1:17:15
  wife got a telegram to day that her sister from Montreal is coming tonight,
• 1:17:18
  and she's gone to the train to meet her, and left orders for me
• 1:17:21
  to make a cake for tea. She ran out the recipe and told me
• 1:17:25
  what to do. But I've clean forgot half the directions already. And it
• 1:17:29
  says flavor according to taste. What does that mean? How can you tell?
• 1:17:32
  And what if my taste doesn't happen to be other people's taste? Would
• 1:17:36
  a tablespoon of vanilla be enough for a small layer cake? I felt sorrier
• 1:17:41
  than ever for the poor man. He didn't seem to be in his proper
• 1:17:44
  sphere at all. I had heard of hen packed husbands, and now I
• 1:17:47
  felt that I saw one. It was on my lips to say, mister
• 1:17:51
  Blair, if you'll give us a subscription for the hall, i'll mix up
• 1:17:55
  your cake for you. But I suddenly thought it wouldn't be neighborly to drive
• 1:17:58
  too sharp a bargain with the fellow creature in distress. So I offered to
• 1:18:02
  mix the cake for him, without any conditions at all. He just jumped
• 1:18:05
  at my offer. He said he'd been used to making his own bread before
• 1:18:10
  he was married, but he feared cake was beyond him, and yet he
• 1:18:13
  hated to disappoint his wife. He got me another apron, and Diana beat
• 1:18:16
  the eggs, and I mixed the cake. Mister Blair rang about and got
• 1:18:19
  us the materials. He had forgotten all about his apron, and when he
• 1:18:24
  ran it streamed out behind him, and Diana said she thought she would die
• 1:18:28
  to see it. He said he could bake the cake all right, he
• 1:18:30
  was used to that. And then he asked for our list, and he
• 1:18:33
  put down four dollars. So you see we were rewarded. But even if
• 1:18:38
  he hadn't given a cent, I'd always feel that we had done a truly
• 1:18:41
  Christian act in helping him. Theodore White's was the next stopping place. Neither
• 1:18:46
  Anne nor Diana had ever been there before, and they had only a very
• 1:18:49
  slight acquaintance with missus Theodore, who was not given to hospitality. Should they
• 1:18:55
  go to the back or front door while they held a whispered consultation. Miss
• 1:19:00
  Missus Theodore appeared at the front door with an armful of newspapers. Deliberately,
• 1:19:03
  she laid them down one by one on the porch floor and the porch steps,
• 1:19:08
  and then down the path to the very feet of her mystified callers.
• 1:19:11
  Will you please wipe your feet carefully on the grass and then walk on these
• 1:19:15
  papers, She said anxiously. I've just swept the house all over and I
• 1:19:20
  can't have any more dust tracked in the Path's been real muddy since the rain
• 1:19:25
  yesterday. Don't you dare, laugh, warned Anne in a whisper, as
• 1:19:30
  they marched along the newspapers. And I implore you, Diana, not to
• 1:19:33
  look at me no matter what she says, or I shall not be able
• 1:19:36
  to keep a sober face. The papers extended across the hall and into a
• 1:19:42
  prim fleckless parlor. Anne and Diana sat down gingerly on the nearest chairs and
• 1:19:46
  explained their errand Missus White heard them politely, interrupting only twice, once to
• 1:19:53
  chase out an adventurous fly, and once to pick up a tiny wisp of
• 1:19:56
  grass that had fallen on the carpet from Anne's dress. Anne felt wretchedly guilty,
• 1:20:01
  but Missus White subscribed two dollars and paid the money down to prevent us
• 1:20:05
  from having to go back for it. Diana said, when they got away,
• 1:20:10
  Missus White had the newspapers gathered up before they had their horse untied,
• 1:20:14
  and as they drove out of the yard they saw her busily wielding a broom
• 1:20:17
  in the hall. I've always heard that Missus Theodore White was the neatest woman
• 1:20:21
  alive, and I'll believe it after this, said Diana, giving way to
• 1:20:27
  her suppressed laughter as soon as it was safe. I am glad she has
• 1:20:30
  no children, said Anne, solemnly. It would be dreadful beyond words for
• 1:20:34
  them if she had. At the Spencer's, Missus Isabella Spencer made them miserable
• 1:20:40
  by saying something ill natured about everyone in Avonlea. Mister Thomas Bolter refused to
• 1:20:45
  give anything because the hall, when it had been built twenty years before,
• 1:20:48
  hadn't been built on the side. He recommended. Missus ester Bell, who
• 1:20:54
  was the picture of health, took half an hour to detail all her aches
• 1:20:57
  and pains, and sadly put down fifty cents because she wouldn't be there that
• 1:21:00
  time next year to do it. No, she would be in her grave.
• 1:21:04
  The worst reception, however, was at Simon Fletcher's. When they drove
• 1:21:09
  into the yard they saw two faces peering at them through the porch window.
• 1:21:13
  But although they rapped and waited patiently and persistently, nobody came to the door.
• 1:21:17
  Two decidedly ruffled and indignant girls drove away from Simon Fletcher's. Even Anne
• 1:21:23
  admitted that she was beginning to feel discouraged. But the tide turned after that.
• 1:21:28
  Several Sloane homesteads came next, where they got liberal subscriptions, and from
• 1:21:31
  that to the end they fared well, with only an occasional snub. Their
• 1:21:35
  last place of call was at Robert Dixon's by the Pond Bridge. They stayed
• 1:21:40
  to tea here although they were nearly home, rather than risk offending Missus Dixon,
• 1:21:44
  who had the reputation of being a very touchy woman. While they were
• 1:21:48
  there, old Missus James White called in, I've just been down to Lorenzo's.
• 1:21:54
  She announced, hey's the proudest man in Avonle this minute. What do
• 1:21:59
  you think There's a brand new boy there? And after seven girls, that's
• 1:22:03
  quite an event, I can tell you. Anne pricked up her ears,
• 1:22:08
  and when they drove away, she said, I'm going straight to Lorenzo White's.
• 1:22:13
  But he lives on the White Sands Road, and it's quite a distance
• 1:22:15
  out of our way, protested Diana. Gilbert and Fred will canvass him.
• 1:22:21
  They are not going around until next Saturday, and it will be too late
• 1:22:25
  by then, said Anne firmly. The novelty will be worn off. Lorenzo
• 1:22:29
  White is dreadfully mean, but he will subscribe to anything. Just now.
• 1:22:32
  We mustn't let such a golden opportunity slip, Diana. The result justified Anne's
• 1:22:39
  foresight. Mister White met them in the yard, beaming like the sun upon
• 1:22:43
  an Easter day. When Anne asked for a subscription, he agreed enthusiastically.
• 1:22:47
  Certain certain, just put me down for a dollar more than the highest subscription
• 1:22:51
  you've got. That will be five dollars. Mister Daniel Blair put down four,
• 1:22:57
  said Anne, half afraid, but Lorenzo did not. Five. It
• 1:23:00
  is, and here's the money on the spot. Now, I want you
• 1:23:03
  to come into the house. There's something in there worth seeing, something very
• 1:23:09
  few people have seen as yet. Just come in and pass your opinion.
• 1:23:13
  What will we say if the baby isn't pretty, whispered Diana intrepidation as they
• 1:23:18
  followed the excited Lorenzo into the house. Oh there will certainly be something nice
• 1:23:24
  to say about it, said Anne easily. There always is about a baby.
• 1:23:28
  The baby was pretty, however, and mister White felt that he got
• 1:23:31
  his five dollars worth of the girl's honest delight over the plump little newcomer.
• 1:23:35
  But that was the first, last and only time that Lorenzo White ever subscribed
• 1:23:41
  to anything. Anne, tired as she was, made one more effort for
• 1:23:45
  the public wheel that night, slipping over the fields to interview mister Harrison,
• 1:23:49
  who was, as usual smoking his pipe on the veranda with Ginger beside him.
• 1:23:55
  Strictly speaking, he was on the Carmody Road, but Jane and Gerty,
• 1:23:59
  who were not acquainted with him save by doubtful report, had nervously begged
• 1:24:02
  Anne to canvass him. Mister Harrison, however, flatly refused to subscribe assent,
• 1:24:08
  and all Anne's wiles were in vain. But I thought you approved of
• 1:24:12
  our society, mister Harrison, she mourned. So I do, so I
• 1:24:15
  do, But my approval doesn't go as deep as my pocket, Anne,
• 1:24:19
  A few more experiences such as I have had today would make me as much
• 1:24:24
  of a pessimist as Miss Eliza Andrews. Anne told her reflection in the east
• 1:24:28
  gable mirror at bedtime, end of chapter six, Chapter seven, The Pointing
• 1:24:35
  of Duty. Anne leaned back in her chair one mild October evening and sighed.
• 1:24:42
  She was sitting at a table covered with textbooks and exercises, but the
• 1:24:45
  closely written sheets of paper before her had no apparent connection with studies or schoolwork.
• 1:24:50
  What is the matter, asked Gilbert, who had arrived at the open
• 1:24:55
  kitchen door just in time to hear the sigh. Anne colored and thrust her
• 1:24:59
  writing out of sight under some school compositions. Nothing very dreadful. I was
• 1:25:03
  just trying to write out some of my thoughts, as Professor Hamilton advised me,
• 1:25:08
  But I couldn't get them to please me. They seem so still and
• 1:25:12
  foolish. Directly, they're written down on white paper with black ink. Fancies
• 1:25:15
  are like shadows. You can't cage them. They're such wayward dancing things.
• 1:25:19
  But perhaps I'll learn the secret some day if I keep on trying. I
• 1:25:24
  haven't a great many spare moments. You know, by the time I finished
• 1:25:27
  correcting school exercises and compositions, I don't always feel like writing any of my
• 1:25:30
  own. You're getting on splendidly in school, and all the children like you,
• 1:25:35
  said Gilbert, sitting down on the stone step. No, not all.
• 1:25:41
  Anthony Pye doesn't and won't like me. What is worse, he doesn't
• 1:25:45
  respect me, No, he doesn't. He simply holds me in contempt.
• 1:25:48
  And I don't mind confessing to you that it worries me miserably. It isn't
• 1:25:53
  that he is so very bad. He is only rather mischievous, but no
• 1:25:56
  worse than some of the others. He seldom disobeys me, but he obeys
• 1:26:00
  with a scornful air of toleration, as if it wasn't worth while disputing the
• 1:26:03
  point, or he would, and it has a bad effect on the others.
• 1:26:08
  I've tried every way to win him, but I'm beginning to feel I
• 1:26:11
  never shall. I want to, for he's rather a cute little lad if
• 1:26:15
  he is a pie, and I could like him if he'd let me.
• 1:26:17
  Ah, Probably it's merely the effect of what he hears at home, not
• 1:26:20
  altogether. Anthony is an independent little chap and makes up his own mind about
• 1:26:26
  things. He has always gone to men before, and he says girl teachers
• 1:26:30
  are no good. Well, we'll see what patience and kindness will do.
• 1:26:33
  I like overcoming difficulties, and teaching is really very interesting work. Paul Irving
• 1:26:39
  makes up for all that is lacking in the others. That child is a
• 1:26:42
  perfect darling, Gilbert, and a genius into the bargain. I'm persuaded the
• 1:26:45
  world will hear of him some day, concluded Anne, in a tone of
• 1:26:49
  conviction. I like teaching, too, said Gilbert. It's good training for
• 1:26:55
  one thing. Why Anne, I've learned more in the weeks I've been teaching
• 1:26:58
  the young ideas of White Sands that I learned in all the years I went
• 1:27:01
  to school myself. We all seem to be getting on pretty well. The
• 1:27:05
  Newbridge people like Jane I hear, and I think White Sands is tolerably satisfied
• 1:27:12
  with your humble servant, all except mister Andrew Spencer. I met missus Peter
• 1:27:16
  Blewood on my way home last night, and she told me she thought it
• 1:27:19
  her duty to inform me that mister Spencer didn't improve of my methods. Have
• 1:27:24
  you ever noticed, asked Anne reflectively, that when people say it is their
• 1:27:29
  duty to tell you a certain thing, you may prepare for something disagreeable.
• 1:27:32
  Why is it that they never seem to think it a duty to tell you
• 1:27:34
  the pleasant things they hear about you? Missus H. B. Donnell called
• 1:27:40
  at the school again yesterday and told me she thought it her duty to inform
• 1:27:44
  me that Missus Harmon Andrew didn't approve of my reading fairy tales to the children,
• 1:27:47
  and that mister Rogerson thought Prilly wasn't coming on fast enough and arithmetic.
• 1:27:53
  If Prilly would spend less time making eyes at the boys over her slate,
• 1:27:56
  she might do better. I feel quite sure that Jack Gillis works her class
• 1:28:00
  sums for her, though I've never been able to catch him red handed.
• 1:28:02
  Have you succeeded in reconciling Missus Donnell's hopeful son to his saintly name? Yes,
• 1:28:09
  laughed Anne, But it was really a difficult task. At first.
• 1:28:13
  When I called him Saint Clair, he would not take the least notice until
• 1:28:15
  I had spoken two or three times, And then when the other boys nudged
• 1:28:18
  him, he would look up with such an aggrieved air as if I'd called
• 1:28:23
  him John or Charlie, and he couldn't be expected to know I meant him.
• 1:28:26
  So I kept him in after school one night and talked kindly to him.
• 1:28:30
  I told him his mother wished me to call him Saint Clair, and
• 1:28:32
  I couldn't go against her wishes. He saw it when it was all explained
• 1:28:35
  out. He's really a very reasonable little fellow, and he said I could
• 1:28:40
  call him Saint Clair, but that he'd lick the stuffing out of any of
• 1:28:43
  the boys that tried it. Of course, I had to rebuke him again
• 1:28:45
  for using such shocking language. Since then, I call him Saint Clair,
• 1:28:50
  and the boys call him Jake, and all goes smoothly. He informs me
• 1:28:54
  that he means to be a carpenter, but missus Donnell says I am to
• 1:28:57
  make a college professor out of him. The mention of college gave a new
• 1:29:00
  direction to Gilbert's thoughts, and they talked for a time of their plans and
• 1:29:04
  wishes, gravely, earnestly, hopefully, as youth loves to talk while the
• 1:29:10
  future is yet an untrodden path full of wonderful possibilities. Gilbert had finally made
• 1:29:15
  up his mind that he was going to be a doctor. It's a splendid
• 1:29:18
  profession, he said enthusiastically. A fellow has to fight something all through life.
• 1:29:26
  Didn't somebody want to find man as a fighting animal. And I want
• 1:29:30
  to fight disease and pain and ignorance, which are all members one of another.
• 1:29:35
  I want to do my share of honest, real work in the world,
• 1:29:39
  Anne, add a little to the sum of human knowledge that all the
• 1:29:42
  good men have been accumulating since it began. The folks who lived before me
• 1:29:46
  have done so much for me that I want to show my gratitude by doing
• 1:29:49
  something for the folks who will live after me. Seems to me that is
• 1:29:53
  the only way a fellow can get square with his obligations to the race.
• 1:29:57
  I'd like to add some beauty to life, said Anne dreamily. I don't
• 1:30:01
  exactly want to make people know more, though I know that is the noblest
• 1:30:04
  ambition. But I'd love to make them have a pleasanter time because of me,
• 1:30:09
  to have some little joy or happy thought that would never have existed if
• 1:30:13
  I hadn't been born. I think you're fulfilling that ambition every day, said
• 1:30:17
  Gilbert admiringly, and he was right. Anne was one of the children of
• 1:30:21
  light by birthright after she had passed through a life with a smile or a
• 1:30:27
  word thrown across it like a gleam of sunshine, the owner of that life
• 1:30:30
  saw it, for the time being at least as hopeful and lovely and of
• 1:30:34
  good report. Finally, Gilbert rose regretfully, well, I must run up
• 1:30:40
  to Macpherson's. Moody Spurgeon came home from Queen's today for Sunday, and he
• 1:30:44
  was to bring me out a book. Professor Boyd is lending me, and
• 1:30:46
  I must get Marilla's tea. She went to see missus Keith this evening,
• 1:30:50
  and she will soon be back. Anne had tea ready when Marilla came home.
• 1:30:55
  The fire was crackling cheerily. A vase of frost bleached ferns and ruby
• 1:30:59
  reday maple leaves adorned the table, and delectable odors of ham and toast pervaded
• 1:31:03
  the air. But Marilla sank into her chair with a deep sigh. Are
• 1:31:09
  your eyes troubling you? Does your headache? Queried Anne anxiously. No,
• 1:31:14
  I'm only tired and worried. It's about Mary and those children. Mary's worse
• 1:31:20
  and she can't last much longer. And as for the twins, I don't
• 1:31:25
  know what is to become of them. Hasn't their uncle been heard from?
• 1:31:29
  Yes, Mary had a letter from him. He's working in a lumber camp
• 1:31:31
  and shacking it, whatever that means anyway. He says he can't possibly take
• 1:31:36
  the children till the spring. He expects to be married then and will have
• 1:31:41
  a home to take them to. But he says she must get some of
• 1:31:44
  the neighbors to keep them for the winter. She says she can't bear to
• 1:31:46
  ask any of them. Mary never got on any too well with the East
• 1:31:50
  Grafton people, and that's a fact. And the long and short of it
• 1:31:54
  is Anne that I'm sure Mary wants me to take those children. She didn't
• 1:31:58
  say so she looked it. Oh. Anne clasped her hands, all a
• 1:32:03
  thrill with excitement. And of course you will, Marilla, won't you.
• 1:32:08
  I haven't made up my mind, said Marilla, rather tartly. I don't
• 1:32:12
  rush into things in your headlong way, Anne. Third cousinship is a pretty
• 1:32:16
  slim claim, and it will be a fearful responsibility to have two children of
• 1:32:20
  six years to look after twins. At that Marilla had an idea that twins
• 1:32:26
  were just twice as bad as single children. Twins are very interesting, at
• 1:32:30
  least one pair of them, said Anne. It's only when there are two
• 1:32:33
  or three pairs that it gets monotonous. And I think it would be real
• 1:32:38
  nice for you to have something to amuse you when I'm away in school.
• 1:32:41
  I don't reckon there'd be much amusement in it, more worry and bother than
• 1:32:45
  anything else. I should say. It wouldn't be so risky if they were
• 1:32:47
  even as old as you were when I took you. I wouldn't mind Dora
• 1:32:51
  so much. She seems good and quiet, but that Davy is a limb.
• 1:32:57
  Anne was fond of children, and her hard yearn over the Keith twins,
• 1:33:00
  the remembrance of her own neglected childhood was very vivid with her. Still,
• 1:33:05
  she knew that Marilla's only vulnerable point was her stern devotion to what she
• 1:33:10
  believed to be her duty, and Anne skillfully marshaled her arguments along this line.
• 1:33:15
  If Davy is naughty, it's all the more reason why he should have
• 1:33:17
  good training, isn't it, Marilla. If we don't take them, we
• 1:33:20
  don't know who will, nor what kind of influences may surround them. Suppose
• 1:33:25
  missus Keith's next door neighbors, the Sprots, were to take them. Missus
• 1:33:29
  Lynde says, Henry Sprott is the most profane man that ever lived, and
• 1:33:32
  you can't believe a word his children say. Wouldn't it be dreadful to have
• 1:33:36
  the twins learn anything like that? Or suppose they went to the Wiggins.
• 1:33:41
  Missus Lynde says that mister Wiggins sells everything off the place that can be sold,
• 1:33:45
  and brings his family up on skim milk. You wouldn't like your relations
• 1:33:48
  to be starved, even if they were only third cousins, would you.
• 1:33:51
  It seems to me, Marilla, that it is our duty to take them.
• 1:33:56
  I suppose it is assented, Marilla gloomily, I dare say, I'll
• 1:34:00
  tell Mary I'll take them. You needn't look so delighted, Anne, It
• 1:34:04
  will mean a good deal of extra work for you. I can't sew a
• 1:34:09
  stitch on account of my eyes, so you'll have to see to the making
• 1:34:12
  and mending of their clothes. And you don't like sewing. I hate it,
• 1:34:15
  said Anne calmly. But if you are willing to take those children from
• 1:34:19
  a sense of duty. Surely I can do their sewing from a sense of
• 1:34:23
  duty. It does people good to have to do things they don't like in
• 1:34:27
  moderation. End of chapter seven, Chapter eight, Marilla adopts twins. Missus
• 1:34:36
  Rachel Lynde was sitting at her kitchen window knitting a quilt, just as she
• 1:34:41
  had been sitting one evening several years previously, when Matthew Cuthbert had driven down
• 1:34:45
  over the hill with what Missus Rachel called his imported orphan. But that had
• 1:34:49
  been in springtime, and this was late autumn, and all the woods were
• 1:34:54
  leafless, and the fields sear and brown. The sun was just setting with
• 1:34:59
  a great deal of purp and golden pomp, beyond the dark woods west of
• 1:35:01
  Avonlea, when a buggy drawn by a comfortable brown nag came down the hill.
• 1:35:06
  Missus Rachel peered at it eagerly. There's Marilla getting home from the funeral,
• 1:35:12
  she said to her husband, who was lying on the kitchen lounge.
• 1:35:15
  Thomas Lynde lay more on the lounge nowadays than he had been used to do.
• 1:35:18
  But Missus Rachel, who was so sharp at noticing anything beyond her own
• 1:35:23
  household, had not as yet noticed this, and she's got the twins with
• 1:35:27
  her. Yes, there's Davy leaning over the dashboard, grabbing at the pony's
• 1:35:30
  tail, and Marilla jerking him back. Dora is sitting up on the seat
• 1:35:35
  as prim as you please. She always looks as if she'd just been starched
• 1:35:40
  and ironed. Well, poor Marilla is going to have her hands full this
• 1:35:44
  winter, and no mistake. Still, I don't see that she could do
• 1:35:46
  anything less than take them under the circumstances, and she'll have Anne to help
• 1:35:50
  her. Anne's tickled to death over the whole business, and she has a
• 1:35:56
  real knacky way with children, I must say, dear me. It doesn't
• 1:36:00
  seem a day since poor Matthew brought Anne herself home and everybody laughed at the
• 1:36:03
  idea of Marilla bringing up a child, And now she has adopted twins.
• 1:36:09
  You're never safe from being surprised till you're dead. The fat pony jogged over
• 1:36:13
  the bridge in Lyne's Hollow and along the Green Gables Lane. Marilla's face was
• 1:36:17
  rather grim. It was ten miles from East Grafton, and Davy Keith seemed
• 1:36:23
  to be possessed with a passion for perpetual motion. It was beyond Marilla's power
• 1:36:27
  to make him sit still, and she had been in an agony the whole
• 1:36:30
  way lest he fall over the back of the wagon and break his neck or
• 1:36:33
  tumble over the dashboard under the pony's heels. In despair, she finally threatened
• 1:36:39
  to whip him soundly when she got him home, whereupon Davy climbed into her
• 1:36:43
  lap regardless of the reins, flung his chubby arms about her neck, and
• 1:36:46
  gave her a bear like hug. I don't believe you mean it, he
• 1:36:50
  said, smacking her wrinkled cheek affectionately. You don't look like a lady who'd
• 1:36:57
  whip a little boy just because he couldn't keep still. Didn't you find it
• 1:37:00
  awful hard to keep still when you was only as old as me? No?
• 1:37:05
  I always kept still when I was told, said Marilla, trying to
• 1:37:10
  speak sternly, albeit she felt her heart waxing soft within her under Davy's impulsive
• 1:37:15
  caresses. Well, I s'pose that was because you was a girl, said
• 1:37:19
  Davy, squirming back to his place after another hug. You was a girl
• 1:37:25
  once, I s'pose, though it's awful funny to think of it. Dora
• 1:37:29
  can sit still, but there ain't much fun in it, I don't think.
• 1:37:32
  Seems to me it must be slow to be a girl. Here,
• 1:37:36
  Dora, let me liven you up a bit. Davy's method of livening up
• 1:37:41
  was to grasp Dora's curls in his fingers and give them a tug. Dora
• 1:37:45
  shrieked and then cried, how can you be such a naughty boy? And
• 1:37:49
  your poor mother just laid in her grave this very day, demanded Marilla despairingly.
• 1:37:56
  But she was glad to die, said Davy confidentially. I know because
• 1:38:00
  she told me so. She was awful tired of being sick. We'd a
• 1:38:05
  long talk the night before she died. She told me you was going to
• 1:38:10
  take me and Dora for the winter, and I was to be a good
• 1:38:14
  boy. I'm going to be good, But can't you be good running round
• 1:38:17
  just as well as sitting still? And she said I was always to be
• 1:38:21
  kind to Dora and stand up for her, and I'm going too. Do
• 1:38:27
  you call pulling her hair being kind to her? Well, I ain't going
• 1:38:30
  to let anybody else pull it, said Davy, doubling up his fists and
• 1:38:34
  frowning. They'd just better try it. I didn't hurt her much. She
• 1:38:41
  just cried because she's a girl. I'm glad i'm a boy, but I'm
• 1:38:44
  sorry I'm a twin. When Jimmy Sprot's sister Connor dicks him, he just
• 1:38:48
  says, I'm oldern you, so of course I know better, and that
• 1:38:54
  settles her. But I can't tell Dora that, and she just goes on
• 1:38:58
  thinking different from me. You might let me drive the Gigi for a spell,
• 1:39:02
  since I'm a man altogether. Marilla was a thankful woman when she drove
• 1:39:06
  into her own yard, where the wind of the autumn night was dancing with
• 1:39:11
  the brown leaves. Anne was at the gate to meet them and lift the
• 1:39:14
  twins out. Dora submitted calmly to be kissed, but Davy responded to Anne's
• 1:39:18
  welcome with one of his hearty hugs and the cheerful announcement, I'm mister Davy
• 1:39:25
  Keith. At the supper table, Dora behaved like a little lady, but
• 1:39:29
  Davy's manners left much to be desired. I'm so hungry, I ain't got
• 1:39:32
  time to eat plightly, he said, when Marilla reproved him. Dora ain't
• 1:39:38
  half as hungry as I am. Look at all the excise I got on
• 1:39:42
  the road here. That cake's awful, nice and plummy. We haven't had
• 1:39:46
  any cake at home forever and ever so long, because mother was too sick
• 1:39:50
  to make it, and Missus Spratt said it was just as much as she
• 1:39:55
  could do to bake our bread for us, and Missus Wiggins never puts any
• 1:40:00
  plums in her cakes. Catch her, Can I have another piece? Marilla
• 1:40:04
  would have refused, but Anne cut a generous second slice. However, she
• 1:40:09
  reminded Davy that he ought to say thank you for it. Davy merely grinned
• 1:40:13
  at her and took a huge bite. When he had finished the slice,
• 1:40:16
  he said, if you'll give me another piece, I'll say thank you for
• 1:40:20
  it. No, you have had plenty of cake, said Marilla, in
• 1:40:26
  a tone which Anne knew and Davy was to learn to be final. Davy
• 1:40:30
  winked at Anne, and then, leaning over the table, snatched Dora's first
• 1:40:34
  piece of cake, from which she had just taken one dainty little bite out
• 1:40:40
  of her very fingers, and opening his mouth to the fullest extent, crammed
• 1:40:44
  the whole slice in. Dora's lip trembled, and Marilla was speechless with horror,
• 1:40:49
  Anne promptly exclaimed with her best school ma'am Air, Oh, Davy,
• 1:40:55
  gentlemen don't do things like that. I know they don't, said Davy as
• 1:41:00
  soon as he could speak. But I ain't a jumplum. But don't you
• 1:41:02
  want to be, said shocked Anne. Of course I do. But you
• 1:41:08
  can't be a jumplum till you grow up. Oh indeed you can, Anne
• 1:41:12
  hastened to say, thinking she saw a chance to sow good seed. Betimes,
• 1:41:16
  you can begin to be a gentleman when you are a little boy.
• 1:41:19
  And gentlemen never snatched things from ladies or forget to say thank you or pull
• 1:41:25
  anybody's hair. They don't have much fun, that's a fact, said Davy
• 1:41:30
  frankly. I guess I'll wait till I'm grown up to be one. Marilla,
• 1:41:34
  with a resigned air, had cut another piece of cake for Dora.
• 1:41:38
  She did not feel able to cope with Davy just then. It had been
• 1:41:42
  a hard day for her, what with the funeral and the long drive.
• 1:41:45
  At that moment, she looked forward to the future with a pessimism that would
• 1:41:48
  have done credit to Eliza Andrews herself. The twins were not noticeably alike,
• 1:41:54
  although both were fair. Dora had long, sleek curls that never got out
• 1:41:58
  of order, had a crop of fuzzy little yellow ringlets all over his round
• 1:42:02
  head. Dora's hazel eyes were gentle and mild, Davy's were as roguish and
• 1:42:08
  dancing as an ELF's. Dora's nose was straight, Davy's a positive snub.
• 1:42:14
  Dora had a prunes and PRISM's mouth. Davy's was all smiles, and besides,
• 1:42:18
  he had a dimple in one cheek and none in the other, which
• 1:42:21
  gave him a dear, comical, lopsided look when he laughed. Mirth and
• 1:42:26
  mischief lurked in every corner of his little face. They'd better go to bed,
• 1:42:30
  said Marilla, who thought it was the easiest way to dispose of them.
• 1:42:34
  Dora will sleep with me, and you can put Davy in the west
• 1:42:38
  gable. You're not afraid to sleep alone, are you, Davy? No?
• 1:42:43
  But I ain't going to bed forever so long yet, said Davy comfortably.
• 1:42:47
  Oh yes you are. That was all the much tried Marilla said,
• 1:42:53
  but something in her tone squelched even Davy. He trotted obediently upstairs with Anne.
• 1:42:58
  When I'm grown up. The very first thing I'm going to do is
• 1:43:01
  stay up all night, just to see what it would be like, he
• 1:43:04
  told her confidentially. In after years, Marilla never thought of that first week
• 1:43:10
  of the twins sojourn at green Gables without a shiver. Not that it really
• 1:43:14
  was so much worse than the weeks that followed it, but it seemed so
• 1:43:17
  by reason of its novelty. There was seldom a waking minute of any day
• 1:43:21
  when Davy was not in mischief or devising it. But his first notable exploit
• 1:43:26
  occurred two days after his arrival, on Sunday morning, a fine, warm
• 1:43:30
  day as hazy and mild as September, Anne dressed him for church while Marilla
• 1:43:35
  attended to Dora. Davy at first objected strongly to having his face washed.
• 1:43:41
  Marilla washed it yesterday, and missus Wiggins scoured me with hard soap the day
• 1:43:45
  of the funeral. That's enough for one week. I don't see the good
• 1:43:49
  of being so awful clean. It's lots more comfortable being dirty. Paul Irving
• 1:43:56
  washes his face every day of his own accord, said Anne Astuteley. Davy
• 1:44:00
  had been an inmate of green Gables for little over forty eight hours, but
• 1:44:03
  he already worshiped Anne and hated Paul Irving, whom he had heard Anne praising
• 1:44:09
  enthusiastically the day after his arrival. If Paul Irving washed his face every day,
• 1:44:14
  that settled it, he Davy Keith would do it too if it killed
• 1:44:16
  him. The same consideration induced him to submit meekly to the other details of
• 1:44:21
  his toilet, and he was really a handsome little lad. When all was
• 1:44:25
  done, Anne felt an almost maternal pride in him as she led him into
• 1:44:29
  the old Cuthbert Pew. Davy behaved quite well at first, being occupied in
• 1:44:34
  casting covert glances at all the small boys within view and wondering which was Paul
• 1:44:40
  Irving. The first two hymns and the scripture reading passed off uneventfully. Mister
• 1:44:45
  Allen was praying when the sensation came. Loretta White was sitting in front of
• 1:44:49
  Davy, her head slightly bent and her fair hair hanging in two long braids,
• 1:44:55
  between which a tempting expanse of white neck showed, encased in a loose
• 1:44:59
  lace frill. Loretta was a fat, placid looking child of eight, who
• 1:45:03
  had conducted herself irreproachably in church from the very first day her mother carried her
• 1:45:09
  there an infant of six months. Davy thrust his hand into his pocket and
• 1:45:14
  produced a caterpillar, a furry, squirming caterpillar. Marilla saw and clutched at
• 1:45:19
  him, but she was too late. Davy dropped the caterpillar down Loretta's neck,
• 1:45:25
  right into the middle of mister Allen's prayer. Burst a series of piercing
• 1:45:29
  shrieks. The minister stopped, appalled, and opened his eyes. Every head
• 1:45:33
  in the congregation flew up. Loretta White was dancing up and down in her
• 1:45:38
  pew, clutching frantically at the back of her dress. Hel Mama, Mama,
• 1:45:43
  hel take it off. Hell, get it out. Hell, that
• 1:45:47
  bad boy put it down my neck. Hell, mamma, it's going further
• 1:45:51
  down. Hell. Hell Hell. Missus White rose and with a set face,
• 1:45:57
  carried the hysterical, writhing Loretta out of church. Her shrieks died away
• 1:46:00
  in the distance, and mister Allan proceeded with the service, but everybody felt
• 1:46:05
  that it was a failure that day. For the first time in her life,
• 1:46:09
  Marilla took no notice of the text, and Anne sat with scarlet cheeks
• 1:46:13
  of mortification. When they got home. Marilla put Davy to bed and made
• 1:46:16
  him stay there for the rest of the day. She would not give him
• 1:46:19
  any dinner, but allowed him a plain tea of bread and milk. Anne
• 1:46:24
  carried it to him and sat sorrowfully by him while he ate it with an
• 1:46:27
  unrepentant relish. But Anne's mournful eyes troubled him. I s'pose, he said
• 1:46:33
  reflectively that Paul Irving wouldn't have dropped a caterpillar down a girl's neck in church,
• 1:46:40
  would he. Indeed, he wouldn't, said Anne sadly. Well,
• 1:46:45
  I'm kind of sorry I did it, then conceded Davy. But it was
• 1:46:48
  such a jolly big caterpillar. I picked him up on the church steps just
• 1:46:53
  as we went in. It seemed a pity to waste him, and say,
• 1:46:58
  wasn't it fun to hear that girl yell? Tuesday afternoon, the Aid
• 1:47:01
  Society met at Green Gables. Anne hurried home from school, for she knew
• 1:47:06
  that Marilla would need all the assistance she could give. Dora, neat and
• 1:47:11
  proper in her nicely starched white dress and black sash, was sitting with the
• 1:47:15
  members of the AID in the parlor, speaking demurely when spoken to, keeping
• 1:47:18
  silence when not and in every way comporting herself as a model child. Davy
• 1:47:25
  blissfully dirty was making mud pies in the barnyard. I told him he might,
• 1:47:30
  said Marilla wearily. I thought it would keep him out of worse mischief.
• 1:47:34
  He can only get dirty at that. We'll have our teas over before
• 1:47:39
  we call him to his Dora can have hers with us, but I would
• 1:47:43
  never dare to let Davy sit down at the table with all the aids here.
• 1:47:46
  When Anne went to call the aids to tea, she found that Dora
• 1:47:49
  was not in the parlor. Missus Jasper Bell said Davy had come to the
• 1:47:54
  front door and called her out. A hasty consultation with Marilla in the pantry
• 1:47:58
  resulted in a decision to let both children had their teas together. Later on,
• 1:48:02
  tea was half over when the dining room was invaded by a forlorn figure.
• 1:48:08
  Marilla and Anne stared in dismay the aids in amazement. Could that be
• 1:48:13
  Dora? That sobbing nondescript in a drenched, dripping dress and hair from which
• 1:48:17
  the water was streaming on Marilla's new coin spot rug. Dora, what has
• 1:48:23
  happened? To you, cried Anne, with a guilty glance at missus Jasper
• 1:48:27
  Bell, whose family was said to be the only one in the world in
• 1:48:30
  which accidents never occurred. Davy May walked the pig pen fence, wailed Dora.
• 1:48:38
  I didn't want to, but he called me a fread cat, and
• 1:48:43
  I fell off into the pig pen and my dress got all dirty, and
• 1:48:46
  the pig runed right over me. Why dresses just awful? But Davy said
• 1:48:51
  if i'd stand under the moon, he'd wash it clean. And I did
• 1:48:57
  any pumped water all over me. Oh my jess ain't a bit cleaner,
• 1:49:01
  and my pretty sash and shoeses all spoil. Anne did the honors of the
• 1:49:06
  table alone for the rest of the meal, while Marilla went upstairs and redressed
• 1:49:11
  Dora in her old clothes. Davy was cough and sent to bed without any
• 1:49:15
  supper. Anne went to his room at twilight and talked to him seriously,
• 1:49:18
  a method in which she had great faith, not altogether unjustified by results.
• 1:49:24
  She told him she felt very badly over his conduct. I feel sorry now
• 1:49:28
  myself, admitted Davy. But the trouble is I never feel sorry for doing
• 1:49:33
  things till after I've did them. Dora wouldn't help me make pies because she
• 1:49:39
  was afraid of messing her clothes, and that made me hopping mad. I
• 1:49:43
  suppose Paul Irving wouldn't have made his sister walk a pigpen fence if he knew
• 1:49:47
  she'd fall in. No, he would never dream of such a thing.
• 1:49:51
  Paul is a perfect little gentleman. Davy screwed his eyes tight shut and seemed
• 1:49:57
  to meditate on this for a time. Then he crawled up and put his
• 1:50:00
  arms about Anne's neck, snuggling his flushed little face down on her shoulder.
• 1:50:04
  Anne, don't you like me a little bit? Even if I ain't a
• 1:50:08
  good boy like Paul? Indeed? I do, said Anne sincerely. Somehow
• 1:50:14
  it was impossible to help liking Davy. But I'd like you better still if
• 1:50:17
  you weren't so naughty. I did something else today, went on Davy in
• 1:50:23
  a muffled voice. I'm sorry now, but I'm awful scared to tell you.
• 1:50:27
  You won't be very cross, will you? And you won't tell Marilla,
• 1:50:31
  will you? I don't know, Davy. Perhaps I ought to tell
• 1:50:34
  her, but I think I can promise you I won't if you promise me
• 1:50:38
  that you will never do it again, whatever it is. No, I
• 1:50:42
  never will Anyhow, It's not likely i'd find any more of them this year.
• 1:50:46
  I found this one on the cellar steps. Davy, what is it
• 1:50:49
  you've done? I put a toad in Marilla's bed. You can go and
• 1:50:54
  take it out if you like, But say Anne, wouldn't it be fun
• 1:50:58
  to leave it there? Davy Keith. Anne sprang from Davy's clinging arms and
• 1:51:03
  flew across the hall to Marilla's room. The bed was slightly rumpled. She
• 1:51:09
  threw back the blankets in nervous haste, and there, in very truth was
• 1:51:13
  the toad blinking at her from under a pillow. How can I carry that
• 1:51:17
  awful thing out? Moaned Anne with a shudder. The fire shovel suggested itself
• 1:51:23
  to her, and she crept down to get it. While Marilla was busy
• 1:51:26
  in the pantry. Anne had her own troubles carrying that toad downstairs, for
• 1:51:30
  it hopped off the shovel three times, and once she thought she had lost
• 1:51:33
  it in the hall. When she finally deposited it in the cherry orchard,
• 1:51:38
  she drew a long breath of relief. If Marilla knew she'd never feel safe
• 1:51:42
  geting into bed again in her life. I'm so glad that little sinner repented
• 1:51:46
  in time. There's Diana signaling to me from her window. I'm glad I
• 1:51:51
  really feel the need of some diversion, for what with Anthony Pye in school
• 1:51:55
  and Davy Keith at home, my nerves have had about all they can endure
• 1:51:59
  for one day. End of chapter eight, Chapter nine, a question of
• 1:52:04
  color. That old nuisance of a Rachel Lynde was here again today, pestering
• 1:52:11
  me for a subscription towards buying a carpet for the vestry room. Said mister
• 1:52:15
  Harrison wrathfully. I detest that woman more than anybody I know. She can
• 1:52:19
  put a whole sermon, text, common and application into six words and throw
• 1:52:24
  it back at you like a brick. Anne, who was perched on the
• 1:52:28
  edge of the veranda, enjoying the charm of a mild west wind blowing across
• 1:52:31
  a newly plowed field on a gray November twilight, and piping a quaint little
• 1:52:36
  melody among the twisted furs below the garden, turned her dreamy face over her
• 1:52:41
  shoulder. The trouble is you and missus, Lynde don't understand one another.
• 1:52:46
  She explained. That is always what is wrong when people don't like each other.
• 1:52:51
  I didn't like missus Lynde at first either, but as soon as I
• 1:52:55
  came to understand her, I learned to Miss Lynne may be in an acquiet
• 1:52:59
  taste with some, but I didn't keep on eating bananas because I was told
• 1:53:02
  i'd learned to like them if I did, growled mister Harrison. And as
• 1:53:06
  for understanding her, I understand that she is a confirmed busybody, and I
• 1:53:12
  told her so. Oh that must have hurt her feelings very much, said
• 1:53:15
  Anne, reproachfully. How could you say such a thing? I said some
• 1:53:19
  dreadful things to missus Lynde long ago, but it was when I had lost
• 1:53:23
  my temper. I couldn't say them deliberately. It was the truth, and
• 1:53:27
  I believe in telling the truth to everybody. But you don't tell the whole
• 1:53:30
  truth, objected Anne. You only tell the disagreeable part of the truth.
• 1:53:35
  Now you've told me a dozen times that my hair was red, but you've
• 1:53:39
  never once told me that I had a nice nose. I dare say you
• 1:53:43
  know it without any telling, chuckled mister Harrison. I know I have red
• 1:53:46
  hair too, although it's much darker than it used to be, so there's
• 1:53:50
  no need of telling me that either. Well, well, I'll try not
• 1:53:54
  to mention it again. Since you're so sensitive. You must excuse me,
• 1:53:58
  Anne. I've got a habit of being outspoken and folks mustn't mind it,
• 1:54:01
  but they can't help minding it. And I don't think it's any help that
• 1:54:05
  it's your habit. What would you think of a person who went about sticking
• 1:54:10
  pins and needles into people and saying, excuse me, you mustn't mind it.
• 1:54:13
  It's just a habit I've got. You'd think he was crazy, wouldn't
• 1:54:15
  you. And as for missus Lynde being a busybody, perhaps she is,
• 1:54:19
  but did you tell her she had a very kind heart and always helped the
• 1:54:24
  poor and never said a word. When Timothy Cotton stole a crock of butter
• 1:54:28
  out of her dairy and told his wife he'd bought it from her, Missus
• 1:54:30
  Cotton cast it up to her the next time they met that it tasted of
• 1:54:33
  turnips, and Missus Lynde just said she was sorry it had turned out so
• 1:54:38
  poorly. I suppose she has some good qualities conceded mister Harrison grudgingly. Most
• 1:54:44
  folks have. I have some myself, though you might never suspect it.
• 1:54:47
  But anyhow, I ain't going to give anything to that carpet. Folks are
• 1:54:51
  everlasting begging for money here. It seems to me, how's your project of
• 1:54:56
  painting the hall coming on? Splendidly? We had a meet eating of the
• 1:55:00
  Avis last Friday night and found that we had plenty of money subscribed to paint
• 1:55:03
  the hall and shingle the roof too. Most people gave very liberally, mister
• 1:55:09
  Harrison. Anne was a sweet souled lass, but she could instill some venom
• 1:55:14
  into innocent italics when occasion required. What color are you going to have it?
• 1:55:17
  We have decided on a very pretty green. The roof will be dark
• 1:55:21
  red, of course. Mister Roger Pye is going to get the paint in
• 1:55:25
  town today. Who's got the job? Mister Joshua Pye of Carmody. He
• 1:55:30
  has nearly finished the shingling. We had to give him the contract for every
• 1:55:32
  one of the pies. And there are four families you know, said they
• 1:55:36
  wouldn't give a cent unless Joshua got it. They had subscribed twelve dollars between
• 1:55:42
  them, and we thought that was too much to lose. Although some people
• 1:55:45
  think we shouldn't have given in to the Pies, missus Lynde says they try
• 1:55:47
  to run everything. The main question is will this Joshua do his work?
• 1:55:51
  Well? If he does, I don't see that it matters whether his name
• 1:55:56
  is Pie or Pudding. He has the reputation of being a good workman.
• 1:56:00
  Though they say he's a very peculiar man. He hardly ever talks. He's
• 1:56:03
  peculiar enough, all right, then, said mister Harrison dryly, or least
• 1:56:09
  folks here will call him so. I never was much of a talker till
• 1:56:13
  I came to Avonlea, and then I had to begin in self defense,
• 1:56:15
  or Miss Lynne would have said I was dumb and started a subscription to have
• 1:56:19
  me taught sign language. You're not going yet, Anne, I must.
• 1:56:24
  I have some sewing to do for Dora this evening. Besides, Davy is
• 1:56:28
  probably breaking Marilla's heart with some new mischief by this time this morning. The
• 1:56:32
  first thing he said was where does the dark go? Anne, I want
• 1:56:35
  to know. I told him it went around to the other side of the
• 1:56:38
  world. But after breakfast he declared, it didn't that it went down the
• 1:56:42
  well. Marilla says she caught him hanging over the well box four times today,
• 1:56:45
  trying to reach down to the dark. He's a limb, declared mister
• 1:56:49
  Harrison. He came over here yesterday and pulled six feathers out of Ginger's tail
• 1:56:55
  before I could get in from the barn. The poor bird has been moping
• 1:56:59
  ever since. Those children must be a sight of trouble to you folks.
• 1:57:02
  Everything that's worth having is some trouble, said Anne, secretly, resolving to
• 1:57:06
  forgive Davy's next offense, whatever it might be, since he had avenged her
• 1:57:11
  on Ginger. Mister Roger Pye brought the hall paint home that night, and
• 1:57:16
  mister Joshua Pye, a surly taciturn man, began painting the next day.
• 1:57:21
  He was not disturbed in his task. The hall was situated on what was
• 1:57:25
  called the Lower Road in late autumn. This road was always muddy and wet,
• 1:57:30
  and people going to Carmody traveled by the longer Upper Road. The hall
• 1:57:33
  was so closely surrounded by fir woods that it was invisible unless you were near
• 1:57:38
  it. Mister Joshua Pye painted away in the solitude and independence that were so
• 1:57:43
  dear to his unsociable heart. Friday afternoon, he finished his job and went
• 1:57:47
  home to Carmody. Soon after his departure, Missus Rachel Lynde drove by,
• 1:57:53
  having braved the mud of the lower road out of curiosity to see what the
• 1:57:57
  hall looked like in its new coat of paint. When she rounded the spruce
• 1:58:00
  curve, she saw the sight affected Missus Lynde oddly. She dropped the reins,
• 1:58:05
  held up her hands and said, gracious Providence. She stared as if
• 1:58:11
  she could not believe her eyes. Then she laughed, almost hysterically. There
• 1:58:20
  must be some mistake there must I knew those bis would make a mess of
• 1:58:26
  things. Missus Lynde drove home, meeting several people on the road and stopping
• 1:58:30
  to tell them about the hall. The news flew like wildfire. Gilbert blythe
• 1:58:35
  poring over a text book at home, heard about it from his father's hired
• 1:58:40
  boy at sunset, and rushed breathlessly to green Gables. Joined on the way
• 1:58:44
  by Fred Wright, they found Diana Barry, Jane Andrews, and Anne Shirley,
• 1:58:48
  despair personified at the yard gate of green Gables, under the big leafless
• 1:58:54
  willows. It isn't true, surely, Anne, exclaimed Gilbert. It is
• 1:59:00
  true, answered Anne, Looking like the muse of tragedy. Missus Lynde called
• 1:59:04
  on her way from Carmody to tell me, oh, it is simply dreadful.
• 1:59:09
  What is the use of trying to improve anything? What is dreadful?
• 1:59:14
  Asked Oliver Sloane, arriving at this moment with a bandbox he had brought from
• 1:59:17
  town for Marilla. Haven't you heard, said Jane wrathfully. Well, it's
• 1:59:23
  simply this Joshua Pye has gone and painted the hall blue instead of green,
• 1:59:28
  a deep, brilliant pluth shade they use for painting carts and wheelbarrows, and
• 1:59:32
  Missus Lynde says it's the most hideous color for a building, especially when combined
• 1:59:36
  with a red roof that she ever saw or imagined. You could simply have
• 1:59:42
  knocked me down with a feather when I heard it. It's heartbreaking. After
• 1:59:45
  all the trouble we've had, How on earth could such a mistake have happened?
• 1:59:50
  Wails Diana. The blame of this unmerciful disaster was eventually narrowed down to
• 1:59:57
  the pies. The Improvers had decided to use Morton Harris paints, and the
• 2:00:00
  Morton Harris paint cans were numbered according to a color card. A purchaser chose
• 2:00:05
  his shade on the card, and ordered by the accompanying number. Number.
• 2:00:10
  One forty seven was the shade of green desired. And when mister Roger Pye
• 2:00:14
  sent word to the Improvers by his son John Andrew, that he was going
• 2:00:17
  to town and would get their paint for them, the Improvers told John Andrew
• 2:00:21
  to tell his father to get one forty seven. John Andrew always averred that
• 2:00:26
  he did so, but mister Roger Pye, as Stanchiley, declared that John
• 2:00:30
  Andrew told him one fifty seven, and there the matter stands to this day.
• 2:00:34
  That night there was blank dismay in every Avonlea house where an Improver lived.
• 2:00:40
  The gloom at Green Gables was so intense that it quenched. Even Davy
• 2:00:44
  Anne wept and would not be comforted. I must cry, even if I
• 2:00:48
  am almost seventeen. Marilla, she sobbed. It is so mortifying, and
• 2:00:55
  it sounds the death knell of our society will simply be laughed out of exact
• 2:01:00
  distance. In life, as in dreams. However, things often go by
• 2:01:03
  contraries. The Avonlea people did not laugh. They were too angry. Their
• 2:01:09
  money had gone to paint the hall, and consequently they felt themselves bitterly aggrieved
• 2:01:14
  by the mistake. Public indignations centered on the pies. Roger Pye and John
• 2:01:18
  Andrew had bungled the matter between them, And as for Joshua Pye, he
• 2:01:23
  must be a born fool not to suspect there was something wrong when he opened
• 2:01:27
  the cans and saw the color of the paint. Joshua Pye, when thus
• 2:01:30
  annonaverted upon, retorted that the Avonlea taste in colors was no business of his,
• 2:01:36
  whatever his private opinion might be. He had been hired to paint the
• 2:01:40
  hall, not to talk about it, and he meant to have his money
• 2:01:44
  for it. The improvers paid him his money in bitterness of spirit, after
• 2:01:47
  consulting mister Peter Sloane, who was a magistrate. You'll have to pay it.
• 2:01:53
  Peter told them you can't hold him responsible for the mistake, since he
• 2:01:57
  claims who was never told what the color was supposed to be, but just
• 2:02:00
  given the cans and told to go ahead. But it's a burning shame,
• 2:02:05
  and that hall certainly does look awful. The luckless Improvers expected that Avonlea would
• 2:02:11
  be more prejudiced than ever against them, but instead public sympathy veered around in
• 2:02:15
  their favor. People thought the eager, enthusiastic little band who had worked so
• 2:02:20
  hard for their object, had been badly used. Missus Lynde told them to
• 2:02:25
  keep on and show the pyes that there really were people in the world who
• 2:02:28
  could do things without making a muddle of them. Mister Major Spencer sent them
• 2:02:31
  word that he would clean out all the stumps along the road front of his
• 2:02:35
  farm and seed it down with grass at his own expense. And Missus Hiram
• 2:02:40
  Sloane called at the school one day and beckoned Anne mysteriously out into the porch
• 2:02:45
  to tell her that if the society wanted to make a geranium bed at the
• 2:02:48
  crossroads in the spring, they needn't be afraid of her cow, for she
• 2:02:53
  would see that the marauding animal was kept within safe bounds. Even mister Harrison
• 2:02:58
  chuckled if he chuckled at all in private, and was all sympathy outwardly.
• 2:03:02
  Never mind an most paints fade uglier every year, but that blue is as
• 2:03:06
  ugly as it can be to begin with, so it's bound to fade prettier,
• 2:03:11
  and the roof is shingled and painted. All right, folks will be
• 2:03:14
  able to sit in the hall after this without being leaked on. You've accomplished
• 2:03:16
  so much anyhow, But Avonlea's Blue Hall will be a byword in all the
• 2:03:21
  neighboring settlements from this time out, said Anne bitterly. And it must be
• 2:03:27
  confessed that it was end of chapter nine, Chapter ten Davy in search of
• 2:03:33
  a sensation. Anne, walking home from school through the birch path one November
• 2:03:40
  afternoon, felt convinced afresh that life was a very wonderful thing. The day
• 2:03:45
  had been a good day. All had gone well in her little kingdom.
• 2:03:48
  Saint Clair Dunnell had not fought any of the other boys over the question of
• 2:03:53
  his name. Prillie Rogerson's face had been so puffed up from the effects of
• 2:03:57
  toothache that she did not once try toquet with the boys in her vicinity.
• 2:04:01
  Barbara Shaw had met with only one accident, spilling a dipper of water over
• 2:04:06
  the floor, and Anthony Pye had not been in school at all. What
• 2:04:12
  a nice month this November, has been said Anne, who had never quite
• 2:04:15
  got over her childish habit of talking to herself. November is usually such a
• 2:04:20
  disagreeable month, as if the year had suddenly found out that she was growing
• 2:04:25
  old and could do nothing but weep and fret over it. This year is
• 2:04:28
  growing old gracefully, just like a stately old lady who knows she can be
• 2:04:32
  charming even with gray hair and wrinkles. We've had lovely days and delicious twilights.
• 2:04:38
  This last fortnight has been so peaceful, and even Davy has been almost
• 2:04:42
  well behaved. I really think he is improving a great deal. How quiet
• 2:04:47
  the woods are today? Not a murmur except that soft wind purring in the
• 2:04:51
  tree tops. It sounds like surf on a far away shore. How dear
• 2:04:56
  the woods are you, beautiful trees? I love every one one of you
• 2:05:00
  is a friend. Anne paused to throw her arm about a slim, young
• 2:05:03
  birch and kiss its cream white trunk. Diana, rounding a curve in the
• 2:05:09
  path, saw her and laughed, Anne, Shirley, you're only pretending to
• 2:05:15
  be grown up. I believe when you're alone you're as much a little girl
• 2:05:18
  as you ever were. Well one can't get over the habit of being a
• 2:05:21
  little girl all at once, said Anne gaily. You see, I was
• 2:05:26
  little for fourteen years, and I've only been grown upish for scarcely three.
• 2:05:30
  I'm sure I shall always feel like a child in the woods. These walks
• 2:05:33
  home from school are almost the only time I have for dreaming, except the
• 2:05:38
  half hour or so before I go to sleep. I'm so busy with teaching
• 2:05:41
  and studying and helping Marilla with the twins that I haven't another moment for imagining
• 2:05:45
  things. You don't know what splendid adventures I have for a little while after
• 2:05:49
  I go to bed in the East Gable. Every night I always imagine I'm
• 2:05:54
  something very brilliant and triumphant and splendid, a great Prima donna, or a
• 2:05:58
  Red Cross nurse, or a queen. Last night, I was a queen.
• 2:06:01
  It's really splendid to imagine you are a queen. You have all the
• 2:06:05
  fun of it without any of the inconveniences, and you can stop being a
• 2:06:09
  queen whenever you want to, which you couldn't in real life. But here
• 2:06:13
  in the woods I like best to imagine quite different things. I'm a dryad
• 2:06:16
  living in an old pine or a little brown wood elf hiding under a crinkled
• 2:06:20
  leaf. That white birch you caught me kissing is a sister of mine.
• 2:06:25
  The only difference is she's a tree and I'm a girl. But that's no
• 2:06:28
  real difference. Where are you going, Diana? Down to the Dixons,
• 2:06:32
  I promised to help Alberta cut out her new dress. Can't you walk down
• 2:06:36
  in the evening, Anne and come home with me? I might, since
• 2:06:41
  fred Wright is away in town, said Anne with a rather too innocent face.
• 2:06:46
  Diana blushed, tossed her head, and walked on. She did not
• 2:06:49
  look offended. However, Anne fully intended to go down to the Dixons that
• 2:06:55
  evening, but she did not. When she arrived at Green Gables, she
• 2:06:58
  found a state of affair which banished every other thought from her mind. Marilla
• 2:07:02
  met her in the yard. A wild eyed Marilla Anne, Dora is lost?
• 2:07:09
  Dora lost. Anne looked at Davy, who was swinging on the yard
• 2:07:14
  gate, and detected merriment in his eyes. Davy, do you know where
• 2:07:18
  she is? No? I don't, said Davy stoutly. I haven't seen
• 2:07:25
  her since dinner time. Cross my heart. I've been away ever since one
• 2:07:30
  o'clock, said Marilla. Thomas Lynde took sick all of a sudden, and
• 2:07:33
  Rachel sent up for me to go at once. When I left here,
• 2:07:36
  Dora was playing with her doll in the kitchen, and Davy was making mud
• 2:07:40
  pies behind the barn. I only got home half an hour ago, and
• 2:07:44
  no Dora to be seen. Davy declares he never saw her since I left.
• 2:07:48
  Neither I did, avowed Davy. Solemnly. She must be somewhere around,
• 2:07:55
  said Anne. She would never wander far away alone. You know how
• 2:07:59
  timid she is. Perhaps she has fallen asleep in one of the rooms.
• 2:08:03
  Marilla shook her head. I've hunted the whole house through, but she may
• 2:08:07
  be in some of the buildings. A thorough search followed. Every corner of
• 2:08:13
  house, yard and outbuildings was ransacked by those two distracted people. Anne roved
• 2:08:18
  the orchards in the haunted wood, calling Dora's name. Marilla took a candle
• 2:08:24
  and explored the cellar. Davy accompanied each of them in turn, and was
• 2:08:28
  fertile in thinking of places where Dora could possibly be. Finally, they met
• 2:08:31
  again in the yard. Oh, it's a most mysterious thing. Groaned Marilla.
• 2:08:37
  Where can she be, said Anne miserably. Maybe she's tumbled into the
• 2:08:43
  well, suggested Davy cheerfully. Anne and Marilla looked fearfully into each other's eyes.
• 2:08:50
  The thought had been with them both through their entire search, but neither
• 2:08:54
  had dared to put it into words. She she might have, whispered Marilla.
• 2:09:00
  Anne, feeling faint and sick, went to the well box and peered
• 2:09:03
  over the bucket sat on the shelf. Inside. Far down below was a
• 2:09:09
  tiny glimmer of still water. The Cuthbert Well was the deepest in Avonlea if
• 2:09:13
  Dora, but Anne could not face the idea. She shuddered and turned away.
• 2:09:20
  Run across from mister Harrison, said Marilla, wringing her hands. Mister
• 2:09:24
  Harrison and John Henry are both away. They went to town to day.
• 2:09:28
  I'll go for mister Barry. Mister Barry came back with Anne, carrying a
• 2:09:33
  coil of rope, to which was attached a clawlike instrument that had been the
• 2:09:37
  business end of a grubbing fork. Marilla and Anne stood by, cold and
• 2:09:41
  shaken with horror and dread, while mister Barry dragged the well and Davy astride
• 2:09:46
  the gate, watched the group with a face indicative of huge enjoyment. Finally,
• 2:09:52
  mister Barry shook his head with a relieved air. She can't be down
• 2:09:56
  there. It's a mighty curious thing where she could have got to, though,
• 2:10:01
  Look here, young man, are you sure you've no idea where your
• 2:10:03
  sister is. I've told you a dozen times that I haven't, said Davy,
• 2:10:09
  with an injured air. Maybe a tramp came and stole her, nonsense,
• 2:10:16
  said Marilla, sharply, relieved from her horrible fear of the well,
• 2:10:20
  Anne, do you suppose she could have strayed over to mister Harrison's. She
• 2:10:22
  has always been talking about his parrot ever since that time you took her over.
• 2:10:28
  I can't believe Dora would venture so far alone, but I'll go over
• 2:10:31
  and see, said Anne. Nobody was looking at Davy just then, or
• 2:10:35
  it would have been seen that a very decided change came over his face.
• 2:10:39
  He quietly slipped off the gate and ran as fast as his fat legs could
• 2:10:43
  carry him to the barn. Anne hastened across the fields to the Harrison establishment
• 2:10:48
  in no very hopeful frame of mind. The house was locked, the window
• 2:10:52
  shades were down, and there was no sign of anything living about the place.
• 2:10:56
  She stood on the veranda and called Dora loudly. Ginger, in the
• 2:11:01
  kitchen behind her, shrieked and swore with sudden fierceness. But between his outbursts,
• 2:11:05
  Anne heard a plaintive cry from the little building in the yard which served
• 2:11:09
  mister Harrison as a toolhouse. Anne flew to the door, unhasped it and
• 2:11:15
  caught up a small mortal with a tear stained face, who was sitting forlornly
• 2:11:18
  on an upturned nail. Keg, Oh, Dora, Dora, what a
• 2:11:24
  fright you have given us? How came you to be here? Davy and
• 2:11:28
  I came over to see Ginger, sobbed Dora. But we couldn't see him
• 2:11:35
  after all. Only Davy made him swear by kicking the door. And then
• 2:11:41
  Davy brought me here and run out and shut the door, and I couldn't
• 2:11:45
  get out. I cried and cried, I was frighten. Oh, I'm
• 2:11:54
  so hungry and cold, and I thought you'd never come, Anne, Davy.
• 2:11:58
  But Anne could say no more. She carried Dora home with a heavy
• 2:12:03
  heart. Her joy at finding the child safe and sound was drowned out,
• 2:12:07
  and the pain caused by Davy's behavior, the freak of shutting Dora up might
• 2:12:11
  easily have been pardoned, But Davy had told falsehoods, downright, cold blooded
• 2:12:16
  falsehoods about it. That was the ugly fact, and Anne could not shut
• 2:12:20
  her eyes to it. She could have sat down and cried with sheer disappointment.
• 2:12:26
  She had grown to love Davy dearly, how dearly she had not known
• 2:12:30
  until this minute, and it hurt her unbearably to discover that he was guilty
• 2:12:33
  of deliberate falsehood. Marilla listened to Anne's tail in a silence that boded no
• 2:12:39
  good Davy word. Mister Barry laughed and advised that Davy be summarily dealt with.
• 2:12:46
  When he had gone home, Anne soothed and warmed the sobbing, shivering
• 2:12:50
  Dora, got her her supper and put her to bed. Then she returned
• 2:12:54
  to the kitchen just as Marilla came grimly in, leading, or rather pulling,
• 2:13:00
  the reluctant cobwebby Davy, whom she had just found hidden away in the
• 2:13:03
  darkest corner of the stable. She jerked him to the mat on the middle
• 2:13:07
  of the floor, and then went and sat down by the east window.
• 2:13:11
  Anne was sitting limply by the west window. Between them stood the culprit.
• 2:13:16
  His back was toward Marilla, and it was a meek, subdued, frightened
• 2:13:20
  back. But his face was toward Anne, and although it was a little
• 2:13:24
  shamefaced, there was a gleam of comradeship in Davy's eyes, as if he
• 2:13:28
  knew he had done wrong and was going to be punished for it, but
• 2:13:31
  could count on a laugh over it all with Anne later on. But no
• 2:13:35
  half hidden smile answered him in Anne's gray eyes, as there might have done
• 2:13:39
  had it been only a question of mischief. There was something else, something
• 2:13:43
  ugly and repulsive. How could you behave so, Davy, she asked sorrowfully.
• 2:13:50
  Davy squirmed uncomfortably. I just did it for fun. Things have been
• 2:13:54
  so awful quiet here for so long that I thought it would be fun to
• 2:13:58
  give you folks a big scare. It was too in spite of fear and
• 2:14:03
  a little remorse. Davy grinned over the recollection. But you told a falsehood
• 2:14:09
  about it, Davy, said Anne, more sorrowfully than ever. Davy looked
• 2:14:13
  puzzled. What's a falsehood? Do you mean a whopper. I mean a
• 2:14:18
  story that was not true. Course I did, said Davy frankly. If
• 2:14:22
  I hadn't, you wouldn't have been scared. I had to tell it.
• 2:14:28
  Anne was feeling the reaction from her fright and exertions. Davy's impenitent attitude gave
• 2:14:33
  the finishing touch. Two big tears brimmed up in her eyes. Oh Davy,
• 2:14:39
  how could you, she said, with a quiver in her voice.
• 2:14:43
  Don't you know how wrong it was? Davy was aghast Anne crying. He
• 2:14:48
  had made Anne cry. A flood of real remorse rolled like a wave over
• 2:14:52
  his warm little heart and engulfed it. He rushed to Anne, hurled himself
• 2:14:58
  into her lap, flung his arms around her neck, and burst into tears.
• 2:15:03
  I didn't know it was wrong to tell whoppers, he sobbed. How
• 2:15:09
  did you expect me to know it was wrong? All mister Spratt's children told
• 2:15:13
  them regular every day and crossed their hearts too. I suppose Paul Irving never
• 2:15:20
  tells whoppers. And here I've been trying awful hard to be as good as
• 2:15:26
  him. But now I suppose you'll never love me again. But I think
• 2:15:30
  you might have told me it was wrong. I'm awful sorry I've made you
• 2:15:35
  cry, Anne, and I'll never tell a whopper again. Davy buried his
• 2:15:39
  face in Anne's shoulder and cried stormily. Anne, in a sudden glad flash
• 2:15:43
  of understanding, held him tight and looked over his curly thatch at Marilla.
• 2:15:50
  He didn't know it was wrong to tell falsehoods Marilla. I think we must
• 2:15:52
  forgive him for that part of it this time. If you will promise never
• 2:15:56
  to say what isn't true again, I never will, now that I know
• 2:16:01
  it's bad, a severated Davy between sobs. If you ever catch me telling
• 2:16:07
  a whopper again, you can, Davy groped mentally, for a suitable penance.
• 2:16:13
  You can skim me a lieve. Anne, don't say whopper, Davy,
• 2:16:18
  say falsehood, said the schoolm'am. Why, queried Davy, settling comfortably
• 2:16:24
  down and looking up with a tear stained, investigating face. Why ain't whopper
• 2:16:28
  as good as falsehood? I want to know. It's just as big a
• 2:16:33
  word. It's slang, and it's wrong for little boys to use slang.
• 2:16:37
  There's an awful lot of things it's wrong to do, said Davy with a
• 2:16:41
  sigh. I never suppose there was so many. I'm sorry it's wrong to
• 2:16:46
  tell what falsehoods because it's awful handy. But since it is, I'm never
• 2:16:52
  going to tell any more. What are you going to do to me for
• 2:16:56
  telling them? This time? I want to know? Anne looked beseechingly at
• 2:17:01
  Marilla. I don't want to be too hard on the child, said Marilla.
• 2:17:05
  I dare say nobody ever did tell him it was wrong to tell lies,
• 2:17:09
  and those sprot children were no fit companions for him. Poor Mary was
• 2:17:13
  too sick to train him properly. And I presume you couldn't expect a six
• 2:17:16
  year old child to know things like that by instinct. I suppose we'll just
• 2:17:22
  have to assume he doesn't know anything right and begin at the beginning. But
• 2:17:24
  he'll have to be punished for shutting Dora up. And I can't think of
• 2:17:28
  any way except to send him to bed without his supper, and we've done
• 2:17:31
  that so often. Can't you suggest something else? Anne? I should think
• 2:17:37
  you ought to be able to with that imagination you're always talking of. But
• 2:17:41
  punishments are so horrid, and I like to imagine only pleasant things, said
• 2:17:46
  Anne, cuddling Davy. There are so many unpleasant things in the world already
• 2:17:50
  that there is no use in imagining any more. In the end, Davy
• 2:17:54
  was sent to bed as usual, there to remain until noon next day.
• 2:17:58
  He evidently did some thinking, for when Anne went up to her room a
• 2:18:01
  little later, she heard him calling her name softly. Going in, she
• 2:18:07
  found him sitting up in bed with his elbows on his knees and his chin
• 2:18:11
  propped on his hands. Anne, he said, solemnly, is it wrong
• 2:18:15
  for everybody to tell what falsehoods? I want to know? Yes? Indeed
• 2:18:20
  is it wrong for a grown up person? Yes? Then, said Davy
• 2:18:26
  decidedly. Marilla is bad, for she tells them, and she's worse than
• 2:18:31
  me, for I didn't know it was wrong, but she does, Davy
• 2:18:35
  Keith. Marilla never told a story in her life, said Anne, indignantly.
• 2:18:41
  She did so. She told me last Tuesday that something dreadful would happen
• 2:18:45
  to me if I didn't say my prayers every night, and I haven't said
• 2:18:50
  them for over a week, just to see what would happen, and nothing
• 2:18:54
  has, concluded Davy, in an aggrieved tone. Anne choked back a madame
• 2:19:00
  desire to laugh, with the conviction that it would be fatal and then earnestly
• 2:19:03
  set about saving Marilla's reputation. Why, Davy Keith, she said, solemnly,
• 2:19:09
  something dreadful has happened to you this very day. Davy looked skeptical.
• 2:19:13
  I suppose you mean being sent to bed without any supper, he said scornfully.
• 2:19:20
  But that isn't dreadful. Course I don't like it, but I've been
• 2:19:24
  sent to bed so much since I came here that I'm getting used to it.
• 2:19:28
  And you don't save anything by making me go without supper either, for
• 2:19:33
  I always eat twice as much for breakfast. I don't mean your being sent
• 2:19:37
  to bed I mean the fact that you told a falsehood today. And Davy
• 2:19:43
  Anne leaned over the footboard of the bed and shook her finger impressively at the
• 2:19:46
  culprit. For a boy to tell what isn't true is almost the worst thing
• 2:19:50
  that could happen to him, almost the very worst. So you see,
• 2:19:54
  Marilla told you the truth. But I thought the something bad would be exciting,
• 2:20:00
  protested Davy in an injured tone. Marilla isn't to blame for what you
• 2:20:03
  thought. Bad things aren't always exciting. They're very often just nasty and stupid.
• 2:20:09
  It was awful funny to see Marilla and you looking down the well,
• 2:20:13
  though, said Davy, hugging his knees. Anne kept a sober face until
• 2:20:18
  she got downstairs, and then she collapsed on the sitting room lounge and laughed
• 2:20:22
  until her sides ached. I wish you'd tell me the joke, said Marilla,
• 2:20:28
  a little grimly. I haven't seen much to laugh at to day.
• 2:20:31
  You'll laugh when you hear this, assured Anne. And Marilla did laugh,
• 2:20:35
  which showed how much her education had advanced since the adoption of Anne. But
• 2:20:41
  she sighed immediately afterwards. I suppose I shouldn't have told him that, although
• 2:20:46
  I heard a minister say it to a child once, but he did aggravate
• 2:20:50
  me. So it was that night you were at the Carmody concert and I
• 2:20:52
  was putting him to bed. He said he didn't see the good of praying
• 2:20:56
  until he got big enough to be of some importance to God. Anne,
• 2:21:01
  I do not know what we are going to do with that child. I
• 2:21:03
  never saw his beat. I'm feeling clean discouraged. Oh don't say that,
• 2:21:07
  Marilla. Remember how bad I was when I came here, Anne, You
• 2:21:11
  were never bad. Never. I see that now when I've learned what real
• 2:21:16
  badness is. You were always getting into terrible scrapes, I'll admit, but
• 2:21:22
  your motive was always good. Davy is just bad from sheer love of it.
• 2:21:28
  Oh no, I don't think it is real badness with him, either,
• 2:21:31
  pleaded Anne. It's just mischief, and it is rather quiet for him
• 2:21:35
  here. You know, he has no other boys to play with, and
• 2:21:37
  his mind has to have something to occupy it. Dora is so prim and
• 2:21:41
  proper, she is no good for a boy's playmate. I really think it
• 2:21:45
  would be better to let them go to school, Marilla. No, said
• 2:21:48
  Marilla resolutely. My father always said that no child should be cooped up in
• 2:21:54
  the four walls of a school until it was seven years old, and mister
• 2:21:56
  Allan says the same thing. The twins and have a few lessons at home,
• 2:22:01
  but go to school they shan't till they're seven. Well, we must
• 2:22:05
  try to reform Davy at home, then, said Anne cheerfully. With all
• 2:22:09
  his faults, he's really a dear little chap. I can't help loving him,
• 2:22:13
  Marilla. It may be a dreadful thing to say, but honestly,
• 2:22:16
  I like Davy better than Dora. For all she's so good. I don't
• 2:22:20
  know, but that I do myself, confessed Marilla. And it isn't fair
• 2:22:24
  for Dora. Isn't a bit of trouble. There couldn't be a better child,
• 2:22:28
  and you'd hardly know she was in the house. Dora is too good,
• 2:22:31
  said Anne. She'd behave just as well if there wasn't a soul to
• 2:22:35
  tell her what to do. She was born, already brought up, so
• 2:22:39
  she doesn't need us, and I think, concluded Anne, hitting on a
• 2:22:43
  very vital truth that we always love best the people who need us. Davy
• 2:22:48
  needs us badly. He certainly needs something, agreed Marilla. Rachel Lynde would
• 2:22:54
  say it was a good spanking. End of chapter ten, Chapter eleven,
• 2:23:01
  Facts and Fancies. Teaching is really very interesting work, wrote Anne to a
• 2:23:09
  Queen's Academy chum. Jane says she thinks it is monotonous, but I don't
• 2:23:13
  find it so something funny is almost sure to happen every day, and the
• 2:23:18
  children say such amusing things. Jane says she punishes her pupils when they make
• 2:23:22
  funny speeches, which is probably why she finds teaching monotonous. This afternoon,
• 2:23:28
  little Jimmy Andrews was trying to spell speckled and couldn't manage it well. He
• 2:23:33
  said, finally, I can't spell it, but I know what it means.
• 2:23:37
  What I asked Saint Clair Dannelle's face, Miss Saint Clair is certainly very
• 2:23:43
  much freckled, although I try to prevent the others from commenting on it,
• 2:23:46
  for I was freckled once, and well do I remember it? But I
• 2:23:50
  don't think Saint Clair minds. It was because Jimmy called him Saint Clair that
• 2:23:54
  Saint Clair pounded him on the way home from school. I heard of the
• 2:23:58
  pounding, but not officially, so I don't think I'll take any notice of
• 2:24:01
  it. Yesterday I was trying to teach Lotty Wright to do addition. I
• 2:24:05
  said, if you had three candies in one hand and two in the other,
• 2:24:09
  how many would you have altogether? A mouthful, said Lotty. And
• 2:24:15
  in the Nature's Study class, when I asked them to give me a good
• 2:24:18
  reason why toads shouldn't be killed, Benji Sloane gravely answered because it would rain.
• 2:24:24
  The next day, it's so hard not to laugh, Stella. I
• 2:24:28
  have to save up all my amusement until I get home and Marilla says it
• 2:24:31
  makes her nervous to hear wild shrieks of mirth proceeding from the East Gable without
• 2:24:35
  any apparent cause. She says a man in Grafton went insane once, and
• 2:24:39
  that was how it began. Did you know that Thomas A. Beckett was
• 2:24:43
  canonized as a snake? Rose Bell says he was. Also that William Tyndale
• 2:24:48
  wrote the New Testament. Claude White says a glacier is a man who puts
• 2:24:54
  in window frames. I think the most difficult thing in teaching, as well
• 2:24:58
  as the most interesting, to get the children to tell you their real thoughts
• 2:25:01
  about things. One stormy day last week, I gathered them around me at
• 2:25:05
  dinner hour and tried to get them to talk to me just as if I
• 2:25:09
  were one of themselves. I asked them to tell me the things they most
• 2:25:13
  wanted. Some of the answers were commonplace enough dolls, ponies, and skates.
• 2:25:18
  Others were decidedly original. Hester Bolter wanted to wear her Sunday dress every
• 2:25:24
  day and eat in the sitting room. Hannah Bell wanted to be good without
• 2:25:28
  having to take any trouble about it. Marjorie White, aged ten, wanted
• 2:25:33
  to be a widow. Questioned why, She gravely said that if you weren't
• 2:25:37
  married, people called you an old maid, and if you were, your
• 2:25:39
  husband bossed you. But if you were a widow there'd be no danger of
• 2:25:43
  either. The most remarkable wish was Sally Bell's. She wanted a honeymoon.
• 2:25:50
  I asked her if she knew what it was, and she said she thought
• 2:25:52
  it was an extra nice kind of bicycle, because her cousin in Montreal went
• 2:25:56
  on a honeymoon when he was married, and he had all always had the
• 2:26:00
  very latest in bicycles. Another day, I asked them all to tell me
• 2:26:03
  the naughtiest thing they had ever done. I couldn't get the older ones to
• 2:26:07
  do so, but the third class answered quite freely. Eliza Bell had set
• 2:26:11
  fire to her aunt's carted rolls. Asked if she meant to do it,
• 2:26:16
  she said not altogether. She just tried a little end to see how it
• 2:26:18
  would burn, and the whole bundle blazed up in a jiffy. Emerson Gillis
• 2:26:24
  had spent ten cents for candy when he should have put it in his missionary
• 2:26:26
  box. Annetta Bell's worst crime was eating some blueberries that grew in the graveyard.
• 2:26:33
  Willie White had slid down the sheep house roof a lot of times with
• 2:26:35
  his Sunday trousers on. But I was punished for it because I had to
• 2:26:39
  wear patched pants to Sunday school all summer. And when you're punished for a
• 2:26:43
  thing, you don't have to repent of it, declared Willie. I wish
• 2:26:48
  you could see some of their compositions. So much do I wish it that
• 2:26:52
  I'll send you copies of some written recently. Last week I told the fourth
• 2:26:56
  class I wanted them to write me letters about anything they pleased, adding by
• 2:27:00
  way of suggestion that they might tell me of some place they had visited or
• 2:27:03
  some interesting thing or person they had seen. They were to write the letters
• 2:27:07
  on real note paper, seal them in an envelope, and address them to
• 2:27:11
  me, all without any assistance from other people. Last Friday morning I found
• 2:27:16
  a pile of letters on my desk, and that evening I realized afresh that
• 2:27:20
  teaching has its pleasures as well as its pains. Those compositions would atone for
• 2:27:26
  much. Here is ned Clay's address, spelling and grammar, as originally penned
• 2:27:31
  Miss Teacher Shirley green Gables. P E Island can birds their teacher. I
• 2:27:41
  think I will write you a composition about birds. Birds is very useful animals.
• 2:27:48
  My cat catches birds. His name is William, but Paul calls him
• 2:27:52
  Tom. He is old striped, and he got one of his ears FROs
• 2:27:56
  off last winter, only for that he would be a good looking cat.
• 2:28:03
  My uncle has adopted a cat. It come to his house one day and
• 2:28:07
  wouldn't go away, and Uncle says it has forgot more than most people ever
• 2:28:13
  knowed. He lets it sleep on his rocking chair, and my aunt says
• 2:28:18
  he thinks more of it than he does of his children. That is not
• 2:28:22
  right. We ought to be kind to cats and give them new milk,
• 2:28:26
  but we ought not be better to them than to our children. This is
• 2:28:31
  all I can think of, so no more at present from Edward Blake Clay.
• 2:28:39
  Saint Clair Dunnell's is as usual short and to the point. Saint Clair
• 2:28:43
  never wastes words. I do not think he chose his subjects or added the
• 2:28:48
  PostScript out of malice a forethought. It is just that he has not a
• 2:28:52
  great deal of tact or imagination. Dear Miss Shirley, you told us to
• 2:28:56
  describe something strange we have seen. I will describe the Avonlea Hall. It
• 2:29:01
  has two doors, an inside one and an outside one. It has six
• 2:29:05
  windows and a chimney. It has two ends and two sides. It is
• 2:29:11
  painted blue. That is what makes it strange. It is built on the
• 2:29:16
  Lower Carmody Road. It is the third most important building in Avonlea. The
• 2:29:22
  others are the church and the blacksmith shop. They hold debating clubs and lectures
• 2:29:26
  in it, and concerts. Yours truly, Jacob Donnell ps. The hall
• 2:29:31
  is a very bright blue. Annetta Bell's letter was quite long, which surprised
• 2:29:37
  me, for writing essays is not Annetta's forte and hers are generally as brief
• 2:29:41
  as Sinclaire's. Annetta is a quiet little puss and a model of good behavior,
• 2:29:46
  but there isn't a shadow of originality in her. Here is her letter,
• 2:29:50
  Dearest teacher, I think I will write you a letter to tell you
• 2:29:56
  how much I love you. I love you with my whole heart and soul
• 2:30:01
  and mind, with all there is of me to love, and I want
• 2:30:05
  to serve you forever. It would be my highest privilege. That is why
• 2:30:09
  I try so hard to be good in school and learn my lessons. You
• 2:30:15
  are so beautiful, my teacher. Your voice is like music, and your
• 2:30:18
  eyes are like pansies when the dew is on them. You are like a
• 2:30:22
  tall, stately queen. Your hair is like rippling gold. Anthony Pye says
• 2:30:30
  it is red. But you needn't pay any attention to Anthony. I have
• 2:30:35
  only known you for a few months, but I cannot realize that there was
• 2:30:39
  ever a time when I did not know you, when you had not come
• 2:30:43
  into my life to bless and hallow it. I will always look back to
• 2:30:48
  this year as the most wonderful in my life because it brought you to me.
• 2:30:52
  Besides, it's the year we moved to Avonlea from Newbridge. My love
• 2:30:58
  for you has made my life very rich, and it has kept me from
• 2:31:01
  much of harm and evil. I owe this all to you, my sweetest
• 2:31:07
  teacher. I shall never forget how sweet you looked the last time I saw
• 2:31:11
  you in that black dress with flowers in your hair. I shall see you
• 2:31:16
  like that forever, even when we are both old and gray, you will
• 2:31:20
  always be young and fair to me, dearest teacher. I am thinking of
• 2:31:26
  you all the time. In the morning and at the noontide and at the
• 2:31:30
  twilight. I love you when you laugh and when you sigh, even when
• 2:31:35
  you look disdainful. I never saw you look cross, though Anthony Pye says
• 2:31:41
  you always look so. But I don't wonder you look cross at him,
• 2:31:45
  for he deserves it. I love you in every dress. You seem more
• 2:31:50
  adorable in each new dress than the last. Dearest teacher, good night.
• 2:31:56
  The sun has set and the stars are shine, stars that are as bright
• 2:32:01
  and beautiful as your eyes. I kiss your hands and face, my sweet
• 2:32:07
  May God watch over you and protect you from all harm, Your affectionate pupil,
• 2:32:15
  Annetta Bell. This extraordinary letter puzzled me not a little. I knew
• 2:32:20
  Annetta couldn't have composed it any more than she could fly. When I went
• 2:32:24
  to school the next day, I took her for a walk down to the
• 2:32:26
  brook at Recess and asked her to tell me the truth about the letter.
• 2:32:30
  Annetta cried and fessed up freely. She said she had never written a letter,
• 2:32:35
  and she didn't know how to or what to say, but there was
• 2:32:37
  a bundle of love letters in her mother's top bureau drawer, which had been
• 2:32:41
  written to her by an old beau. It wasn't father, sobbed Annetta.
• 2:32:48
  It was someone who was studying for a minister, and so he could write
• 2:32:50
  lovely letters. But Mau didn't marry him after all, She said she couldn't
• 2:32:58
  make out what he was driving half the time. But I thought the letters
• 2:33:03
  were sweet, and that I just copy things out of them here and there
• 2:33:07
  too write you. I put teacher where he put lady, and I put
• 2:33:11
  in something of my own when I could think of it, and I changed
• 2:33:13
  some words. I put dress in place of mood. I didn't know just
• 2:33:18
  what a mood was, but I supposed it was something to wear. I
• 2:33:22
  didn't suppose you'd know the difference. I don't see how you found out it
• 2:33:26
  wasn't all mine. You must be awful clever teacher. I told Annetta it
• 2:33:33
  was very wrong to copy another person's letter and pass it off as her own.
• 2:33:37
  But I'm afraid that all Annetta repented of was being found out. And
• 2:33:41
  I do love you, teacher, she sobbed. It was all true,
• 2:33:46
  even if the minister wrote it first. I do love you with all my
• 2:33:50
  heart. It's very difficult to scold anybody properly under such circumstances. Here is
• 2:33:58
  Barbara Shaw's letter. I can't reproduce the blots of the original. Dear teacher,
• 2:34:03
  you said we might write about a visit. I never visited, but
• 2:34:07
  once. It was at my Aunt Mary's last winter. My Aunt Mary is
• 2:34:13
  a very particular woman and a great housekeeper. Well, the first night I
• 2:34:16
  was there, we were at tea. I knocked over a jug and broke
• 2:34:20
  it. Aunt Mary said she had had that jug ever since she was married,
• 2:34:24
  and nobody had ever broken it before. When we got up, I
• 2:34:28
  stepped on her dress and all the gathers tore out of the skirt. On
• 2:34:31
  the next morning, when I got up, I hit the pitcher against the
• 2:34:35
  basin and cracked them both, and I upset a cup of tea on the
• 2:34:39
  tablecloth. At breakfast, when I was helping Aunt Mary with the dinner dishes,
• 2:34:43
  I dropped a china plate and it smashed. That evening, I fell
• 2:34:46
  downstairs and sprained my ankle and had to stay in bed for a week.
• 2:34:52
  I heard Aunt Mary tell Uncle Joseph it was a mercy, or I'd have
• 2:34:56
  broken everything in the house. When I got better, it was time to
• 2:35:00
  go home. I don't like visiting very much. I like going to school
• 2:35:03
  better, especially since I came to Avonlea. Yours, respectfully, barber Shaw.
• 2:35:11
  Willie Whites began, respected, miss. I want to tell you about
• 2:35:16
  my very brave aunt. She lives in Ontario, and one day she went
• 2:35:22
  out to the barn and saw a dog in the yard. The dog had
• 2:35:26
  no business there, so she got a stick and whacked him hard and drove
• 2:35:30
  him into the barn and shut him up. Pretty soon a man came looking
• 2:35:35
  for an imaginary lion. Query, did Willie mean a menagerie lion that had
• 2:35:41
  run away from a circus? And it turned out that the dog was a
• 2:35:45
  lion, and my very brave aunt had drun him into the barn with a
• 2:35:48
  stick. It was a wonder she was not et up, but she was
• 2:35:54
  very brave. Emerson Gillis says, if she thought it was a dog,
• 2:35:58
  she wasn't any brave then if it really was a dog. But Emerson is
• 2:36:03
  jealous because he hasn't got a brave aunt himself. Nothing but uncles, I
• 2:36:09
  have kept the best for last. You laugh at me because I think Paul
• 2:36:11
  is a genius, But I am sure his letter will convince you that he
• 2:36:15
  is a very uncommon child. Paul lives away down near the shore with his
• 2:36:18
  grandmother, and he has no playmates, no real playmates. You remember our
• 2:36:24
  school management professor told us that we must not have favorites among our pupils.
• 2:36:28
  But I can't help loving Paul, Irving the best of all mine. I
• 2:36:31
  don't think it does any harm, though, for everybody loves Paul, even
• 2:36:35
  missus Lynde, who says she could never have believed she'd get so fond of
• 2:36:39
  a Yankee. The other boys in school like him too. There is nothing
• 2:36:43
  weak or girlish about him. In spite of his dreams and fancies. He
• 2:36:46
  is very manly and can hold his own in all games. He fought Saint
• 2:36:50
  Clair Dunnell recently because Saint Clair said the Union jack was away ahead of the
• 2:36:54
  stars and stripes as a flag. The result was a drawn battle and a
• 2:36:58
  mutual agreement to respect each other's patriotism. Henceforward, Saint Clair says he can
• 2:37:03
  hit the hardest, but Paul can hit the oftenest. Paul's letter, My
• 2:37:09
  dear teacher, you told us we might write you about some interesting people we
• 2:37:13
  knew. I think the most interesting people I know are my rock people,
• 2:37:18
  and I mean to tell you about them. I have never told anybody about
• 2:37:22
  them except Grandma and father, but I would like to have you know about
• 2:37:26
  them, because you understand things. There are a great many people who do
• 2:37:30
  not understand things, so there is no use in telling them. My rock
• 2:37:35
  people live at the shore. I used to visit them almost every evening before
• 2:37:39
  the winter came. Now I can't go till spring, but they will be
• 2:37:41
  there. For people like that never change. That is the splendid thing about
• 2:37:46
  them. Nora was the first one of them I got acquainted with, and
• 2:37:50
  so I think I love her the best. She lives in Andrew's cove,
• 2:37:54
  and she has black hair and black eyes, and she knows all about the
• 2:37:58
  murmaid and the water kelpies. You ought to hear the stories she can tell.
• 2:38:03
  Then there are the Twin Sailors. They don't live anywhere. They sail
• 2:38:07
  all the time, but they often come ashore to talk to me. They
• 2:38:11
  are a pair of jolly tars, and they have seen everything in the world,
• 2:38:16
  and more than what is in the world. Do you know what happened
• 2:38:20
  to the youngest twin sailor? Once he was sailing and he sailed right into
• 2:38:24
  a moonglade. A moonclade is the track the full moon makes on the water
• 2:38:28
  when it is rising from the sea. You know, teacher, well,
• 2:38:31
  the youngest Twin Sailors sailed along the moonglade till he came right up to the
• 2:38:35
  moon, and there was a little golden door in the moon, and he
• 2:38:39
  opened it and sailed right through. He had some wonderful adventures in the moon,
• 2:38:45
  but it would make the letter too long to tell them. Then there's
• 2:38:48
  the Golden Lady of the cave. One day I found a big cave down
• 2:38:52
  the shore, and I went away in, and after a while I found
• 2:38:56
  the Golden Lady. She has golden hair right down to her feet, and
• 2:39:00
  her dress is all glittering and glistening like gold that is alive. And she
• 2:39:05
  has a golden harp and plays on it all day long. You can hear
• 2:39:09
  the music anytime along shore if you listen closely, but most people would think
• 2:39:13
  it was only the wind among the rocks. I've never told Nora about the
• 2:39:18
  Golden Lady. I was afraid it might hurt her feelings. It even hurt
• 2:39:22
  her feelings if I talked too long with the Twin Sailors. I always met
• 2:39:26
  the twin sailors at the Striped Rocks. The youngest twin sailor is very good
• 2:39:31
  tempered, but the oldest twin sailor can look dreadfully fierce at times. I
• 2:39:35
  have my suspicions about that oldest twin. I believe he'd be a pirate if
• 2:39:41
  he dared. There's really something very mysterious about him. He swore once,
• 2:39:45
  and I told him if he ever did it again, he needn't come ashore
• 2:39:48
  to talk to me, because I promised grandmother I'd never associate with anyone that
• 2:39:52
  swore. He was pretty well scared, I can tell you. And he
• 2:39:56
  said if I would forgive him, he would take me to the sunset.
• 2:40:01
  So the next evening, when I was sitting on the Striped Rocks, the
• 2:40:05
  oldest twin came sailing over the sea in an enchanted boat, and I got
• 2:40:09
  in her. The boat was all pearly and rainbowy, like the inside of
• 2:40:13
  the mussel shells, and her sail was like moonshine. Well, we sailed
• 2:40:18
  right across to the sunset. Think of that, teacher, I have been
• 2:40:22
  in the sunset, or what do you suppose it is? The sunset is
• 2:40:24
  a land all flowers. We sailed into a great garden, and the clouds
• 2:40:30
  are beds of flowers. We sailed into a great harbor, all the color
• 2:40:33
  of gold, and I stepped right out of the boat on the big meadow,
• 2:40:37
  all covered with buttercuffs as big as roses. I stay there forever,
• 2:40:39
  so long it seemed nearly a year, But the oldest twin says it was
• 2:40:43
  only a few minutes. You see in the sunset land. The time is
• 2:40:48
  ever so much longer than it is here, your loving pupil, Paul Irving
• 2:40:54
  p s. Of course this letter isn't really true, teacher p I.
• 2:41:01
  End of chapter eleven, Chapter twelve, a Jonah day. It really began
• 2:41:07
  the night before with a restless, wakeful vigil of grumbling toothache. When Anne
• 2:41:13
  arose in the dull, bitter winter morning, she felt that life was flat,
• 2:41:18
  stale, and unprofitable. She went to school in no angelic mood.
• 2:41:22
  Her cheek was swollen and her face ached. The schoolroom was cold and smoky,
• 2:41:28
  for the fire refused to burn, and the children were huddled about it
• 2:41:31
  in shivering groups. Anne sent them to their seats with a sharper tone than
• 2:41:35
  she had ever used before. Anthony Pye strutted to his with his usual impertinent
• 2:41:41
  swagger, and she saw him whisper something to his seat mate and then glance
• 2:41:45
  at her with a grin. Never, so, it seemed to Anne,
• 2:41:48
  had there been so many squeaky pencils as there were that morning. And when
• 2:41:52
  Barbara Shaw came up to the desk with a sum, she tripped over the
• 2:41:56
  coal scuttle with disastrous results. The coal rolled to every part of the room,
• 2:42:01
  her slate was broken into fragments, and when she picked herself up,
• 2:42:05
  her face stained with coal dust, sent the boys into roars of laughter.
• 2:42:11
  Anne turned from the second reader class, which she was hearing. Really Barbara,
• 2:42:16
  she said icily, if you cannot move without falling over something, you'd
• 2:42:20
  better remain in your seat. It is positively disgraceful for a girl of your
• 2:42:24
  age to be so awkward. Poor Barbara stumbled back to her desk, her
• 2:42:30
  tears combining with the coal dust to produce an effect truly grotesque. Never before
• 2:42:35
  had her beloved, sympathetic teacher spoken to her in such a tone or fashion,
• 2:42:39
  and Barbara was heartbroken. Anne herself felt a prick of conscience, but
• 2:42:45
  it only served to increase her mental irritation and the second reader class remember that
• 2:42:50
  lesson yet, as well as the unmerciful infliction of arithmetic that followed. Just
• 2:42:56
  as Anne was snapping the sums out, Saint Clair Dunnell arrived breathlessly. You
• 2:43:01
  are half an hour late, Saint Clair, Anne reminded him, frigidly.
• 2:43:05
  Why is this please? Miss I had to help Ma make a pudding for
• 2:43:09
  dinner because we're expecting company and Clarice Almira's sick was Saint Clair's answer, given
• 2:43:15
  in a perfectly respectful voice, but nevertheless provocative of great mirth among his mates.
• 2:43:20
  Take your seat and work out the six problems on page eighty four of
• 2:43:24
  your arithmetic for punishment, said Anne. Saint Clair looked rather amazed at her
• 2:43:28
  tone, but he went meekly to his desk and took out his slate.
• 2:43:33
  Then he stealthily passed a small parcel to Joe Sloane across the aisle. Anne
• 2:43:37
  caught him in the act and jumped to a fatal conclusion about that parcel.
• 2:43:43
  Old Missus Hiram Sloane had lately taken to making and selling nutcakes by way of
• 2:43:48
  adding to her scanty income. The cakes were specially tempting to small boys,
• 2:43:52
  and for several weeks Anne had had not a little trouble in regard to them.
• 2:43:58
  On their way to school, the boys would invest their spare cash at
• 2:44:01
  missus Hiram's, bring the cakes along with them to school, and if possible,
• 2:44:05
  eat them and treat their mates during school hours. Anne had warned them
• 2:44:09
  that if they brought any more cakes to school, they would be confiscated.
• 2:44:13
  And yet here was Saint Clair Donnell coolly passing a parcel of them, wrapped
• 2:44:18
  up in the blue and white striped paper. Missus Hiram used under her very
• 2:44:22
  eyes, Joseph said, Anne quietly, bring that parcel here. Joe startled
• 2:44:30
  and abashed obeyed. He was a fat urchin who always blushed and stuttered when
• 2:44:33
  he was frightened. Never did anybody look more guilty than poor Joe at that
• 2:44:37
  moment. Throw it into the fire, said Anne. Joe looked very blank.
• 2:44:45
  Papa, please mintmit miss He began, do as I tell you,
• 2:44:50
  Joseph, without any words about it. But but but miss there, gasped
• 2:44:58
  Joe in desperation. Joseph, are you going to obey me? Or are
• 2:45:03
  you not, said Anne, a bolder and more self possessed lad than Joe.
• 2:45:09
  Sloane would have been overawed by her tone and the dangerous flash of her
• 2:45:11
  eyes. This was a new Anne, whom none of her pupils had ever
• 2:45:16
  seen before. Joe, with an agonized glance at Saint Clair, went to
• 2:45:20
  the stove, opened the big square front door, and threw the blue and
• 2:45:24
  white parcel in before Saint Clair, who had sprung to his feet, could
• 2:45:28
  utter a word. Then he dodged back just in time. For a few
• 2:45:33
  moments, the terrified occupants of Avonlea School did not know whether it was an
• 2:45:37
  earthquake or a volcanic explosion that had occurred. The innocent looking parcel which Anne
• 2:45:43
  had rashly supposed to contain missus Hiram's nutcakes, really held an assortment of firecrackers
• 2:45:48
  and pinwheels for which Warren Sloane had sent to town by Saint Clair Dunnell's father
• 2:45:54
  the day before, intending to have a birthday celebration that evening. The crackers
• 2:45:58
  went off in a thunderclap of noise, and the pinwheels, bursting out of
• 2:46:03
  the door, spun madly around the room. Hissing and spluttering. Anne dropped
• 2:46:07
  into her chair, white with dismay, and all the girls climbed shrieking upon
• 2:46:11
  their desks. Joe Sloane stood as one transfixed in the midst of the commotion,
• 2:46:18
  and Saint Clair, helpless with laughter, rocked to and fro in the
• 2:46:22
  aisle. Prilly Rogerson fainted, and Annetta Bell went into hysterics. It seemed
• 2:46:28
  a long time, although it was really only a few minutes before the last
• 2:46:31
  pinwheel subsided. Anne, recovering herself, sprang to open doors and windows and
• 2:46:37
  let out the gas and smoke which filled the room. Then she helped the
• 2:46:41
  girls carry the unconscious Prilly into the porch, where Barbara Shaw, in an
• 2:46:46
  agony of desire to be useful, poured a pailful of half frozen water over
• 2:46:50
  Prilly's face and shoulders before anyone could stop her. It was a full hour
• 2:46:54
  before quiet was restored, but it was a quiet that might be felt.
• 2:47:00
  Everybody realized that even the explosion had not cleared the teacher's mental atmosphere. Nobody
• 2:47:05
  except Anthony Pye dared whisper a word. Ned Clay accidentally squeaked his pencil while
• 2:47:11
  working a sum caught Anne's eye and wished the floor would open and swallow him
• 2:47:16
  up. The geography class were whisked through a continent with a speed that made
• 2:47:20
  them dizzy. The grammar class were parsed and analyzed within an inch of their
• 2:47:24
  lives. Chester Sloane, spelling odoriferous with two f's, was made to feel
• 2:47:30
  that he could never live down the disgrace of it, either in this world
• 2:47:33
  or that which is to come. Anne knew that she had made herself ridiculous,
• 2:47:39
  and that the incident would be laughed over that night at a score of
• 2:47:41
  tea tables, but the knowledge only angered her further. In a calmer mood,
• 2:47:46
  she could have carried off the situation with a laugh, but now that
• 2:47:50
  was impossible, so she ignored it in icy disdain. When Anne returned to
• 2:47:54
  the school after dinner, all the children were as usual in their seats,
• 2:47:58
  and every face was bent studiously over a desk except Anthony Pye's. He peered
• 2:48:03
  across his book at Anne, his black eyes sparkling with curiosity and mockery.
• 2:48:09
  Anne twitched open the drawer of her desk in search of chalk, and under
• 2:48:13
  her very hand, a lively mouse sprang out of the drawer, scampered over
• 2:48:16
  the desk and leaped to the floor. Anne screamed and sprang back as if
• 2:48:20
  it had been a snake, and Anthony Pye laughed aloud. Then a silence
• 2:48:26
  fell, a very creepy, uncomfortable silence. Annetta Bell was of two minds
• 2:48:31
  whether to go into hysterics again or not, especially as she didn't know just
• 2:48:35
  where the mouse had gone, but she decided not to. Who could take
• 2:48:39
  any comfort out of hysterics with a teacher so white faced and so blazing eyed
• 2:48:43
  standing before one? Who put that mouse in my desk? Said Anne.
• 2:48:48
  Her voice was quite low, but it made a shiver go up and down
• 2:48:52
  Paul Irving's spine. Joe Sloane caught her eye, felt responsible from the crown
• 2:48:56
  of his head to the sole of his feet, but stuttered out wildly.
• 2:49:01
  Not me, the teacher, me. Anne paid no attention to the wretched
• 2:49:09
  Joseph. She looked at Anthony Pye, and Anthony Pye looked back, unabashed
• 2:49:13
  and unashamed. Anthony, Was it you? Yes, it was, said
• 2:49:20
  Anthony insolently. Anne took her pointer from her desk. It was a long,
• 2:49:24
  heavy, hardwood pointer. Come here, Anthony. It was far from
• 2:49:30
  being the most severe punishment Anthony Pye had ever undergone. Anne. Even the
• 2:49:35
  stormy sould Anne she was at that moment, could not have punished any child
• 2:49:39
  cruelly. But the pointer nipped keenly, and finally Anthony's bravado failed him.
• 2:49:45
  He winced, and the tears came to his eyes. Anne, conscience stricken,
• 2:49:50
  dropped the pointer and told Anthony to go to his seat. She sat
• 2:49:54
  down at her desk, feeling ashamed, repentant, and bitterly mortified. Her
• 2:49:58
  quick anger was gone, and she would have given much to have been able
• 2:50:01
  to seek relief in tears. So all her boasts had come to this.
• 2:50:05
  She had actually whipped one of her pupils. How Jane would triumph, and
• 2:50:11
  how mister Harrison would chuckle. But worse than this bitterest thought of all,
• 2:50:16
  she had lost her last chance of winning Anthony Pye. Never would he like
• 2:50:20
  her now. Anne, by what somebody has called a herculaneum effort, kept
• 2:50:26
  back her tears until she got home that night. Then she shut herself in
• 2:50:30
  the east gable room and wept all her shame and remorse and disappointment into her
• 2:50:33
  pillows. Wept so long that Marilla grew alarmed, invaded the room and insisted
• 2:50:39
  on knowing what the trouble was. The trouble is I've got things the matter
• 2:50:43
  with my conscience, sobbed Anne. Oh this has been such a Jonah day,
• 2:50:48
  Marilla. I'm so ashamed of myself. I lost my temper and whipped
• 2:50:54
  Anthony. Pye. I'm glad to hear it, said Marilla, with decision.
• 2:51:00
  It's what you should have done long ago. Oh no, no,
• 2:51:03
  Marilla. And I don't see how I can ever look those children in the
• 2:51:07
  face again. I feel that I have humiliated myself to the very dust.
• 2:51:11
  You don't know how cross and hateful and horrid I was. I can't forget
• 2:51:16
  the expression in Paul Irving's eyes. He looked so surprised and disappointed. Oh
• 2:51:22
  Marilla, I have tried so hard to be patient and to win Anthony's liking,
• 2:51:26
  and now it has all gone for nothing. Marilla passed her hard work
• 2:51:31
  worn hand over the girl's glossy, tumbled hair with a wonderful tenderness. When
• 2:51:35
  Anne's sobs grew quieter, she said very gently for her. You take things
• 2:51:41
  too much to heart. Anne. We all make mistakes, but people forget
• 2:51:46
  them, and Jonah days come to everybody. As for Anthony Pye, why
• 2:51:52
  need you care if he does dislike you, He's the only one. I
• 2:51:58
  can't help it. I want everybody to love me, and it hurts me
• 2:52:01
  so when anybody doesn't, and Anthony never will. Now, Oh, I
• 2:52:05
  just made an idiot of myself today, Marilla. I'll tell you the whole
• 2:52:09
  story. Marilla listened to the whole story, and if she smiled at certain
• 2:52:13
  parts of it, Anne never knew. When the tale was ended, she
• 2:52:16
  said briskly, Well, never mind, this day's done, and there's a
• 2:52:20
  new one coming tomorrow with no mistakes in it. Yet, as you used
• 2:52:24
  to say yourself, just come downstairs and have your supper. You'll see if
• 2:52:28
  a good cup of tea and those plum puffs I made today won't hearten you
• 2:52:31
  up. Plum puffs won't minister to a mind diseased, said Anne disconsolately.
• 2:52:37
  But Marilla thought it a good sign that she had recovered sufficiently to adapt a
• 2:52:41
  quotation the cheerful supper table with the twins bright faces and Marilla's matchless plum puffs,
• 2:52:48
  of which Davy eight four did hearten her up considerably. After all,
• 2:52:54
  she had a good sleep that night and awakened in the morning to find herself
• 2:52:56
  and the world transformed. It had snowed softly and thickly all through the hours
• 2:53:01
  of darkness, and the beautiful whiteness glittering in the frosty sunshine looked like a
• 2:53:07
  mantle of charity cast over all the mistakes and humiliations of the past. Every
• 2:53:13
  morn is a fresh beginning. Every morn is the world made new, sang
• 2:53:18
  Anne as she dressed. Owing to the snow, she had to go around
• 2:53:22
  by the road to school. Anne she thought it was certainly an impish coincidence
• 2:53:26
  that Anthony Pye should come plowing along just as she left the green Gables lane.
• 2:53:31
  She felt as guilty as if their positions were reversed. But to her
• 2:53:33
  unspeakable astonishment, Anthony not only lifted his cap, which he had never done
• 2:53:39
  before, but said easily, kind of bad walk, and ain't it?
• 2:53:43
  Can I take those books for you? Teacher? Anne surrendered her books and
• 2:53:48
  wondered if she could possibly be awake. Anthony walked on in silence to the
• 2:53:52
  school, but when Anne took her books, she smiled down at him,
• 2:53:56
  not the stereotyped kind smile she had so persist instantly assumed for his benefit,
• 2:54:01
  but a sudden outflashing of good comradeship, Anthony smiled. No, if the
• 2:54:07
  truth must be told, Anthony grinned back. A grin is not generally supposed
• 2:54:11
  to be a respectful thing. Yet Anne suddenly felt that if she had not
• 2:54:15
  yet won Anthony's liking, she had somehow or other won his respect. Missus
• 2:54:20
  Rachel Lynde came up the next Saturday and confirmed this. Well, Anne,
• 2:54:24
  I guess you've won over Anthony Pye. That's what he says. He believes
• 2:54:28
  you are some good after all, even if you are a girl. Says
• 2:54:33
  that whipping you gave him was just as good as a man's. I never
• 2:54:35
  expected to win him by whipping him, though, said Anne, a little
• 2:54:39
  mournfully, feeling that her ideals had played her false somewhere. It doesn't seem
• 2:54:45
  right. I'm sure my theory of kindness can't be wrong. No, but
• 2:54:48
  the pies are an exception to every known rule. That's what declared Missus Rachel
• 2:54:54
  with conviction. Mister Harrison said, thought you'd come to it when he heard
• 2:54:58
  it. And Jane rubbed it in rather unmercifully. End of chapter twelve,
• 2:55:05
  Chapter thirteen, a golden picnic. Anne, on her way to Orchard Slope,
• 2:55:13
  met Diana bound for Green Gables, just where the mossy old log bridge
• 2:55:16
  spanned the brook below the Haunted Wood, and they sat down by the margin
• 2:55:20
  of the dryad's bubble, where tiny ferns were unrolling like curly headed green pixie
• 2:55:26
  folk. Wakening up from a nap. I was just on my way over
• 2:55:30
  to invite you to help me celebrate my birthday on Saturday, said Anne,
• 2:55:33
  your birthday. But your birthday was in much That wasn't my fault, laughed
• 2:55:39
  Anne. If my parents had consulted me, it would never have happened.
• 2:55:43
  Then I should have chosen to be born in spring. Of course, it
• 2:55:46
  must be delightful to come into the world with the mayflowers and violets. You
• 2:55:50
  would always feel that you were their foster sister. But since I didn't,
• 2:55:54
  the next best thing is to celebrate my birthday in the spring. Priscilla is
• 2:55:58
  coming over Saturday, and Jane will be home. We'll all four start off
• 2:56:03
  to the woods and spend a golden day, making the acquaintance of the spring.
• 2:56:07
  We none of us really know her yet, but we'll meet her back
• 2:56:09
  there, as we never can anywhere else. I want to explore all those
• 2:56:13
  fields and lonely places anyhow. I have a conviction that there are scores of
• 2:56:18
  beautiful nooks there that have never really been seen, although they may have been
• 2:56:20
  looked at. We'll make friends with wind and sky and sun and bring home
• 2:56:26
  the spring in our hearts. It sounds awfully nice, said Diana, with
• 2:56:31
  some inward distrust of Anne's magic of words. But won't it be very dump
• 2:56:35
  in some places? Yet? Oh well, we're rubbers, was Anne's concession
• 2:56:39
  to practicalities. And I want you to come over early Saturday morning and help
• 2:56:43
  me prepare lunch. I'm going to have the daintiest things possible, things that
• 2:56:48
  will match the spring, you understand, Little jelly tarts and lady fingers,
• 2:56:52
  and drop cookies frosted with pink and yellow icing, and buttercup cake. And
• 2:56:56
  we must have sandwiches too, though they're not very poet. Saturday proved an
• 2:57:01
  ideal day for a picnic, a day of breeze and blue, warm sunny,
• 2:57:07
  with a little rollicking wind blowing across meadow and orchard. Over every sunlit
• 2:57:11
  upland and field was a delicate flower starred green. Mister Harrison, harrowing at
• 2:57:16
  the back of his farm and feeling some of the spring witch work even in
• 2:57:20
  his sober middle aged blood, saw four girls, basket laden, tripping across
• 2:57:26
  the end of his field, where it joined a fringing woodland of birch and
• 2:57:28
  fur. Their blithe voices and laughter echoed down to him. It's so easy
• 2:57:35
  to be happy on a day like this, isn't it, Anne was saying,
• 2:57:37
  with true Anish philosophy. Let's try to make this a really golden day.
• 2:57:43
  Girl's a day to which we can always look back with delight. Were
• 2:57:46
  to seek for beauty and refuse to see anything else begone? Dull care,
• 2:57:52
  Jane, you are thinking of something that went wrong in school yesterday. How
• 2:57:56
  do you know, gasped Jane, amazed. Oh oh, I know the
• 2:58:00
  expression. I've felt it often enough on my own face. But put it
• 2:58:03
  out of your mind. There's a deer it will keep till Monday. Or
• 2:58:07
  if it doesn't, so much the better. Oh girls, girls, see
• 2:58:11
  that patch of violets. There's something for memory's picture gallery. When I'm eighty
• 2:58:15
  years old, If I ever, am, I shall shut my eyes and
• 2:58:18
  see those violets just as I see them. Now. That's the first good
• 2:58:22
  gift our day has given us. If a kiss could be seen, I
• 2:58:26
  think it would look like a violet, said Priscilla. Anne glowed. I'm
• 2:58:31
  so glad you spoke that thought, Priscilla, instead of just thinking it and
• 2:58:35
  keeping it to yourself. This world would be a much more interesting place,
• 2:58:39
  although it is very interesting anyhow, if people spoke out their real thoughts,
• 2:58:45
  it would be too hot to hold some folks, quoted Jane Sagely. I
• 2:58:50
  suppose it might be, but that would be their own faults for thinking nasty
• 2:58:52
  things. Anyway, we can tell all our thoughts today, because we are
• 2:58:56
  going to have nothing but beautiful thoughts. Everybody can say just what comes into
• 2:59:01
  her head. That is conversation. Here's a little path I never saw before.
• 2:59:05
  Let's explore it. The path was a winding one, so narrow that
• 2:59:11
  the girls walked in single file, and even then the fur boughs brushed their
• 2:59:15
  faces. Under the firs were velvety cushions of moss, and further on,
• 2:59:20
  where the trees were smaller and fewer, the ground was rich in a variety
• 2:59:24
  of green growing things. What a lot of elephants, ears, exclaimed Diana.
• 2:59:28
  I'm going to pick a big bunch. They're so pretty. How did
• 2:59:33
  such graceful, feathery things ever come to have such a dreadful name, asked
• 2:59:39
  Priscilla, because the person who first named them either had no imagination at all,
• 2:59:43
  or else far too much, said Anne. Oh, girls, look
• 2:59:46
  at that. That was a shallow woodland pool in the center of a little
• 2:59:52
  open glade where the path ended. Later on in the season it would be
• 2:59:56
  dried up and its place filled with a rank growth of ferns. But now
• 3:00:00
  it was a glimmering placid sheet, round as a saucer and clear as crystal.
• 3:00:05
  A ring of slender young bushes encircled it, and little ferns fringed its
• 3:00:09
  margin. How sweet, said Jane. Let us dance around it like wood
• 3:00:15
  nymphs, cried Anne, dropping her basket and extending her hands. But the
• 3:00:20
  dance was not a success, for the ground was boggy and Jane's rubbers came
• 3:00:24
  off. You can't be a wood nymph if you have to wear rubbers,
• 3:00:28
  was her decision. Well we must name this place before we leave it,
• 3:00:33
  said Anne. Yielding to the indisputable logic of facts, everybody suggests a name
• 3:00:37
  and will draw lots. Diana, birch Pool, suggested Diana promptly, Crystal
• 3:00:45
  Lake, said Jane. Anne, standing behind them, implored Priscilla with her
• 3:00:50
  eyes not to perpetrate another such name, and Priscilla rose to the occasion with
• 3:00:54
  glimmer glass. Anne's selection was the fairy's mirror. The names were written on
• 3:01:01
  strips of birch bark with a pencil school ma'am Jane produced from her pocket and
• 3:01:05
  placed in Anne's hat. Then Priscilla shut her eyes and drew one. Crystal
• 3:01:09
  Lake, read Jane triumphantly. Cristel Lake it was. And if Anne thought
• 3:01:15
  that chance had played the pool a shabby trick, she did not say so.
• 3:01:18
  Pushing through the undergrowth beyond, the girls came out to the young green
• 3:01:22
  seclusion of mister Silas Sloane's back pasture. Across it, they found the entrance
• 3:01:28
  to a lane striking up through the woods, and voted to explore it also.
• 3:01:33
  It rewarded their quest with a succession of pretty surprises. First, skirting
• 3:01:37
  mister Sloane's pasture came an archway of wild cherry trees all in bloom. The
• 3:01:43
  girls swung their hats on their arms and wreathed their hair with the creamy,
• 3:01:46
  fluffy blossoms. Then the lane turned at right angles and plunged into a spruce
• 3:01:52
  wood so thick and dark that they walked in a gloom as of twilight,
• 3:01:56
  with not a glimpse of sky or sunlight to be seen. This is where
• 3:02:01
  the bad wood elves dwell, whispered Anne. They are impish and malicious,
• 3:02:05
  but they can't harm us because they are not allowed to do evil. In
• 3:02:09
  the spring. There was one peeping at us around that old twisted fur And
• 3:02:13
  didn't you see a group of them on that big, freckly toadstool We just
• 3:02:16
  passed. The good fairies always dwell in the sunshiny places. I wish there
• 3:02:22
  really were fairies, said Jane. Wouldn't it be nice to have three wishes
• 3:02:26
  granted you, or even only one? What would you wish for, girls,
• 3:02:31
  if you could have a wish granted. I'd wish to be rich and
• 3:02:35
  beautiful and clever. I'd wish to be tall and slim, said Diana.
• 3:02:41
  I would wish to be famous, said Priscilla. Anne thought of her hair,
• 3:02:48
  and then dismissed the thought as unworthy. I'd wish it might be spring
• 3:02:52
  all the time, and in everybody's heart and all our lives, she said.
• 3:02:56
  But that, said Priscilla, would be just wishing this world were like
• 3:03:01
  Heaven, only like a part of Heaven. In the other parts. There
• 3:03:05
  would be summer in autumn, yes, and a bit of winter too.
• 3:03:09
  I think I want glittering snowy fields and white frosts in heaven sometimes, don't
• 3:03:13
  you, Jane. I I don't know, said Jane uncomfortably. Jane was
• 3:03:18
  a good girl, a member of the church, who tried conscientiously to live
• 3:03:24
  up to her profession and believed everything she had been taught. But she never
• 3:03:28
  thought about heaven any more than she could help for all that. Minnie May
• 3:03:31
  asked me the other day if we would wear our best dresses every day in
• 3:03:35
  heaven, laughed Diana. And didn't you tell her we would, asked Anne
• 3:03:41
  Mercy. No. I told her we wouldn't be thinking of dresses at all
• 3:03:45
  there. Oh, I think we will a little, said Anne earnestly.
• 3:03:50
  There'll be plenty of time and all eternity for it, without neglecting more important
• 3:03:54
  things. I believe we'll all wear beautiful dresses. Or I suppose raiment would
• 3:03:58
  be a more suitable way of speaking. I shall want to wear pink for
• 3:04:01
  a few centuries at first, it would take me that long to get tired
• 3:04:05
  of it. I feel sure I do love pink so and I can never
• 3:04:09
  wear it in this world. Past the spruces, the lane dipped down into
• 3:04:13
  a sunny little open where a log bridge spanned a brook. And then came
• 3:04:16
  the glory of a sunlit beech wood, where the air was like transparent golden
• 3:04:20
  wine, and the leaves fresh and green, and the wood floor a mosaic
• 3:04:24
  of tremulous sunshine. Then more wild cherries, and a little valley of lissom
• 3:04:30
  firs, and then a hill so steep that the girls lost their breath climbing
• 3:04:35
  it. But when they reached the top and came out into the open,
• 3:04:37
  the prettiest surprise of all awaited them. Beyond were the back fields of the
• 3:04:43
  farms that ran out to the Upper Carmity Road. Just before them, hemmed
• 3:04:48
  in by beeches and firs, but open to the south was a little corner,
• 3:04:50
  and in it a garden, or what had once been a garden,
• 3:04:54
  A tumble down stone dike overgrown with mosses and grass surrounded it. Along the
• 3:05:00
  eastern side ran a row of garden cherry trees white as a snow drift.
• 3:05:05
  There were traces of old paths still, and a double line of rose bushes
• 3:05:09
  through the middle. But all the rest of the space was a sheet of
• 3:05:11
  yellow and white. Narcissi in their aeriest, most lavish wind swayed bloom above
• 3:05:16
  the lush green grasses. Oh, perfectly, lovely, lovely, three of
• 3:05:22
  the girls cried, Anne only gazed in eloquent silence. How in the world
• 3:05:28
  does it happen that there ever was a garden back here, said Priscilla in
• 3:05:31
  amazement. It must be hisster Gray's garden, said Diana. I've heard mother
• 3:05:37
  speak of it, but I never saw it before, and I wouldn't have
• 3:05:41
  supposed that it could be in existence. Still, you've heard the story,
• 3:05:45
  Anne, No, but the name seems familiar to me. Oh, you've
• 3:05:48
  seen it in the graveyard. She is buried down there in the poplar corner.
• 3:05:54
  You know, the little brown stone with the opening gates carved on it
• 3:05:58
  and sacred to the memory of Hester Gray, aged twenty two. Jordan Gray
• 3:06:03
  is buried right beside her, but there's no stone to him. It's a
• 3:06:07
  wonder Marilla never told you about it, Anne, to be sure. It
• 3:06:11
  happened thirty years ago and everybody has forgotten. Well, if there's a story,
• 3:06:16
  we must have it, said Anne. Let's sit right down here among
• 3:06:20
  the narcissi and Diana will tell it. Why girls, there are hundreds of
• 3:06:24
  them. They've spread over everything. It looks as if the garden were carpeted
• 3:06:28
  with moonshine and sunshine combined. This is a discovery worth making to think that
• 3:06:33
  I've lived within a mile of this place for six years and have never seen
• 3:06:37
  it before. Now, Diana long ago began Diana. This farm belonged to
• 3:06:43
  old mister David Gray. He didn't live on it. He lived where Silas
• 3:06:48
  Sloane lives now. He had one son, Jordan, and he went up
• 3:06:52
  to Boston one winter to work, and while he was there he fell in
• 3:06:56
  love with a girl named Hester Murray. She was working in a store and
• 3:07:01
  she hated it. She'd been brought up in the country and she always wanted
• 3:07:05
  to get back. When Jordan asked her to marry him, she said she
• 3:07:11
  would if he'd take her away to some quiet spot where she'd see nothing but
• 3:07:16
  fields and trees. So he brought her to Avonlea. Missus Lynde said he
• 3:07:22
  was taking a fearful risk in marrying a Yankee. And it's certain that Hester
• 3:07:26
  was very delicate and a very poor housekeeper. But mother says she was very
• 3:07:31
  pretty and sweet, and Jordan just worshiped the ground she walked on. Well,
• 3:07:37
  mister Gray gave Jordan this farm, and he built a little house back
• 3:07:41
  here, and Jordan and Hester lived in it for four years. She never
• 3:07:46
  went out much, and hardly anybody went to see her except mother and missus
• 3:07:50
  Lynde. Jordan made her this garden, and she was crazy about it and
• 3:07:56
  spent most of her time in it. She wasn't much of a housekeeper,
• 3:07:58
  but she had a neck with flowers, and then she got sick. Mother
• 3:08:05
  says she thinks she was in consumption before she ever came here. She never
• 3:08:09
  rarely laid up, but just grew weaker and weaker all the time. Jordan
• 3:08:15
  wouldn't have anybody to wait on her. He did it all himself, and
• 3:08:18
  mother says he was as tender and gentle as a woman. Every day he'd
• 3:08:24
  wrap her in a shawl and carry her out to the garden, and she'd
• 3:08:28
  lie there on a bench quite happy. They say. She used to make
• 3:08:31
  Jordan kneel down by her every night and morning and pray with her that she
• 3:08:37
  might die out in the garden when the time came and her prayer was answered.
• 3:08:41
  One day, Jordan carried her out to the bench, and then he
• 3:08:46
  picked all the roses that were out and heaped them over her, and she
• 3:08:50
  just smiled up at him and closed her eyes. And that concluded, Diana
• 3:08:56
  softly, was the end. Oh, what a dear story, sighed Anne,
• 3:09:03
  wiping away her tears. What became of Jordan, asked Priscilla. He
• 3:09:09
  sold the farm after Hester died and went back to Boston. Mister Jabez Slerne
• 3:09:13
  bought the farm and hauled the little house out to the road. Jordan died
• 3:09:18
  about ten years after, and he was brought home and buried beside Hester.
• 3:09:22
  I can't understand how she could have wanted to live back here, away from
• 3:09:26
  everything, said Jane. Oh. I can easily understand that, said Anne.
• 3:09:31
  Thoughtfully. I wouldn't want it myself for a steady thing, because although
• 3:09:37
  I love the fields and woods, I love people too. But I can
• 3:09:39
  understand it. In Hester she was tired to death of the noise of the
• 3:09:43
  big city and the crowds of people always coming and going and caring nothing for
• 3:09:46
  her. She just wanted to escape from it all to some still, green,
• 3:09:52
  friendly place where she could rest. And she got just what she wanted,
• 3:09:56
  which is something very few people do. I believe she had four beautiful
• 3:10:01
  years before she died, four years of perfect happiness. So I think she
• 3:10:05
  was to be envied more than pitied, and then to shut your eyes and
• 3:10:09
  fall asleep among roses, with the one you loved best on earth smiling down
• 3:10:13
  at you. Oh, I think it was beautiful. She set up those
• 3:10:18
  cherry trees over there, said Diana. She told mother she'd never lived to
• 3:10:22
  eat their fruit, but she wanted to think that something she had planted would
• 3:10:26
  go on living and helping to make the world beautiful after she was dead.
• 3:10:31
  I'm so glad we came this way, said Anne the shining eyed. This
• 3:10:35
  is my adopted birthday, you know, and this garden and its story is
• 3:10:39
  the birthday gift it has given me. Did your mother ever tell you what
• 3:10:43
  Hester Gray looked like, Diana, No, only just that she was very
• 3:10:48
  pretty. I'm rather glad of that, because I can imagine what she looked
• 3:10:52
  like without being hampered by facts. I think she was very slight and small,
• 3:10:56
  with softly curling dark hair and big, sweet, timid brown eyes and
• 3:11:01
  a little wistful, pale face. The girls left their baskets in Hester's garden
• 3:11:05
  and spent the rest of the afternoon rambling in the woods and fields surrounding it,
• 3:11:09
  discovering many pretty nooks and lanes. When they got hungry, they had
• 3:11:13
  lunch in the prettiest spot of all, on the steep bank of a gurgling
• 3:11:18
  brook, where white birches shot up out of long, feathery grasses. The
• 3:11:22
  girls sat down by the roots and did full justice to Anne's dainties, even
• 3:11:26
  the unpoetical sandwiches, being greatly appreciated by hearty, unspoiled appetites sharpened by all
• 3:11:31
  the fresh air and exercise they had enjoyed. Anne had brought glasses and lemonade
• 3:11:37
  for her guests, but for her own part drank cold brookwater from a cup
• 3:11:41
  fashioned out of birch bark. The cup leaked, and the water tasted of
• 3:11:46
  earth, as brookwater is apt to do in spring. But Anne thought it
• 3:11:50
  more appropriate to the occasion than lemonade. Look do you see that poem,
• 3:11:54
  she said, suddenly, pointing where Jane and Diana stared as if expecting to
• 3:12:00
  see runic rhymes on the birch trees there down in the brook, that old
• 3:12:05
  green mossy log with the water flowing over it, in those smooth ripples that
• 3:12:09
  look as if they'd been combed, and that single shaft of sunshine falling right
• 3:12:13
  athwart it, far down into the pool. Oh, it's the most beautiful
• 3:12:18
  poem I ever saw. I should rather call it a picture, said Jane.
• 3:12:24
  A poem is lines and verses, Oh, dear me, no,
• 3:12:28
  Anne shook her head with its fluffy, wild cherry coronel positively. The lines
• 3:12:33
  and verses are only the outward garments of the poem, and are no more
• 3:12:37
  really it than your ruffles and flownss are you, Jane? The real poem
• 3:12:41
  is the soul within them, and that beautiful bit is the soul of an
• 3:12:45
  unwritten poem. It is not every day one sees a soul, even of
• 3:12:48
  a poem. I wonder what a soul, A person's soul would look like,
• 3:12:54
  said Priscilla dreamily. Like that I should think, answered Anne, pointing
• 3:13:00
  to a radiance of sifted sunlight streaming through a birch tree, only with shape
• 3:13:05
  and features. Of course, I like to fancy souls as being made of
• 3:13:07
  light, and some are all shot through with rosy stains and quivers, and
• 3:13:13
  some have a soft glitter like moonlight on the sea, and some are pale
• 3:13:16
  and transparent, like mist at dawn. I read somewhere once that souls were
• 3:13:22
  like flowers, said Priscilla. Then your soul is a golden narcissus, said
• 3:13:28
  Anne, And Diana's is like a red red rose. Jane's is an apple
• 3:13:33
  blossom, pink and wholesome and sweet, and your own is a white violet
• 3:13:37
  with purple streaks in its heart, finished Priscilla. Jane whispered to Diana that
• 3:13:43
  she really could not understand what they were talking about, could she. The
• 3:13:48
  girls went home by the light of a calm, golden sunset, their baskets
• 3:13:52
  filled with narcissus blossoms from Hester's garden, some of which Anne carried to the
• 3:13:56
  cemetery next day and laid upon Hester's gray minstrel robins were whistling in the firs,
• 3:14:03
  and the frogs were singing in the marshes. All the basins among the
• 3:14:07
  hills were brimmed with topaz and emerald light. Well we have had a lovely
• 3:14:11
  time, after all, said Diana, as if she had hardly expected to
• 3:14:16
  have it when she set out. Ah, it has been a truly golden
• 3:14:20
  day, said Priscilla. I'm really awfully fond of the woods myself, said
• 3:14:26
  Jane. Anne said nothing. She was looking afar into the western sky and
• 3:14:31
  thinking of little Hester Gray. End of Chapter thirteen, Chapter fourteen, A
• 3:14:39
  danger averted. Anne, walking home from the post office one Friday evening,
• 3:14:46
  was joined by missus Lynde, who was, as usual, cumbered with all
• 3:14:48
  the cares of church and state. I've just been down to Timothy Cotton's to
• 3:14:52
  see if I could get Alice Louise to help me for a few days,
• 3:14:56
  she said. I had her last week for though she's too slow to stop
• 3:15:01
  quick. She's better than nobody, but she's sick and can't come. Timothy's
• 3:15:05
  sitting there too, coughing and complaining. He's been dying for ten years,
• 3:15:09
  and he'll go on dying for ten more. That kind can't even die and
• 3:15:13
  have done with it. They can't stick to anything, even to being sick
• 3:15:18
  long enough to finish it. They're a terrible shiftless family. And what is
• 3:15:22
  to become of them? I don't know, but perhaps providence does, Missus
• 3:15:28
  Lynde sighed, as if she rather doubted the extent of providential knowledge on the
• 3:15:33
  subject. Marilla was in about her eyes again Tuesday, wasn't she? What
• 3:15:37
  did the specialists think of them? She continued? He was much pleased,
• 3:15:43
  said Anne brightly. He says there is a great improvement in them, and
• 3:15:46
  he thinks the danger of her losing her sight completely is past. But he
• 3:15:50
  says she'll never be able to read much or do any fine hand work again.
• 3:15:54
  How are your preparations for your bazaar coming? On? The Lady's Aid
• 3:15:58
  Society was paring for a fare in supper, and Missus Lynde was the head
• 3:16:03
  and front of the enterprise pretty well. And that reminds me. Missus Allan
• 3:16:09
  thinks it would be nice to fix up a booth like an old time kitchen
• 3:16:11
  and serve a supper of baked beans, doughnuts, pie and so on.
• 3:16:15
  We're collecting old fashioned fixings everywhere. Missus Simon Fletcher is going to lend us
• 3:16:20
  her mother's braided rugs, and missus Leli Boulter some old chairs, and Aunt
• 3:16:24
  Mary Shaw will lend us her cupboard with the glass doors. I suppose Marilla
• 3:16:28
  will let us have her brass candlesticks, and we want all the old dishes
• 3:16:31
  we can get. Missus Allan especially set on having a real blue willow ware
• 3:16:37
  platter if we can find one, but nobody seems to have one. Do
• 3:16:39
  you know where we could get one? Miss Josephine Barry has one. I'll
• 3:16:45
  write and ask her if she'll lend it for the occasion, said Anne,
• 3:16:48
  Well, I wish you would. I guess we'll have the supper in about
• 3:16:52
  a fortnight's time. Uncle Abe Andrews is prophecy and rain and stones for about
• 3:16:56
  that time, and that's a pretty sure sign we'll have fine weather. The
• 3:17:00
  said Uncle Abe, it may be mentioned, was at least like other prophets
• 3:17:03
  in that he had small honor in his own country. He was in fact
• 3:17:07
  considered in the life of a standing joke, for few of his weather predictions
• 3:17:11
  were ever fulfilled. Mister Elisha Wright, who labored under the impression that he
• 3:17:16
  was a local wit, used to say that nobody in Avonlea ever thought of
• 3:17:20
  looking in the Charlottetown dailies for weather probabilities. No, they just asked Uncle
• 3:17:26
  Abe what it was going to be tomorrow and expected the opposite. Nothing daunted,
• 3:17:30
  Uncle Abe kept on prophesying. We want to have the fare over before
• 3:17:33
  the election comes off, continued missus Lynde. For the candidates will be sure
• 3:17:39
  to come and spend lots of money. The Tories have bribeen right and left,
• 3:17:43
  so they might as well be given a chance to spend their money honestly.
• 3:17:45
  For once, Anne was a red hot Conservative out of loyalty to Matthew's
• 3:17:50
  memory. But she said nothing. She knew better than to get Missus Lynde
• 3:17:54
  started on politics. She had a letter from Marilla, postmarked from a town
• 3:17:58
  in British Columbia. It's probably from the children's uncle, she said excitedly when
• 3:18:03
  she got home. Oh, Marilla, I wonder what he says about them.
• 3:18:07
  The best plan might be to open it and see, said Marilla curtly.
• 3:18:11
  A close observer might have thought that she was excited also, but she
• 3:18:16
  would rather have died than show it. Anne tore open the letter and glanced
• 3:18:20
  over the somewhat untidy and poorly written contents. He says he can't take the
• 3:18:24
  children this spring. He's been sick most of the winter, and his wedding
• 3:18:28
  is put off. He wants to know if we can keep them till the
• 3:18:31
  fall, and he'll try and take them. Then we will, of course,
• 3:18:33
  won't we, Marilla. I don't see that there is anything else for
• 3:18:37
  us to do, said Marilla rather grimly, although she felt a secret relief.
• 3:18:41
  Anyhow, they're not so much trouble as they were, or else we've
• 3:18:45
  got used to them. Davy has improved a great deal. His manners are
• 3:18:50
  certainly much better, said Anne cautiously, as if she were not prepared to
• 3:18:54
  say as much for his morals. Anne had come home from school the previous
• 3:18:58
  evening to find Marilla away at an AID meeting, Dora asleep on the kitchen
• 3:19:03
  sofa, and Davy in the sitting room closet, blissfully absorbing the contents of
• 3:19:07
  a jar of Marilla's famous yellow plum preserves company jam Davy called it, which
• 3:19:13
  he had been forbidden to touch. He looked very guilty when Anne pounced on
• 3:19:18
  him and whisked him out of the closet. Davy, Keith, don't you
• 3:19:20
  know that it is very wrong of you to be eating that jam when you
• 3:19:24
  were told never to meddle with anything in that closet. Yes, I knew
• 3:19:28
  it was wrong, admitted Davy uncomfortably. But plum jam is awful, nice
• 3:19:35
  Anne. I just peeped in and it looked so good I thought I'd take
• 3:19:39
  just a weeny taste. I stuck my finger in. Anne groaned and licked
• 3:19:45
  it clean, and it was so much gooder than I'd ever thought that.
• 3:19:48
  I got a spoon and just sailed in. Anne gave him such a serious
• 3:19:54
  lecture on the sin of stealing plum jam that Davy became conscious stricken, and
• 3:19:58
  promised, with repentant kisses, never to do it again. Anyhow. There'll
• 3:20:03
  be plenty of jam in heaven. That's one comfort, he said, complacently.
• 3:20:09
  Anne niffed a smile in the bud. Perhaps there will if we want
• 3:20:13
  it, she said, But what makes you think so? Why it's in
• 3:20:16
  the Catechism, said Davy. Oh no, there is nothing like that in
• 3:20:22
  the Catechism, Davy. But I tell you there is, persisted Davy.
• 3:20:26
  It was in that question Marilla taught me last Sunday. Why should we love
• 3:20:33
  God? It says because he makes preserves and redeems us preserves is just a
• 3:20:39
  holy way of saying jam. I must get a drink of water, said
• 3:20:43
  Anne hastily. When she came back. It cost her some time and trouble
• 3:20:48
  to explain to Davy that a certain comma in the said catechism question made a
• 3:20:52
  great deal of difference in the meaning. Well, I thought it was too
• 3:20:56
  good to be true, he said it last, with a sigh of disappointed
• 3:21:01
  conviction. And besides, I didn't see when he'd find time to make jam.
• 3:21:07
  If it's one endless Sabbath day, as the hymn says, I don't
• 3:21:11
  believe I want to go to heaven. Won't there ever be any Saturdays in
• 3:21:15
  heaven? Anne, Yes, Saturdays and every other kind of beautiful days,
• 3:21:20
  And every day in heaven will be more beautiful than the one before it,
• 3:21:22
  Davy assured Anne, who was rather glad that Marilla was not by to be
• 3:21:28
  shocked. Marilla, it is needless to say, was bringing the twins up
• 3:21:31
  in the good old ways of theology, and discouraged all fanciful speculations. Thereon,
• 3:21:37
  Davy and Dora were taught a hymn a catechism question and two Bible verses
• 3:21:41
  every Sunday. Dora learned meekly and recited like a little machine, with perhaps
• 3:21:46
  as much understanding or interest as if she were one. Davy, on the
• 3:21:50
  contrary, had a lively curiosity and frequently asked questions, which made Marilla tremble
• 3:21:56
  for his fate. Chester Sloan says, will do nothing all the time in
• 3:22:01
  heaven but walk around in white dresses and play on harps. And he says
• 3:22:05
  he hopes he won't have to go till he's an old man, because maybe
• 3:22:09
  he'll like it better then. And he thinks it will be horrid to wear
• 3:22:15
  dresses, and I think so too. Why can't men angels wear trousers?
• 3:22:20
  Ann Chester Sloane is interested in those things because they're going to make a minister
• 3:22:24
  of him. He's got to be a minister because his grandmother left the money
• 3:22:30
  to send him to college, and he can't have it unless he is a
• 3:22:33
  minister. She thought a minister was such a spectable thing to have in a
• 3:22:37
  family. Chester says he doesn't mind much, though he'd rather be a blacksmith.
• 3:22:45
  But he's bound to have all the fun he can before he begins to
• 3:22:48
  be a minister because he doesn't expect to have much afterwards. I ain't going
• 3:22:54
  to be a minister. I'm going to be a storekeeper like mister Blair and
• 3:22:58
  keep heaps of candy and bananas. But I'd rather like going to your kind
• 3:23:03
  of a heaven if they'd let me play a mouth organ instead of a harp.
• 3:23:07
  Do you suppose they would? Yes? I think they would if you
• 3:23:11
  wanted. It was all Anne could trust herself to say. The Avis met
• 3:23:18
  at mister Harmon Andrews that evening, and a full attendance had been requested since
• 3:23:22
  important business was to be discussed. The Aviis was in a flourishing condition and
• 3:23:28
  had already accomplished wonders. Early in the spring, mister Major Spencer had redeemed
• 3:23:33
  his promise and had stumped, grated, and seeded down all the road front
• 3:23:37
  of his farm. A dozen other men, some prompted by a determination not
• 3:23:41
  to let us Spencer get ahead of them, others goaded into action by improvers
• 3:23:45
  in their own households, had followed his example. The result was that there
• 3:23:50
  were long strips of smooth velvet turf where once had been unsightly undergrowth or brush.
• 3:23:54
  The farm fronts that had not been done looked so badly by contrast,
• 3:23:58
  that the owner were secretly shamed into resolving to see what they could do another
• 3:24:03
  spring. The triangle of ground at the cross roads had also been cleared and
• 3:24:07
  seated down, and Anne's bed of geraniums, unharmed by any marauding cow,
• 3:24:11
  was already set out in the center. Altogether, the improvers thought that they
• 3:24:16
  were getting on beautifully, even if mister lee by Bolter, tactfully approached by
• 3:24:20
  a carefully selected committee in regard to the old house on his upper farm,
• 3:24:24
  did bluntly tell them that he wasn't going to have it meddled with. At
• 3:24:28
  this especial meeting, they intended to draw up a petition to the school trustees,
• 3:24:33
  humbly praying that a fence be put around the school grounds, and a
• 3:24:37
  plan was also to be discussed for planting a few ornamental trees by the church,
• 3:24:41
  if the funds of the society would permit of it, For as Anne
• 3:24:46
  said, there was no use in starting another subscription as long as the hall
• 3:24:50
  remained blue. The members were assembled in the Andrews parlor, and Jane was
• 3:24:54
  already on her feet to move the appointment of a committee which should find out
• 3:24:58
  and report on the p said trees. When Gertie Pye swept in, pompadored
• 3:25:03
  and frilled within an inch of her life. Gerty had a habit of being
• 3:25:07
  late to make her entrance more effective. Spiteful people said Gerty's entrance in this
• 3:25:13
  instance was certainly effective, for she paused dramatically on the middle of the floor,
• 3:25:18
  threw up her hands, rolled her eyes, and exclaimed, I've gets
• 3:25:22
  heard something perfectly awful. What do you think mister Jetson Parker is going to
• 3:25:26
  rent all the rope fence of his farm to a patent medicine company to paint
• 3:25:31
  advertisements on. For once in her life, Gerty Pye made all the sensation
• 3:25:37
  she desired. If she had thrown a bomb among the complacent improvers, she
• 3:25:41
  could hardly have made more. It can't be true, said Anne blankly.
• 3:25:46
  That's just what I said when I heard it first, don't you know,
• 3:25:50
  said Gerty, who was enjoying herself hugely. I said it couldn't be true
• 3:25:54
  that jets and Parker wouldn't have the heart to do it, don't you know.
• 3:25:58
  But father met him this afternoon and asked him about it, and he
• 3:26:01
  said, it was true. Just fancy his farm is sided onto the Newbridge
• 3:26:07
  vote, And how perfectly awful it will look to see advertisements of pills and
• 3:26:11
  plasters all along it, don't you know? The improvers did know all too
• 3:26:16
  well. Even the least imaginative among them could picture the grotesque effect of half
• 3:26:20
  a mile of board fence adorned with such advertisements. All thought of church and
• 3:26:26
  school grounds vanished before this new danger. Parliamentary rules and regulations were forgotten,
• 3:26:31
  and Anne, in despair, gave up trying to keep minutes at all.
• 3:26:35
  Everybody talked at once, and fearful was the hubbub. Oh let us keep
• 3:26:41
  calm, implored Anne, who was the most excited of them all, and
• 3:26:45
  try to think of some way of preventing him. I don't know how you're
• 3:26:48
  going to prevent him, exclaimed Jane bitterly. Everybody knows what Judson Parker is.
• 3:26:54
  He'd do anything for money. He hasn't a spark, public spirit or
• 3:27:00
  any sense with the beautiful. The prospect looked rather unpromising. Judson Parker and
• 3:27:05
  his sister were the only Parker's in Avonlea, so that no leverage could be
• 3:27:09
  exerted by family connections. Martha Parker was a lady of all too certain age
• 3:27:15
  who disapproved of young people in general and the improvers in particular. Judson was
• 3:27:20
  a jovial, smooth spoken man, so uniformly good natured and bland that it
• 3:27:24
  was surprising how few friends he had. Perhaps he had gotten the better in
• 3:27:28
  too many business transactions, which seldom makes for popularity. He was reputed to
• 3:27:33
  be very sharp, and it was the general opinion that he hadn't much principle.
• 3:27:37
  If Judson Parker has a chance to turn an honest penny, as he
• 3:27:41
  says himself, he'll never lose it, declared fred Wright. Is there nobody
• 3:27:46
  who has any influence over him? Asked Anne despairingly. He goes to see
• 3:27:52
  Louisa Spencer at White Sands, suggested Carrie Sloane. Perhaps she could coax him
• 3:27:56
  not to rent his fences. Not, she said Gilbert emphatically. I know
• 3:28:03
  Louisa Spencer well. She doesn't believe in village improvement societies, but she does
• 3:28:11
  believe in dollars and cents. She'd be more likely to urge Judson on than
• 3:28:16
  to dissuade him. The only thing to do is to appoint a committee to
• 3:28:20
  wait on him and protest, said Julia Bell. And you must send girls,
• 3:28:26
  for he'd hardy be civil to boys. But I won't go, so
• 3:28:31
  nobody need nominate me. Better send Anne alone, said Oliver Sloane. She
• 3:28:35
  can talk Judson over if anybody can. Anne protested. She was willing to
• 3:28:41
  go and do the talking, but she must have others with her for moral
• 3:28:43
  support. Diana and Jane were therefore appointed to support her morally, and the
• 3:28:48
  improvers broke up buzzing like angry bees with indignation. Anne was so worried that
• 3:28:54
  she didn't sleep until nearly morning, and then she dreamed that the trustees had
• 3:28:58
  put a fence around this and painted try purple pills all over it. The
• 3:29:03
  committee waited on Judson Parker the next afternoon. Anne pleaded eloquently against his nefarious
• 3:29:09
  design, and Jane and Diana supported her morally and valiantly. Judson was sleek,
• 3:29:15
  suave, flattering, paid them several compliments of the delicacy of sunflowers.
• 3:29:20
  Felt real bad to refuse such charming young ladies, but business was business.
• 3:29:24
  Couldn't afford to let sentiments stand in the way these hard times. But I'll
• 3:29:28
  tell you what I will do, he said, with a twinkle in his
• 3:29:33
  light full eyes. Ah Tillie Agent, he must use only handsome tasty colors
• 3:29:39
  red and yellow, and sow ah Tilling, he mustn't paint the AD's blue
• 3:29:43
  on any account. The vanquished committee retired, thinking things not lawful to be
• 3:29:48
  uttered. We have done all we can do and must simply trust the rest
• 3:29:52
  to providence, said Jane, with an unconscious imitation of Missus Lynde's tone and
• 3:29:58
  manner. I wonder if mister Allen could do anything, reflected Diana Anne shook
• 3:30:03
  her head. No, it's no use to worry mister Allen, especially now
• 3:30:07
  when the baby's so sick. Judson would slip away from him as smoothly as
• 3:30:11
  from us, although he has taken to go into church quite regularly just now.
• 3:30:16
  That is simply because Louisa Spencer's father is an elder and very particular about
• 3:30:20
  such things. Judson Parker's the only man in Avonlea who would dream of renting
• 3:30:26
  his fences, said Jane indignantly. Even Levi Boulter Lorenzo White would never stoop
• 3:30:33
  to that. Tightfisted as they are. They would have too much respect for
• 3:30:37
  public opinion. Public opinion was certainly down on Judson Parker when the facts became
• 3:30:43
  known, but that did not help matters much. Judson chuckled to himself and
• 3:30:46
  defied it, and the improvers were trying to reconcile themselves to the prospect of
• 3:30:52
  seeing the prettiest part of the newbridge road defaced by advertisements. When Anne rose
• 3:30:56
  quietly at the President's call for reports of Committees on the occasion of the next
• 3:31:01
  meeting of the Society and announced that mister Judson Parker had instructed her to inform
• 3:31:05
  the Society that he was not going to rent his fences to the Patent Medicine
• 3:31:09
  Company. Jane and Diana stared as if they found it hard to believe their
• 3:31:15
  ears. Parliamentary etiquette, which was generally very strictly enforced in the a v
• 3:31:20
  I S forbade them giving instant vent to their curiosity, But after the Society
• 3:31:24
  adjourned, Anne was besieged for explanations. Anne had no explanation to give.
• 3:31:31
  Judson Parker had overtaken her on the road the preceding evening and told her that
• 3:31:35
  he had decided to humor the a v I S in its peculiar prejudice against
• 3:31:39
  patent medicine advertisements. That was all Anne would say then or ever afterwards,
• 3:31:45
  and it was the simple truth. But when Jane Andrews, on her way
• 3:31:48
  home, confided to Oliver Sloane her firm belief that there was more behind Judson
• 3:31:54
  Parker's mysterious change of heart than Anne Shirley had revealed, she spoke the truth.
• 3:31:58
  Also. Anne had been down to old missus Irvings on the shore road
• 3:32:01
  the preceding evening, and had come home by a short cut which led her
• 3:32:05
  first over the low lying shore fields and then through the beechwood below Robert Dixon's
• 3:32:11
  by a little footpath that ran out to the main road just above the Lake
• 3:32:13
  of Shining Waters, known to unimaginative people as Berry's Pond. Two men were
• 3:32:20
  sitting in their buggies, rained off to the side of the road, just
• 3:32:22
  at the entrance of the path. One was Judson Parker. The other was
• 3:32:26
  Jerry Corkoran, a Newbridge man against whom, as Missus Lynde would have told
• 3:32:31
  you in eloquent italics, nothing shady had ever been proved. He was an
• 3:32:35
  agent for agricultural implements and a prominent personage in matters political. He had a
• 3:32:41
  finger, some people said, all his fingers in every political pie that was
• 3:32:46
  cooked. And as Canada was on the eve of a general election, Jerry
• 3:32:50
  Corkoran had been a busy man for many weeks, canvassing the county in the
• 3:32:54
  interests of his party's candidate. Just as Anne emerged from under the overhanging beat
• 3:33:00
  each boughs, she heard Corcoran say, if you'll vote for Amesbury Parker.
• 3:33:05
  Well, I've a note for that pair of harrows you've got in the spring.
• 3:33:09
  I suppose you wouldn't object to having it back, eh we ah,
• 3:33:16
  since you put it in that way, drawled Judson with a grin. I
• 3:33:20
  reckon, I might as well do it. A man must look out for
• 3:33:22
  his own interest in these hard times. Both saw Anne at this moment,
• 3:33:28
  and conversation abruptly ceased. Anne bowed frostily and walked on with her chin slightly
• 3:33:33
  more tilted than usual. Soon Judson Parker overtook her, I believed Anne,
• 3:33:39
  He inquired genially. Thank you, No, said Anne politely, but with
• 3:33:45
  a fine needle like disdain in her voice that pierced even Judson Parker's none too
• 3:33:50
  sensitive consciousness. His face reddened and he twitched his reins angrily, but the
• 3:33:54
  next second, prudential considerations checked him. He looked uneasily at Anne as she
• 3:34:00
  walked steadily on, glancing neither to the right nor to the left. Had
• 3:34:05
  she heard Corkoran's unmistakable offer and his own too plain acceptance of it? Confound
• 3:34:11
  Corkoran if he couldn't put his meaning into less dangerous phrases, he'd get into
• 3:34:15
  trouble some of these long come shorts, and confound red headed school ma'ams with
• 3:34:18
  a habit of popping out of beech woods where they had no business to be.
• 3:34:22
  If Anne had heard Judson Parker measuring her corn in his own half bushel
• 3:34:28
  as the country saying went, and cheating himself thereby, as such people generally
• 3:34:33
  do, believed that she would tell it far and wide. Now. Judson
• 3:34:37
  Parker, as has been seen, was not overly regardful of public opinion.
• 3:34:41
  But to be known as having accepted a bribe would be a nasty thing,
• 3:34:45
  And if it ever reached Isaac Spencer's ears, farewell forever to all hope of
• 3:34:50
  winning. Louisa Jane, with her comfortable prospects as the heiress of a well
• 3:34:52
  to do farmer. Judson Parker knew that mister Spencer looked somewhat askance at him.
• 3:34:58
  As it was, he could not afford to take any risks. M
• 3:35:03
  Anne, I've been wanting to see you about that little matter we were discussing
• 3:35:07
  the other day. I've decided not to let my fences to that company.
• 3:35:11
  After all, a society with an aim like yours, or to be encouraged.
• 3:35:16
  Anne thought out the merest trifle. Thank you, she said, And
• 3:35:20
  and you needn't mention that little conversation of mine with Jerry. I have no
• 3:35:26
  intention of mentioning it in any case, said Anne icily, for she would
• 3:35:31
  have seen every fence in Avon Leap painted with advertisements before she would have stooped
• 3:35:35
  to bargain with a man who would sell his vote. Just sue, Just
• 3:35:41
  sue, agreed Judson, imagining that they understood each other beautifully. I didn't
• 3:35:46
  suppose you would, of course, I was only stringing Jerry. He thinks
• 3:35:52
  he's so old, fired, cute and smile. I have no intention of
• 3:35:56
  voting for Amesbury. I'm going to vote for Grant as I've always done on
• 3:36:00
  You'll see that when the election comes up. I just led Jerry on to
• 3:36:05
  see if he would commit himself. And it's all right about the fence.
• 3:36:09
  You can tell the improve as that it takes all sorts of people to make
• 3:36:13
  a world, as I've often heard, But I think there are some who
• 3:36:16
  could be spared. Anne told her reflection in the east gable mirror that night.
• 3:36:20
  I wouldn't have mentioned the disgraceful thing to a soul anyhow, So my
• 3:36:24
  conscience is clear on that score. I really don't know who or what is
• 3:36:28
  to be thanked for this. I did nothing to bring it about. And
• 3:36:31
  it's hard to believe that providence ever works by means of the kind of politics
• 3:36:35
  men like Judson Parker and Jerry Corkoran have. End of Chapter fourteen. Chapter
• 3:36:41
  fifteen, the beginning of vacation. Anne locked the schoolhouse door on a still
• 3:36:48
  yellow evening, when the winds were purring in the spruces around the playground and
• 3:36:54
  the shadows were long and lazy by the edge of the woods. She dropped
• 3:36:58
  the key into her pocket with a eye of satisfaction. The school year was
• 3:37:01
  ended. She had been re engaged for the next with many expressions of satisfaction.
• 3:37:07
  Only mister Harmon Andrews told her she ought to use the strap oftener,
• 3:37:11
  and two delightful months of a well earned vacation beckoned her invitingly. Anne felt
• 3:37:16
  at peace with the world and herself as she walked down the hill with her
• 3:37:20
  basket of flowers in her hand. Since the earliest mayflowers, Anne had never
• 3:37:24
  missed her weekly pilgrimage to Matthew's grave. Everyone else in Avonlea except Marilla,
• 3:37:31
  had already forgotten quiet, shy, unimportant Matthew Cuthbert, but his memory was
• 3:37:37
  still green in Anne's heart and always would be. She could never forget the
• 3:37:41
  kind old man who had been the first to give her the love and sympathy
• 3:37:43
  her starved childhood had craved. At the foot of the hill, a boy
• 3:37:48
  was sitting on the fence in the shadow of the spruces, a boy with
• 3:37:52
  big, dreamy eyes and a beautiful, sensitive face. He swung down and
• 3:37:56
  joined Anne, smiling, but there were traces of tears on his cheeks.
• 3:38:01
  I thought i'd wait for you, teacher, because I knew you were going
• 3:38:05
  to the graveyard, he said, slipping his hand into hers. I'm going
• 3:38:09
  there too, I'm taking this bouquet of geraniums to put on Grandpa Irving's grave
• 3:38:13
  for Grandma. And look, teacher, I'm going to put this bunch of
• 3:38:18
  white roses beside Grandpa's grave and memory of my little mother because I can't go
• 3:38:22
  to her grave to put it there. But don't you think she'll know about
• 3:38:26
  it just the same? Yes, I am sure she will, Paul.
• 3:38:31
  You see, teacher, it's just three years today since my little mother died.
• 3:38:35
  It's such a long long time, but it hurts just as much as
• 3:38:39
  ever, and I miss her just as much as ever. Sometimes it seems
• 3:38:43
  to me that I just can't bear it. It hurts so Paul's voice quivered
• 3:38:48
  and his lip trembled. He looked down at his roses, hoping that his
• 3:38:52
  teacher would not notice the tears in his eyes, and yet said Anne,
• 3:38:56
  very softly. You wouldn't want it to stop hurting. You wouldn't want to
• 3:39:00
  forget your little mother even if you could. No, indeed, I wouldn't.
• 3:39:05
  That's just the way I feel. You're so good at understanding, teacher.
• 3:39:09
  Nobody else understands so well, not even Grandma, although she's so good
• 3:39:13
  to me. Father understood pretty well but still I couldn't talk much to him
• 3:39:18
  about mother because it made him feel so bad When he put his hand over
• 3:39:22
  his face. I always knew it was time to stop. Poor father.
• 3:39:26
  He must be dreadfully lonesome without me. But you see, he is nobody
• 3:39:30
  but a housekeeper now, and he thinks housekeepers are no good to bring up
• 3:39:33
  little boys, especially when he has to be away from home so much on
• 3:39:37
  business. Grandmothers are better next to mothers. Some day, when I'm brought
• 3:39:43
  up, I'll go back to father and we're never going to be parted again.
• 3:39:48
  Paul had talked so much to Anne about his mother and father that she
• 3:39:50
  felt as if she had known them. She thought his mother must have been
• 3:39:54
  very like what he was himself in temperament and disposition, and she had an
• 3:39:58
  idea that Stephen Irving was a rather reserved man, with a deep and tender
• 3:40:03
  nature, which he kept hidden scrupulously from the world. Father's not very easy
• 3:40:09
  to get acquainted with, Paul had said once. I never got really acquainted
• 3:40:13
  with him until after my little mother died. But he's splendid when you do
• 3:40:18
  get to know him. I love him the best in all the world.
• 3:40:20
  And Grandma Irving next, and then you, teacher. I'd love you next
• 3:40:24
  to my father if it wasn't my duty to love Grandma Irving best, because
• 3:40:28
  she's doing so much for me. You know, Teacher, I wish you
• 3:40:33
  would leave the lamp in my room till I go to sleep, though she
• 3:40:35
  takes it right out as soon as she talks me up, because she says
• 3:40:39
  I mustn't be a coward. I'm not scared, but I'd rather have a
• 3:40:43
  light. My little mother used to always sit beside me and hold my hand
• 3:40:46
  till I went to sleep. I expect she spoiled me. Mothers do sometimes,
• 3:40:52
  you know. No. Anne did not know this, although she might
• 3:40:54
  imagine it. She thought sadly of her little mother, the mother who had
• 3:40:58
  thought her so perfectly beautiful, and who had died so long ago and was
• 3:41:03
  buried beside her boyish husband in that unvisited grave far away. Anne could not
• 3:41:09
  remember her mother, and for this reason she almost envied Paul. My birthday
• 3:41:13
  is next week, said Paul, as they walked up the long red hill,
• 3:41:18
  basking in the June sunshine. And father wrote me that he is sending
• 3:41:22
  me something that he thinks I'll like better than anything else he could send.
• 3:41:26
  I believe it has come already. For Grandma is keeping the bookcase jar locked,
• 3:41:31
  and that is something new. And when I asked her why, she
• 3:41:33
  just looked mysterious and said, little boys mustn't be too curious. It's very
• 3:41:39
  exciting to have a birthday, isn't it. I'll be eleven. You never
• 3:41:41
  think it to look at me, would you. Grandma says I'm very small
• 3:41:46
  for my age, and that it's all because I don't eat enough porridge.
• 3:41:50
  I do my very best, but Grandma gives such generous platefuls. There's nothing
• 3:41:54
  mean about Grandma, I can tell you. Ever since you and I had
• 3:41:58
  that talk about Prey going home from Sunday school that day, teacher, when
• 3:42:03
  you said we ought to pray about all our difficulties, I'd prayed every night
• 3:42:07
  that God would give me enough grace to enable me to eat every bit of
• 3:42:09
  my porridge in the mornings. But I've never been able to do it yet.
• 3:42:13
  And whether it's because I have too little grace or too much porridge,
• 3:42:18
  I really can't decide. Grandma says Father was brought up on porridge, and
• 3:42:22
  it certainly did work in his case. For you ought to see the shoulders,
• 3:42:26
  he has sometimes concluded Paul with a sigh and a meditative air. I
• 3:42:31
  really think Porridge will be the death of me. Anne permitted herself a smile,
• 3:42:35
  since Paul was not looking at her all. Avonlea knew that old missus
• 3:42:41
  Irving was bringing her grandson up in accordance with the good old fashioned methods of
• 3:42:46
  diet and morals. Let us hope not dear, she said, cheerfully.
• 3:42:50
  How are your rock people coming on? Does the oldest twins still continue to
• 3:42:54
  behave himself? He has to, said Paul emphatically. He knows I won't
• 3:43:01
  associate with him. If he doesn't, he is really full of wickedness,
• 3:43:03
  I think. And has Nora found out about the Golden Lady yet? No,
• 3:43:09
  but I think she suspects. I'm almost sure she watched me the last
• 3:43:13
  time I went to the cave. I don't mind if she finds out.
• 3:43:16
  It is only for her sake. I don't want her to so that her
• 3:43:20
  feelings won't be hurt. But if she is determined to our feelings hurt,
• 3:43:24
  it can't be helped. If I were to go to the shore some night
• 3:43:28
  with you, do you think I could see your rock people too. Paul
• 3:43:31
  shook his head gravely. No, I don't think you could see my rock
• 3:43:37
  people. I'm the only person who can see them. But you could see
• 3:43:41
  rock people of your own. You're one of the kind that can. We're
• 3:43:45
  both that kind, you know, teacher, he added, squeezing her hand.
• 3:43:48
  Chummilly, isn't it splendid to be that kind? Teacher? Splendid?
• 3:43:54
  Anne agreed, gray shining eyes looking down into blue shining ones, Anne and
• 3:43:58
  Paul knew how fair the realm imagination opens to the view, and both knew
• 3:44:05
  the way to that happy land. There, the rose of joy bloomed immortal
• 3:44:09
  by dale, and stream clouds never darkened the sunny sky, sweet bells never
• 3:44:13
  jangled out of tune, and kindred spirits abounded. The knowledge of that land's
• 3:44:18
  geography east of the Sun, west of the moon is priceless lore, not
• 3:44:24
  to be bought in any market place. It must be the gift of the
• 3:44:28
  good fairies at birth, and the years can never deface it or take it
• 3:44:31
  away. It is better to possess it living in a garret than to be
• 3:44:35
  the inhabitant of palaces without it. The Avonlea graveyard was as yet the grass
• 3:44:41
  grown solitude. It had always been to be sure the Improvers had an eye
• 3:44:46
  on it, and Priscilla Grant had read a paper on cemeteries before the last
• 3:44:50
  meeting of the Society. At some future time, the Improvers meant to have
• 3:44:54
  the likeened wayward old board fence replaced by a neat wire railing, the grass
• 3:45:00
  mown, and the leaning monuments straightened up. Anne put on Matthew's grave the
• 3:45:05
  flowers she had brought for it, and then went over to the little poplar
• 3:45:09
  shaded corner where Hester Gray slept ever since the day of the spring picnic.
• 3:45:13
  Anne had put flowers on Hester's grave when she visited Matthews. The evening before.
• 3:45:18
  She had made a pilgrimage back to the little deserted garden in the woods
• 3:45:22
  and brought therefrom some of Hester's own white roses. I thought you would like
• 3:45:28
  them better than any other's, dear, she said softly. Anne was still
• 3:45:33
  sitting there when a shadow fell over the grass, and she looked up to
• 3:45:35
  see Missus Allen. They walked home together. Missus Allan's face was not the
• 3:45:41
  face of the girl bride whom the minister had brought to Avonlea five years before,
• 3:45:46
  it had lost some of its bloom and youthful curves, and there were
• 3:45:50
  fine, patient lines about eyes and mouth. A tiny grave in that very
• 3:45:54
  cemetery accounted for some of them, and some new ones had come during the
• 3:45:58
  recent illness. Now happily over of her little son. But Missus Allan's dimples
• 3:46:03
  were as sweet and sudden as ever, her eyes as clear and bright and
• 3:46:07
  true, and what her face lacked of girlish beauty was now more than atoned
• 3:46:11
  for in added tenderness and strength. I suppose you are looking forward to your
• 3:46:16
  vacation, Anne, she said, as they left the graveyard. Anne nodded,
• 3:46:20
  yes. I could roll the word as a sweet morsel under my tongue.
• 3:46:24
  I think the summer is going to be lovely. For one thing,
• 3:46:28
  Missus Morgan is coming to the island in July, and Priscilla is going to
• 3:46:31
  bring her up. I feel one of my old thrills at the mere thought.
• 3:46:35
  I hope you'll have a good time. Anne. You've worked very hard
• 3:46:39
  this past year, and you have succeeded. Oh, I don't know.
• 3:46:43
  I've come so far short in so many things. I haven't done what I
• 3:46:46
  meant to do when I began to teach last fall. I haven't lived up
• 3:46:50
  to my ideals. None of us ever do, said missus Allan with a
• 3:46:54
  sigh. But then, Anne, you know what Lowell says, not failure.
• 3:46:58
  But low Aim is crying. We must have ideals and try to live
• 3:47:03
  up to them, even if we never quite succeed. Life would be a
• 3:47:07
  sorry business without them. With them, it's grand and great. Hold fast
• 3:47:11
  to your ideals, Anne, I shall try, but I have to let
• 3:47:16
  go most of my theories, said Anne, laughing a little. I had
• 3:47:18
  the most beautiful set of theories you ever knew when I started out as a
• 3:47:22
  school ma'am. But every one of them has failed me at some pinch or
• 3:47:26
  another. Even the theory on corporal punishment, teased missus Allan, But Anne
• 3:47:31
  flushed, I shall never forgive myself for whipping Anthony nonsense. Dear, he
• 3:47:37
  deserved it, and it agreed with him. You have had no trouble with
• 3:47:41
  him since, and he has come to think there's nobody like you. Your
• 3:47:45
  kindness won his love after the idea that a girl was no good was rooted
• 3:47:48
  out of his stubborn mind. He may have deserved it. But that is
• 3:47:52
  not the point. If I had calmly and deliberately decided to whip him because
• 3:47:58
  I thought it a just punishment for him, I would not feel over it
• 3:48:01
  as I do. But the truth is, missus Allan, that I just
• 3:48:03
  flew into a temper and whipped him Because of that. I wasn't thinking whether
• 3:48:07
  it was just or unjust. Even if he hadn't deserved it, I'd have
• 3:48:11
  done it just the same. That is what humiliates me. Well, we
• 3:48:15
  all make mistakes, dear, so just put it behind you. We should
• 3:48:18
  regret our mistakes and learn from them, but never carry them forward into the
• 3:48:22
  future with us. There goes Gilbert Blythe on his wheel home for his vacation
• 3:48:28
  too. I suppose how are you and he getting on with your studies?
• 3:48:33
  Pretty well? We plan to finish the Virgil tonight. There are only twenty
• 3:48:37
  lines to do. Then we are not going to study any more until September.
• 3:48:41
  Do you think you will ever get to college? Oh? I don't
• 3:48:43
  know. Anne looked dreamily afar to the opal tinted horizon. Marilla's eyes will
• 3:48:50
  never be much better than they are now, although we are so thankful to
• 3:48:52
  think that they will not get worse. And then there are the twins.
• 3:48:56
  Somehow I don't believe their uncle will ever really send for them. Perhaps college
• 3:49:01
  may be around the bend in the road, but I haven't got to the
• 3:49:05
  bend yet, and I don't think much about it lest I might grow discontented.
• 3:49:09
  Well, I should like to see you go to college, Anne,
• 3:49:11
  but if you never do, don't be discontented about it. We make our
• 3:49:15
  own lives wherever we are. After all, college can only help us to
• 3:49:18
  do it more easily. They are broad or narrow according to what we put
• 3:49:22
  into them, not what we get out. Life is rich and full here
• 3:49:26
  everywhere, if we can only learn how to open our whole hearts to its
• 3:49:31
  richness and fullness. I think I understand what you mean, said Anne thoughtfully.
• 3:49:35
  And I know I have so much to feel thankful for, oh so
• 3:49:39
  much my work and Paul Irving, and the dear twins and all my friends.
• 3:49:43
  Do you know, missus Allan, I'm so thankful for friendship. It
• 3:49:46
  beautifies life so much. True friendship is a very helpful thing, indeed,
• 3:49:52
  said missus Allan. And we should have a very high ideal of it.
• 3:49:56
  Never sully it by any failure. In truth and sincerity. I fear the
• 3:50:01
  name of friendship is often deegrated to a kind of intimacy that has nothing of
• 3:50:03
  real friendship in it. Yes, like Gertie Pye's and Julia Bell's, they
• 3:50:09
  are very intimate and go everywhere together. But Gertie is always saying nasty things
• 3:50:13
  of Julia behind her back, and everybody thinks she is jealous of her because
• 3:50:16
  she is always so pleased when anybody criticizes Julia. I think it is desecration
• 3:50:22
  to call that friendship. If we have friends, we should look only for
• 3:50:24
  the best in them and give them the best that is in us. Don't
• 3:50:28
  you think then friendship would be the most beautiful thing in the world. Friendship
• 3:50:33
  is very beautiful, smiled missus Allan. But someday, then she paused abruptly.
• 3:50:39
  In the delicate, white browed face beside her, with its candid eyes
• 3:50:43
  and mobile features, there was still far more of the child than of the
• 3:50:46
  woman. Anne's heart so far harbored only dreams of friendship and ambition, and
• 3:50:52
  missus Allan did not wish to brush the bloom from her sweet unconsciousness, So
• 3:50:56
  she left her sentence for the future years to finish end of chapter fifteen.
• 3:51:03
  Chapter sixteen, The substance of things hoped for Anne, said Davy appealingly,
• 3:51:11
  scrambling up on the shiny leather covered sofa in the green Gable's kitchen where Anne
• 3:51:16
  sat reading a letter. Anne, I'm awful hungry. You've no idea.
• 3:51:22
  I'll get you a piece of bread and butter in a minute, said Anne
• 3:51:24
  absently. Her letter evidently contained some exciting news, for her cheeks were as
• 3:51:30
  pink as the roses on the big bush outside, and her eyes were as
• 3:51:33
  starry as only Anne's eyes could be. But I ain't bread and butter hungry,
• 3:51:37
  said Davy in a disgusted tone. I'm plumb cake hungry, oh,
• 3:51:43
  laughed Anne, laying down her letter and putting her arm about Davy to give
• 3:51:48
  him a squeeze. That's a kind of hunger that can be endured very comfortably,
• 3:51:52
  Davy, boy, you know it's one of Marilla's rules that you can't
• 3:51:54
  have anything but bread and butter between meals. Well, give me a piece,
• 3:51:58
  then, please. Davy had been at last taught to say please,
• 3:52:03
  but he generally tacked it on as an afterthought. He looked with approval at
• 3:52:07
  the generous slice, Anne presently brought to him. You always put such a
• 3:52:11
  nice lot of butter on it, Anne, Marilla spreads it pretty thin.
• 3:52:16
  It slips down a lot easier when there's plenty of butter. The slice slipped
• 3:52:20
  down with tolerable ease. Judging from its rapid disappearance. Davy slid headfirst off
• 3:52:26
  the sofa, turned a double somersault on the rug, and then sat up
• 3:52:30
  and announced decidedly. Anne, I've made up my mind about Heaven. I
• 3:52:35
  don't want to go there. Why not, asked Anne gravely, because Heaven
• 3:52:39
  is in Simon Fletcher's Garrett, and I don't like Simon Fletcher. Heaven in
• 3:52:45
  Simon Fletcher's Garrett, gasped Anne, too amazed even to laugh. Davy,
• 3:52:50
  Keith, whatever puts such an extraordinary idea into your head, Milty Bolters says,
• 3:52:56
  that's where it is. It was last Sunday in Sunday school. The
• 3:53:00
  lesson was about Elijah and Elisha, and I up and asked Miss Rogerson where
• 3:53:05
  heaven was. Miss Rogerson looked awful offended. She was cross anyhow, because
• 3:53:11
  when she'd asked us what Elijah left Elisha when he went to heaven, Milty
• 3:53:16
  Bolters said his old clothes, and us fellows all laughed before we thought,
• 3:53:22
  I wish you could think first and do things afterwards, because then you wouldn't
• 3:53:26
  do them. But Milty didn't mean to be disrespectful. He just couldn't think
• 3:53:31
  of the name of the thing. Miss Rogerson said heaven was where God was,
• 3:53:35
  and I wasn't to ask questions like that. Milty nudged me and said,
• 3:53:39
  in a whisper, Heaven's and Uncle Simon's garrett, and I'll explain about
• 3:53:43
  it on the road home. So when we was going home, he explained.
• 3:53:48
  Milty's a great hand at explaining things. Even if he don't know anything
• 3:53:54
  about a thing, he'll make up a lot of stuff. And so you
• 3:53:56
  get it explained all the same. And his mother is Missus Simon's sister,
• 3:54:01
  and she went with her to the funeral when his cousin, Jane Ellen died.
• 3:54:07
  The minister said she'd gone to heaven, though Milty says she was lying
• 3:54:11
  right before them in the coffin, but he supposed they carried the coffin to
• 3:54:16
  the garret afterwards. Well, when Milty and his mother went upstairs after it
• 3:54:20
  was all over to get her bonnet. He asked where heaven was that Jane
• 3:54:24
  Ellen had gone to, and she pointed right to the ceiling and said,
• 3:54:30
  up there, Milty knew there wasn't anything but the garret over the ceiling.
• 3:54:35
  So that's how he found out, and he's been awful scared to go to
• 3:54:39
  his uncle Simon's ever since. Anne took Davy on her knee and did her
• 3:54:43
  best to straighten out this theological tangle. Also, she was much better fitted
• 3:54:48
  for the task than Marilla, for she remembered her own childhood and had an
• 3:54:52
  instinctive understanding of the curious ideas that seven year olds sometimes get about matters that
• 3:54:58
  are, of course there plain and simple to grown up people. She had
• 3:55:03
  just succeeded in convincing Davy that heaven was not in Simon Fletcher's garrett when Marilla
• 3:55:07
  came in from the garden, where she and Dora had been picking peas.
• 3:55:11
  Dora was an industrious little soul and never happier than when helping in various small
• 3:55:16
  tasks suited to her chubby fingers. She fed chickens, picked up chips,
• 3:55:22
  white dishes, and ran Errand's galore. She was neat, faithful and observant.
• 3:55:26
  She never had to be told how to do a thing twice, and
• 3:55:30
  never forgot any of her little duties. Davy, on the other hand,
• 3:55:33
  was rather heedless and forgetful, but he had the born knack of winning love,
• 3:55:37
  and even yet Anne and Marilla liked him the better. While Dora proudly
• 3:55:43
  shelled the peas and Davy made boats of the pods with masts of matches and
• 3:55:48
  sales of paper, Anne told Marilla about the wonderful contents of her letter.
• 3:55:52
  Oh, Marilla, what do you think. I've had a letter from Priscilla,
• 3:55:56
  and she says that Missus Morgan is on the island and that if it
• 3:56:00
  is fine Thursday, they are going to drive up to Avonlea and we'll reach
• 3:56:03
  here about twelve. They will spend the afternoon with us and go to the
• 3:56:07
  hotel at White Sands in the evening because some of Missus Morgan's American friends are
• 3:56:11
  staying there. Oh, Marilla, isn't it wonderful? I can hardly believe
• 3:56:15
  I'm not dreaming. I dare say Missus Morgan is a lot like other people,
• 3:56:20
  said Marilla dryly, although she did feel a trifle excited herself. Missus
• 3:56:24
  Morgan was a famous woman, and a visit from her was no commonplace occurrence.
• 3:56:28
  They'll be here to dinner, then, yes, and oh, Marilla,
• 3:56:31
  may I cook every bit of the dinner myself. I want to feel
• 3:56:35
  that I can do something for the author of the Rosebud Garden. If it
• 3:56:39
  is only to cook a dinner for her. You won't mind, will you.
• 3:56:41
  Goodness, I'm not so fond of stewing over a hot fire in July
• 3:56:46
  that it would vex me very much to have someone else do it. You're
• 3:56:48
  quite welcome to the job. Oh, thank you, said Anne, as
• 3:56:52
  if Marilla had just conferred a tremendous favor. I'll make out the menu this
• 3:56:56
  very night. You'd better not try to put on too much style, warned
• 3:57:01
  Marilla, a little alarmed by the high flown sound of menu. You'll likely
• 3:57:07
  come to grief if you do. Oh, I'm not going to put on
• 3:57:09
  any style. If you mean trying to do or have things we don't usually
• 3:57:13
  have on festal occasions, assured Anne, that would be affectation. And although
• 3:57:18
  I know I haven't as much sense in steadiness as a girl of seventeen and
• 3:57:22
  a school teacher ought to have I'm not so silly as that, but I
• 3:57:24
  want to have everything as nice and dainty as possible, Davy, boy,
• 3:57:28
  don't leave those peapods on the back stairs. Someone might slip on them.
• 3:57:33
  I'll have a light soup to begin with, you know, I can make
• 3:57:35
  lovely cream of onion soup, and then a couple of roast fowls. I'll
• 3:57:39
  have the two white roosters. I have real affection for those roosters, and
• 3:57:43
  they've been pets ever since the gray hen hatched out, just the two of
• 3:57:46
  them, little balls of yellow down. But I know they would have to
• 3:57:50
  be sacrificed sometime, and surely there couldn't be a worthier occasion than this.
• 3:57:56
  But oh, Marilla, I cannot kill them, not even for missus Morgan's
• 3:57:58
  sake. I'll have to ask John Henry Carter to come over and do it
• 3:58:01
  for me. I'll do it volunteered, Davy, if marilla'll hold em by
• 3:58:07
  the legs, cause I guess it'd take both my hands to manage the axe.
• 3:58:11
  It's awful, jolly fun to see them hopping about after their heads are
• 3:58:16
  cut off. Then I'll have peas and beans and cream potatoes and a lettuce.
• 3:58:20
  Salad for vegetables, resumed Anne. And for dessert lemon pie with whipped
• 3:58:24
  cream and coffee and cheese and lady fingers. I'll make the pies and lady
• 3:58:28
  fingers tomorrow and do up my white muslin dress. And I must tell Diana
• 3:58:33
  tonight, for she'll want to do up hers. Missus Morgan's heroines are nearly
• 3:58:37
  always dressed in white muslin, and Diana and I have always resolved that that
• 3:58:41
  was what we would wear if we ever met her. It will be such
• 3:58:43
  a delicate compliment, don't you think, Davy dear, You mustn't poke pea
• 3:58:48
  pods into the cracks of the floor. I must ask mister and Missus Allen
• 3:58:52
  and Miss Stacy to dinner too, for they're all very anxious to meet Missus
• 3:58:56
  Morgan. It's so fortunate she's coming while Miss Stacy is here. Davy Dear,
• 3:59:00
  don't sell the peapods in the water bucket. Go out to the trough.
• 3:59:03
  Oh. I do hope it will be fine Thursday, and I think
• 3:59:07
  it will, for Uncle Abe said last night when he called it mister Harrison's
• 3:59:09
  that it was going to rain most of this week. That's a good sign.
• 3:59:13
  Agreed, marilla. Anne ran across to Orchard Slope that evening to tell
• 3:59:18
  the news to Diana, who was also very much excited over it, and
• 3:59:22
  they discussed the matter in the hammock swung under the big willow in the berry
• 3:59:24
  garden. Oh, Anne, mayn't I hope you cook the dinner, implored
• 3:59:30
  Diana. You know I can make a splendid litter salad. Indeed, you
• 3:59:35
  may, said Anne, unselfishly. And I shall want you to help me
• 3:59:37
  decorate too. I mean to have the parlor simply a bower of blossoms,
• 3:59:43
  and the dining table is to be adorned with wild roses. Oh, I
• 3:59:46
  do hope everything will go smoothly. Missus Morgan's heroines never get into scrapes or
• 3:59:50
  are taken at a disadvantage, and they are always so self possessed in such
• 3:59:54
  good housekeepers. They seem to be born good housekeepers. Remember that Gertrude and
• 4:00:01
  Edgewood Days kept house for her father when she was only eight years old.
• 4:00:05
  When I was eight years old, I hardly knew how to do a thing
• 4:00:07
  except bring up children. Missus Morgan must be an authority on girls when she
• 4:00:11
  has written so much about them, And I do want her to have a
• 4:00:13
  good opinion of us. I've imagined it all out a dozen different ways,
• 4:00:18
  what she'll look like, what she'll say, and what I'll say. And
• 4:00:22
  I'm so anxious about my nose. There are seven freckles on it, as
• 4:00:26
  you can see. They came at the aviis Picnic, when I went around
• 4:00:30
  in the sun without my hat. I suppose it's ungrateful of me to worry
• 4:00:33
  over them when I should be thankful. They're not spread all over my face
• 4:00:37
  as they once were. But I do wish they hadn't come all missus.
• 4:00:41
  Morgan's heroines have such perfect complexions. I can't recall a freckled one among them.
• 4:00:46
  Yours are not very noticeable. Comforted Diana cry a little lemon juice on
• 4:00:50
  them tonight. The next day, Anne made her pies and Lady Fingers,
• 4:00:54
  did up her muslin dress, and swept and dusted every room in the house.
• 4:01:00
  Quite unnecessary. Proceeding for green gables was as usual in the apple Pie
• 4:01:05
  order, dear to Marilla's heart, but Anne felt that a fleck of dust
• 4:01:09
  would be a desecration in a house that was to be honored by a visit
• 4:01:11
  from Charlotte E Morgan. She even cleaned out the catch all closet under the
• 4:01:16
  stairs, although there was not the remotest possibility of Missus Morgan's seeing its interior.
• 4:01:22
  But I want to feel that it is in perfect order, even if
• 4:01:24
  she isn't to see it, Anne told Marilla. You know, in her
• 4:01:28
  book Golden Keys, she makes her two heroines, Alice and Louisa take for
• 4:01:31
  their motto that verse of longfellows in the elder days of art builders wrought with
• 4:01:37
  greatest care each minute and unseen part, for the gods see everywhere, And
• 4:01:43
  so they always kept their cellar stairs scrubbed, and never forgot to sweep under
• 4:01:46
  the beds. I should have a guilty conscience if I thought this closet was
• 4:01:50
  in disorder when Missus Morgan was in the house. Ever since we read Golden
• 4:01:54
  Keys last April, Diana and I have taken that verse for our motto too.
• 4:01:58
  That night, John, Henry, Carter, and Davy, between them,
• 4:02:01
  contrived to execute the two white roosters, and Anne dressed them, the
• 4:02:05
  usually distasteful task glorified in her eyes by the destination of the plump birds.
• 4:02:11
  I don't like picking fowls, she told Marilla, but isn't it fortunate we
• 4:02:15
  don't have to put our souls into what our hands may be doing. I've
• 4:02:18
  been picking chickens with my hands, but in imagination, I've been roaming the
• 4:02:22
  milky way. I thought you'd scattered more feathers over the floor than usual,
• 4:02:26
  remarked Marilla. Then Anne put Davy to bed and made him promise that he
• 4:02:31
  would behave perfectly the next day. If I'm as good as good can be
• 4:02:35
  all day tomorrow, will you let me be just as bad as I like
• 4:02:39
  all the next day, asked Davy. I couldn't do that, said Anne
• 4:02:43
  discreetly. But I'll take you and Dora for a row in the flat right
• 4:02:48
  to the bottom of the pond, and we'll go ashore on the sand hills
• 4:02:50
  and have a picnic. It's a bargain, said Davy. I'll be good,
• 4:02:56
  you bet. I meant to go over to mister Harrison's and fight peas
• 4:03:00
  from my new pop gun at Ginger, but another Dale'll do as well.
• 4:03:05
  I expect it will be just like Sunday, but a picnic at the shore
• 4:03:09
  I'll make up for that. End of chapter sixteen. Chapter seventeen, a
• 4:03:16
  chapter of accidents, Anne woke three times in the night and made pilgrimages to
• 4:03:22
  her window to make sure that Uncle Abe's prediction was not coming true. Finally,
• 4:03:26
  the morning dawned pearly and lustrous in a sky full of silver sheen and
• 4:03:31
  radiance, and the wonderful day had arrived. Diana appeared soon after breakfast with
• 4:03:37
  a basket of flowers over one arm and her muslin dress over the other,
• 4:03:41
  for it would not do to donn it until all the dinner preparations were completed.
• 4:03:45
  Meanwhile, she wore her afternoon pink print and a lawn apron. Fearfully
• 4:03:50
  and wonderfully ruffled and frilled, and very neat and pretty and rosy she was.
• 4:03:56
  You look simply sweet, said Anne, admiringly Diana side. But I've
• 4:04:01
  had to let out every one of my dresses again. I weigh four pounds
• 4:04:07
  more than I did in July. Anne, where will this end? Missus
• 4:04:11
  Morgan's heroines are all tall and slimder. Well, let's forget our troubles and
• 4:04:16
  think of our mercies, said Anne gaily. Missus Allan says that whenever we
• 4:04:20
  think of anything that is a trial to us, we should also think of
• 4:04:24
  something nice that we can set over against it. If you are slightly too
• 4:04:28
  plump, you've got the dearest dimples. And if I have a freckled nose,
• 4:04:31
  the shape of it is all right. Do you think the lemon juice
• 4:04:35
  did any good? Yes? I really think it did, said Diana critically,
• 4:04:39
  and much elated. Anne led the way to the garden, which was
• 4:04:43
  full of airy shadows and wavering golden lights. We'll decorate the parlor first.
• 4:04:48
  We have plenty of time for Priscilla said they'd be here about twelve or half
• 4:04:52
  past the latest, so we'll have dinner at one. There may have been
• 4:04:56
  two happier and more excited girls somewhere in can or the United States at that
• 4:05:01
  moment, but I doubt it. Every snip of the scissors, as rose
• 4:05:05
  and Peony and Bluebell fell, seemed to chirp missus Morgan is coming today.
• 4:05:11
  Anne wondered how mister Harrison could go on placidly mowing hay in the field across
• 4:05:15
  the lane, just as if nothing were going to happen. The parlor at
• 4:05:20
  Green Gables was a rather severe and gloomy apartment, with rigid horsehair furniture,
• 4:05:24
  stiff lace curtains, and white anti macassars that were always laid at a perfectly
• 4:05:30
  correct angle, except at such times as they clung to unfortunate people's buttons.
• 4:05:35
  Even Anne had never been able to infuse much grace into it, for Marilla
• 4:05:39
  would not permit any alterations. But it is wonderful what flowers can accomplish if
• 4:05:45
  you give them a fair chance. When Anne and Diana finished with the room,
• 4:05:48
  you would not have recognized it. A great blue bowlful of snowballs overflowed
• 4:05:52
  on the polished table. The shining black mantelpiece was heaped with roses and ferns.
• 4:05:58
  Every shelf of the what not held a sheaf of bluebells. The dark
• 4:06:03
  corners on either side of the grate were lighted up with jars full of glowing
• 4:06:07
  crimson peonies, and the grate itself was aflame with yellow poppies. All this
• 4:06:11
  splendor and color mingled with the sunshine falling through the honeysuckle vines at the windows,
• 4:06:16
  in a leafy riot of dancing shadows over walls and floor made of the
• 4:06:20
  usually dismal little room the veritable bower of Anne's imagination, and even extorted a
• 4:06:26
  tribute of admiration from Marilla, who came in to criticize and remained to praise.
• 4:06:31
  Now we must set the table, said Anne, in the tone of
• 4:06:35
  a priestess about to perform some sacred rite in honor of a divinity. We'll
• 4:06:39
  have a big vase full of wild roses in the center, and one single
• 4:06:43
  rose in front of everybody's plate, and a special bouquet of rosebuds only by
• 4:06:48
  missus Morgan's an allusion to the rosebud Garden. You know, the table was
• 4:06:52
  set in the sitting room with Marilla's finest linen and the best china, glass
• 4:06:56
  and silver. You may be perfectly certain that every article placed on it was
• 4:07:01
  polished or scoured to the highest possible perfection of gloss and glitter. Then the
• 4:07:07
  girls tripped out to the kitchen, which was filled with appetizing odors emanating from
• 4:07:11
  the oven, where the chickens were already sizzling splendidly. Anne prepared the potatoes,
• 4:07:18
  and Diana got the peas and beans ready. Then, while Diana shut
• 4:07:22
  herself into the pantry to compound the lettuce salad, Anne, whose cheeks were
• 4:07:26
  already beginning to glow, crimson as much with excitement as from the heat of
• 4:07:31
  the fire, prepared the bread sauce for the chickens, minced her onions for
• 4:07:35
  the soup, and finally whipped the cream for her lemon pies. And what
• 4:07:39
  about Davy? All this time was he redeeming his promise to be good?
• 4:07:43
  He was, indeed, to be sure. He insisted on remaining in the
• 4:07:46
  kitchen, for his curiosity wanted to see all that went on. But as
• 4:07:50
  he sat quietly in a corner, busily engaged in untying the knots and a
• 4:07:56
  piece of herring net he had brought home from his last trip to the shore,
• 4:07:58
  no objected to this. At half past eleven, the lettuce salad was
• 4:08:03
  made, the golden circles of the pies were heaped with whipped cream, and
• 4:08:07
  everything was sizzling and bubbling that ought to sizzle and bubble. We'd better go
• 4:08:11
  and dress now, said Anne, for they may be here by twelve.
• 4:08:16
  We must have dinner at sharp one, for the soup must be served as
• 4:08:20
  soon as it's done. Serious indeed, were the toilet rites presently performed in
• 4:08:24
  the east gable Anne peered anxiously at her nose and rejoiced to see that its
• 4:08:28
  freckles were not at all prominent, thanks either to the lemon juice or to
• 4:08:33
  the unusual flush on her cheeks. When they were ready, they looked quite
• 4:08:37
  as sweet and trim and girlish as ever did any of Missus Morgan's heroines.
• 4:08:43
  I do hope I'll be able to say something once in a while and not
• 4:08:46
  sit like a mute, said Diana anxiously. All Missus Morgan's heroines converse so
• 4:08:54
  beautifully, but I am afraid I'll be tongue tied and stupid, and I'll
• 4:08:58
  be sure to say I seen. I haven't often said it since Miss Stacy
• 4:09:03
  Tortilla, but in moments of excitement, it's sure to pop out. Anne.
• 4:09:09
  If I were to say I seen before Missus Morgan, I'd die of
• 4:09:13
  mortification, and it would be almost as bad to have nothing to say.
• 4:09:18
  I'm nervous about a good many things, said Anne, but I don't think
• 4:09:22
  there is much fear that I won't be able to talk and to do her
• 4:09:28
  justice. There wasn't. Anne shrouded her Muslin glories in a big apron and
• 4:09:31
  went down to concoct her soup. Marilla had dressed herself in the twins and
• 4:09:37
  looked more excited than she had ever been known to look before. At half
• 4:09:41
  past twelve, the Allans and Miss Stacy came. Everything was going well,
• 4:09:45
  but Anne was beginning to feel nervous. It was surely time for Priscilla and
• 4:09:48
  missus Morgan to arrive. She made frequent trips to the gate and looked as
• 4:09:54
  anxiously down the lane as ever, her namesake in the Bluebeard story peered from
• 4:09:58
  the tower casement. I suppose they don't come at all, she said,
• 4:10:01
  piteously. Don't suppose it. It would be too mean, said Diana,
• 4:10:07
  who, however, was beginning to have uncomfortable misgivings on the subject. Anne
• 4:10:13
  said, Marilla, coming out from the parlor, Miss Stacy wants to see
• 4:10:16
  Miss Barry's willow ware platter. Anne hastened to the sitting room closet to get
• 4:10:20
  the platter. She had, in accordance with her promise to missus Lynde,
• 4:10:24
  written to Miss Barry of Charlottetown asking for the loan of it. Miss Barry
• 4:10:28
  was an old friend of Anne's, and she promptly sent the platter out with
• 4:10:33
  a letter exhorting Anne to be very careful of it, for she had paid
• 4:10:35
  twenty dollars for it. The platter had served its purpose at the aid Bazaar
• 4:10:41
  and had then been returned to the Green Gables closet, for Anne would not
• 4:10:45
  trust anybody but herself to take it back to town. She carried the platter
• 4:10:48
  carefully to the front door, where her guests were enjoying the cool breeze that
• 4:10:52
  blew up from the brook. It was examined and admired. Then, just
• 4:10:58
  as Anne had taken it back into her own head, a terrific crash and
• 4:11:01
  clatter sounded from the kitchen pantry. Marilla, Diana and Anne fled out,
• 4:11:07
  the latter pausing only long enough to set the precious platter hastily down on the
• 4:11:11
  second step of the stairs. When they reached the pantry, a truly harrowing
• 4:11:15
  spectacle met their eyes. A guilty looking small boy scrambling down from the table
• 4:11:20
  with his clean print blouse liberally plastered with yellow filling, and on the table
• 4:11:26
  the shattered remnants of what had been too brave becreamed lemon pies. Davy had
• 4:11:31
  finished raveling out his haring net and had wound the twine into a ball.
• 4:11:35
  Then he had gone into the pantry to put it up on the shelf above
• 4:11:37
  the table, where he already kept a score or so of similar balls,
• 4:11:41
  which, so far as could be discovered, served no useful purpose save to
• 4:11:46
  yield the joy of possession. Davy had to climb on the table and reach
• 4:11:50
  over to the shelf at a dangerous angle, something he had been forbidden by
• 4:11:54
  Marilla to do, as he had come to grief once before in the experiment.
• 4:11:58
  The result in the instance was disastrous. Davy slipped and came sprawling squarely
• 4:12:03
  down on the lemon pies. His clean blouse was ruined for that time,
• 4:12:07
  and the pies for all time. It is, however, an ill wind
• 4:12:11
  that blows nobody good, and the pig was eventually the gainer by Davy's mischance.
• 4:12:16
  Davy Keith, said Marilla, shaking him by the shoulder. Didn't I
• 4:12:22
  forbid you to climb up on that table again? Didn't I I forgot?
• 4:12:26
  Whimpered Davy. You've told me not to do such an awful lot of things
• 4:12:31
  that I can't remember them all. Well, you march upstairs and stay there
• 4:12:35
  till after dinner. Perhaps you'll get them sorted out in your memory by that
• 4:12:39
  time. No, Anne, never you mind interceding for him. I'm not
• 4:12:43
  punishing him because he spoiled your pies. That was an accident. I'm punishing
• 4:12:48
  him for his disobedience. Go, Davy, I say, ain't I to
• 4:12:54
  have any dinner? Wailed Davy. You can come down after dinner is over
• 4:12:58
  and have yours in the kitchen. Oh all right, said Davy, somewhat
• 4:13:03
  comforted. I know, Anne, I'll save some nice bones for me,
• 4:13:07
  won't you, Anne, Cause you know I didn't mean to fall on the
• 4:13:11
  pies, say Anne, since they are spoiled, can't I take some of
• 4:13:16
  the pieces upstairs with me? No, no lemon pie for you, Master
• 4:13:20
  Davy, said Marilla, pushing him toward the hall. What shall we do
• 4:13:24
  for dessert, asked Anne, looking regretfully at the wreck and ruin. Get
• 4:13:28
  out a crock of strawberry preserves, said Marilla, consolingly. There's plenty of
• 4:13:35
  whipped cream left in the bowl for it. One o'clock came, but no
• 4:13:37
  Priscilla or missus Morgan. Anne was in an agony. Everything was done to
• 4:13:43
  a turn, and the soup was just what soup should be, but couldn't
• 4:13:46
  be depended on to remain so for any length of time. I don't believe
• 4:13:50
  they're coming after all, said Marilla crossly. Anne and Diana sought comfort in
• 4:13:56
  each other's eyes. At half past one, Marilla again and urged from the
• 4:14:00
  parlor, girls, we must have dinner. Everybody is hungry, and it's
• 4:14:03
  no use waiting any longer. Priscilla and missus Morgan are not coming. That's
• 4:14:07
  plain, and nothing is being improved by waiting. Anne and Diana set about
• 4:14:13
  lifting the dinner with all the zest gone out of the performance. I don't
• 4:14:16
  believe I'll be able to eat a mouthful, said Diana dolefully. Nor I
• 4:14:22
  but I hope everything will be nice for miss Stacy's and mister and missus Allen's
• 4:14:26
  sakes, said Anne listlessly. When Diana dished the peas, she tasted them
• 4:14:31
  and a very peculiar expression crossed her face. Anne, did you put sugar
• 4:14:37
  in these peas? Yes, said Anne, mashing the potatoes with the air
• 4:14:41
  of one expected to do her duty. I put a spoonful of sugar in.
• 4:14:46
  We always do. Don't you like it? But I put a spoonful
• 4:14:50
  in two when I set them on the stove, said Diana. Anne dropped
• 4:14:54
  her masher and tasted the peas also. Then she made a grimace. How
• 4:14:58
  awful. I never dreamed you had put sugar in, because I knew your
• 4:15:03
  mother never does. I happened to think of it for a wonder. I'm
• 4:15:05
  always forgetting it, so I popped a spoonful in. It's a case of
• 4:15:09
  too many cooks, I guess, said Marilla, who had listened to this
• 4:15:13
  dialogue, with a rather guilty expression. I didn't think you'd remember about the
• 4:15:18
  sugar, Anne, for I'm perfectly certain you never did before, so I
• 4:15:22
  put in a spoonful. The guests in the parlor heard peel after peal of
• 4:15:26
  laughter from the kitchen, but they never knew what the fun was about.
• 4:15:31
  There were no green peas on the dinner table that day, however, well
• 4:15:35
  said Anne, sobering down again with a sigh of recollection. We have the
• 4:15:39
  salad anyhow, and I don't think anything has happened to the beans. Let's
• 4:15:43
  carry the things in and get it over. It cannot be said that that
• 4:15:46
  dinner was a notable success socially. The Allans and miss Stacy exerted themselves to
• 4:15:52
  save the situation, and Marilla's customary placidity was not noticeably ruffled. But Anne
• 4:15:58
  and Diana, between their disappointment and the reaction from their excitement of the forenoon,
• 4:16:02
  could neither talk nor eat. Anne tried heroically to bear her part in
• 4:16:07
  the conversation for the sake of her guests, but all the sparkle had been
• 4:16:10
  quenched in her for the time being, and in spite of her love for
• 4:16:14
  the Allans and Miss Stacy, she couldn't help thinking how nice it would be
• 4:16:17
  when everybody had gone home and she could bury her weariness and disappointment in the
• 4:16:22
  pillows of the east gable. There is an old proverb that really seems at
• 4:16:26
  times to be inspired. It never rains, but it pours. The measure
• 4:16:30
  of that day's tribulations was not yet full. Just as mister Allan had finished
• 4:16:34
  returning thanks, there arose a strange, ominous sound on the stairs, as
• 4:16:38
  of some hard, heavy object bounding from step to step, finishing up with
• 4:16:44
  a grand smash at the bottom. Everybody ran out into the hall. Anne
• 4:16:48
  gave a shriek of dismay. At the bottom of the stairs lay a big
• 4:16:52
  pink conk shell amid the fragments of what had been Miss Barry's platter, and
• 4:16:56
  at the top of the stairs knelt a terrified Davy, gazing down with wide
• 4:17:00
  open eyes at the havoc. Davy said Marilla ominously, did you throw that
• 4:17:07
  conch down on purpose? No? I never did, whimpered Davy. I
• 4:17:14
  was just kneeling here, quiet as quiet, to watch you folks through the
• 4:17:18
  banisters, and my foot struck that old thing and pushed it off. And
• 4:17:22
  I'm awful hungry, and I do wish you'd lick a fellow and have done
• 4:17:27
  with it instead of always sending him upstairs to miss all the fun. Don't
• 4:17:33
  blame Davy, said Anne, gathering up the fragments with trembling fingers. It
• 4:17:37
  was my fault. I set that platter there and forgot all about it.
• 4:17:41
  I am properly punished for my carelessness. But oh, what will miss Barry
• 4:17:45
  say? Well, you know she only bought it, so it isn't the
• 4:17:49
  same as if it was an heirloom, said Diana, trying to console.
• 4:17:55
  The guests went away soon after, feeling that it was the most tactful thing
• 4:17:59
  to do, and Anne and Diana washed the dishes, talking less than they
• 4:18:03
  had ever been known to do before. Then Diana went home with a headache,
• 4:18:07
  and Anne went with another to the East Gable, where she stayed until
• 4:18:11
  Marilla came home from the post office at sunset with a letter from Priscilla written
• 4:18:15
  the day before. Missus Morgan had sprained her ankle so severely that she could
• 4:18:21
  not leave her room, and Oh, Anne dear, wrote Priscilla. I'm
• 4:18:26
  so sorry, but I'm afraid we won't get up to Dreen Gables at all
• 4:18:30
  now, for by the time Auntie's ankle as well, she will have to
• 4:18:33
  go back to Toronto. She has to be there by a certain date,
• 4:18:38
  well, sighed Anne, laying the letter down on the red sandstone step of
• 4:18:42
  the back porch where she was sitting while the twilight rained down out of a
• 4:18:48
  dappled sky. I always thought it was too good to be true that Missus
• 4:18:52
  Morgan should really come. But there that speech sounds as pessimistic as Miss Eliza
• 4:18:56
  Andrews, and I'm ashamed of making it. After all, it was not
• 4:19:00
  too good to be true. Things just as good and far better are coming
• 4:19:03
  true for me all the time. And I suppose the events of today have
• 4:19:07
  a funny side too. Perhaps when Diana and I are old and gray,
• 4:19:11
  we shall be able to laugh over them. But I feel that I can't
• 4:19:15
  expect to do it before then, for it has truly been a bitter disappointment.
• 4:19:18
  You'll probably have a good many more and worse disappointments than that before you
• 4:19:22
  get through life, said Marilla, who honestly thought she was making a comforting
• 4:19:26
  speech. It seems to me, Anne that you are never going to outgrow
• 4:19:30
  your fashion of setting your heart so on things and then crashing down into despair
• 4:19:34
  because you don't get them. I know I'm too much inclined that way,
• 4:19:38
  agreed Anne ruefully. When I think something nice is going to happen, I
• 4:19:44
  seem to fly right up on the wings of anticipation, and then the first
• 4:19:48
  thing I realize, I drop down to earth with a thud. But really,
• 4:19:51
  Marilla, the flying part is glorious as long as it lasts. It's
• 4:19:55
  like soaring through a sunset. I think it almost pays for the thud.
• 4:20:00
  Well, maybe it does, admitted Marilla. I'd rather walk calmly along and
• 4:20:06
  do without both flying and thud. But everybody has her own way of living.
• 4:20:11
  I used to think there was only one right way, but since I've
• 4:20:15
  had you and the twins to bring up, I don't feel so sure of
• 4:20:18
  it. What are you going to do about Miss Barry's platter? Pay her
• 4:20:22
  back the twenty dollars she paid for it? I suppose. I'm so thankful
• 4:20:26
  it wasn't a cherished heirloom, because then no money could replace it. Maybe
• 4:20:30
  you could find one like it somewhere and buy it for her. I'm afraid
• 4:20:33
  not platters as old as that are very scarce. Missus Lynde couldn't find one
• 4:20:37
  anywhere for the supper. I only wish I could, for of course,
• 4:20:41
  Miss Barry would just as soon have one platter as another, if both were
• 4:20:45
  equally old and genuine. Marilla look at that big star over mister Harrison's maple
• 4:20:49
  Grove, with all that holy hush of silvery sky about it. It gives
• 4:20:53
  me a feeling that is like a prayer. After all, when one can
• 4:20:57
  see stars and skies like that, little disappointments and accidents can't matter so much,
• 4:21:03
  can they? Where's Davy? Said Marilla, with an indifferent glance at
• 4:21:07
  the star in bed. I've promised to take him and Dora to the shore
• 4:21:11
  for a picnic tomorrow. Of course, the original agreement was that he must
• 4:21:15
  be good, but he tried to be good, and I hadn't the heart
• 4:21:18
  to disappoint him. You'll drown yourself or the twins rowing about the pond in
• 4:21:22
  that flat, grumbled Marilla. I've lived here for sixty years and I've never
• 4:21:29
  been on the pond yet. Well it's never too late to mend, said
• 4:21:33
  Anne roguishly. Suppose you come with us tomorrow. We'll shut Green Gables up
• 4:21:37
  and spend the whole day at the shore daffing the world aside. No thank
• 4:21:41
  you, said Marilla, with indignant emphasis. I'd be a nice sight,
• 4:21:45
  wouldn't I rowing down the pond in a flat? I think I hear Rachel
• 4:21:51
  pronouncing on it. There's mister Harrison driving away somewhere. Do you suppose there
• 4:21:56
  is any truth in the gossip that mister Harrison is going to see Isabella Andrews.
• 4:22:00
  No, I'm sure there isn't. He just called there one evening on
• 4:22:03
  business with mister Harmon Andrews, and missus Lynde saw him and said she knew
• 4:22:07
  he was courting because he had a white collar on. I don't believe mister
• 4:22:11
  Harrison will ever marry. He seems to have a prejudice against marriage. Well,
• 4:22:15
  you never can tell about those old bachelors, and if he had a
• 4:22:18
  white collar on, I'd agree with Rachel that it looks suspicious, for I'm
• 4:22:22
  sure he never was seen with one before. I think he only put it
• 4:22:26
  on because he wanted to conclude a business deal with Harmon. Andrews, said
• 4:22:29
  Anne. I've heard him say that's the only time a man needs to be
• 4:22:33
  particular about his appearance, because if he looks prosperous, the party of the
• 4:22:37
  second part won't be so likely to try to cheat him. I really feel
• 4:22:41
  sorry for mister Harrison. I don't believe he feels satisfied with his life.
• 4:22:45
  It must be very lonely to have no one to care about except a parrot,
• 4:22:48
  don't you think. But I noticed mister Harrison doesn't like to be pitied.
• 4:22:52
  Nobody does. I imagine there's Gilbert coming up the lane, said Marilla.
• 4:22:56
  If he wants you to go for a row on the pond, mind
• 4:23:00
  you put on your coat and rubbers. There's a heavy dew tonight. End
• 4:23:03
  of chapter seventeen. Chapter eighteen, an Adventure on the Tory Road, Anne
• 4:23:11
  said Davy, sitting up in bed and propping his chin on his hands.
• 4:23:15
  Anne, where is sleep people go to sleep every night, And of course
• 4:23:21
  I know it's the place where I do the things I dream, But I
• 4:23:25
  want to know where it is and how I get there and back without knowing
• 4:23:29
  anything about it? And in my ninety two where is it? Anne was
• 4:23:33
  kneeling at the west gable window, watching the sunset sky that was like a
• 4:23:37
  great flower with petals of crocus and a heart of fiery yellow. She turned
• 4:23:42
  her head at Davy's question and answered dreamily over the mountains of the moon,
• 4:23:48
  down the valley of the shadow. Paul Irving would have known the meaning of
• 4:23:52
  this, or made a meaning out of it for himself if he didn't.
• 4:23:55
  But practical Davy, who as Anne often despairingly remarked, hadn't a particle of
• 4:24:00
  imagination, was only puzzled and disgusted Anne. I believe you're just talking nonsense,
• 4:24:07
  of course I was, dear boy. Don't you know that it is
• 4:24:11
  only very foolish folk who talk sense all the time. Well, I think
• 4:24:15
  you might give a sensible answer when I ask a sensible question, said Davy
• 4:24:21
  in an injured tone. Oh you are too little to understand, said Anne,
• 4:24:26
  but she felt rather ashamed of saying it, for had she not,
• 4:24:29
  in keen remembrance of many similar snubs administered in her own early years, solemnly
• 4:24:33
  vowed that she would never tell any child it was too little to understand.
• 4:24:37
  Yet here she was doing it so wide. Sometimes is the gulf between theory
• 4:24:42
  and practice. Well, I'm doing my best to grow, said Davy.
• 4:24:48
  But it's a thing you can't hurry much. If Marilla wasn't so stingy with
• 4:24:52
  her jam, I believe I'd grow a lot faster. Marilla is not stingy,
• 4:24:59
  Davy sa Anne severely. It is very ungrateful of you to say such
• 4:25:03
  a thing. There's another word that means the same thing and sounds a lot
• 4:25:07
  better. But I don't just remember it, said Davy, frowning intently.
• 4:25:12
  I heard Marilla say she was it herself the other day. If you mean
• 4:25:18
  economical, it's a very different thing from being stingy. It is an excellent
• 4:25:22
  trait in a person if she is economical. If Marilla had been stingy,
• 4:25:26
  she wouldn't have taken you and Dora when your mother died. Would you have
• 4:25:30
  liked to live with missus Wiggins? You just bet I wouldn't. Davy was
• 4:25:34
  emphatic on that point, nor, I don't want to go out to Uncle
• 4:25:38
  Richard neither. I'd far rather live here, even if Marilla is that long
• 4:25:45
  tailed word when it comes to jam. Because you're here, Anne say,
• 4:25:49
  Anne, won't you tell me a story for I go to sleep? I
• 4:25:52
  don't want a fairy story. They're all right for girls, I suppose,
• 4:25:56
  but I want something exciting. Lights of killing and shooting in it, and
• 4:26:02
  a house on fire and interesting things like that. Fortunately for Anne, Marilla
• 4:26:07
  called out at this moment from her room, and Diana's signaling at a great
• 4:26:11
  rate, you'd better see what she wants. Anne ran to the east gable
• 4:26:15
  and saw flashes of light coming through the twilight from Diana's window in groups of
• 4:26:19
  five, which meant, according to their old childish code, come over at
• 4:26:23
  once, for I have something important to reveal. Anne threw her white shawl
• 4:26:27
  over her head and hastened through the haunted wood and across mister Bell's pasture corner
• 4:26:33
  to Orchard Slope. I've got news for you, Anne, said Diana.
• 4:26:37
  Mother. And I just got home from Carmody and I saw Mary Sentna from
• 4:26:41
  Spencer Vale in mister Blair's store. He says, the old cop girls on
• 4:26:48
  the Tory Road have a willow ware pletter, and she thinks it's exactly like
• 4:26:52
  the one we had at the supper. She says they'll likely sell it,
• 4:26:56
  for Martha Copp has never been known to keep anything. She could so,
• 4:27:00
  but if they won't, there's a platter at Wesley Keyson's at Spencervale, and
• 4:27:04
  she knows they'd sell it, but she isn't sure it's the same kind as
• 4:27:08
  Aunt Josephine's. I'll go right over to Spencervale after it tomorrow, said Anne
• 4:27:14
  resolutely, And you must come with me. It will be such a weight
• 4:27:18
  off my mind, for I have to go to town day after tomorrow,
• 4:27:21
  and how can I face your Aunt Josephine without a willow ware platter. It
• 4:27:25
  would be even worse than the time I had to confess about jumping on the
• 4:27:27
  spare room bed. Both girls laughed over the old memory concerning which if any
• 4:27:33
  of my readers are ignorant and curious, I must refer them to Anne's earlier
• 4:27:37
  history. The next afternoon, the girls fared forth on their platter hunting expedition.
• 4:27:42
  It was ten miles to Spencervale, and the day was not especially pleasant
• 4:27:47
  for traveling. It was very warm and windless, and the dust on the
• 4:27:52
  road was such as might have been expected after six weeks of dry weather.
• 4:27:56
  Oh, I do wish it would rain soon, sighed Anne. Everything is
• 4:28:00
  so parched up. The poor fields just seemed pitiful to me, and the
• 4:28:04
  trees seem to be stretching out their hands pleading for rain. As for my
• 4:28:08
  garden, it hurts me every time I go into it. I suppose I
• 4:28:11
  shouldn't complain about a garden when the farmer's crops are suffering. So mister Harrison
• 4:28:17
  says his pastures are so scorched up that his poor cows can hardly get a
• 4:28:21
  bite to eat, and he feels guilty of cruelty to animals every time he
• 4:28:23
  meets their eyes. After a wearisome drive, the girls reached Spencervale and turned
• 4:28:30
  down the Tory Road, a green, solitary highway where the strips of grass
• 4:28:33
  between the wheel tracks bore evidence to lack of travel. Along most of its
• 4:28:38
  extent, it was lined with thick set young spruces crowding down to the roadway,
• 4:28:42
  with here and there a break where the back field of a Spencervale farm
• 4:28:47
  came out to the fence or an expanse of stumps was aflame with fireweed and
• 4:28:51
  golden rod. Why is it called the Tory Road, asked Anne. Mister
• 4:28:56
  Allen says it is on the principle of calling a place a grove, because
• 4:29:00
  there are no trees in it, said Diana. For nobody lives along the
• 4:29:04
  road except the Copp girls and Old Martin Bovia at the further end. Who
• 4:29:08
  is a liberal? The Tory government ran the road through when they were in
• 4:29:14
  power, just to show they were doing something. Diana's father was a Liberal,
• 4:29:18
  for which reason she and Anne never discussed politics. Green Gables folk had
• 4:29:22
  always been conservatives. Finally, the girls came to the Old cop homestead,
• 4:29:27
  a place of such exceeding external neatness that even Green Gables would have suffered.
• 4:29:32
  By contrast, the house was a very old fashioned one, situated on a
• 4:29:36
  slope, which fact had necessitated the building of a stone basement under one end.
• 4:29:41
  The house and outbuildings were all whitewashed to a condition of blinding perfection,
• 4:29:45
  and not a weed was visible in the prim kitchen garden, surrounded by its
• 4:29:49
  white paling. The shades are all down, said Diana ruefully, I believe
• 4:29:56
  that nobody is home. This proved to be the case. The girls looked
• 4:30:00
  at each other in perplexity. I don't know what to do, said Anne.
• 4:30:03
  If I were sure the platter was the right kind, I would not
• 4:30:06
  mind waiting until they came home. But if it isn't, it may be
• 4:30:08
  too late to go to Westley Keyson's. Afterward, Diana looked at a certain
• 4:30:14
  little square window over the basement. That is the pantry window. I feel
• 4:30:18
  sure, she said, because this house is just like Uncle Charles's at Newbridge,
• 4:30:23
  and that is their pantry window. The shade isn't done, so if
• 4:30:27
  we climbed up on the roof of that little house, we could look into
• 4:30:30
  the pantry and might be able to see the platter. Do you think it
• 4:30:34
  would be any harm? No, I don't think so, decided Anne.
• 4:30:38
  After due reflection. Since our motive is not idle curiosity, this important point
• 4:30:45
  of ethics being settled, Anne prepared to mount the aforesaid little house, a
• 4:30:48
  construction of lathes with a peaked roof, which had in times past served as
• 4:30:53
  a habitation for ducks. The Copp girls had given up keeping ducks because they
• 4:30:57
  were such untidy birds, and the house had not been in use for some
• 4:31:02
  years save as an abode of correction for setting hens. Although scrupulously whitewashed,
• 4:31:07
  it had become somewhat shaky, and Anne felt rather dubious as she scrambled up
• 4:31:11
  from the vantage point of a keg placed on a box. I'm afraid it
• 4:31:17
  won't bear my weight, she said, as she gingerly stepped on the roof
• 4:31:21
  clean on the window, Sill advised Diana, and Anne accordingly leaned. Much
• 4:31:26
  to her delight, she saw as she peered through the pane a willow ware
• 4:31:30
  platter exactly such as she was in quest of, on the shelf in front
• 4:31:33
  of the window. So much she saw before the catastrophe came in her joy,
• 4:31:40
  Anne forgot the precarious nature of her footing, incautiously ceased to lean on
• 4:31:44
  the window. Sill gave an impulsive little hop of pleasure, and the next
• 4:31:48
  moment she had crashed through the roof up to her armpits, and there she
• 4:31:52
  hung, quite unable to extricate herself. Diana dashed into the duck house,
• 4:31:56
  and, seizing her unfortunate friend, and by the waist, try to draw
• 4:32:00
  her down Ow don't, shrieked poor Anne. There are some long splinters sticking
• 4:32:07
  into me. See if you can put something under my feet, then perhaps
• 4:32:11
  I can draw myself up. Diana hastily dragged in the previously mentioned keg,
• 4:32:15
  and Anne found that it was just sufficiently high to furnish a secure resting place
• 4:32:19
  for her feet, but she could not release herself. Could I pull you
• 4:32:23
  out if I crawled up, suggested Diana. Anne shook her head hopelessly.
• 4:32:30
  No, the splinter's hurt too badly. If you can find an axe,
• 4:32:33
  you might chop me out. Though, Oh dear, I do really begin
• 4:32:37
  to believe that I was born under an ill omened star. Diana searched faithfully,
• 4:32:42
  but no axe was to be found. I'll have to go for help,
• 4:32:47
  she said, returning to the prisoner. No, indeed you won't,
• 4:32:51
  said Anne vehemently. If you do, the story of this will get out
• 4:32:53
  everywhere, and I shall be ashamed to show my face. No, we
• 4:32:57
  must just wait until the cops come home and bind them to secrecy. They'll
• 4:33:02
  know where the axe is and get me out. I'm not uncomfortable as long
• 4:33:06
  as I keep perfectly still not uncomfortable in body, I mean, I wonder
• 4:33:11
  what the Cop Girls value this house at. I shall have to pay for
• 4:33:14
  the damage I've done, but I wouldn't mind that if I were only sure
• 4:33:17
  they would understand my motive in peeping in at their pantry window. My sole
• 4:33:22
  comfort is that the platter is just the kind I want, and if Miss
• 4:33:25
  Copp will only sell it to me, I shall be resigned to what has
• 4:33:27
  happened. What if the Cop girls don't come home till after night or till
• 4:33:33
  tomorrow, suggested Diana. If they're not back by sunset, you'll have to
• 4:33:37
  go for other assistants, I suppose, said Anne reluctantly. But you mustn't
• 4:33:41
  go until you really have to. Oh dear, this is a dreadful predicament.
• 4:33:47
  I wouldn't mind my misfortunes so much if they were romantic, as missus
• 4:33:51
  Morgan's heroines always are. But they are always just simply ridiculous. Fancy what
• 4:33:56
  the Cop girls will think when they drive into their yard and see a girl's
• 4:33:59
  head and sh sticking out of the roof of one of their outhouses. Listen,
• 4:34:03
  is that a wagon? No, Diana, I believe it is thunder.
• 4:34:07
  Thunder It was, undoubtedly and Diana, having made a hasty pilgrimage around
• 4:34:11
  the house, returned to announce that a very black cloud was rising rapidly in
• 4:34:17
  the northwest. I believe we're going to have a heavy thundershower, she exclaimed,
• 4:34:22
  in dismay. Oh Anne, what will we do? We must prepare
• 4:34:26
  for it, said Anne tranquility. A thunderstorm seemed a trifle in comparison with
• 4:34:32
  what had already happened. You'd better drive the horse and buggy into that open
• 4:34:36
  shed. Fortunately, my parasol is in the buggy. Here, take my
• 4:34:40
  hat with you. Marilla told me I was a goose to put on my
• 4:34:42
  best hat to come to the Tory road, and she was right, as
• 4:34:45
  she always is. Diana untied the pony and drove into the shed just as
• 4:34:51
  the first heavy drops of rain fell. There she sat and watched the resulting
• 4:34:55
  downpour, which was so thick and heavy that she could hardly see Anne through
• 4:34:59
  it, holding the parasol bravely over her bare head. There was not a
• 4:35:03
  great deal of thunder, but for the best part of an hour the rain
• 4:35:06
  came merrily down. Occasionally, Anne slanted back her parasol and waved an encouraging
• 4:35:11
  hand to her friend, but conversation at that distance was quite out of the
• 4:35:15
  question. Finally, the rain ceased, the sun came out, and Diana
• 4:35:19
  ventured across the puddles of the yard. Did you get very wet, she
• 4:35:25
  asked anxiously. Oh no, returned Anne, cheerfully. My head and shoulders
• 4:35:29
  are quite dry, and my skirt is only a little damp where the rain
• 4:35:33
  beat through the lathes. Don't pity me, Diana, for I haven't minded
• 4:35:36
  it at all. I kept thinking how much good the rain will do,
• 4:35:38
  and how glad my garden must be for it, and imagining what the flowers
• 4:35:42
  and buds would think when the drops began to fall. I imagined out a
• 4:35:47
  most interesting dialogue between the asters and the sweet peas, and the wild canaries
• 4:35:49
  in the lilac bush, and the guardian spirit of the garden. When I
• 4:35:53
  go home, I mean to write it down. I wish I had a
• 4:35:56
  pencil and paper to do it now, because I dare say I'll forget the
• 4:36:00
  best parts before I reach home. Diana the Faithful had a pencil and discovered
• 4:36:04
  a sheet of wrapping paper in the box of the buggy. Anne folded up
• 4:36:07
  her dripping parasol put on her hat, spread the wrapping paper on a shingle,
• 4:36:11
  Diana handed up and wrote out her garden idol under conditions that could hardly
• 4:36:17
  be considered as favorable to literature. Nevertheless, the result was quite pretty,
• 4:36:22
  and Diana was enraptured when Anne read it to her. Oh, Anne,
• 4:36:26
  it's sweet, just sweet. Do send it to the Canadian woman. Anne
• 4:36:32
  shook her head. Oh no, it wouldn't be suitable at all. There
• 4:36:36
  is no plot in it, you see. It's just a string of fancies.
• 4:36:40
  I like writing such things. But of course nothing of the sort would
• 4:36:42
  ever do for publication, for editors insist on plots. So Priscilla says,
• 4:36:48
  Oh, there's miss Sarah Copp. Now, please Diana go and explain.
• 4:36:52
  Miss Sarah Copp was a small person garbed in shabby black with a hat chosen
• 4:36:56
  less for vain adornment than for qualities that would wear well. She looked as
• 4:37:02
  amazed as might be expected on seeing the curious tableau in her yard, but
• 4:37:06
  when she heard Diana's explanation, she was all sympathy. She hurriedly unlocked the
• 4:37:10
  back door, produced the axe, and with a few skillful blows, set
• 4:37:14
  Anne free. The latter somewhat tired and stiff, ducked down into the interior
• 4:37:18
  of her prison and thankfully emerged into liberty once more. Miss Copp, she
• 4:37:25
  said earnestly, I assure you I looked into your pantry window only to discover
• 4:37:30
  if you had a willow ware platter. I didn't see anything else. I
• 4:37:33
  didn't look for anything else. Bless you. That's all right, said miss
• 4:37:37
  Sarah amiably, you needn't worry. There's no harm done. Thank goodness.
• 4:37:44
  We cops keep our pantries presentable at all times and don't care who SE's into
• 4:37:48
  them. As for that old duckhouse, I'm glad it's smashed for maybe now
• 4:37:53
  Martha will agree to having it taken down. She never would before for fear
• 4:37:59
  it might come in handy some time. And I've had a whitewash at every
• 4:38:02
  spring. But you might as well argue with the post as with Martha.
• 4:38:07
  Ah. She went to town to day. I drove her to the station.
• 4:38:12
  And you want to buy my platter, Well, what will you give
• 4:38:17
  for it? Twenty dollars, said Anne, who was never meant to match
• 4:38:22
  business wits with a cop, or she would not have offered her price at
• 4:38:25
  the start. Well, I'll see, said Miss Sarah cautiously. That platter
• 4:38:30
  is mine, fortunately, or I'd never dare to sell it. When Martha
• 4:38:34
  wasn't here as it is, I dare say, she'll raise a fuss.
• 4:38:41
  Martha's the boss of this establishment. I can tell you I'm getting awful tired
• 4:38:45
  of living under another woman's thumb. But come in, come in. You
• 4:38:51
  must be real tired and hungry. I'll do the best I can for you
• 4:38:55
  in the way of tea, but I warn you not to expect anything but
• 4:38:59
  bread and butter and some cowcumbers. Martha locked up all the cake and cheese
• 4:39:03
  and preserves afore she went. She always does, because she says I'm too
• 4:39:07
  extravagant with them if company comes. The girls were hungry enough to do justice
• 4:39:12
  to any fair and they enjoyed Miss Sarah's excellent bread and butter and cowcumbers thoroughly.
• 4:39:18
  When the meal was over, Miss Sarah said, I don't know as
• 4:39:22
  I mind selling the platter, but it's worth twenty five dollars. It's a
• 4:39:26
  very old platter. Diana gave Anne's foot a gentle kick under the table,
• 4:39:33
  meaning don't agree. She'll let it go for twenty if you hold out.
• 4:39:37
  But Anne was not minded to take any chances in regard to that precious platter.
• 4:39:41
  She promptly agreed to give twenty five, and Miss Sarah looked as if
• 4:39:45
  she felt sorry she hadn't asked for thirty. Well, I guess you may
• 4:39:49
  have it. I want all the money I can scare up just now.
• 4:39:53
  The fact is, Miss Sarah threw up her head importantly, with a proud
• 4:39:59
  flush on her thin sheek I'm going to be married to Luther Wallace. He
• 4:40:04
  wanted me twenty years ago. I liked him real well, but he was
• 4:40:10
  poor then and father pecked him off. I suppose I shouldn't have let him
• 4:40:15
  go so meek, but I was timid and frightened the father. Besides,
• 4:40:21
  I didn't know men were so scarce. When the girls were safely away,
• 4:40:26
  Diana driving and Anne holding the coveted platter carefully on her lap, the green
• 4:40:30
  rain freshened solitudes of the Tory Road were enlivened by ripples of girlish laughter.
• 4:40:36
  I'll amuse your aunt Josephine with the strange, eventful history of this afternoon when
• 4:40:40
  I go to town tomorrow. We've had a rather trying time. But it's
• 4:40:42
  over now. I've got the platter, and that rain has laid the dust
• 4:40:47
  beautifully, so all's well. That ends. Well, we're not home yet,
• 4:40:52
  said Diana rather pessimistically, and there's no telling what may happen before we
• 4:40:56
  are. You're such a girl to have adventures. Ah, having adventures comes
• 4:41:00
  natural to some people, said Anne serenely. You just have a gift for
• 4:41:06
  them, or you haven't. End of Chapter eighteen. Chapter nineteen. Just
• 4:41:12
  a happy day, after all, Anne had said to Marilla once, I
• 4:41:18
  believe the nicest and sweetest days are not those on which anything very splendid or
• 4:41:22
  wonderful or exciting happens, but just those that bring simple little pleasures following one
• 4:41:27
  another softly, like pearls slipping off a string. Life at Green Gables was
• 4:41:33
  full of just such days, for Anne's adventures and misadventures, like those of
• 4:41:37
  other people, did not all happen at once, but were sprinkled over the
• 4:41:41
  year, with long stretches of harmless happy days between, filled with work and
• 4:41:47
  dreams and laughter and lessons. Such a day came late in August. In
• 4:41:52
  the forenoon, Anne and Diana rode the delighted twins down the pond to the
• 4:41:56
  sandshore to pick sweet grass and paddle in the surf over which which the wind
• 4:42:00
  was harping an old lyric learned when the world was young. In the afternoon,
• 4:42:04
  Anne walked down to the old irving place to see Paul. She found
• 4:42:08
  him stretched out on the grassy bank beside the thick fir grove that sheltered the
• 4:42:11
  house on the north, absorbed in a book of fairy tales. He sprang
• 4:42:15
  up radiantly at sight of her. Oh, I'm so glad you've come,
• 4:42:19
  teacher, he said eagerly, because Grandma's away. You'll stay and have tea
• 4:42:25
  with me, won't you. It's so lonesome enough tea all by oneself,
• 4:42:29
  you know, Teacher. I've had serious thoughts of asking young marry Joe to
• 4:42:33
  sit down and eat her tea with me, but I expect Grandma wouldn't approve,
• 4:42:37
  she says. The French have to be kept in their place, and
• 4:42:41
  anyhow, it's difficult to talk with the un married Joe. She just laughs
• 4:42:45
  and says, well you zu beat old gidsay ever known that isn't my idea
• 4:42:51
  of conversation. Of course, I'll stay to tea, said Anne gaily.
• 4:42:55
  I was dying to be asked. My mouth has been watering for some more
• 4:42:59
  of your grandma delicious shortbread ever since I had tea here before. Paul looked
• 4:43:03
  very sober. If it depended on me, teacher, he said, standing
• 4:43:08
  before Anne with his hands in his pockets and his beautiful little face shadowed with
• 4:43:12
  sudden care. You should have shortbread with a right good will. But it
• 4:43:18
  depends on married Joe. I heard Grandma tell her before she left that she
• 4:43:22
  wasn't to give me any shortcake because it was too rich for little boy's stomachs.
• 4:43:27
  Maybe Mary Joe will cut some for you if I promise I won't eat
• 4:43:30
  any. Let us hope for the best. Yes, let us agreed Anne,
• 4:43:36
  whom this cheerful philosophy suited exactly. And if Mary Joe proves hard hearted
• 4:43:41
  and won't give me any shortbread, it doesn't matter in the least. So
• 4:43:44
  you are not to worry over that. You are sure you wouldn't mind if
• 4:43:47
  she doesn't, said Paul, anxiously. Perfectly sure, dear heart, Then
• 4:43:52
  I won't worry, said Paul, with a long breath of relief, especially
• 4:43:56
  as I really think Mary Joe will listen into reason. She's not a naturally
• 4:44:02
  unreasonable person, but she has learned by experience that it doesn't do to disobey
• 4:44:07
  Grandma's orders. Grandma is an excellent woman, but people must do as she
• 4:44:11
  tells them. She was very much pleased with me this morning because I managed
• 4:44:15
  at last to eat all my plate full of porridge. It was a great
• 4:44:18
  effort, but I succeeded. Grandma says she thinks she'll make a man of
• 4:44:22
  me yet. But teacher, I want to ask you a very important question.
• 4:44:27
  You will answer truthfully, won't you. I'll try, promised. Anne.
• 4:44:32
  Do you think I'm wrong in my upper story? Asked Paul, as
• 4:44:36
  if his very existence depended on her reply. Goodness, no, Paul,
• 4:44:41
  exclaimed Anne, in amazement. Certainly or not? What puts such an idea
• 4:44:45
  into your head? Mary Joe? But she didn't know I heard her.
• 4:44:52
  Missus Peter Sloane's hired girl, Veronica, came to see Mary Joe last evening,
• 4:44:56
  and I heard them talking in the kitchen. As I was going through
• 4:44:59
  the hall, I heard Mary Joe say, that's Paul. He is the
• 4:45:03
  queer's little boy. He talks that Cuil I think there's something wrong in his
• 4:45:08
  upper story. I couldn't sleep last night for ever so long thinking of it
• 4:45:14
  and wondering if Mary Joe was right. I couldn't bear to ask Grandma about
• 4:45:18
  it, somehow, but I made up my mind I'd ask you. I'm
• 4:45:22
  so glad you think I'm all right in my upper story. Of course you
• 4:45:26
  are. Mary Joe is a silly, ignorant girl, and you are never
• 4:45:29
  to worry about anything, she says, said Anne, indignantly, secretly resolving
• 4:45:33
  to give missus Irving a discreet hint as to the advisability of restraining Mary Joe's
• 4:45:38
  tongue. Well, that's a weight off my mind, said Paul. I'm
• 4:45:42
  perfectly happy now, teacher, thanks to you. It wouldn't be nice to
• 4:45:47
  have something wrong in your upper story, would it, Teacher. I suppose
• 4:45:49
  the reason Mary Joe imagines I have is because I tell her what I think
• 4:45:55
  about things. Sometimes it is a rather dangerous practice, admitted Anne, out
• 4:46:00
  of the depths of her own experience. Well by and bye, I'll tell
• 4:46:03
  you the thoughts I told Mary Joe, and you can see for yourself if
• 4:46:07
  there's anything queer in them, said Paul. But I'll wait till it begins
• 4:46:11
  to get dark. That is the time I ache to tell people things,
• 4:46:15
  and when nobody else is handy, I just have to tell Mary Joe.
• 4:46:18
  But after this I won't if it makes her imagine I'm wrong on my upper
• 4:46:22
  story. I'll just ache and bear it. And if the ache gets too
• 4:46:26
  bad, you can come up to Green Gables and tell me your thoughts,
• 4:46:29
  suggested Anne, with all the gravity that endeared her to children who so dearly
• 4:46:33
  love to be taken seriously. Yes, I will, but I hope Davy
• 4:46:37
  won't be there when I go, because he makes faces at me. I
• 4:46:41
  don't mind very much because he is such a little boy, and I'm quite
• 4:46:45
  a big one. But still it is not pleasant to have faces made at
• 4:46:48
  you, and Davy makes such terrible ones sometimes I am frightened. He will
• 4:46:52
  never get his face straightened out again. He makes them at me in church
• 4:46:56
  when I ought to be thinking of secret things. Dora likes me, though,
• 4:46:59
  and I like her, but not so well as I did before.
• 4:47:03
  She told Minnie may Barry that she meant to marry me when I grew up.
• 4:47:07
  I may marry someone when I grow up, but I'm far too young
• 4:47:10
  to be thinking of it yet, don't you think, teacher? Rather young?
• 4:47:14
  Agreed teacher, Speaking of marrying reminds me of another thing that has been
• 4:47:18
  troubling me of late, continued Paul. Missus Lynde was down here one day
• 4:47:23
  last week having tea with Grandma, and Grandma made me show her my little
• 4:47:27
  mother's picture, the one father sent me for my birthday present. I didn't
• 4:47:33
  exactly want to show it to missus Lynde. Missus Lynne is a good kind
• 4:47:37
  woman, but she isn't the sort of person you want to show your mother's
• 4:47:40
  picture too, you know, teacher, But of course I obeyed Grandma.
• 4:47:45
  Missus Lynde said she was very pretty, but kind of actressy looking. It
• 4:47:49
  must have been an awful lot younger than father. Then she said, some
• 4:47:53
  of these days your pa will be marrying again. Likely, how will you
• 4:47:56
  like to have a new ma, Master, Paul, The idea almost took
• 4:48:00
  my breath away, teacher, But I wasn't going to let missus Lynde sue
• 4:48:03
  that. I just looked at her straight in the face like this, and
• 4:48:07
  I said, missus Lynde, father made a pretty good job of picking out
• 4:48:12
  my first mother and I could trust him to pick out just as good a
• 4:48:17
  one the second time, and I can trust him teacher. But still I
• 4:48:21
  hope if he ever does give me a new mother, he'll ask my opinion
• 4:48:25
  about her before it's too late. There's Mary Joe coming to call us to
• 4:48:29
  tea. I'll go and consult with her about the shortbread. As a result
• 4:48:33
  of the consultation, Mary Joe cut the shortbread and added a dish of preserves
• 4:48:37
  to the bill of fare. Anne poured the tea, and she and Paul
• 4:48:41
  had a very merry meal in the dim old sitting room, whose windows were
• 4:48:45
  open to the golf breezes, And they talked so much nonsense that Mary Joe
• 4:48:49
  was quite scandalized and told Veronica the next evening that De Schoolmis was as queer
• 4:48:55
  as Paul. After tea, Paul took Anne up to his room to show
• 4:48:59
  her his mother's picture, which had been the mysterious birthday presence kept by Missus
• 4:49:03
  Irving in the bookcase. Paul's little, low ceilinged room was a soft whirl
• 4:49:07
  of ruddy light from the sun that was setting over the sea and swinging shadows
• 4:49:11
  from the fir trees that grew close to the square, deep set window.
• 4:49:15
  From out of this soft glow and glamour shone a sweet girlish face with tender
• 4:49:21
  mother eyes that was hanging on the wall at the foot of the bed.
• 4:49:25
  That's my little mother, said Paul, with loving pride. I got Grandma
• 4:49:29
  to hang it there where i'd see it as soon as I opened my eyes
• 4:49:32
  in the morning. I never mind not having the light when I go to
• 4:49:34
  bed now, because it just seems as if my little mother was right here
• 4:49:38
  with me. Father knew just what I would like for a birthday present,
• 4:49:42
  although he never asked me. Isn't it wonderful how much fathers do know?
• 4:49:48
  Your mother was very lovely, Paul, and you look a little like her.
• 4:49:52
  But her eyes and hair are darker than yours. My eyes are the
• 4:49:55
  same color as father's, said Paul, flying about the room to heap all
• 4:49:59
  of the ala le cushions on the window seat. But Father's hair is gray.
• 4:50:03
  He has lots of it, but it is gray. You see.
• 4:50:06
  Father is nearly fifty. That's ripe old age, isn't it. But it's
• 4:50:10
  only outside. He's old inside. He's just as young as anybody. Now,
• 4:50:15
  Teacher, please sit here and I'll sit at your feet. May I
• 4:50:18
  lay my head against your knee. That's the way my little mother and I
• 4:50:22
  used to sit. Oh, this is real splendid. I think now I
• 4:50:26
  want to hear those thoughts which Mary Joe pronounces so queer, said Anne,
• 4:50:30
  patting the mop of curls at her side. Paul never needed any coaxing to
• 4:50:36
  tell his thoughts, at least to congenial souls. I thought them out in
• 4:50:40
  the fir grove one night, he said, dreamily. Of course I didn't
• 4:50:44
  believe them, but I thought them, you know, teacher, And then
• 4:50:48
  I wanted to tell them to somebody. And there was nobody but Mary Joe.
• 4:50:51
  Mary Joe was in the pantry setting bread, and I sat down on
• 4:50:55
  the bench beside her, and I said, Mary Joe, do you know
• 4:50:56
  what I think? I think the evening Star as a lighthouse on the land
• 4:51:00
  where the fairies dwell. And Mary Joe said, well, Youza de quill
• 4:51:06
  one, dere ain't no such thing as fairies. I was very much provoked.
• 4:51:11
  Of course I knew there were no fairies, but that needn't prevent my
• 4:51:15
  thinking there is, you know, teacher. But I tried again, quite
• 4:51:19
  patiently. I said, well, then, Marry Joe. Do you know
• 4:51:23
  what I think. I think an angel walks over the world after the sun
• 4:51:27
  sets, a great, tall, white angel with silvery folded wings, and
• 4:51:32
  sings the flowers and birds sleep. Children can hear him if they know how
• 4:51:37
  to listen. Then Mary Jill held up her hands all over flower and said,
• 4:51:41
  well, youza de queer little boy, youse make me feel scared,
• 4:51:45
  And she really did look scared. I went out then and whispered the rest
• 4:51:49
  of my thoughts to the garden. There was a little birch tree in the
• 4:51:53
  garden, and it died. Grandma says the salt spray killed it. But
• 4:51:57
  I think the dryad belonging to it was a foolish dryad who wandered away to
• 4:52:02
  see the world and got lost. And the little tree was so lovely.
• 4:52:07
  It died of a broken heart. And when the poor foolish little dryad gets
• 4:52:11
  tired of the world and comes back to her tree, her heart will break,
• 4:52:15
  said Anne. Yes, but if dryads are foolish, they must take
• 4:52:18
  the consequences, just as if they were real people, said Paul Gravely,
• 4:52:23
  Do you know what I think about the new moon teacher, I think it
• 4:52:27
  is a little golden boat full of trees, and when it tips on a
• 4:52:32
  cloud, some of them spill out and fall into your sleep. Exactly,
• 4:52:36
  teacher, Oh you do know. And I think the violets are little snips
• 4:52:40
  of the sky that fell down when the angels cut out holes for the stars
• 4:52:42
  to shine through. And the buttercups are made of old sunshine. And I
• 4:52:47
  think the sweet peas will be butterflies when they go to heaven. Now,
• 4:52:51
  teacher, do you see anything so very queer about those thoughts? No,
• 4:52:56
  laddie dear, they are not queer at all. They are and beautiful thoughts
• 4:53:00
  for a little boy to think. And so people who couldn't think anything of
• 4:53:03
  the sort themselves if they tried for a hundred years, think them queer.
• 4:53:07
  But keep on thinking them, Paul, Someday you are going to be a
• 4:53:11
  poet. I believe. When Anne reached home she found a very different type
• 4:53:15
  of boyhood waiting to be put to bed. Davy was sulky, and when
• 4:53:19
  Anne had undressed him, he bounced into bed and buried his face in the
• 4:53:22
  pillow. Davy, you have forgotten to say your prayers, said Anne,
• 4:53:26
  rebukingly. No, I didn't forget, said Davy defiantly. But I ain't
• 4:53:33
  going to say my prayers anymore. I'm going to give up trying to be
• 4:53:37
  good, cause no matter how good I am, you'd like Paul Irving better,
• 4:53:42
  so I might as well be bad and have the fun of it.
• 4:53:47
  I don't like Paul Irving better, said Anne seriously. I like you just
• 4:53:51
  as well, only in a different way. But I want you to like
• 4:53:55
  me the same way, pouted Davy. You can't like different people the same
• 4:54:00
  way. You don't like Dora and me the same way, do you?
• 4:54:03
  Davy sat up and reflected no, he admitted at last. I like Dora
• 4:54:11
  because she's my sister, but I like you because you're you, And I
• 4:54:15
  like Paul because he is Paul, and Davy because he is Davy, said
• 4:54:19
  Anne gaily. Well, I kind of wish i'd said my prayers, then,
• 4:54:25
  said Davy, convinced by this logic. But it's too much bother getting
• 4:54:29
  out now to say them. I'll say them twice over in the morning.
• 4:54:33
  Anne. Won't that do as well? No? Anne was positive it would
• 4:54:37
  not do as well. So Davy scrambled out and knelt down at her knee.
• 4:54:41
  When he had finished his devotions. He leaned back on his little,
• 4:54:45
  bare brown heels and looked up at her. Anne, I'm gooder than I
• 4:54:48
  used to be. Yes, indeed you are, Davy, said Anne,
• 4:54:52
  who never hesitated to give credit where credit was due. I know I'm gooder,
• 4:54:57
  said Davy, confident, and i'll tell you how I know it.
• 4:55:03
  Today Marilla gave me two pieces of bread and jam, one for me and
• 4:55:07
  one for Dora. One was a good deal bigger than the other. And
• 4:55:11
  Marilla didn't say which was mine. But I gave the biggest piece to Dora.
• 4:55:17
  That was good of me. Wasn't it very good? And very manly?
• 4:55:21
  Davy, of course, admitted Davy. Dora wasn't very hungry, and
• 4:55:27
  she only at half her slice, and then she give the rest to me.
• 4:55:32
  But I didn't know she was going to do that when I give it
• 4:55:34
  to her, So I was good Anne. In the twilight, Anne sauntered
• 4:55:40
  down to the Dryad's bubble and saw Gilbert Blythe coming down through the dusky,
• 4:55:44
  haunted wood. She had a sudden realization that Gilbert was a schoolboy no longer,
• 4:55:48
  and how manly he looked. The tall, frank faced fellow with the
• 4:55:52
  clear straightforward eyes, and the broad shoulders. Anne thought Gilbert was a very
• 4:55:57
  handsome lad, even though he didn't look at all like her ideal man.
• 4:56:03
  She and Diana had long ago decided what kind of a man they admired,
• 4:56:06
  and their tastes seemed exactly similar. He must be very tall and distinguished looking,
• 4:56:11
  with melancholy, inscrutable eyes and a melting sympathetic voice. There was nothing
• 4:56:18
  either melancholy or inscrutable in Gilbert's physiognomy, but of course that didn't matter in
• 4:56:22
  friendship. Gilbert stretched himself out on the ferns beside the bubble and looked approvingly
• 4:56:27
  at Anne. If Gilbert had been asked to describe his ideal woman, the
• 4:56:32
  description would have answered point for point to Anne, even to those seven tiny
• 4:56:37
  freckles whose obnoxious presence still continued to vex her soul. Gilbert was as yet
• 4:56:41
  little more than a boy. But a boy has his dreams as of others,
• 4:56:45
  and in Gilbert's future there was always a girl with big, limpid gray
• 4:56:49
  eyes and a face as fine and delicate as a flower. He had made
• 4:56:53
  up his mind also that his future must be worthy of its goddess, even
• 4:56:59
  in quiet Avonlea, there were temptations to be met and faced. White Sand's
• 4:57:03
  youth were a rather fast set, and Gilbert was popular wherever he went.
• 4:57:07
  But he meant to keep himself worthy of Anne's friendship and, perhaps some distant
• 4:57:12
  day, her love, and he watched over word and thought and deed as
• 4:57:17
  jealously as if her clear eyes were to pass in judgment on it. She
• 4:57:21
  held over him the unconscious influence that every girl whose ideals are high and pure
• 4:57:26
  wields over her friends, an influence which would endure as long as she was
• 4:57:30
  faithful to those ideals, and which she would as certainly lose if she were
• 4:57:33
  ever false to them. In Gilbert's eyes, Anne's greatest charm was the fact
• 4:57:38
  that she never stooped to the petty practices of so many of the Avonlea girls,
• 4:57:42
  the small jealousies, the little deceits and rivalries, the palpable bids for
• 4:57:48
  favor. Anne held herself apart from all this, not consciously or of design,
• 4:57:53
  but simply because anything of the sort was utterly foreign to her transparent,
• 4:57:57
  impulsive nature, crystal clear in its motives and aspirations. But Gilbert did not
• 4:58:03
  attempt to put his thoughts into words, for he had already too good reason
• 4:58:07
  to know that Anne would mercilessly and frostily nip all attempts at sentiment in the
• 4:58:11
  bud or laugh at him, which was ten times worse. You look like
• 4:58:15
  a real dryad under that birch tree, he said teasingly. I love birch
• 4:58:22
  trees, said Anne, laying her cheek against the creamy satin of the slim
• 4:58:26
  bowl with one of the pretty caressing gestures that came so natural to her.
• 4:58:30
  Then you'll be glad to hear that mister Major Spencer has decided to set out
• 4:58:34
  a row of white birches all along the road front of his farm by way
• 4:58:37
  of encouraging the Avis, said Gilbert. He was talking to me about it
• 4:58:42
  today. Major Spencer is the most progressive and public spirited man in Avonlea,
• 4:58:48
  and mister William Bell is going to set out a spruce hedge along his front,
• 4:58:52
  rodeing up his lane. Our society is getting on splendidly, Anne.
• 4:58:56
  It is past the experimental stage, and as an except fact, the older
• 4:59:00
  folks are beginning to take an interest in it, and the White Sands people
• 4:59:03
  are talking of starting one too, even Elijah Wright has come around since that
• 4:59:10
  day the Americans from the hotel had the picnic at the shore. They praised
• 4:59:14
  our roadside so highly and said they were so much prettier than in any other
• 4:59:17
  part of the island. And when in due time the other farmers follow mister
• 4:59:21
  Spencer's good example and plant ornamental trees and hedges along their front roads, Avonlea
• 4:59:26
  will be the prettiest settlement in the province. The Aids are talking of taking
• 4:59:30
  up the graveyard, said Anne, and I hope they will, because there
• 4:59:33
  will have to be a subscription for that, and it would be no use
• 4:59:37
  for the society to try it after the hall affair. But the Aids would
• 4:59:40
  never have stirred in the matter if the Society hadn't put it into their thoughts.
• 4:59:44
  Unofficially, those trees we planted on the church grounds are flourishing, and
• 4:59:48
  the trustees have promised me that they will fence in the school grounds next year.
• 4:59:52
  If they do, I'll have an arbor day and every scholar shall plant
• 4:59:56
  a tree and will have a garden in the corner by the road. We've
• 4:59:59
  succeed in almost all our plans so far, excepting getting the old Bolter house
• 5:00:03
  removed, said Gilbert. And I've given that up in despair. Leave.
• 5:00:08
  I won't have it taken down just to vex us. There's a contrary streak
• 5:00:12
  in all the Bolters, and it's strongly developed in him. Julia Bell wants
• 5:00:18
  to send another committee to him, but I think the better way will just
• 5:00:21
  be to leave him severely alone, said Anne sagely, and trust to providence,
• 5:00:26
  as Missus Lynde says, smiled Gilbert. Certainly, no more committees.
• 5:00:32
  They only aggravate him. Julia Bell thinks you can do anything if only you
• 5:00:34
  have a committee to attempt it. Next spring, Anne, we must start
• 5:00:38
  an agitation for nice lawns and grounds. We'll so good seed betimes this winter.
• 5:00:45
  I have a treatise here on lawns and lawn making, and I'm going
• 5:00:48
  to prepare a paper on the subject soon. Well, I suppose our vacation
• 5:00:52
  is almost over. School opens Monday. Has Ruby Gillis got the comedy school?
• 5:00:56
  Yes, Priscilla wrote that she had taken her own home school, so
• 5:01:00
  the Carmody trustees gave it to Ruby. I'm sorry Priscilla is not coming back,
• 5:01:06
  but since she can't, I'm glad Ruby has got the school. She
• 5:01:08
  will be home for Saturdays, and it will seem like old times to have
• 5:01:11
  her and Jane and Diana and myself altogether again. Marilla, just home from
• 5:01:17
  missus Lynde's, was sitting on the back porch step when Anne returned to the
• 5:01:21
  house. Rachel and I have decided to have our cruise to town tomorrow,
• 5:01:26
  she said. Mister Lynde is feeling better this week, and Rachel wants to
• 5:01:30
  go before he has another six spell. I intend to get up extra early
• 5:01:33
  tomorrow morning, for I've ever so much to do, said Anne virtuously.
• 5:01:37
  For one thing, I'm going to shift the feathers from my old bedtick to
• 5:01:41
  the new one. I ought to have done it long ago, but I've
• 5:01:44
  just kept putting it off. It's such a detestable task. It's a very
• 5:01:48
  bad habit to put off disagreeable things, and I never mean to again,
• 5:01:52
  or else I can't comfortably tell my pupils not to do it. That would
• 5:01:55
  be inconsistent. Then I want to make a cake for mister Harrison, and
• 5:01:59
  finish fish my paper on gardens for the Avs, and write Stella and wash
• 5:02:03
  and starch my muslin dress, and make Dora's new apron. You won't get
• 5:02:07
  half done, said Marilla pessimistically. I never yet planned to do a lot
• 5:02:12
  of things, but something happened to prevent me. End of Chapter nineteen,
• 5:02:19
  Chapter twenty, The way it often happens, Anne rose betimes the next morning
• 5:02:26
  and blithely greeted the fresh day when the banners of the sunrise were shaken triumphantly.
• 5:02:32
  Across the pearly skies, green gables lay in a pool of sunshine,
• 5:02:36
  flecked with the dancing shadows of poplar and willow. Beyond the land was mister
• 5:02:41
  Harrison's wheat field, a great wind rippled expanse of pale gold. The world
• 5:02:47
  was so beautiful that Anne spent ten blissful minutes hanging idly over the garden gate,
• 5:02:52
  drinking the loveliness in. After breakfast, Marilla made ready for her journey.
• 5:02:57
  Dora was to go with her, having been long promised this treat.
• 5:03:02
  Now, Davy, you try to be a good boy and don't bother Anne,
• 5:03:06
  she straightly charged him. If you are good, I'll bring you a
• 5:03:10
  striped candy cane from town for Alas Marilla had stooped to the evil habit of
• 5:03:15
  bribing people to be good. I won't be bad on purpose, but s'pose
• 5:03:19
  and I'm bad's accidentally. Davy wanted to know. You'll have to guard against
• 5:03:25
  accidents, admonished Marilla. And if mister Sharer comes today, get a nice
• 5:03:30
  roast and some steak. If he doesn't, she'll have to kill a fowl
• 5:03:33
  for dinner tomorrow. Anne nodded. I'm not going to bother cooking any dinner
• 5:03:37
  for just Davy and myself today. She said that cold hambone will do for
• 5:03:41
  noon lunch, and I'll have some steak fried for you when you come home
• 5:03:45
  at night. I'm going to help mister Harrison holl dulce this morning, announced
• 5:03:51
  Davy. He asked me too, and I guess he'll ask me to dinner
• 5:03:55
  too. Mister Harrison is an awful kind man. He's a real sociable man.
• 5:04:00
  I hope i'll be like him when I grow up, I mean,
• 5:04:04
  behave like him. I don't want to look like him, but I guess
• 5:04:08
  there's no danger for missus. Lynde says, I'm a very handsome child.
• 5:04:14
  Do you s'pose it'll last? Anne? I want to know, I dare
• 5:04:18
  say it will, said Anne gravely. You are a handsome boy, Davy.
• 5:04:22
  Marilla looked volumes of disapproval. But you must live up to it and
• 5:04:26
  be just as nice and gentlemanly as you look to be. And you told
• 5:04:30
  Minnie may Barry the other day when you found her crying because someone said she
• 5:04:34
  was ugly, that if she was nice and kind and loving, people wouldn't
• 5:04:40
  mind her looks, said Davy discontentedly. Seems to me you can't get out
• 5:04:45
  of being good in this world. For some reason or another. You just
• 5:04:49
  have to behave. Don't you want to be good, said Marilla, who
• 5:04:55
  had learned a great deal but had not yet learned the futility of asking such
• 5:04:59
  questions. Yes, I want to be good, but not too good,
• 5:05:03
  said Davy cautiously. You don't have to be very good to be a Sunday
• 5:05:07
  School superintendent. Mister Bell's that, and he's a real bad man. Indeed,
• 5:05:14
  he's not, said Marilla, indignantly. He is, he says he
• 5:05:18
  is himself, a severated Davy. He said it when he prayed in Sunday
• 5:05:23
  School last Sunday. He said he was a vile worm and a miserable sinner,
• 5:05:29
  and guilty of the blackest iniquity. What did he do that was so
• 5:05:33
  bad, Marilla? Did he kill anybody or steal the collection? Sense?
• 5:05:37
  I want to know? Fortunately, missus Lynde came driving up the lane at
• 5:05:42
  this moment, and Marilla made off, feeling that she had escaped from the
• 5:05:45
  snare of the fowler, and wishing devoutly that mister Bell were not quite so
• 5:05:51
  highly figurative in his public petitions, especially in the hearing of small boys who
• 5:05:56
  were always wanting to know. Anne, left alone in her glory, worked
• 5:06:00
  with a will. The floor was swept, the beds made, the hens
• 5:06:03
  fed, the muslin dress washed and hung out on the line. Then Anne
• 5:06:08
  prepared for the transfer of feathers. She mounted to the garret and donned the
• 5:06:12
  first old dress that came to hand, a navy blue cashmere she had worn
• 5:06:17
  at fourteen. It was decidedly on the short side and as skimpy as the
• 5:06:22
  notable wincey Anne had worn upon the occasion of her debut at Green Gables,
• 5:06:26
  but at least it would not be materially injured by down and feathers. Anne
• 5:06:30
  completed her toilet by tying a big red and white spotted handkerchief that had belonged
• 5:06:34
  to Matthew over her head, and thus accoutred betook herself to the kitchen chamber,
• 5:06:41
  whither Marilla, before her departure, had helped her carry the feather bed.
• 5:06:45
  A cracked mirror hung by the chamber window, and in an unlucky moment,
• 5:06:49
  Anne looked into it. There were those seven freckles on her nose,
• 5:06:53
  more rampant than ever, or so it seemed in the glare of light from
• 5:06:57
  the unshaded window. Oh, I forgot to rub that lotion on last night.
• 5:07:02
  She thought, I'd better run down to the pantry and do it now.
• 5:07:07
  Anne had already suffered many things trying to remove those freckles. On one
• 5:07:11
  occasion, the entire skin had peeled off her nose, but the freckles remained.
• 5:07:15
  A few days previously, she had found a recipe for a freckle lotion
• 5:07:18
  in a magazine, and as the ingredients were within her reach, she straightway
• 5:07:23
  compounded it, much to the disgust of Marilla, who thought that if Providence
• 5:07:27
  had placed freckles on your nose, it was your bound and duty to leave
• 5:07:30
  them there. Anne scurried down to the pantry, which always dim from the
• 5:07:37
  big willow growing close to the window, was now almost dark by reason of
• 5:07:41
  the shade drawn to exclude flies. Anne caught the bottle containing the lotion from
• 5:07:45
  the shelf and copiously anointed her nose therewith by means of a little sponge sacred
• 5:07:51
  to the purpose. This important duty done, she returned to her work.
• 5:07:55
  Anyone who has ever shifted feathers from one tick to another will not need to
• 5:07:59
  be told that. When Anne finished, she was a sight to behold.
• 5:08:03
  Her dress was white with down and fluff, and her front hair, escaping
• 5:08:07
  from under the handkerchief, was adorned with a veritable halo of feathers. At
• 5:08:11
  this auspicious moment, a knock sounded at the kitchen door. That must be
• 5:08:17
  mister Shearer, thought Anne, I'm in a dreadful mess, but I'll have
• 5:08:19
  to run down as I am, for he's always in a hurry. Down
• 5:08:23
  flew Anne to the kitchen door. If ever a charitable floor did open to
• 5:08:29
  swallow up a miserable, befeathered damsel, the Green Gables porch floor should promptly
• 5:08:33
  have engulfed Anne at that moment. On the doorstep were standing Priscilla Grant,
• 5:08:37
  golden and fair in silk attire, a short, stout, gray haired lady
• 5:08:42
  in a tweed suit, and another lady, tall, stately, wonderfully gowned
• 5:08:48
  with a beautiful, high bred face and large, black lashed violet eyes,
• 5:08:52
  whom Anne instinctively felt, as she would have said in her earlier days,
• 5:08:56
  to be Missus Charlotte E. Morgan. In the dismay of the moment,
• 5:09:00
  one thought stood out from the confusion of Anne's mind, and she grasped at
• 5:09:04
  it as at the proverbial straw. All Missus Morgan's heroines were noted for rising
• 5:09:10
  to the occasion. No matter what their troubles were, they invariably rose to
• 5:09:15
  the occasion and showed their superiority over all ills of time, space and quantity.
• 5:09:21
  Anne therefore felt it was her duty to rise to the occasion, and
• 5:09:25
  she did it so perfectly that Priscilla afterward declared she never admired Anne Shirley more
• 5:09:30
  than at that moment. No matter what her outraged feelings were, she did
• 5:09:33
  not show them. She greeted Priscilla and was introduced to her companions as calmly
• 5:09:38
  and composedly as if she had been arrayed in purple and fine linen. To
• 5:09:44
  be sure, it was somewhat of a shock to find that the lady she
• 5:09:45
  had instinctively felt to be Missus Morgan was not Missus Morgan at all, but
• 5:09:49
  an unknown Missus Pendexter, while the stout, little gray haired woman was Missus
• 5:09:55
  Morgan. But in the greater shock, the lesser lost its power. Anne
• 5:10:00
  ushered her guests to the spare room and thence into the parlor, where she
• 5:10:03
  left them while she hastened out to help Priscilla unharness her horse. It's dreadful
• 5:10:07
  to come upon you so unexpectedly, as this, apologized Priscilla. But I
• 5:10:14
  did not know till last night that we were coming. Aunt Charlotte is going
• 5:10:18
  away Monday, and she had promised to spend a day with a friend in
• 5:10:22
  town. But last night her friend telephoned to her not to come because they
• 5:10:26
  were quarantined for scarlet fever. So I suggested we come here instead, for
• 5:10:33
  I knew you were longing to see her. We called at the White Sands
• 5:10:37
  Hotel and brought Missus Pendexter with us. She's a friend of Aunt's and lives
• 5:10:41
  in New York, and her husband is a millionaire. We can't stay very
• 5:10:45
  long for Missus Pendexter has to be back at the hotel by five o'clock.
• 5:10:51
  Several times, while they were putting away the horse, Anne caught Priscilla looking
• 5:10:55
  at her in a furtive, puzzled way. She needn't stare at me,
• 5:10:59
  so Anne thought, a little resentfully. If she doesn't know what it is
• 5:11:03
  to change a feather bed, she might imagine it. When Priscilla had gone
• 5:11:07
  to the parlor, and before Anne could escape upstairs, Diana walked into the
• 5:11:11
  kitchen. Anne caught her astonished friend by the arm, Diana Barry, who
• 5:11:17
  do you suppose is in that parlor at this very moment? Missus Charlotte E.
• 5:11:21
  Morgan, and a New York millionaire's wife. And here I am like
• 5:11:25
  this, and not a thing in the house for dinner but a cold ham
• 5:11:29
  bone Diana. By this time, Anne had become aware that Diana was staring
• 5:11:33
  at her in precisely the same bewildered fashion as Priscilla had done. It was
• 5:11:37
  really too much, Oh Diana, don't look at me, so she implored.
• 5:11:44
  You at least must know that the neatest person in the world couldn't empty
• 5:11:47
  feathers from one tick into another and remain neat in the process. It it
• 5:11:52
  isn't the feathers hesitated, Diana. It's it's your nose, Anne, I
• 5:12:00
  knows, oh, Diana, surely nothing has gone wrong with it. Anne
• 5:12:03
  rushed to the little looking glass over the sink. One glance revealed the fatal
• 5:12:08
  truth. Her nose was a brilliant scarlet. Anne sat down on the sofa,
• 5:12:14
  her dauntless spirit subdued at last, what is the matter with it?
• 5:12:18
  Asked Diana, curiosity overcoming delicacy. I thought I was rubbing my freckle lotion
• 5:12:25
  on it. But I must have used that red dye Marilla has for marking
• 5:12:29
  the pattern on her rugs. Was the despairing response. What shall I do?
• 5:12:33
  Why? She doesn't, said Diana. Practically, perhaps it won't wash
• 5:12:38
  off. First I dye my hair, then I die my nose. Marilla
• 5:12:42
  cut my hair off when I died it, but that remedy would hardly be
• 5:12:45
  practicable in this case. Well, this is another punishment for vanity, and
• 5:12:51
  I suppose I deserve it. Though there's not much comfort in that. It
• 5:12:55
  is really almost enough to make one believe in ill luck. Though missus Lynde
• 5:12:59
  says there is no sense such thing because everything is foreordained. Fortunately, the
• 5:13:03
  dye washed off easily, and Anne, somewhat consoled, betook herself to the
• 5:13:07
  east gable while Diana ran home. Presently, Anne came down again, clothed
• 5:13:12
  and in her right mind. The muslin dress she had fondly hoped to wear
• 5:13:18
  was bobbing merrily about on the line outside, so she was forced to content
• 5:13:22
  herself with her black lawn. She had the fire on and the tea steeping.
• 5:13:26
  When Diana returned, The latter wore her muslin at least, and carried
• 5:13:30
  a covered platter in her hand. Mother sent you this, she said,
• 5:13:34
  lifting the cover and displaying a nicely carved and jointed chicken to Anne's grateful eyes.
• 5:13:40
  The chicken was supplemented by light new bread, excellent butter and cheese,
• 5:13:45
  Marilla's fruit cake, and a dish of preserved plums floating in their golden syrup
• 5:13:48
  as in congealed summer sunshine. There was a big bowlful of pink and white
• 5:13:53
  asters, also by way of decoration. Yet the spread seemed very meager,
• 5:13:57
  beside the elaborate one former prepared for Missus Morgan. Anne's hungry guests, however,
• 5:14:03
  did not seem to think anything was lacking, and they ate the simple
• 5:14:07
  viands with apparent enjoyment. But after the first few moments, Anne thought no
• 5:14:11
  more of what was or was not on her bill of fare. Missus Morgan's
• 5:14:15
  appearance might be somewhat disappointing, as even her loyal worshippers had been forced to
• 5:14:19
  admit to each other, but she proved to be a delightful conversationalist. She
• 5:14:25
  had traveled extensively and was an excellent storyteller. She had seen much of men
• 5:14:30
  and women, and crystallized her experiences into witty little sentences and epigrams which made
• 5:14:34
  her hearers feel as if they were listening to one of the people in clever
• 5:14:37
  books. But under all her sparkle there was a strongly felt undercurrent of true
• 5:14:42
  womanly sympathy and kind heartedness, which one affection as easily as her brilliancy one
• 5:14:48
  admiration. Nor did she monopolize the conversation. She could draw others out as
• 5:14:53
  skillfully and fully as she could talk herself, and Anne and Diana found themselves
• 5:14:59
  chattering freely too. Missus Pendexter said little. She merely smiled with her lovely
• 5:15:03
  eyes and lips, and ate chicken and fruitcake and preserves with such exquisite grace
• 5:15:08
  that she conveyed the impression of dining on ambrosia and honeydew. But then,
• 5:15:14
  as Anne said to Diana later on, anybody so divinely beautiful as Missus Pendexter
• 5:15:18
  didn't need to talk. It was enough for her just to look. After
• 5:15:23
  dinner, they all had a walk through Lover's Lane and Violet Vale in the
• 5:15:26
  Birch Path, then back through the Haunted Wood to the Dryad's Bubble, where
• 5:15:30
  they sat down and talked for a delightful last half hour. Missus Morgan wanted
• 5:15:34
  to know how the Haunted Wood came by its name, and laughed until she
• 5:15:38
  cried when she heard the story and Anne's dramatic account of a certain memorable walk
• 5:15:44
  through it at the witching hour of twilight. It has indeed been a feast
• 5:15:48
  of reason and flow of soul, hasn't it? Said Anne, when her
• 5:15:51
  guests had gone and she and Diana were alone again. I don't know which
• 5:15:55
  I enjoyed more, listening to Missus Morgan or gazing at Missus Pendex's I believe
• 5:16:00
  we had a nicer time than if we'd known they were coming and been cumbered
• 5:16:03
  with much serving. You must stay to tea with me, Diana, and
• 5:16:07
  we'll talk it all over, Priscilla, says, Missus Pindexter's husband's sister is
• 5:16:12
  married to an English earl, And yet she took a second helping of the
• 5:16:17
  plum preserves, said Diana, as if the two facts were somehow incompatible.
• 5:16:22
  I dare say even the English earl himself wouldn't have turned up his aristocratic nose
• 5:16:27
  at Marilla's plum preserves, said Anne proudly. Anne did not mention the misfortune
• 5:16:33
  which had befallen her nose when she related the day's history to Marilla that evening,
• 5:16:37
  but she took the bottle of freckle lotion and emptied it out of the
• 5:16:41
  window. I shall never try any beautifying messes again, she said, darkly,
• 5:16:45
  resolute. They may do for careful, deliberate people, but for any
• 5:16:51
  one so hopelessly given over to making mistakes as I seem to be, it's
• 5:16:55
  tempting fate to meddle with them. End of Chapter twenty Chapter twenty one,
• 5:17:02
  Sweet Miss Lavender school opened, and Anne returned to her work with fewer theories
• 5:17:08
  but considerably more experience. She had several new pupils, six and seven year
• 5:17:14
  olds just venturing round eyed into a world of wonder. Among them were Davy
• 5:17:18
  and Dora. Davy sat with Milty Bolter, who had been going to school
• 5:17:23
  for a year and was therefore quite a man of the world. Dora had
• 5:17:26
  made a compact at Sunday school the previous Sunday to sit with Lily Sloane,
• 5:17:32
  but Lily Sloane not coming the first day. She was temporarily assigned to Mirabelle
• 5:17:36
  Cotton, who was ten years old and therefore, in Dora's eyes, one
• 5:17:41
  of the big girls. I think school is great fun, Davy told Marilla
• 5:17:45
  when he got home that night. You said I'd find it hard to sit
• 5:17:49
  still, and I did. You mostly do, tell the truth, I
• 5:17:52
  notice. But you can wriggle your legs about under the desk and that helps
• 5:17:57
  a lot. It's splendid to have so many boys to play with. I
• 5:18:02
  sit with Milty Bolter, and he's fine. He's longer than me, but
• 5:18:07
  I'm wider. It's nicer to sit in the back seats, but you can't
• 5:18:11
  sit there till your legs grow long enough to touch the floor. Milty drawed
• 5:18:15
  a picture of Anne on his slate, and it was awful, ugly,
• 5:18:19
  and I told him if he made pictures of Anne like that, I'd lick
• 5:18:23
  him at recess. I thought first I'd draw one of him and put horns
• 5:18:29
  and a tail on it, but I was afraid it would hurt his feelings.
• 5:18:33
  And Anne says, you should never hurt anyone's feelings. It seems it's
• 5:18:37
  dreadful to have your feelings hurt. It's better to knock a boy down than
• 5:18:41
  hurt his feelings. If you must do something, Milty said he wasn't scared
• 5:18:48
  of me, but he'd just as soon call it somebody else to oblige me,
• 5:18:52
  So he rubbed out Anne's name and printed Barbara Shaws under it. Milty
• 5:18:56
  doesn't like Barbara because she calls him I'm a sweet little boy, And once
• 5:19:02
  she patted him on his head. Dora said primly that she liked school,
• 5:19:06
  but she was very quiet, even for her, And when at twilight Marilla
• 5:19:10
  bade her go upstairs to bed, she hesitated and began to cry. I
• 5:19:18
  I am frightened, she sobbed. I I don't want to go upstairs alone
• 5:19:25
  in the dark. What notion have you got into? Your head now,
• 5:19:29
  demanded Marilla. I'm sure you've gone to bed alone all summer and never been
• 5:19:33
  frightened before. Dora still continued to cry. So Anne picked her up,
• 5:19:37
  cuddled her sympathetically, and whispered, tell Anne all about it, sweetheart,
• 5:19:42
  what are you frightened of? Of? Of Mirabelle Cotton's uncle, sobbed Dora.
• 5:19:52
  Mirabelle Cotton told me all about her family to day in school. Nearly
• 5:19:57
  everybody and her family is grandfathers and grandmothers, and ever so many uncles and
• 5:20:04
  aunts. The habit of dying, Mirabelle says. Mirabel's awful crowd, of
• 5:20:12
  having so many dead relations. And she told me what they all died of,
• 5:20:18
  and what they said, and how they looked in their coffins. And
• 5:20:23
  Mirabelle says one of her uncles was seen walking around the house after he was
• 5:20:29
  buried. Her mother saw him. I don't mind the rest so much,
• 5:20:34
  but I can't help thinking about that. Uncle. Anne went upstairs with Dora
• 5:20:40
  and sat by her until she fell asleep. The Next day, mirabel Cotton
• 5:20:44
  was kept in a recess and gently but firmly given to understand that when you
• 5:20:48
  were so unfortunate as to possess an uncle who persisted in walking about houses after
• 5:20:53
  he had been decently interred. It was not in good taste to talk about
• 5:20:56
  that eccentric gentleman to your deskmate of tender years. Mirabel thought this very harsh.
• 5:21:03
  The Cottons had not much to boast of. How was she to keep
• 5:21:07
  up her prestige among her schoolmates if she were forbidden to make capital out of
• 5:21:10
  the family ghost. September slipped by into a Gold and Crimson graciousness of October
• 5:21:17
  one Friday evening, Diana came over. I'd a letter from Ella Kimball today,
• 5:21:22
  Anne, and she wants us to go over to Tea tomorrow afternoon to
• 5:21:26
  meet her cousin Irene Trent from town. But we can't get one of our
• 5:21:30
  horses to go, for they'll all be in use tomorrow, and your pony
• 5:21:34
  is lame. So I suppose we can't go. Why can't we walk,
• 5:21:40
  suggested Anne. If we go straight back through the woods, we'll strike the
• 5:21:44
  West Grafton Road, not far from the Kimball place. I was through that
• 5:21:47
  way last winter, and I know the road. It's no more than four
• 5:21:49
  miles and we won't have to walk home. For Oliver Kimball will be sure
• 5:21:53
  to drive us. He'll be only too glad of the excuse, for he
• 5:21:56
  goes to see Carrie Sloane, and they say his father will hardly ever let
• 5:22:00
  him have a horse. It was accordingly arranged that they should walk, and
• 5:22:04
  the following afternoon they set out, going by way of Lover's Lane to the
• 5:22:08
  back of the Cuthbert farm, where they found a road leading into the heart
• 5:22:12
  of acres of glimmering beech and maple woods, which were all in a wondrous
• 5:22:17
  glow of flame and gold, lying in a great purple stillness and peace.
• 5:22:21
  It's as if the year were kneeling to prey in a vast cathedral full of
• 5:22:25
  mellow stained light, isn't it, said Anne dreamily. It doesn't seem right
• 5:22:30
  to hurry through it, does it. It seems irreverent, like running in
• 5:22:33
  a church. We must hurry, though, said Diana, glancing at her
• 5:22:37
  watch. We've left ourselves little enough time as it is well. I'll walk
• 5:22:42
  fast, but don't ask me to talk, said Anne, quickening her pace.
• 5:22:47
  I just want to drink the day's loveliness in. I feel as if
• 5:22:51
  she were holding it out to my lips like a cup of airy wine,
• 5:22:53
  and I'll take a sip at every step. Perhaps it was because she was
• 5:22:57
  so absorbed in drinking it in that Anne took the left turning when they came
• 5:23:02
  to a fork in the road. She should have taken the right, But
• 5:23:06
  ever afterwards she counted it the most fortunate mistake of her life. They came
• 5:23:10
  out finally to a lonely grassy road with nothing in sight along it but ranks
• 5:23:15
  of spruce saplings. Why where are we, exclaimed Diana in bewilderment. This
• 5:23:22
  isn't the West Grafton Road. No, it's the baseline road in Middle Grafton,
• 5:23:26
  said Anne rather shamefacedly. I must have taken the wrong turning at the
• 5:23:30
  fork. I don't know where we are exactly, but we must be all
• 5:23:34
  of three miles from Kimball. Still, then we can't get there by five,
• 5:23:38
  for it's hot post four now, said Diana, with a despairing look
• 5:23:42
  at her watch. We'll arrive after they've had their tea, and they'll have
• 5:23:48
  all the bother of getting ours over again. We'd better turn back and go
• 5:23:52
  home, suggested Anne humbly. But Diana, after consideration, vetoed this,
• 5:23:59
  no, mayors will go and spend the evening, since we've come this far.
• 5:24:03
  A few yards further on, the girls came to a place where the
• 5:24:06
  road forked again. Which of these do we take, asked Diana dubiously.
• 5:24:11
  Anne shook her head. I don't know, and we can't afford to make
• 5:24:15
  any more mistakes. Here is a gate and a lane leading right into the
• 5:24:18
  wood. There must be a house at the other side. Let us go
• 5:24:22
  down and inquire what a romantic old lane this is, said Diana, as
• 5:24:27
  they walked along its twists and turns. It ran under patriarchal old firs,
• 5:24:33
  whose branches met above, creating a perpetual gloom in which nothing except moss could
• 5:24:37
  grow. On either hand were brown wood floors crossed here and there by fallen
• 5:24:42
  lances of sunlight. All was very still and remote, as if the world
• 5:24:48
  and the cares of the world were far away. I feel as if we
• 5:24:52
  were walking through an enchanted forest, said Anne in a hushed tone. Do
• 5:24:56
  you suppose we'll ever find our way back to the real world again, Diana?
• 5:25:00
  We shall presently come to a palace with a spellbound princess in it.
• 5:25:03
  I think around the next turn they came in sight, not indeed of a
• 5:25:08
  palace, but of a little house, almost as surprising as a palace would
• 5:25:12
  have been in this province of conventional wooden farmhouses, all as much alike in
• 5:25:18
  general characteristics as if they had grown from the same seed. Anne stopped short
• 5:25:22
  in rapture, and Diana exclaimed, Oh, I know where we are now.
• 5:25:27
  That is the little stone house where miss Leavendon Lewis lives Echo Lodge,
• 5:25:33
  she calls it. I think I've often heard of it, but I've never
• 5:25:37
  seen it before. Isn't it a romantic spot. It's the sweetest, prettiest
• 5:25:42
  place I ever saw or imagined, said Anne delightedly. It looks like a
• 5:25:48
  bit out of a storybook or a dream. The house was a low eaved
• 5:25:52
  structure built of undressed blocks of Red Island sandstone, with a little peaked roof,
• 5:25:57
  out of which peered two dormer window with quaint wooden hoods over them,
• 5:26:02
  and two great chimneys. The whole house was covered with a luxuriant growth of
• 5:26:07
  ivy, finding easy foothold on the rough stone work, and turned by autumn
• 5:26:11
  frosts to most beautiful bronze and wine red tints. Before the house was an
• 5:26:17
  oblong garden into which the lane gate where the girls were standing opened. The
• 5:26:22
  house bounded it on one side, on the three others, it was enclosed
• 5:26:26
  by an old stone dike, so overgrown with moss and grass and ferns that
• 5:26:30
  it looked like a high green bank. On the right and left, the
• 5:26:33
  tall dark spruces spread their palm like branches over it. But below it was
• 5:26:38
  a little meadow, green with clover aftermath, sloping down to the blue loop
• 5:26:44
  of the Grafton River. No other house or clearing was in sight, nothing
• 5:26:48
  but hills and valleys covered with feathery young firs. I wonder what sort of
• 5:26:52
  purse miss Lewis is, speculated Diana, as they opened the gate into the
• 5:26:57
  garden. They say she is very peculiar. She'll be interesting, then,
• 5:27:03
  said Anne, decidedly peculiar people are always that, at least whatever else they
• 5:27:07
  are or are not. Didn't I tell you we would come to an enchanted
• 5:27:11
  palace. I knew the elves hadn't woven magic over that lane for nothing.
• 5:27:15
  But miss Leavendon Lewis is hardly a spellbound princess, laughed Diana. She's an
• 5:27:23
  old maid she's forty five and quite gray. I've heard. Oh, that's
• 5:27:29
  only part of the spell, assured Anne. Confidently at heart, she's young
• 5:27:33
  and beautiful still, and if we only knew how to unloose the spell,
• 5:27:37
  she would step forth, radiant and fare again. But we don't know how.
• 5:27:41
  It's always and only the prince who knows that. And Miss Lavendar's prince
• 5:27:45
  hasn't come yet. Perhaps some fatal mischance has befallen him, though that's against
• 5:27:49
  the law of all fairy tales. I'm afraid he came long ago and went
• 5:27:55
  away again, said Diana. They say she used to be engaged to Stip
• 5:28:00
  Irving, Paul's father when they were young, but they quarreled and parted.
• 5:28:06
  Hush, warned Anne. The door is open. The girls paused in the
• 5:28:11
  porch under the tendrils of ivy and knocked at the open door. There was
• 5:28:15
  a patter of steps inside, and a rather odd little personage presented herself,
• 5:28:19
  a girl of about fourteen, with a freckled face, a snub nose,
• 5:28:23
  a mouth so wide that it did really seem as if it stretched from ear
• 5:28:26
  to ear, and two long braids of fair hair tied with two enormous bows
• 5:28:32
  of blue ribbon. Is Miss Lewis at home, asked Diana, Yes,
• 5:28:37
  ma'am, Come in, ma'am. I'll tell Miss Lavendar here, ma'am,
• 5:28:40
  she's upstairs, ma'am. With this, the small handmaiden whist out of sight,
• 5:28:45
  and the girls, left alone looked about them with delighted eyes. The
• 5:28:48
  interior of this wonderful little house was quite as interesting as its exterior. The
• 5:28:53
  room had a low ceiling and two square, small paned windows curtained with muslin
• 5:28:59
  frills. All the furnishings were old fashioned, but so well and daintily kept
• 5:29:04
  that the effect was delicious. But it must be candidly admitted that the most
• 5:29:08
  attractive feature to two healthy girls who had just tramped four miles through autumn air
• 5:29:15
  was a table set out with pale blue china and laden with delicacies, while
• 5:29:19
  little golden hued ferns scattered over the cloth gave it what Anne would have termed
• 5:29:23
  a festal air. Miss Lavender must be expecting company to tea, she whispered,
• 5:29:30
  there are six places set, But what a funny little girl she has.
• 5:29:33
  She looked like a messenger from pixie Land. I suppose she could have
• 5:29:37
  told us the road, but I was curious to see Miss Lavendar. Sh
• 5:29:41
  she's coming, And with that Miss Lavender Lewis was standing in the doorway.
• 5:29:45
  The girls were so surprised that they forgot good manners and simply stared. They
• 5:29:51
  had unconsciously been expecting to see the usual type of elderly spinster, as known
• 5:29:55
  to their experience, a rather angular personage with prim gray hair and spectacles.
• 5:30:00
  Nothing more unlike Miss Lavendar could possibly be imagined. She was a little lady
• 5:30:06
  with snow white hair, beautifully wavy and thick and carefully arranged in becoming puffs
• 5:30:11
  and coils. Beneath it was an almost girlish face, pink cheeked and sweet
• 5:30:15
  lipped, with big, soft brown eyes and dimples actually dimples. She wore
• 5:30:22
  a very dainty gown of cream muslin with pale hued roses on it, a
• 5:30:26
  gown which would have seemed ridiculously juvenile on most women of her age, but
• 5:30:30
  which suited Miss Lavendar so perfectly that you never thought about it at all.
• 5:30:34
  Charlotte at the fourth says that you wished to see me, she said,
• 5:30:37
  in a voice that matched her appearance. We wanted to ask the right road
• 5:30:42
  to West Grafton, said Diana. We are invited to tea at mister Kimball's,
• 5:30:48
  but we took the wrong path coming through the woods and came up to
• 5:30:52
  the baseline instead of the West Grafton road. Do we take the right or
• 5:30:56
  lift? Turning at your gate the left, said Miss Lavendar, with a
• 5:31:00
  hesitating glance at her tea table. Then she exclaimed, as if in a
• 5:31:06
  sudden little burst of resolution, but oh, won't you stay and have tea
• 5:31:11
  with me? Please? Do? Mister Kimball's will have tea over before you
• 5:31:15
  get there, and Charlotta the Fourth and I will be so glad to have
• 5:31:18
  you. Diana looked mute inquiry at Anne. We'd like to stay, said
• 5:31:22
  Anne promptly, for she had made up her mind that she wanted to know
• 5:31:26
  more of this surprising Miss Lavendar, if it won't inconvenience you. But you
• 5:31:30
  are expecting other guests, aren't you. Miss Lavendar looked at her tea table
• 5:31:36
  again and blushed. I know you'll think me dreadfully foolish, she said.
• 5:31:41
  I am foolish, and I'm ashamed of it when I am found out,
• 5:31:47
  But never unless I am found out, I'm not expecting anybody. I was
• 5:31:52
  just pretending I was, you see, I was so lonely. I love
• 5:31:57
  company, that is the right kind of company, but so few people ever
• 5:32:03
  come here because it is so far out of the way. Charlotta the Fourth
• 5:32:08
  was lonely too, so I just pretended I was going to have a tea
• 5:32:11
  party. I cooked for it, and decorated the table for it, and
• 5:32:17
  said it with my mother's wedding china, and I dressed up for it.
• 5:32:21
  Diana secretly thought Miss Lavendar quite as peculiar as report had pictured her the idea
• 5:32:26
  of a woman of forty five playing and having a tea party, just as
• 5:32:30
  if she were a little girl. But Anne of the Shining Eyes exclaimed joyfully,
• 5:32:34
  Oh do you imagine things too, That too, reveals a kindred spirit
• 5:32:41
  to Miss Lavender. Yes I do, she confessed boldly. Of course,
• 5:32:45
  it's silly in anybody as old as I am. But what is the use
• 5:32:48
  of being an independent old maid if you can't be silly when you want to
• 5:32:52
  and when it doesn't hurt anybody. A person must have some compensations. I
• 5:32:59
  don't feel I could live at times if I didn't pretend things. I'm not
• 5:33:03
  often caught at it, though, and Charlotte of the Fourth never tells.
• 5:33:07
  But I'm glad to be caught today, for you have really come, and
• 5:33:11
  I have tea already for you. Will you go up to the spare room
• 5:33:15
  and take off your hats. It's the white door at the end of the
• 5:33:19
  stairs. I must run out to the kitchen and see that Charlotte of the
• 5:33:22
  Fourth isn't letting the tea boil. Charlotte of the Fourth is a very good
• 5:33:26
  girl, but she will let the tea boil. Miss Lavender tripped off to
• 5:33:30
  the kitchen on hospitable thoughts intent, and the girls found their way up to
• 5:33:34
  the spare room, an apartment as white as its door, lighted by the
• 5:33:40
  ivy hung dormer window, and looking, as Anne said, like the place
• 5:33:44
  where happy dreams grew. This is quite an adventure, isn't it, said
• 5:33:48
  Diana. And isn't this Leavender sweet? If she is a little odd,
• 5:33:53
  she doesn't look a bit like an old maid. She looks just as music
• 5:33:57
  sounds, I think, Anne, answered Anne. When they went down,
• 5:34:02
  Miss Lavendar was carrying in the teapot, and behind her, looking vastly pleased,
• 5:34:07
  was Charlotta the fourth with a plate of hot biscuits. Now you must
• 5:34:11
  tell me your names, said Miss Lavendar. I'm so glad you are young
• 5:34:15
  girls. I love young girls. It's so easy to pretend I'm a girl
• 5:34:21
  myself when I'm with them. I do hate with a little grimace, to
• 5:34:25
  believe I'm old. Now, who are you? Just for convenience sake?
• 5:34:30
  Diana Barry and Anne Shirley? May I pretend that I've known you for a
• 5:34:34
  hundred years and call you Anne and Diana right away? You may? The
• 5:34:38
  girls said, both together. Then just let's sit comfully down and eat everything,
• 5:34:45
  said Miss Lavendar. Happily, Charlotta, you sit at the foot and
• 5:34:48
  help with the chicken. It is so fortunate that I made the sponge cake
• 5:34:52
  and doughnuts. Of course, it was foolish to do it for imaginary guests.
• 5:34:56
  I know, Charlotta the Fourth thought, so didn't you, Charlotta,
• 5:35:00
  But you see how well it has turned out. Of course, they wouldn't
• 5:35:03
  have been wasted for Charlotta the Fourth and I could have eaten them through time,
• 5:35:07
  But sponge cake is not a thing that improves with time. That was
• 5:35:11
  a merry and memorable meal, and when it was over. They all went
• 5:35:15
  out to the garden, lying in the glamor of sunset. I do think
• 5:35:19
  you have the loveliest place here, said Diana, looking round her admiringly.
• 5:35:26
  Why do you call it echo lodge, asked Anne. Charlotta said, Miss
• 5:35:30
  Lavendar, go into the house and bring out the little tin horn that is
• 5:35:34
  hanging over the clock shelf. Charlotta the fourth skipped off and returned with the
• 5:35:38
  horn. Blow at Charlatta, commanded Miss Lavendar. Charlotta, accordingly, blew
• 5:35:45
  a rather raucous, strident blast. There was a moment's stillness, and then
• 5:35:51
  from the woods over the river came a multitude of fairy echoes, sweet elusive
• 5:35:55
  silvery, as if all the horns of Elfland were blowing against the sun's st
• 5:36:00
  Anne and Diana exclaimed in delight. Now laugh Charlotta, laugh loudly. Charlotta,
• 5:36:07
  who would probably have obeyed if Miss Lavendar had told her to stand on
• 5:36:11
  her head, climbed upon the stone bench and laughed loud and heartily. Back
• 5:36:15
  came the echoes, as if a host of pixie people were mimicking her laughter.
• 5:36:19
  In the purple woodlands and along the fur fringed points, people always admire
• 5:36:25
  my echoes very much, said Miss Lavender, as if the echoes were her
• 5:36:29
  personal property. I love them myself. They are very good company, with
• 5:36:33
  a little pretending on calm evening. Charlotta the Fourth and I often sit out
• 5:36:37
  here and amuse ourselves with them. Charlotta, take back the horn and hang
• 5:36:42
  it carefully in its place. Why do you call her Charlotta the fourth asked
• 5:36:48
  Diana, who was bursting with curiosity on this point. Just to keep her
• 5:36:52
  from getting mixed up with other Charlotta's in my thoughts, said Miss Lavendar.
• 5:36:56
  Seriously, they all look so much alike that there's no telling them apart.
• 5:37:00
  Her name isn't really Charlotta at all. It is let me see what is
• 5:37:06
  it. I think it's Leonora. Yes, it is Leonora. You see
• 5:37:12
  it is this way. When mother died ten years ago, I couldn't stay
• 5:37:17
  here alone, and I couldn't afford to pay the wages of a grown up
• 5:37:22
  girl. So I got little Charlotta Bowman to come and stay with me for
• 5:37:26
  board and clothes. Her name really was Charlotta. She was Charlotta the first
• 5:37:33
  she was just thirteen. She stayed with me till she was sixteen. And
• 5:37:37
  then went away to Boston because she could do better there. Her sister came
• 5:37:41
  to stay with me. Then. Her name was Julietta, Missus Bowman had
• 5:37:47
  a weakness for fancy names, I think, but she looked so like Charlotta
• 5:37:51
  that I kept calling her that all the time, and she didn't mind,
• 5:37:56
  so I just gave up trying to remember her right name. She was Charlotte
• 5:38:00
  of the second, and when she went away, Evelina came and she was
• 5:38:03
  Charlotta the third. Now I have Charlotta the fourth, But when she is
• 5:38:10
  sixteen, since she's fourteen now, she will want to go to Boston too.
• 5:38:15
  And what I shall do then, I really do not know. Charlotta
• 5:38:18
  the Fourth is the last of the Bowman girls and the best. The other
• 5:38:22
  Charlotta's always let me see that. They thought it was silly of me to
• 5:38:26
  pretend things, but Charlotta the Fourth never does, no matter what she may
• 5:38:29
  really think. I don't care what people think about me if they don't let
• 5:38:33
  me see it, well, said Diana, looking regretfully at the setting sun.
• 5:38:38
  I suppose we must go if we want to get to mister Kimball's before
• 5:38:41
  dark. We've had a lovely time. Miss Lewis, won't you come again
• 5:38:47
  to see me? Pleaded Miss Lavendar. Tall Anne put her arm about the
• 5:38:52
  little lady. Indeed we shall, she promised, Now that we have discovered
• 5:38:56
  you, we'll wear out our welcome coming to see you. Yes, we
• 5:39:00
  must go. We must tear ourselves away, as Paul Irving says every time
• 5:39:04
  he comes to Green Gables. Paul Irving, There was a subtle change in
• 5:39:08
  Miss Lavendar's voice. Who is he? I didn't think there was anybody of
• 5:39:15
  that name in Avonlea Anne felt vexed at her own heedlessness. She had forgotten
• 5:39:19
  about Miss Lavendar's old romance when Paul's name slipped out. He is a little
• 5:39:26
  pupil of mine, she explained slowly. He came from Boston last year to
• 5:39:30
  live with his grandmother, missus Irving of the shore Road. Is he Stephen
• 5:39:34
  Irving's son? Miss Lavendar asked, bending over her namesake border so that her
• 5:39:40
  face was hidden. Yes, I'm going to give you girls a bunch of
• 5:39:44
  lavender apiece, said Miss Lavendar brightly, as if she had not heard the
• 5:39:48
  answer to her question. It's very sweet. Don't you think mother always loved
• 5:39:52
  it? She planted these borders long ago. Father named me Lavendar because he
• 5:39:56
  was so fond of it. The very first time he saw mother was when
• 5:40:00
  he visited her home in East Grafton with her brother. He fell in love
• 5:40:04
  with her at first sight, and they put him in the spare room bed
• 5:40:08
  to sleep, and the sheets were scented with lavender, and he lay awake
• 5:40:12
  all night and thought of her. He always loved the scent of lavender after
• 5:40:18
  that, and that was why he gave me the name. Don't forget to
• 5:40:22
  come back soon, dear girls, we'll be looking for you. Charlotta the
• 5:40:26
  fourth and eye. She opened the gate under the furs for them to pass
• 5:40:30
  through. She looked suddenly old and tired. The glow and radiance had faded
• 5:40:34
  from her face. Her parting smile was as sweet with ineradicable youth as ever.
• 5:40:41
  But when the girls looked back from the first curve in the lane,
• 5:40:44
  they saw her sitting on the old stone bench under the silver poplar in the
• 5:40:47
  middle of the garden, with her head leaning wearily on her hand. She
• 5:40:51
  does look lonely, said Diana softly. We must come often to see her.
• 5:40:56
  I think her parents gave her the only right and fitting name that could
• 5:41:00
  possibly be given her, said Anne. If they had been so blind as
• 5:41:04
  to name her Elizabeth or Nellie or Muriel, she must have been called Lavender
• 5:41:08
  just the same. I think it's so suggestive of sweetness and old fashioned graces
• 5:41:14
  and silk attire. Now my name just smacks of bread and butter, patchwork
• 5:41:18
  and shores. Oh, I don't think so, said Diana. Anne seems
• 5:41:23
  to me real, stately and like a queen. But I'd like Karen heposh
• 5:41:30
  if it happened to be your name. I think people make their names nice
• 5:41:34
  or ugly just by what they are themselves. I can't bear Josie or Gerty
• 5:41:41
  for names now, But before I knew the Pie girls, I thought them
• 5:41:45
  real pretty. That's a lovely idea, Diana, said Anne, enthusiastically living
• 5:41:51
  so that you beautify your name, even if it wasn't beautiful to begin with,
• 5:41:55
  making it stand in people's thoughts for something so lovely and pleasant that they
• 5:42:00
  never think of it by itself. Thank you, Diana. End of Chapter
• 5:42:04
  twenty one, Chapter twenty two, odds and ends. So you had tea
• 5:42:11
  at the stone House with Lavender, Lewis, said Marilla at the breakfast table
• 5:42:15
  next morning. What is she like now? It's over fifteen years since I
• 5:42:19
  saw her last. It was one Sunday in Grafton Church. I suppose she
• 5:42:25
  has changed a great deal, Davy Keith. When you want something you can't
• 5:42:29
  reach, ask to have it passed, and don't spread yourself over the table
• 5:42:33
  in that fashion. Did you ever see Paul Irving doing that when he was
• 5:42:37
  here to meals? But Paul's arms are longer in mine, grumble, Davy.
• 5:42:42
  They've had eleven years to grow, and mine I've only had seven sides.
• 5:42:48
  I did ask, but you and Anne was so busy talking you didn't
• 5:42:52
  pay any tention sides. Paul's never been here to any meal except tea,
• 5:42:57
  and it's easier to be played at tea then at breakfast. You ain't half
• 5:43:02
  as hungry. It's an awful long while between supper and breakfast. Now,
• 5:43:07
  Anne, that spoonful ain't any bigger than it was last year, and I'm
• 5:43:11
  ever so much bigger. Of course, I don't know what miss Lavender used
• 5:43:17
  to look like, but I don't fancy somehow that she has changed a great
• 5:43:19
  deal, said Anne, after she had helped Davy to maple syrup giving him
• 5:43:25
  two spoonfuls to pacify him. Her hair is snow white, but her face
• 5:43:29
  is fresh and almost girlish. And she has the sweetest brown eyes, such
• 5:43:33
  a pretty shade of wood brown, with little golden glints in them. And
• 5:43:37
  her voice makes you think of white satin and tinkling water and fairy bells,
• 5:43:41
  all mixed up together. She was reckoned a great beauty when she was a
• 5:43:45
  girl, said Marilla. I never knew her very well, but I liked
• 5:43:48
  her as far as I did know her. Some folks thought her peculiar even
• 5:43:52
  then, Davy, if ever I catch you at such a trick again,
• 5:43:56
  you'll be made to wait for your meals till everyone else is done. Like
• 5:44:00
  the French, most conversations between Anne and Marilla in the presence of the twins
• 5:44:06
  were punctuated by these rebukes davyword. In this instance, Davy, sad to
• 5:44:11
  relate not being able to scoop up the last drops of his syrup with his
• 5:44:15
  spoon, had solved the difficulty by lifting his plate in both hands and applying
• 5:44:19
  his small pink tongue to it. Anne looked at him with such horrified eyes
• 5:44:23
  that the little sinner turned red and said, half shamefacedly, half defiantly.
• 5:44:30
  There ain't any wasted that way. People who are different from other people are
• 5:44:33
  always called peculiar, said Anne, and miss Lavendar is certainly different, though
• 5:44:38
  it's hard to say just where the difference comes in. Perhaps it is because
• 5:44:42
  she is one of those people who never grow old. One might as well
• 5:44:47
  grow old when all your generation do, said Marilla, rather reckless of her
• 5:44:51
  pronouns. If you don't, you don't fit in anywhere, far as I
• 5:44:56
  can learn. Lavender Lewis has just dropped out of everything. She's lived in
• 5:45:00
  that out of the way place until everybody has forgotten her. That stone house
• 5:45:03
  is one of the oldest on the island. Old mister Lewis built it eighty
• 5:45:07
  years ago when he came out from England. Davy stopped joggling Dora's elbow.
• 5:45:11
  Oh I saw you. You needn't try to look innocent. What does make
• 5:45:17
  you behave? So? This morning? Maybe I got out of the wrong
• 5:45:19
  side of the bed, suggested Davy. Milty Bolter says if you do that,
• 5:45:25
  things are bound to go wrong with you all day. His grandmother told
• 5:45:30
  him. But which is the right side? And what are you to do?
• 5:45:33
  When your bed's against the wall. I want to know. I've always
• 5:45:37
  wondered what went wrong between Stephen Irving and Lavender Lewis, continued Marilla, ignoring
• 5:45:42
  Davy. They were certainly engaged twenty five years ago, and then all at
• 5:45:48
  once it was broken off. I don't know what the trouble was, but
• 5:45:51
  it must have been something terrible, for he went away to the States and
• 5:45:53
  never come home. Since perhaps it was nothing very dreadful. After all,
• 5:45:59
  I think the little things in life often make more trouble than the big things,
• 5:46:03
  said Anne, with one of those flashes of insight which experience could not
• 5:46:06
  have bettered. Marilla. Please don't say anything about my being at Miss Lavender's
• 5:46:11
  to missus Lynde. She'd be sure to ask a hundred questions, and somehow
• 5:46:14
  I wouldn't like it, nor Miss Lavender either, if she knew. I
• 5:46:17
  feel sure I dare say Rachel would be curious, admitted Marilla. Though she
• 5:46:22
  hasn't as much time as she used to have for looking after other people's affairs,
• 5:46:26
  she's tied home now on account of Thomas, and she's feeling pretty downhearted.
• 5:46:32
  For I think she's beginning to lose hope. Of his ever getting better.
• 5:46:34
  Rachel will be left pretty lonely if anything happens to him, with all
• 5:46:38
  her children settled out west, except Eliza in town, and she doesn't like
• 5:46:42
  her husband. Marilla's pronouns slandered Eliza, who was very fond of her husband.
• 5:46:48
  Rachel says, if he'd only brace up and exert his will power,
• 5:46:52
  he'd get better. But what is the use of asking a jellyfish to sit
• 5:46:56
  up straight? Continued Marilla. Thomas Lynde never had any will power to exert.
• 5:47:02
  His mother ruled him till he married, and then Rachel carried it on.
• 5:47:06
  It's a wonder he dared to get sick without asking her permission. But
• 5:47:10
  there I shouldn't talk. So Rachel has been a good wife to him.
• 5:47:14
  He'd never have amounted to anything without her. That's certain. He was born
• 5:47:18
  to be ruled, and it's well he fell into the hands of a clever,
• 5:47:21
  capable manager like Rachel. He didn't mind her way. It saved him
• 5:47:25
  the bother of ever making up his own mind about anything. Davy, do
• 5:47:29
  stop squirming like an eel. I've nothing else to do, protested Davy.
• 5:47:36
  I can't eat any more, and it's no fun watching you and Anne eat.
• 5:47:41
  Well, you and Dora go out and give the hens their wheat,
• 5:47:44
  said Marilla. And don't you try to pull any more feathers out of the
• 5:47:48
  white rooster's tail either. I wanted some feathers for an injun head dress,
• 5:47:53
  said Davy sulkily. Milty Bolter has a dandy one made out of the feathers
• 5:47:59
  his mother gave him when she killed their old white gobbler. You might let
• 5:48:03
  me have some. That rooster's got ever so many mortn he wants. You
• 5:48:08
  may have the old feather duster in the garret, said Anne. And I'll
• 5:48:12
  dye them green and red and yellow for you. You do spoil that boy,
• 5:48:17
  dreadfully, said Marilla, when Davy, with a radiant face, had
• 5:48:21
  followed prim Dora out. Marilla's education had made great strides in the past six
• 5:48:26
  years, but she had not yet been able to rid herself with the idea
• 5:48:30
  that it was very bad for a child to have too many of its wishes
• 5:48:33
  indulged. All the boys of his class have Indian head dresses, and Davy
• 5:48:37
  wants one too, said Anne. I know how it feels. I'll never
• 5:48:41
  forget how I used to long for puffed sleeves when all the other girls had
• 5:48:45
  them, and Davy isn't being spoiled. He is improving every day. Think
• 5:48:49
  what a difference there is in him since he came here a year ago.
• 5:48:52
  He certainly doesn't get into as much mischief since he began to go to school,
• 5:48:56
  acknowledged Marilla. I suppose he were off the tendency with the other boys.
• 5:49:02
  But it's a wonder to me. We haven't heard from Richard Keith before
• 5:49:03
  this, never a word since last May. I'll be afraid to hear from
• 5:49:08
  him, sighed Anne, beginning to clear away the dishes. If a letter
• 5:49:12
  should come, I'd dread opening it, for fear it would tell us to
• 5:49:15
  send the twins to him. A month later a letter did come, but
• 5:49:19
  it was not from Richard Keith. A friend of his wrote to say that
• 5:49:23
  Richard Keith had died of consumption a fortnight previously. The writer of the letter
• 5:49:29
  was the executor of his will, and by that will, the sum of
• 5:49:32
  two thousand dollars was left to Miss Marilla Cuthbert in trust for David and Dora
• 5:49:37
  Keith until they came of age or married. In the meantime, the interest
• 5:49:41
  was to be used for their maintenance. It seems dreadful to be glad of
• 5:49:45
  anything in connection with a death, said Anne soberly. I'm sorry for poor
• 5:49:48
  mister Keith, but I am glad that we can keep the twins. It's
• 5:49:52
  a very good thing about the money, said Marilla. Practically I wanted to
• 5:49:57
  keep them, but I really didn't see how I could afford it to do
• 5:50:00
  it, especially when they grew older. The rent of the farm doesn't do
• 5:50:03
  any more than keep the house, and I was bound that not a cent
• 5:50:06
  of your money should be spent on them. You do far too much for
• 5:50:08
  them as it is. Dora didn't need that new hat you bought her any
• 5:50:12
  more than a cat needs two tails. But now the way is made clear,
• 5:50:18
  and they are provided for. Davy and Dora were delighted when they heard
• 5:50:22
  that they were to live at Green Gables for good. The death of an
• 5:50:25
  uncle whom they had never seen could not weigh a moment in the balance against
• 5:50:27
  that. But Dora had one misgiving. Was Uncle Richard buried? She whispered
• 5:50:33
  to Anne, Yes, dear, of course he He isn't like Mirabell Cotton's
• 5:50:40
  uncle, is he? In a still more agitated whisper. He won't walk
• 5:50:45
  about houses after being buried, will he? Anne? End of Chapter twenty
• 5:50:52
  two, Chapter twenty three, Miss Lavender's Romance. I think I'll take a
• 5:50:57
  walk through to Echo Lodge this evening, said Anne one Friday afternoon in December.
• 5:51:03
  It looks like snow, said Marilla dubiously. I'll be there before the
• 5:51:07
  snow comes, and I mean to stay all night. Diana can't go because
• 5:51:11
  she has company, and I'm sure Miss Lavendar will be looking for me tonight.
• 5:51:15
  It's a whole fortnight since I was there. Anne had paid many a
• 5:51:18
  visit to Echo Lodge since that October day. Sometimes she and Diana drove around
• 5:51:23
  by the road. Sometimes they walked through the woods. When Diana could not
• 5:51:29
  go, Anne went alone. Between her and Miss Lavendar had sprung up one
• 5:51:33
  of those fervent, helpful friendships possible only between a woman who has kept the
• 5:51:37
  freshness of youth in her heart and soul and a girl whose imagination and intuition
• 5:51:42
  supplied the place of experience. Anne had at last discovered a real, kindred
• 5:51:48
  spirit. While into the little lady's lonely, sequestered life of dreams, Anne
• 5:51:52
  and Diana came with the wholesome joy and exhilaration of the outer existence which Miss
• 5:51:57
  Lavender, the world Forgetting by the world Forgot, had long ceased to share.
• 5:52:03
  They brought an atmosphere of youth and reality to the Little Stone House.
• 5:52:07
  Charlotta the Fourth always greeted them with her very widest smile, and Charlotta's smiles
• 5:52:12
  were fearfully wide, loving them for the sake of her adored mistress as well
• 5:52:18
  as for their own. Never had there been such high jinks held in the
• 5:52:21
  Little Stone House as were held there that beautiful, late lingering autumn, when
• 5:52:26
  November seemed October over again, and even December ached the sunshine and hazes of
• 5:52:30
  summer. But on this particular day it seemed as if December had remembered that
• 5:52:36
  it was time for winter, and had turned suddenly dull and brooding, with
• 5:52:40
  a windless hush, predictive of coming snow. Nevertheless, Anne keenly enjoyed her
• 5:52:45
  walk through the great gray maze of the Beechlands. Though alone, she never
• 5:52:48
  found it lonely. Her imagination peopled her path with merry companions, and with
• 5:52:53
  these she carried on a gay, pretended conversation that was wittier and more fascinating,
• 5:53:00
  and conversations are apt to be in real life, where people sometimes fail
• 5:53:03
  most lamentably to talk up to the requirements. In a MakeBelieve assembly of choice
• 5:53:08
  spirits, everybody says just the thing you want her to say, and so
• 5:53:12
  gives you the chance to say just what you want to say. Attended by
• 5:53:17
  this invisible company, Anne traversed the woods and arrived at the fur lane just
• 5:53:22
  as broad feathery flakes began to flutter down softly. At the first bend,
• 5:53:26
  she came upon Miss Lavender standing under a big, broad branching fur. She
• 5:53:32
  wore a gown of warm, rich red, and her head and shoulders were
• 5:53:36
  wrapped in a silvery gray silk shawl. You look like the queen of the
• 5:53:40
  fir Wood Fairies, called Anne merrily. I thought you would come tonight,
• 5:53:45
  Anne said Miss Lavendar, running forward. And I'm doubly glad for Charlotta.
• 5:53:49
  The fourth is away. Her mother is sick and she had to go home
• 5:53:53
  for the night. I should have been very lonely if you hadn't come.
• 5:53:57
  Even the dreams and the echoes wouldn't have been enough company. Oh Anne,
• 5:54:00
  how pretty you are? She added, suddenly looking up at the tall,
• 5:54:06
  slim girl with the soft rose flush of walking on her face. How pretty
• 5:54:10
  and how young. It's so delightful to be seventeen, isn't it. I
• 5:54:14
  do envy, you, concluded, Miss Lavendar candidly. But you are only
• 5:54:18
  seventeen at heart, smiled Anne. No, I'm old, or rather middle
• 5:54:23
  aged, which is far worse, sighed Miss Lavendar. Sometimes I can pretend
• 5:54:29
  I'm not, but at other times I realize it, and I can't reconcile
• 5:54:33
  myself to it as most women seem to. I'm just as rebellious as I
• 5:54:38
  was when I discovered my first gray hair. Now, Anne, don't look
• 5:54:42
  as if you were trying to understand seventeen can't understand. I'm going to pretend
• 5:54:48
  right away that I'm seventeen too, and I can do it now that you're
• 5:54:52
  here. You always bring youth in your hand like a gift. We're going
• 5:54:56
  to have a jolly evening tea. First, what do you want for tea?
• 5:55:00
  We'll have whatever you'd like. Do you think of something nice and indingestible.
• 5:55:06
  There were sounds of riot and mirth in the little stone house that night,
• 5:55:08
  what with cooking and feasting and making candy and laughing and pretending. It
• 5:55:14
  is quite true that Miss Lavender and Anne comported themselves in a fashion entirely unsuited
• 5:55:18
  to the dignity of a spinster of forty five and a sedate school ma'am.
• 5:55:23
  Then when they were tired, they sat down on the rug before the grate
• 5:55:26
  in the parlor, lighted only by the soft fire shine, and perfumed deliciously
• 5:55:32
  by Miss Lavender's open rose jar on the mantel. The wind had risen and
• 5:55:36
  was sighing and wailing around the eaves, and the snow was fading softly against
• 5:55:41
  the windows, as if a hundred storm sprites were tapping for entrance. I'm
• 5:55:45
  so glad you're here, Anne said Miss Lavendar, nibbling at her candy.
• 5:55:49
  If you weren't, I should be blue, very blue, almost navy blue.
• 5:55:55
  Dreams and make believes are all very well in the daytime, in the
• 5:55:57
  sunshine, but when dark, dark and storm come, they fail to satisfy.
• 5:56:03
  One wants real things then, but you don't know this. Seventeen never
• 5:56:07
  knows it. At seventeen, dreams do satisfy because you think the realities are
• 5:56:11
  waiting for you. Further on, when I was seventeen, Anne, I
• 5:56:14
  didn't think forty five would find me a white haired, little old maid with
• 5:56:17
  nothing but dreams to fill my life. But you aren't an old maid,
• 5:56:21
  said Anne, smiling into Miss Lavender's wistful wood brown eyes. Old maids are
• 5:56:26
  born, they don't become. Some are born old maids, some achieve old
• 5:56:32
  maidhood, and some have old maidhoods thrust upon them, parodied Miss Lavender,
• 5:56:36
  whimsically, you are one of those who have achieved it, then, laughed
• 5:56:41
  Anne. And you've done it so beautifully that if every old maid were like
• 5:56:45
  you, they would come into the fashion. I think I always like to
• 5:56:48
  do things as well as possible, said Miss Lavendar meditatively, And since an
• 5:56:52
  old maid I have to be, I was determined to be a very nice
• 5:56:56
  one. People say I'm odd, but it's just because I follow my own
• 5:57:00
  way of being an old maid and refused to copy the traditional pattern. And
• 5:57:06
  did anyone ever tell you anything about Stephen Irving and me? Yes, said
• 5:57:10
  Anne candidly. I've heard that you and he were engaged once. So we
• 5:57:15
  were twenty five years ago, a lifetime ago, and we were to have
• 5:57:21
  been married the next spring. I had my wedding dress made, although nobody
• 5:57:26
  but mother and Stephen ever knew that we'd been engaged in a way almost all
• 5:57:30
  our lives, you might say. When Stephen was a little boy, his
• 5:57:33
  mother would bring him here when she came to see my mother. And the
• 5:57:37
  second time he ever came, he was nine and I was six, he
• 5:57:42
  told me out in the garden that he had pretty well made up his mind
• 5:57:45
  to marry me when he grew up. I remember that. I said thank
• 5:57:51
  you, And when he was gone, I told mother very gravely that there
• 5:57:55
  was a great weight off my mind, because I wasn't frightened anymore about having
• 5:57:59
  to be old me. How poor mother laughed, And what went wrong?
• 5:58:04
  Asked Anne breathlessly. We had just a stupid, silly, commonplace quarrel,
• 5:58:11
  so commonplace that, if you'll believe me, I don't even remember just how
• 5:58:15
  it began. I hardly know who was the more to blame for it.
• 5:58:21
  Stephen did really begin it, but I suppose I provoked him by some foolishness
• 5:58:25
  of mine. He had a rival. Or to you see, I was
• 5:58:30
  fain and coquettish and liked to tease him a little. He was a very
• 5:58:33
  high strung sensitive fellow. Well, we parted in a temper on both sides,
• 5:58:40
  but I thought it would all come right, And it would have if
• 5:58:44
  Stephen hadn't come back too soon. And my dear, I'm sorry to say,
• 5:58:49
  miss Lavender dropped her voice as if she were about to confess a predilection
• 5:58:52
  for murdering people, that I am a dreadfully skulky person. Oh, you
• 5:58:59
  didn't smell. It's only too true. I do sulk, and Stephen came
• 5:59:04
  back before I had finished sulking. I wouldn't listen to him and I wouldn't
• 5:59:10
  forgive him, and so he went away for good. He was too proud
• 5:59:15
  to come again, and then I sulked because he didn't come. I might
• 5:59:18
  have said for him, perhaps, but I couldn't humble myself to do that.
• 5:59:22
  I was just as proud as he was. Pride and sulkiness make a
• 5:59:27
  very bad combination, Anne, But I could never care for anybody else,
• 5:59:32
  and I didn't want to. I knew I would rather be an old maid
• 5:59:36
  for a thousand years than marry anybody who wasn't Stephen Irving. Well, it
• 5:59:41
  all seems like a dream now, of course. How sympathetic you look,
• 5:59:45
  Anne, as sympathetic as only seventeen can look. But don't overdo it.
• 5:59:51
  I'm really very happy, contented little person in spite of my broken heart.
• 5:59:57
  My heart did break, if ever a heart did, when I realized that
• 6:00:02
  Stephen Irving was not coming back. But Anne, a broken heart in real
• 6:00:07
  life isn't half as dreadful as it is in books. It's a good deal,
• 6:00:11
  like a bad tooth, though you won't think that very romantic simile,
• 6:00:15
  But between times it lets you enjoy life and dreams and echoes and peanut candy
• 6:00:19
  as if there were nothing the matter with it. And now you're looking disappointed.
• 6:00:23
  You don't think I'm half as interesting a person as you did five minutes
• 6:00:27
  ago, when you believed I was always the prey of a tragic memory,
• 6:00:30
  bravely hidden beneath external smiles. That's the worst or the best a real life,
• 6:00:37
  Anne. It won't let you be miserable. It keeps on trying to
• 6:00:41
  make you comfortable and succeeding even when you're determined to be unhappy and romantic.
• 6:00:48
  Isn't this candy scrumptious? Now I've eaten far more than it's good for me
• 6:00:52
  already, But I'm going to keep recklessly on. After a little silence,
• 6:00:56
  Miss Lavender said abruptly, it gave me a shock to hear about Stephen's son
• 6:01:00
  that first day you were here. Anne. I've never been able to mention
• 6:01:03
  him to you since, but I've wanted to know all about him. What
• 6:01:07
  sort of boy is he? He is the dearest sweetest child I ever knew,
• 6:01:12
  Miss Lavendar, and he pretends things too, just as you and I
• 6:01:15
  do. I'd like to see him, said Miss Lavender softly, as if
• 6:01:19
  talking to herself. I wonder if he looks anything like the little dream boy
• 6:01:23
  who lives here with me, My little dream boy. If you would like
• 6:01:27
  to see Paul, I'll bring him through with me sometime, said Anne.
• 6:01:32
  I would like it, but not too soon. I want to get used
• 6:01:34
  to the thought. There might be more pain than pleasure in it if he
• 6:01:38
  looks too much like Stephen, or if he didn't look enough like him.
• 6:01:42
  In a month's time, you may bring him accordingly. A month later,
• 6:01:47
  Anne and Paul walked through the woods to the stone house and met Miss Lavender
• 6:01:52
  in the lane. She had not been expecting them just then, and she
• 6:01:55
  turned very pale. So this is Stephen's boy, she said in a low
• 6:02:00
  tone, taking Paul's hand and looking at him as he stood beautiful and boyish
• 6:02:03
  in his smart little fur coat and cap. He he is very like his
• 6:02:08
  father. Everybody says, I'm a chip off the old block, remarked Paul,
• 6:02:14
  quite at his ease. Anne, who had been watching the little scene,
• 6:02:18
  drew a relieved breath. She saw that Miss Lavendar and Paul had taken
• 6:02:22
  to each other, and that there would be no constraint or stiffness. Miss
• 6:02:26
  Lavendar was a very sensible person in spite of her dreams and romance, and
• 6:02:30
  after that first little betrayal, she tucked her feelings out of sight and entertained
• 6:02:36
  Paul as brightly and naturally as if he were anybody's son who had come to
• 6:02:38
  see her. They all had a jolly afternoon together, and such a feast
• 6:02:44
  of fat things by way of supper as would have made old missus Irving hold
• 6:02:47
  up her hands in horror, believing that Paul's digestion would be ruined forever.
• 6:02:52
  Come again, Laddie, said Miss Lavendar, shaking hands with him at parting.
• 6:02:56
  You may kiss me if you like, said gravely. Miss Lavender stooped
• 6:03:02
  and kissed him How did you know I wanted to, she whispered, because
• 6:03:07
  you looked at me just as my little mother used to do when she wanted
• 6:03:11
  to kiss me. As a rule, I don't like to be kissed boys,
• 6:03:15
  don't you know, miss Lewis. But I think I rather like to
• 6:03:18
  have you kiss me, and of course I'll come to see you again.
• 6:03:22
  I think i'd like to have you for a particular friend of mine. If
• 6:03:26
  you don't object, I I don't think I shall object, said miss Lavender.
• 6:03:30
  She turned and went in very quickly, but a moment later she was
• 6:03:34
  waving a gay and smiling goodbye to them from the window. I like miss
• 6:03:38
  Lavender, announced Paul, as they walked through the beech woods. I like
• 6:03:42
  the way she looked at me, and I like her stone house. And
• 6:03:47
  I like Charlotta the Fourth. I wish Grandma Irving had a Charlotta the Fourth
• 6:03:52
  instead of a marry Joe. I feel sure Charlotta the Fourth wouldn't think I
• 6:03:56
  was wrong in my upper story when I told her when I think about things,
• 6:04:00
  wasn't that a splendid tea we had? Teacher Grandma says, a boy
• 6:04:03
  shouldn't be thinking about what he gets to eat, but he can't help it
• 6:04:07
  sometimes when he is real hungry, you know, Teacher, I don't think
• 6:04:11
  Miss Lavendar would make a boy eat porridge for breakfast if he didn't like it.
• 6:04:15
  She'd get things for him he did like. But of course Paul was
• 6:04:18
  nothing if not fair minded. That mightn't be very good for him. It's
• 6:04:22
  very nice for a change, though, teacher, you know. End of
• 6:04:26
  Chapter twenty three, Chapter twenty four A prophet in his own country. One
• 6:04:33
  May day, Avonlea folks were mildly excited over some Avonlea notes signed Observer,
• 6:04:40
  which appeared in the Charlottetown Daily Enterprise. Gossip ascribed the authorship thereof to Charlie
• 6:04:45
  Sloane, partly because the said Charlie had indulged in similar literary flights in times
• 6:04:51
  past, and partly because one of the notes seemed to embody a sneer at
• 6:04:55
  Gilbert Blythe. Avonlea juvenile society persisted in re guarding Gilbert Blythe and Charlie Sloane
• 6:05:02
  as rivals in the good graces of a certain damsel with gray eyes and an
• 6:05:06
  imagination. Gossip as usual was wrong. Gilbert Blythe aided and abetted by Anne,
• 6:05:14
  had written the notes, putting in the one about himself as a blind.
• 6:05:18
  Only two of the notes have any bearing on this history. Rumor has
• 6:05:22
  it that there will be a wedding in our village ere the daisies are in
• 6:05:23
  bloom. A new and highly respected citizen will lead to the hymenial altar one
• 6:05:29
  of our most popular ladies. Uncle Abe, our well known weather prophet,
• 6:05:34
  predicts a violent storm of thunder and lightning for the evening of the twenty third
• 6:05:37
  of May, beginning at seven o'clock sharp. The area of the storm will
• 6:05:42
  extend over the greater part of the province. People traveling that evening will do
• 6:05:47
  well to take umbrellas and mackintoshes with them. Uncle Abe really has predicted a
• 6:05:51
  storm for some time this spring, said Gilbert. But do you suppose mister
• 6:05:56
  Harrison really does go to see Isabella Andrews. No, oh, said Anne,
• 6:06:00
  laughing. I'm sure he only goes to play checkers with mister Harrison Andrews.
• 6:06:06
  But missus Lynde says she knows Isabella Andrews must be going to get married.
• 6:06:10
  She's in such good spirits this spring. Poor old uncle Abe felt rather
• 6:06:15
  indignant. Over the notes. He suspected that observer was making fun of him.
• 6:06:19
  He angrily denied having assigned any particular date for his storm, but nobody
• 6:06:23
  believed him. Life in Avonlea continued on the smooth and even tenor of its
• 6:06:29
  way. The planting was put in, the improvers celebrated an Arbor day.
• 6:06:33
  Each improver set out or caused to be set out five ornamental trees. As
• 6:06:38
  the society now numbered forty members, this meant a total of two hundred young
• 6:06:44
  trees. Early oats greened over the red fields. Apple orchards flung great blossoming
• 6:06:49
  arms about the farmhouses, and the snow queen adorned itself as a bride for
• 6:06:53
  her husband. Anne liked to sleep with her window open and let the cherry
• 6:06:57
  fragrance blow over her face all night. She thought it very poetical. Marilla
• 6:07:03
  thought she was risking her life. Thanksgiving should be celebrated in the spring,
• 6:07:07
  said Anne one evening to Marilla, as they sat on the front doorsteps and
• 6:07:11
  listened to the silver, sweet chorus of the frogs. I think it would
• 6:07:15
  be ever so much better than having it in November, when everything is dead
• 6:07:18
  or asleep. Then you have to remember to be thankful, but in May
• 6:07:22
  one simply can't help being thankful that they are alive, if for nothing else.
• 6:07:26
  I feel exactly as Eve must have felt in the garden of Eden before
• 6:07:30
  the trouble began. Is that grass in the hollow green or golden? It
• 6:07:36
  seems to me, Marilla, that a pearl of a day like this,
• 6:07:38
  when the blossoms are out and the winds don't know where to blow from next,
• 6:07:41
  for sheer crazy delight, must be pretty near as good as heaven.
• 6:07:47
  Marilla looked scandalized and glanced apprehensively around to make sure the twins were not with
• 6:07:52
  an ear shot. They came around the corner of the house just then.
• 6:07:56
  Ain't it an awful, nice smelling evening, asked Davy, sniffing delightedly as
• 6:08:03
  he swung a hoe in his grimy hands. He had been working in his
• 6:08:07
  garden that spring. Marilla, by way of turning Davy's passion for reveling in
• 6:08:11
  mud and clay into useful channels, had given him and Dora a small plot
• 6:08:15
  of ground for a garden. Both had eagerly gone to work in a characteristic
• 6:08:19
  fashion. Dora planted, weeded, and watered carefully. Systematically and dispassionately.
• 6:08:26
  As a result, her plot was already green, with prim orderly little rows
• 6:08:30
  of vegetables and annuals. Davy, however, worked with more zeal than discretion.
• 6:08:37
  He dugged and hoed and raked and watered and transplanted so energetically that his
• 6:08:41
  seeds had no chance for their lives. How is your garden coming on,
• 6:08:45
  Davy, boy, asked Anne. Kind of slow, said Davy, with
• 6:08:51
  a sigh. I don't know why the things don't grow better. Milty Bolter
• 6:08:55
  says, I must have planted them in the dark of the moon, and
• 6:08:59
  that's the whole tree. He says, you must never sow seeds, or
• 6:09:03
  kill pork, or cut your hair, or do any portant thing in the
• 6:09:07
  wrong time of the moon. Is that true? Anne? I want to
• 6:09:11
  know. Maybe if you didn't pull your plants up by the roots every other
• 6:09:15
  day to see how they're getting on. At the other end, they do
• 6:09:18
  better, said Marilla, sarcastically. I only pulled six of them up,
• 6:09:23
  protested Davy. I wanted to see if there was grubs at the roots.
• 6:09:27
  Milty Bolter said, if it wasn't the moon's fault, it must be grubs.
• 6:09:33
  But I only found one grub. He was a great, big,
• 6:09:36
  juicy, curly grub. I put him on a stone and got another stone
• 6:09:41
  and smashed him flat. He made a jolly's squish. I tell you I
• 6:09:45
  was sorry there wasn't more of them. Dora's garden was planted same time as
• 6:09:51
  mine, and her things are growing all right. It can't be the moon,
• 6:09:56
  Davy concluded in a reflective tone. Marilla, Look at that apple tree,
• 6:10:00
  said Anne. Why the thing is human? It is reaching out long
• 6:10:04
  arms to pick its own pink skirts, daintily up and provoke us to admiration.
• 6:10:10
  Those yellow duchess trees always bear well, said Marilla, complacently. That
• 6:10:15
  tree'll be loaded this year. I'm real glad. They're great for pies.
• 6:10:19
  But neither Marilla, nor Anne nor anybody else was faded to make pies out
• 6:10:23
  of yellow duchess apples that year. The twenty third of May came an unseasonably
• 6:10:30
  warm day, as none realized more keenly than Anne and her little beehive of
• 6:10:33
  pupils, sweltering over fractions and syntax in the Avonlea schoolroom. A hot breeze
• 6:10:40
  blew all the forenoon, but after noon hour it died away into a heavy
• 6:10:44
  stillness. At half past three, Anne heard a low rumble of thunder.
• 6:10:48
  She promptly dismissed school at once so that the children might get home before the
• 6:10:52
  storm came. As they went out to the playground, Anne perceived a certain
• 6:10:57
  shadow and gloom over the world, in spite of the fact that the sun
• 6:11:00
  was still shining brightly. Annetta Bell caught her hand nervously. Oh, teacher,
• 6:11:07
  look at that awful cloud. Anne looked, and gave an exclamation of
• 6:11:11
  dismay. In the northwest, a mass of cloud such as she had never
• 6:11:15
  in all her life beheld before, was rapidly rolling up. It was dead
• 6:11:19
  black, save where its curled and fringed edges showed a ghastly livid white.
• 6:11:25
  There was something about it indescribably menacing. As it gloomed up in the clear
• 6:11:29
  blue sky. Now and again, a bolt of lightning shot across it,
• 6:11:33
  followed by a savage growl. It hung so low that it almost seemed to
• 6:11:37
  be touching the tops of the wooded hills. Mister Harmon Andrews came clattering up
• 6:11:41
  the hill in his truck wagon, urging his team of grays to their utmost
• 6:11:45
  speed. He pulled them to a halt opposite the school. Yes, Uncle
• 6:11:49
  Eves hit it for once, and he's live. Anne. He shouted his
• 6:11:53
  storm's coming a little ahead of time. Did ye ever see the like the
• 6:12:00
  cloud here? Oh ye, young ones, Let are going my way by
• 6:12:06
  Leiden, and those at eight scoot for the pole stoppers ify more than a
• 6:12:11
  quarter a mile ago, unstee there till the shoe is over. Anne caught
• 6:12:17
  Davy and Dora by the hands and flew down the hill along the birch path
• 6:12:21
  and passed Violet Veil and Willowmere as fast as the twins fat legs could go.
• 6:12:26
  They reached Green Gables not a moment too soon, and were joined at
• 6:12:29
  the door by Marilla, who had been hustling her ducks and chickens under shelter.
• 6:12:33
  As they dashed into the kitchen, the lights seemed to vanish, as
• 6:12:36
  if blown out by some mighty breath. The awful cloud rolled over the sun,
• 6:12:41
  and a darkness as of late twilight fell across the world. At the
• 6:12:45
  same moment, with a crash of thunder and a blinding glare of lightning.
• 6:12:48
  The hail swooped down and blotted the landscape out in one white fury. Through
• 6:12:55
  all the clamor of the storm came the thud of torn branches striking the house,
• 6:12:57
  and the sharp crack of breaking glass. In three minutes, every pane
• 6:13:03
  in the west and north windows was broken, and the hail poured in through
• 6:13:06
  the apertures, covering the floor with stones, the smallest of which was as
• 6:13:11
  big as a hen's egg. For three quarters of an hour the storm raged
• 6:13:15
  unabated, and no one who underwent it ever forgot it. Marilla, for
• 6:13:18
  once in her life, shaken out of her composure by sheer terror, knounced
• 6:13:22
  by her rocking chair in a corner of the kitchen, gasping and sobbing between
• 6:13:26
  the deafening thunder peels. Anne, white as paper, had dragged the sofa
• 6:13:32
  away from the window and sat on it with a twin on either side.
• 6:13:36
  Davy, at the first crash had howled, Anne, Anne, is it
• 6:13:40
  the judgment day? Anne? Anne? I never meant to be naughty?
• 6:13:45
  And then had buried his face in Anne's lap and kept it there, his
• 6:13:48
  little body quivering. Dora, somewhat pale but quite composed, sat with her
• 6:13:52
  hand clasped in Anne's, quiet and motionless it is doubtful if an earthquake would
• 6:13:57
  have disturbed Dora. Then almost as suddenly as it began, the storm ceased,
• 6:14:03
  the hail stopped, the thunder rolled and muttered away to the eastward,
• 6:14:07
  and the sun burst out, merry and radiant over a world so changed that
• 6:14:11
  it seems an absurd thing to think that a scant three quarters of an hour
• 6:14:15
  could have effected such a transformation. Marilla rose from her knees, weak and
• 6:14:21
  trembling, and dropped on her rocker. Her face was haggard, and she
• 6:14:25
  looked ten years older. Have we all come out of that alive? She
• 6:14:29
  asked solemnly, You bet we have, piped Davy cheerfully, quite his own
• 6:14:34
  man. Again. I wasn't a bit scared either, only just at the
• 6:14:38
  first it came on a fellow so sudden I made up my mind, quick
• 6:14:44
  as a wink, that I wouldn't fight Teddy's Sloane Monday, as I'd promised.
• 6:14:48
  But now maybe I will say, Dora, was you scared? Yes,
• 6:14:53
  I was a little scared, said Dora, primly. But I held
• 6:14:57
  tight to Anne's hand and said my prayers over and over again. Well,
• 6:15:03
  i'd have said my prayers too, if I'd have thought of it, said
• 6:15:07
  Davy, But he added triumphantly, you see, I came through just as
• 6:15:11
  safe as you. For all I didn't say them. Anne got Marilla a
• 6:15:15
  glassful of her potent's currant wine. How potent it was, Anne, in
• 6:15:19
  her earlier days had had all too good reason to know. And then they
• 6:15:23
  went to the door to look out on the strange scene. Far and wide
• 6:15:29
  was a white carpet knee deep of hailstones. Drifts of them were heaped up
• 6:15:33
  under the eaves and on the steps. When three or four days later those
• 6:15:37
  hailstones melted, the havoc they had wrought was plainly seen, for every green
• 6:15:42
  growing thing in the field or garden was cut off. Not only was every
• 6:15:47
  blossom stripped from the apple trees, but great boughs and branches were wrenched away.
• 6:15:52
  And out of the two hundred trees set out by the improvers, by
• 6:15:55
  far the greater number were snapped off or torn to shreds. Be the same
• 6:16:00
  world it was an hour ago, asked Anne dazedly. It must have taken
• 6:16:04
  longer than that to play such havoc. The like of this has never been
• 6:16:08
  known in Prince Edward island, said Marilla. Never. I remember when I
• 6:16:15
  was a girl there was a bad storm, but it was nothing to this.
• 6:16:18
  We'll hear of terrible destruction, you may be sure. I do hope
• 6:16:22
  none of the children were caught out in it, murmured Anne anxiously. As
• 6:16:26
  it was discovered later none of the children had been, since all those who
• 6:16:30
  had any distance to go had taken mister Andrew's excellent advice and sought refuge at
• 6:16:33
  the post office. There comes John Henry Carter, said Marilla. John Henry
• 6:16:40
  came wading through the hailstones with a rather scared grin. Oh ain't this awful,
• 6:16:44
  Miss Cuthbert. Mister Harris has sent me over to see if you was
• 6:16:48
  come out all right? Were none of us killed? Said Marilla grimly.
• 6:16:52
  And none of the buildings were struck. I hope you got off equally well.
• 6:16:56
  Y awesome. Not quite so well, ma'am. We was struck.
• 6:17:00
  The lightning knocked over the kitchen chimney and came down to flu and knocked over
• 6:17:03
  Ginger's cage and tore a hole in the floor, went into the sola.
• 6:17:07
  Yassum was Ginger hurt? Queried Anne? Yassum, he was hurt pretty bad.
• 6:17:12
  He was killed. Later on, Anne went over to comfort mister Harrison.
• 6:17:18
  She found him sitting by the table, stroking Ginger's gay dead body with
• 6:17:22
  a trembling hand. Poor Ginger won't call you any more names, Anne,
• 6:17:26
  he said mournfully. Anne could never have imagined herself crying on Ginger's account,
• 6:17:32
  but the tears came into her eyes. He was all the company I had,
• 6:17:36
  Anne, and now he's dead. Well, well, I'm an old
• 6:17:38
  fool to care so much. I'll let on I don't care. I know
• 6:17:42
  you've got to say something sympathetic as soon as I stopped talking, But don't.
• 6:17:48
  If you did, I'd cry like a baby. Hasn't this been a
• 6:17:51
  terrible storm? I guess folks won't laugh at Uncle Abe's predictions again. Seems
• 6:17:56
  as if all the storms he's been prophesizing all his life that'd never happened came
• 6:18:00
  all at once. Beats all how he struck The very day, though,
• 6:18:03
  don't it. I must hustle round and get some boards to patch up that
• 6:18:07
  hole in the floor. Avonlea. Folks did nothing the next day but visit
• 6:18:11
  each other and compare damages. The roads were impassable for wheels by reason of
• 6:18:15
  the hailstones, so they walked or rode on horseback. The mail came late
• 6:18:21
  with ill tidings from all over the province. Houses had been struck, people
• 6:18:26
  killed and injured, the whole telephone and telegraph system had been disorganized, and
• 6:18:30
  any number of young stock exposed in the fields had perished. Uncle Abe waded
• 6:18:36
  out to the blacksmith's forge early in the morning and spent the whole day there.
• 6:18:40
  It was Uncle Abe's hour of triumph, and he enjoyed it to the
• 6:18:42
  full. It would be doing Uncle Abe an injustice to say that he was
• 6:18:45
  glad the storm had happened, but since it had to be, he was
• 6:18:49
  very glad he had predicted it to the very day too. Uncle Abe forgot
• 6:18:53
  that he had ever denied setting the day, as for the trifling discrepancy in
• 6:18:57
  the hour that was not Gilbert arrived at Green Gables in the evening and found
• 6:19:03
  Marilla and Anne busily engaged in nailing strips of oilcloth over the broken windows.
• 6:19:08
  Goodness only knows when we'll get glass for them, said Marilla. Mister Barry
• 6:19:14
  went over to Carmody this afternoon, but not a pain could he get for
• 6:19:18
  love or money. Lawson and Blair were cleaned out by the Carmody people.
• 6:19:22
  By ten o'clock was the storm bat at White Sands, Gilbert, I should
• 6:19:26
  say so, I was caught in school with all the children, and I
• 6:19:30
  thought some of them would go mad with fright. Three of them fainted,
• 6:19:33
  and two girls took hysterics, and Tommy Blewett did nothing but shriek at the
• 6:19:37
  top of his voice the whole time. I only squealed once, said Davy
• 6:19:41
  proudly. My garden was all smashed flat, he continued, mournfully. But
• 6:19:48
  so was Dora's, he added, in a tone which indicated that there was
• 6:19:52
  yet balm in Gilead. Anne came running down from the west gable. Oh,
• 6:19:57
  Gilbert, have you heard the news? Mister Levi Bolter's old house was
• 6:20:00
  struck and burned to the ground. It seems to me that I'm dreadfully wicked
• 6:20:04
  to feel glad over that when so much damage has been done. Mister Bolter
• 6:20:08
  says he believed the Aviiss magiced up that storm on purpose. Well, one
• 6:20:14
  thing is certain, said Gilbert, laughing. Observer has made Uncle Abe's reputation
• 6:20:19
  as a weather prophet. Uncle Abe's storm will go down in local history.
• 6:20:26
  It is a most extraordinary coincidence that it should have come on the very day
• 6:20:29
  we selected. I actually have a half guilty feeling as if I really had
• 6:20:33
  magiced it up. Well, we may as well rejoice over the old house
• 6:20:37
  being removed, for there's not much to rejoice over where our young trees are
• 6:20:41
  concerned. Not ten of them have escaped. Ah well, we'll just have
• 6:20:45
  to plant them over again next spring, said Anne philosophically. That is one
• 6:20:49
  good thing about this world. There are always sure to be more springs.
• 6:20:55
  End of Chapter twenty four. Chapter twenty five and a Lee Scandal. One
• 6:21:02
  blithe June morning, a fortnight after Uncle Abe's storm, Anne came slowly through
• 6:21:07
  the green Gables yard from the garden, carrying in her hands two blighted stalks
• 6:21:11
  of white narcissus. Look, Marilla, she said, sorrowfully, holding up
• 6:21:17
  the flowers before the eyes of a grim lady with her hair coifed in a
• 6:21:19
  green gingham apron, who was going into the house with a plucked chicken.
• 6:21:25
  These are the only buds the storm spared, and even they are imperfect.
• 6:21:29
  I'm so sorry I wanted some for Matthew's Gray. He was always so fond
• 6:21:33
  of June lili's. I kind of miss them myself, admitted Marilla. Though
• 6:21:38
  it doesn't seem right to lament over them when so many worse things have happened,
• 6:21:42
  all the crops destroyed, as well as the fruit. But people have
• 6:21:47
  sewn their oats over again, said Anne comfortingly. And mister Harrison says he
• 6:21:52
  thinks if we have a good summer, they will come out all right,
• 6:21:53
  though late and my annuals are all coming up again. But oh, nothing
• 6:21:57
  can replace the June lilies es. Poor little hester Gray will have none either.
• 6:22:03
  I went all the way back to her garden last night, but there
• 6:22:04
  wasn't one. I'm sure she'll miss them. I don't think it's right for
• 6:22:08
  you to say such things, Anne, I really don't, said Marilla severely.
• 6:22:14
  Hester Gray is being dead for thirty years, and her spirit is in
• 6:22:17
  heaven. I hope, yes. But I believe she loves and remembers her
• 6:22:21
  garden here still, said Anne. I'm sure, no matter how long I'd
• 6:22:25
  lived in heaven, I'd like to look down and see somebody putting flowers on
• 6:22:29
  my grave. If I had had a garden here like hester Gray's, it
• 6:22:32
  would take me more than thirty years even in heaven, to forget being homesick
• 6:22:36
  for it by spells. Well, don't let the twins hear you talking like
• 6:22:40
  that, was Marilla's feeble protest. As she carried her chicken into the house.
• 6:22:45
  Anne pinned her narsess eye on her hair and went to the lane gate,
• 6:22:48
  where she stood for a while sunning herself in the June brightness, before
• 6:22:52
  going in to attend to her Saturday morning duties. The world was growing lovely
• 6:22:56
  again. Old Mother Nature was doing her best to remove the traces of the
• 6:23:00
  storm, and though she was not to succeed fully for many a moon,
• 6:23:03
  she was really accomplishing wonders. I wish I could just be idle all day
• 6:23:08
  to day, Anne told a blue bird who was singing and swinging on a
• 6:23:11
  willow bough. But a school ma'am, who was also helping to bring up
• 6:23:15
  twins, can't indulge in laziness, Bertie, how sweet you are singing,
• 6:23:19
  little bird. You are just putting the feelings of my heart into song,
• 6:23:22
  ever so much better than I could myself. Why who is coming? An
• 6:23:27
  express wagon was jolting up the lane with two people on the front seat and
• 6:23:32
  a big trunk behind. When it drew near, Anne recognized the driver as
• 6:23:36
  the son of the station agent at Bright River, But his companion was a
• 6:23:40
  stranger, a scrap of a woman who sprang nimbly down at the gate almost
• 6:23:44
  before the horse came to a standstill. She was a very pretty little person,
• 6:23:48
  evidently nearer fifty than forty, but with rosy cheeks, sparkling black eyes,
• 6:23:53
  and shining black hair, surmounted by a wonderful beflowered and beplumed bonnet.
• 6:23:59
  In spite of having driven eight miles over a dusty road, she was as
• 6:24:03
  neat as if she had just stepped out of the proverbial bandbox. Is this
• 6:24:07
  where mister James A. Harrison lives? She inquired briskly. No, mister
• 6:24:11
  Harrison lives over there, said Anne, quite lost in astonishment. Well I
• 6:24:15
  did think this place seemed too tidy, much too tidy for James A to
• 6:24:19
  be living here, unless he has greatly changed since I knew him, chirped
• 6:24:22
  the little lady. Is it true that James A Is going to be married
• 6:24:26
  to some woman living in this settlement? No? Oh, no, cried
• 6:24:30
  Anne, flushing so guiltily that the stranger looked curiously at her, as if
• 6:24:34
  she half suspected her of matrimonial designs on mister Harrison. But I saw it
• 6:24:40
  in an island paper, persisted the fair unknown. A friend sent a mark
• 6:24:44
  to copy to me. Friends are always so ready to do such things.
• 6:24:47
  James Ay's name was written in open news. Citizen. Oh, that note
• 6:24:52
  was only meant as a joke, gasped Anne. Mister Harrison has no intention
• 6:24:56
  of marrying anybody. I assure you he hasn't. I'm very glad to hear
• 6:25:00
  it, said the rosy lady, climbing nimbly back to her seat in the
• 6:25:03
  wagon. Because he happens to be married already, I am his wife.
• 6:25:08
  Oh, you may well look surprised. I suppose he has been masquerading as
• 6:25:12
  a bachelor and breaking hearts right and left. Well, well, James A,
• 6:25:17
  nodding vigorously over the fields at the long White House, Your fun is
• 6:25:21
  over. I am here, though I wouldn't have bothered coming if I hadn't
• 6:25:23
  thought you're up to some mischief, I suppose, turning to Anne, that
• 6:25:29
  parrot of his is as profane as ever. His parrot is dead, I
• 6:25:33
  think, gasped poor Anne, who couldn't have felt sure of her own name
• 6:25:37
  at that precise moment. Dead. Everything will be all right, then,
• 6:25:41
  cried the rosy lady, jubilantly. I can manage james A if that bird
• 6:25:47
  is out of the way. With which cryptic utterance, she went joyfully on
• 6:25:49
  her way, and Anne flew to the kitchen door to meet Marilla. Anne.
• 6:25:53
  Who was that woman? Marilla, said Anne, solemnly, but with
• 6:25:57
  dancing eyes. Do I look as if I were crazy? Not more so
• 6:26:02
  than usual? Said Marilla, with no thought of being sarcastic. Well then
• 6:26:07
  do you think I am awake? Anne? What nonsense has got into you?
• 6:26:10
  Who was that woman? I say, Marilla. If I'm not crazy
• 6:26:14
  and not asleep, she can't be such stuff as dreams are made of.
• 6:26:17
  She must be real. Anyway, I'm sure I couldn't have imagined such a
• 6:26:21
  bonnet, She says. She is mister Harrison's wife, Marilla. Marilla stared
• 6:26:26
  in her turn his wife, Anne Shirley, Then what has he been passing
• 6:26:30
  himself off as an unmarried man? For I don't suppose he did, really,
• 6:26:36
  said Anne, trying to be just. He never said he wasn't married.
• 6:26:40
  People simply took it for granted, Oh Marilla, what will missus Lynde
• 6:26:44
  say to this? They found out what missus Lynde had to say when she
• 6:26:48
  came up that evening. Missus Lynde wasn't surprised. Missus Lynde had always expected
• 6:26:52
  something of the sort. Missus Lynde had always known that there was something about
• 6:26:56
  mister Harrison to think of deserting his work, She said, indignantly. It's
• 6:27:02
  like something you'd read of in the States. But who would expect such a
• 6:27:04
  thing to happen right here in Avonlea. But we don't know that he deserted
• 6:27:08
  her protested Anne, determined to believe her friend innocent till he was proved guilty.
• 6:27:14
  We don't know the rights of it at all. Well we soon will.
• 6:27:18
  I'm going straight over there, said missus Lynde, who had never learned
• 6:27:22
  that there was such a word as delicacy in the dictionary. I'm not supposed
• 6:27:26
  to know anything about her arrival. And mister Harrison was to bring some medicine
• 6:27:29
  for Thomas from Carmody today, so that will be a good excuse. I'll
• 6:27:33
  find out the whole story and come in and tell you. On the way
• 6:27:34
  back missus Lynde rushed in where Anne had feared to tread. Nothing would have
• 6:27:40
  induced the latter to go over to the Harrison place, but she had her
• 6:27:44
  natural and proper share of curiosity, and she felt secretly glad that missus Lynde
• 6:27:48
  was going to solve the mystery. She and Marilla waited expectantly for that good
• 6:27:52
  lady's return, but waited in vain. Missus Lynde did not revisit Green Gables
• 6:27:57
  that night. Davy, arriving home at nine o'clock from the Bolder Place,
• 6:28:02
  explained why I met missus Lynde and some strange woman in the hollow, he
• 6:28:07
  said, and gracious how they were talking both at once. Missus Lynde said
• 6:28:14
  to tell you she was sorry it was too late to call tonight. Anne.
• 6:28:18
  I'm awful hungry. We had tea at Milty's at four, and I
• 6:28:22
  think Missus Bolter is real mean. She didn't give us any preserves or cake,
• 6:28:29
  and even the bread was scarce, Davy. When you go visiting,
• 6:28:33
  you must never criticize anything you are given to eat, said Anne solemnly.
• 6:28:37
  It is very bad manners, all right, I'll only think it, said
• 6:28:41
  Davy, cheerfully, do give a fellow some supper, Anne, Anne looked
• 6:28:47
  at Marilla, who followed her into the pantry and shut the door cautiously.
• 6:28:51
  You can give him some jam on his bread. I know what tea at
• 6:28:53
  Levi Bolters is apt to be. Davy took his slice of bread and jam
• 6:28:57
  with a sigh. Kind of disappointing world, after all, he remarked.
• 6:29:03
  Milty has a cat that takes fits. She's took a fit regular every day
• 6:29:07
  for three weeks. Milty says, it's awful fun to watch her. I
• 6:29:12
  went down today on purpose to see her have one, but the mean old
• 6:29:17
  thing wouldn't take a fit and kept just healthy as healthy. Though Milty and
• 6:29:22
  me hung round all the afternoon and waited, but never mind. Davy brightened
• 6:29:26
  up as the insidious comfort of the plum jam stole into his soul. Maybe
• 6:29:32
  I'll see her in one some time. Yet, it doesn't seem likely she'd
• 6:29:36
  stop having them all at once when she's been so in the habit of it,
• 6:29:40
  does it? This jam is awful nice? Davy had no sorrows that
• 6:29:45
  plum jam could not cure. Sunday proved so rainy that there was no stirring
• 6:29:49
  abroad. But by Monday, everybody had heard some version of the Harrison story.
• 6:29:53
  The school buzzed with it, and Davy came home full of information.
• 6:29:57
  Marilla, mister Harrison has a new wife, well not exactly new, but
• 6:30:03
  they've stopped being married for quite a spell. Milty says, I always supposed
• 6:30:07
  people had to keep on being married once they'd begun. But Milty says,
• 6:30:12
  no, there's ways of stopping. If you can't agree. Milty says,
• 6:30:17
  one way is just to start off and leave your wife, and that's what
• 6:30:21
  mister Harrison did. Milty says mister Harrison left his wife because she throwed things
• 6:30:26
  at him, hard things, and Artie Sloane says it was because she wouldn't
• 6:30:32
  let him smoke, and Ned Clay says it was because she never let up
• 6:30:36
  scolding him. I wouldn't leave my wife for anything like that. I just
• 6:30:41
  put my foot down and say, missus Davy, you've just got to do
• 6:30:47
  what'll please me, because I'm a man that had settled her pretty quick,
• 6:30:52
  I guess. But Annetta Clay says she left him because he wouldn't scrape his
• 6:30:57
  boots at the door, and she does and blame her. I'm going right
• 6:31:02
  over to mister Harrison's this minute to see what she's like. Davy soon returned,
• 6:31:07
  somewhat cast down. Missus Harrison was away. She's gone to Carmody with
• 6:31:11
  missus Rachel Lynde to get new paper for the parlor. And mister Harrison said
• 6:31:18
  to tell Anne to go over and see him, cause he wants to have
• 6:31:21
  a talk with her and say. The floor is scrubbed and mister Harrison is
• 6:31:26
  shaved. Though there wasn't any preaching yesterday, the Harrison kitchen wore a very
• 6:31:30
  unfamiliar look to Anne. The floor was indeed scrubbed to a wonderful pitch of
• 6:31:36
  purity, and so was every article of furniture in the room. The stove
• 6:31:40
  was polished until she could see her face in it. The walls were whitewashed,
• 6:31:44
  and the window panes sparkled in the sunlight. By the table sat mister
• 6:31:48
  Harrison in his working clothes, which on Friday had been noted for sundry rents
• 6:31:52
  and tatters, but which were now neatly patched and brushed. He was sprucely
• 6:31:56
  shaved, and what little hair he had was carefully trimmed. Sit down,
• 6:32:00
  Anne, sit down, said mister Harrison, in a tone but two degrees
• 6:32:04
  removed from that which Avonlea people used at funerals. Emily's gone over to carmody
• 6:32:10
  with Rachel Lynde. She struck up a lifelong friendship already with Rachel Lynde.
• 6:32:15
  Beats all how contrary women are. Well, Anne, my easy times are
• 6:32:19
  over all over. It's neatness and tidiness for me for the rest of my
• 6:32:25
  natural life. I suppose mister Harrison did his best to speak dolefully, but
• 6:32:30
  an irrepressible twinkle in his eye betrayed him. Mister Harrison, you are glad
• 6:32:34
  your wife has come back, cried Anne, shaking her finger at him.
• 6:32:38
  You needn't pretend you're not, because I can see it plainly. Mister Harrison
• 6:32:44
  relaxed into a sheepish smile. Well, well, I'm getting used to it,
• 6:32:48
  he conceded. I can't say I was sorry to see Emily. A
• 6:32:52
  man really needs some protection in a community like this, where he can't play
• 6:32:56
  a game of checkers with a neighbor without being accused of wanting to marry the
• 6:33:00
  neighbor's sister and having it put in the paper. Nobody would have supposed you
• 6:33:03
  went to see Isabella Andrews if you hadn't pretended to be unmarried, said Anne
• 6:33:07
  severely. I didn't pretend I was. If anybody'd have asked me if I
• 6:33:12
  was married, I'd have said I was, But they just took it for
• 6:33:15
  granted. I wasn't anxious to talk about the matter. I was feeling too
• 6:33:19
  soar over it. It would have been nuts when Miss Rachel Lynde if she
• 6:33:23
  had known my wife had left me, wouldn't it now? But some people
• 6:33:27
  say that you left her. She started it, Anne, she started it.
• 6:33:32
  I'm going to tell you the whole story for I don't want you to
• 6:33:34
  think worse of me than I deserve, nor of Emily neither. But let's
• 6:33:38
  go out on the veranda. Everything is so fearful need in here that it
• 6:33:42
  kind of makes me homesick. I suppose I'll get used to it after a
• 6:33:47
  while, but it eases me up to look at the yard. Emily hasn't
• 6:33:51
  had time to tidy it up yet. As soon as they were comfortably seated
• 6:33:53
  on the veranda, mister Harrison began his tale of woe. I lived in
• 6:33:57
  Scotsford, New Brunswick before I came here, and my sister kept house for
• 6:34:03
  me, and she suited me fine. She was just reasonably tidy. And
• 6:34:06
  she left me alone and spoiled me, so Emily says. But three years
• 6:34:11
  ago she died. Before she died, she worried a lot about what was
• 6:34:15
  become of me, And finally she got me to promise i'd to get married.
• 6:34:18
  She advised me to take Emily Scott, because Emily had money of her
• 6:34:22
  own and was a pattern housekeeper. I said, says I. Emily Scott
• 6:34:26
  wouldn't look at me. You ask her, and see, says my sister.
• 6:34:30
  And just to ease her mind, I promised her I would, and
• 6:34:33
  I did, and Emily said she'd have me. Never was so surprised in
• 6:34:37
  my life. Anne A smart, pretty woman like her, and an old
• 6:34:41
  fellow like me. I tell you, I thought at first I was in
• 6:34:45
  luck. Well, we were married and took a little wedding trip to Saint
• 6:34:48
  John for a fortnight, and then we went home. We got home at
• 6:34:52
  ten o'clock at night, and I give you my word, and that in
• 6:34:55
  half an hour that woman was at work house cleaning. Oh, I know
• 6:34:59
  you're thinking my house needed it. You've got a very expressive face. Anne,
• 6:35:03
  your thoughts just come out on it like print. But it didn't not
• 6:35:07
  that bad. I got pretty mixed up while I was keeping Bacher's hall,
• 6:35:11
  I'd admit, but I'd got a woe to come in and clean up before
• 6:35:12
  I was married, and there'd been considerable painting and fixing. Then, I
• 6:35:17
  tell you, if I took Emily into a brand new white marble palace,
• 6:35:19
  she'd be into the scrubbing as soon as she could get an old dress on.
• 6:35:23
  Well, she cleaned house till one o'clock that night, and at four
• 6:35:26
  she was up at it again. And she kept on that way far as
• 6:35:30
  I could see. She never stopped. It was scouring, sweep and dust,
• 6:35:33
  everlasting except on Sundays, and then she was just longing for Monday to
• 6:35:38
  begin again. But it was her way of amusing herself, and I couldn't
• 6:35:41
  have reconciled myself to it if she left me alone. But that she wouldn't
• 6:35:47
  do. She'd set out to make me over, but she hadn't caught me
• 6:35:49
  young enough. I wasn't allowed to come into the house unless i'd change my
• 6:35:53
  boots for slippers at the door. I darn't smoke a pipe for my life
• 6:35:57
  unless I went to the barn. And I didn't use good enough grammar.
• 6:36:02
  Emily had been a school teacher in her early life, and she never got
• 6:36:04
  over it. Then she hated to see me eating with my knife. Well
• 6:36:08
  there it was pick and nag, everlasting. But I suppose Anne to be
• 6:36:12
  fair. I was can't take her as too. I didn't try to improve
• 6:36:15
  myself as I might have done. I just got cranky and disagreeable, and
• 6:36:21
  she found fault. I told her one day she hadn't complained of my grammar
• 6:36:23
  when I proposed to her. It wasn't an overly tactful thing to say.
• 6:36:29
  A woman would forgive a man for beating her sooner than for hinting she was
• 6:36:32
  too much pleased to get him. Well, we bickered along like that,
• 6:36:36
  and it wasn't exactly pleasant. But we might have got used to each other
• 6:36:40
  after a spell if it hadn't been for Ginger. Ginger was the rock we
• 6:36:44
  split on at last. Emily didn't like parrots, and she couldn't stand Ginger's
• 6:36:48
  profane habits of speech. I was attached to the bird for my brother the
• 6:36:52
  Sailor's sake. My brother the sailor was a pet of mine, and when
• 6:36:56
  we were little tads, he'd send Ginger to me when he was done.
• 6:37:00
  I didn't see any sense in getting worked up over his swearing. There's nothing
• 6:37:03
  I hate worse than profanity and a human being. But in a part,
• 6:37:07
  that's just repeating what it's heard, with no more understanding of it than i'd
• 6:37:11
  have of Chinese. Allowances might be made, but Emily couldn't see it that
• 6:37:17
  way. Women ain't logical. She tried to break Ginger of swearing, but
• 6:37:21
  she hadn't any better success than she had in trying to make me stop saying
• 6:37:25
  I seen and them things. Seems as if the more she tried, the
• 6:37:29
  worst Ginger got, same as me. Well, things went on like this,
• 6:37:33
  both of us getting raspier, till the climax came. Emily invited our
• 6:37:37
  minister and his wife to Tea, and another minister and his wife that was
• 6:37:41
  visiting them. I'd promised to put Ginger away in some safe place where nobody
• 6:37:45
  would hear him. Emily wouldn't touch his cage with a ten foot pole,
• 6:37:49
  and I meant to do it for I didn't want the ministers to hear anything
• 6:37:52
  unpleasant in my house. But it slip my mind. Emily was wearying me
• 6:37:56
  so much about clean collars and grammar that it wasn't any wonder And I never
• 6:38:02
  thought of that poor parrot till I sat down to tea. Just as Minister
• 6:38:06
  number one was in the very middle of saying Grace, Ginger, who was
• 6:38:10
  on the veranda outside the dining room window, lifted up his voice. The
• 6:38:14
  gobbler had come into view in the yard, and in the sight of the
• 6:38:17
  gobbler always had an unwholesome effect on Ginger. He surpassed himself that time.
• 6:38:22
  You can smile, Anne, and I don't deny I've chuckled some over it
• 6:38:26
  since myself, But at the time I felt almost as much mortified as Emily.
• 6:38:32
  I went out and carried Ginger to the barn. I can't say I
• 6:38:34
  enjoyed the meal. I knew by the look of Emily that there was trouble
• 6:38:37
  brewing for Ginger and james A. When the folks went away, I started
• 6:38:41
  for the car pasture, and on the way I did some thinking. I
• 6:38:45
  felt sorry for Emily. In kind of fancy, I hadn't been so thoughtful
• 6:38:51
  of her as I might, And besides, I wondered if the ministers would
• 6:38:53
  think that Ginger had learned his vocabulary from me. DeLong and short of it
• 6:38:59
  was, I decided that Ginger would have to be mercifully disposed of. When
• 6:39:03
  I drove the cows home, I went to tell Emily so, but there
• 6:39:07
  was no Emily, and there was a letter on the table. Just according
• 6:39:10
  to the rule and story books Emily read, I'd have to choose between her
• 6:39:14
  and Ginger. She'd gone back to her own house and there she would stay
• 6:39:18
  till I went and told her I had got rid of that parrot. I
• 6:39:21
  was all riled up Anne and I said she might stay till doomsday if she
• 6:39:25
  waited for that, and I stuck to it. I packed up her belongings
• 6:39:29
  and sent them after her. It made an awful lot of talk scotsword was
• 6:39:33
  pretty near as bad as Avonlea for gossip, and everybody sympathized with Emily.
• 6:39:37
  It kept me all cross and can't take heris And I saw that I'd have
• 6:39:41
  to get out or I'd never have any peace. I concluded I'd come to
• 6:39:45
  the island. I'd been her as a boy, and I'd liked it.
• 6:39:48
  But Emily had always said she wouldn't live in a place where folks were scared
• 6:39:52
  to walk out after dark for fear they'd fall off the edge. So just
• 6:39:56
  to be contrary, I moved over here. And that's all there is to
• 6:39:59
  it. I had never heard a word from or about Emily till I come
• 6:40:03
  home from the back field Saturday and found her scrubbing the floor, but with
• 6:40:07
  the first decent dinner I'd had since she left me already on the table.
• 6:40:11
  She told me to eat it first and then we talk, by which I
• 6:40:14
  concluded that Emily had learned some lessons about getting along with a man. So
• 6:40:18
  she's here and she's going to stay. Seeing that Ginger's dead in the island
• 6:40:22
  some bigger than she thought. There's miss Lynde in her now. No,
• 6:40:26
  don't go in, stay and get acquainted with Emily. She took quite an
• 6:40:30
  ocean to Saturday. Wanted to know who that handsome redhead girl was. At
• 6:40:33
  the next house, missus Harrison welcomed Anne radiantly and insisted on her staying to
• 6:40:38
  tea. James Aye has been telling me all about you and how kind you've
• 6:40:42
  been making cakes and things for him. She said, I want to get
• 6:40:47
  acquainted with all my unipits just as soon as possible. Missus Lynde is a
• 6:40:49
  lovely woman, isn't she so friendly? When Anne went home in the sweet
• 6:40:53
  June dusk, Missus Harrison went with her across the fields where the fireflies were
• 6:40:59
  lighting their starry lamb. I suppose, said Missus Harrison confidentially, that James
• 6:41:03
  A has told you our story. Yes, then I needn't tell it,
• 6:41:07
  For James A is a just man, and he would tell the truth.
• 6:41:11
  The blame was far from being all on his side. I can see that
• 6:41:14
  now. I wasn't back in my own house an hour before. I wished
• 6:41:17
  I hadn't been so hasty, but I wouldn't give in. I see now
• 6:41:19
  that I expected too much of a man, and it was real foolish to
• 6:41:23
  mind his bad grammar. It doesn't matter if a man does use bad grammar,
• 6:41:26
  so long as he is a good provider and doesn't go poking round the
• 6:41:30
  pantry to see how much sugar you've used in a week. I feel that
• 6:41:33
  James A and I are going to be real happy now. I wish I
• 6:41:36
  knew who Observer is so that I could thank him. I owe him a
• 6:41:38
  real debt of gratitude. Anne kept her own counsel, and Missus Harrison never
• 6:41:42
  knew that her gratitude found its way to its object. Anne felt rather bewildered
• 6:41:48
  over the far reaching consequences of those foolish notes. They had reconciled a man
• 6:41:52
  to his wife and made the reputation of a prophet. Missus Lynde was in
• 6:41:56
  the green Gable's kitchen. She had been telling the whole story to Marilla.
• 6:42:00
  Well, and how do you like Missus Harrison, she asked Anne, very
• 6:42:04
  much. I think she's a real nice little woman. That's exactly what she
• 6:42:10
  is, said Missus Rachel with emphasis. And as I've just been saying to
• 6:42:14
  Marilla, I think we ought all to overlook mister Harrison's peculiarities for her sake
• 6:42:18
  and try to make her feel at home here. That's what well, I
• 6:42:22
  must get back. Thomas'll be wearing for me. I get out a little
• 6:42:26
  since Eliza came, and he seemed a lot better these past few days.
• 6:42:30
  But I never liked to be long away from him. I hear Gilbert blythe
• 6:42:33
  has resigned from White Sands. He'll be off to college in the fall.
• 6:42:37
  I suppose, Missus Rachel looked sharply at Anne, but Anne was bending over
• 6:42:41
  a sleepy Davy nodding on the sofa, and nothing was to be read in
• 6:42:45
  her face. She carried Davy away, her oval, girlish cheek pressed against
• 6:42:49
  his curly yellow head. As they went up the stairs. Davy flung a
• 6:42:53
  tired arm about Anne's neck and gave her a warm hug and a sticky kiss.
• 6:42:57
  You're awful, nice, Anne, Milty Bolter wrote on his slate today
• 6:43:02
  and showed it to Jenny Sloane. Roses are red and violet's blue, sugar's
• 6:43:07
  sweet, and so are you, and that expresses my feelings for you exactly,
• 6:43:12
  Anne. End of chapter twenty five, Chapter twenty six, Around the
• 6:43:19
  Bend, Thomas Lynde faded out of life as quietly and unobtrusively as he had
• 6:43:26
  lived it. His wife was a tender, patient, unwearied nurse. Sometimes
• 6:43:32
  Rachel had been a little hard on her Thomas in health, when his slowness
• 6:43:36
  or meekness had provoked her. But when he became ill, no voice could
• 6:43:40
  be lower, no hand more gently skillful, no vigil more uncomplaining. You've
• 6:43:45
  been a good wife to me, Rachel, he once said, simply when
• 6:43:49
  she was sitting by him in the dusk, holding his thin, blanched old
• 6:43:53
  hand in her work hardened one. A good wife. I'm sorry I ain't
• 6:43:59
  lee better off, but the children will look after you. They're all smart,
• 6:44:07
  capable children, just like their mother. A good mother, a good
• 6:44:14
  woman. He had fallen asleep then, and the next morning, just as
• 6:44:18
  the white dawn was creeping up over the pointed firs in the hollow, Marilla
• 6:44:22
  went softly into the east gable and wakened Anne. Anne. Thomas Lynde is
• 6:44:29
  gone. Their hired boy just brought the word I'm going right down to Rachel.
• 6:44:33
  On the day after Thomas Lynde's funeral, Marilla went about Green Gables with
• 6:44:37
  a strangely preoccupied air. Occasionally she looked at Anne, seemed on the point
• 6:44:42
  of saying something, then shook her head and buttoned up her mouth. After
• 6:44:47
  tea, she went down to see missus Rachel, and when she returned,
• 6:44:49
  she went to the east gable, where Anne was correcting school exercises. How
• 6:44:55
  is missus Lynde tonight, asked the latter. She's feeling calmer and more composed,
• 6:45:00
  answered Marilla, Sitting down on Anne's bed, a proceeding which betokened some
• 6:45:04
  unusual mental excitement. For in Marilla's coat of household ethics, to sit on
• 6:45:10
  a bed after it was made up was an unpardonable offense. But she's very
• 6:45:14
  lonely. Eliza had to go home today. Her son isn't well, and
• 6:45:18
  she felt she couldn't stay any longer. When I've finished these exercises, I'll
• 6:45:22
  run down in chattowhow with missus Lynde, said Anne. I had intended to
• 6:45:26
  study some Latin composition tonight, but it can wait. I suppose Gilbert Blythe
• 6:45:30
  is going to college in the fall, said Marilla jerkily. How would you
• 6:45:36
  like to go, too, Anne, Anne looked up in astonishment. I
• 6:45:40
  would like it, of course, Marilla. But it isn't possible. I
• 6:45:44
  guess it can be made possible. I've always felt that you should go.
• 6:45:48
  I've never felt easy to think you were giving it all up on my account.
• 6:45:52
  But Marilla, I've never been sorry for a moment that I stayed home.
• 6:45:56
  I've been so happy. Oh, these past two years have just been
• 6:46:00
  delightful. Oh. Yes, I know you've been contented enough, But that
• 6:46:03
  isn't the question. Exactly you ought to go on with your education. You've
• 6:46:08
  saved enough to put you through one year at Redmond, and the money the
• 6:46:11
  stock brought in will do for another year. And they're scholarships and things you
• 6:46:15
  might win. Yes, but I can't go, Marilla. Your eyes are
• 6:46:19
  better, of course, but I can't leave you alone with the twins.
• 6:46:22
  They need so much looking after. I won't be alone with them. That's
• 6:46:27
  what I meant to discuss with you. I had a long talk with Rachel
• 6:46:30
  tonight and she's feeling dreadful, bad over a good many things. She's not
• 6:46:36
  left very well off. It seems they mortgaged the farm eight years ago to
• 6:46:40
  give the youngest boy a start when he went west, and they've never been
• 6:46:44
  able to pay much more than the interests since. And then, of course
• 6:46:48
  Thomas's illness has cost a good deal. One way or another. The farm
• 6:46:52
  will have to be sold, and Rachel thinks they'll be hardly anything left after
• 6:46:55
  the bills are settled. She says she'll have to go and live with Eliza,
• 6:46:59
  and it's breaking her heart to think of leaving Avonlea. A woman of
• 6:47:03
  her age doesn't make new friends and interests easy, and Anne as she's talked
• 6:47:07
  about it. The thought came to me that I would ask her to come
• 6:47:11
  and live with me, but I thought I ought to talk it over with
• 6:47:14
  you first before I said anything to her. If I had Rachel living with
• 6:47:18
  me, you could go to college. How do you feel about it?
• 6:47:22
  I feel as if somebody had handed me the moon, and I didn't know
• 6:47:29
  exactly what to do with it, said Anne dazedly. But as for asking
• 6:47:34
  missus Lynde to come here, that is for you to decide, Marilla.
• 6:47:38
  Do you think Are you sure you would like it? Missus Lynde is a
• 6:47:44
  good woman and a kind neighbor. But that she's got her faults. You
• 6:47:48
  mean to say, well, she has, of course, But I think
• 6:47:52
  I'd rather put up with far worse faults than see Rachel go away from Avonlea.
• 6:47:57
  I'd miss her terrible. She's the only close friend I've got here,
• 6:48:02
  and I'd be lost without her. We've been neighbors for forty five years and
• 6:48:06
  we've never had a quarrel, though we came rather near it that time you
• 6:48:10
  flew at missus Rachel for calling you homely and red haired? Do you remember,
• 6:48:14
  Anne? I should think I do, said Anne, ruefully. People
• 6:48:18
  don't forget things like that. How I hated poor missus Rachel at that moment,
• 6:48:22
  and then that apology you made her. Well, you were a handful
• 6:48:26
  in all conscience, Anne, I did feel so puzzled and bewildered. How
• 6:48:30
  to manage you? Matthew understood you better. Matthew understood everything, said Anne
• 6:48:37
  softly, as she always spoke of him. Well, I think it would
• 6:48:40
  be managed so that Rachel and I wouldn't clash at all. It always seemed
• 6:48:44
  to me that the reason two women can't get along in one house is that
• 6:48:47
  they try to share the same kitchen and get in each other's way. Now,
• 6:48:51
  if Rachel came here, she could have the north gable for her bedroom
• 6:48:53
  and the spare room for a kitchen as well as not for we don't really
• 6:48:56
  need a spare room at all. She could put her stove there and what
• 6:49:00
  furniture she wanted to keep, and be real comfortable and independent. She'll have
• 6:49:03
  enough to live on. Of course, her children will see to that.
• 6:49:07
  So all I'd be giving her would be house room. Yes, Anne,
• 6:49:11
  as far as I'm concerned, I'd like it, then, ask her,
• 6:49:14
  said Anne promptly. I'd be very sorry myself to see missus Rachel go away.
• 6:49:18
  And if she comes, continued Marilla, you can go to college as
• 6:49:22
  well as not. She'll be company for me, and she'll do for the
• 6:49:26
  twins what I can't do. So there's no reason in the world why you
• 6:49:29
  shouldn't go. Anne had a long meditation at her window that night. Joy
• 6:49:33
  and regret struggled together in her heart. She had come, at last,
• 6:49:37
  suddenly and unexpectedly, to the bend in the road, and college was around
• 6:49:42
  it with a hundred rainbow hopes and visions. But Anne realized as well that
• 6:49:48
  when she rounded that curve, she must leave many sweet things behind, all
• 6:49:52
  the little, simple duties and interests which had grown so dear to her in
• 6:49:56
  the last two years, and which she had glorified into beauty and delight the
• 6:50:00
  enthusiasm she had put into them. She must give up her school, and
• 6:50:03
  she loved every one of her pupils, even the stupid and naughty ones.
• 6:50:08
  The mere thought of Paul Irving made her wonder if Redmond were such a name
• 6:50:11
  to conjure with. After all, I've put out a lot of little roots
• 6:50:17
  these two years, Anne told the moon. And when I'm pulled up.
• 6:50:19
  They're going to hurt a great deal, but it's best to go, I
• 6:50:23
  think, And as Marilla says, there's no good reason why I shouldn't.
• 6:50:29
  I must get out all my ambitions and dust them. Anne sent in her
• 6:50:33
  resignation the next day, and Missus Rachel, after a heart to heart talk
• 6:50:37
  with Marilla, gratefully accepted the offer of a home at green Gables. She
• 6:50:41
  elected to remain in her own house for the summer. However, the farm
• 6:50:45
  was not to be sold until the fall, and there were many arrangements to
• 6:50:48
  be made. I certainly never thought of living as far off the road as
• 6:50:53
  green Gables, sighed Missus Rachel to herself. But really, green Gables doesn't
• 6:50:57
  seem as out of the world he used to do. Anne has lots of
• 6:51:00
  company, and the twins make it real lively and anyhow, I'd rather live
• 6:51:06
  at the bottom of a well than leave Avonlea. These two decisions, being
• 6:51:10
  noised abroad, speedily ousted the arrival of Missus Harrison. In popular gossip,
• 6:51:15
  Sage heads were shaken over Marilla Cuthbert's rash step in asking Missus Rachel to live
• 6:51:18
  with her. People opined that they wouldn't get on together. They were both
• 6:51:23
  too fond of their own way, and many doleful predictions were made, none
• 6:51:27
  of which disturbed the parties in question at all. They had come to a
• 6:51:32
  clear and distinct understanding of the respective duties and rights of their new arrangements and
• 6:51:37
  meant to abide by them. I won't meddle with you, nor you with
• 6:51:41
  me, missus, Rachel, had said decidedly, And as with twins,
• 6:51:45
  I'll be glad to do all I can for them, but I won't undertake
• 6:51:48
  to answer Davy's questions. That's what I'm not in encyclopedia. Neither am I
• 6:51:53
  a Philadelphia lawyer. You'll miss Anne for that. Sometimes Anne's answers were about
• 6:51:59
  as queer here is Davy's questions, said Marilla Drily. The twins will miss
• 6:52:03
  her, and no mistake, but her future can't be sacrificed to Davy's thirst
• 6:52:07
  for information. When he asks questions I can't answer, I'll just tell him
• 6:52:11
  children should be seen and not heard. That was how I was brought up,
• 6:52:15
  and I don't know but what it was Just as good away as all
• 6:52:18
  these new fangled notions for training children will Anne's methods seem to have worked fairly
• 6:52:22
  well with Davy, said Missus Lynde smilingly. He is a reformed character,
• 6:52:27
  that's what he isn't a bad little soul, conceded Marilla. I never expected
• 6:52:33
  to get as fond of those children as I have. Davy gets round you
• 6:52:37
  somehow, and Dora is a lovely child, although she is kind of well,
• 6:52:44
  kind of monotonous, exactly, supplied Missus Rachel. Like a book where
• 6:52:49
  every page is the same, that's what Dora will make a good reliable woman,
• 6:52:55
  but she'll never set the pond on fire. Well, that sort of
• 6:52:59
  folks are comfortable to have around, even if they're not as interesting as the
• 6:53:03
  other kind. Gilbert Blythe was probably the only person to whom the news of
• 6:53:07
  Anne's resignation brought unmixed pleasure. Her pupils looked upon it as a sheer catastrophe.
• 6:53:12
  Annetta Bell had hysterics when she went home. Anthony Pye fought two pitched
• 6:53:18
  and unprovoked battles with other boys by way of relieving his feelings. Barbara Shaw
• 6:53:22
  cried all night. Paul Irving defiantly told his grandmother that she needn't expect him
• 6:53:27
  to eat any porridge for a week. I can't do it, Grandma,
• 6:53:32
  he said. I don't really know if I can eat anything. I feel
• 6:53:37
  as if there was a dreadful lump in my throat. I'd have cried coming
• 6:53:40
  home from school if Jake Donnell hadn't been watching me. I believe I will
• 6:53:45
  cry after I go to bed. It wouldn't show all my eyes tomorrow,
• 6:53:48
  would it, And it would be such a relief. But anyway, I
• 6:53:52
  can't eat porridge. I'm going to need all my strength of mind to bear
• 6:53:56
  up against this, Grandma, and I won't have any left to grapple with
• 6:54:00
  porridge. Oh, Grandma, I don't know what I'll do when my beautiful
• 6:54:03
  teacher goes away. Milty Bolter says he bets Jane Andrews will get the school.
• 6:54:08
  I suppose Miss Andrews is very nice. Why not she won't understand things
• 6:54:12
  like Miss Shirley. Diana also took a very pessimistic view of affairs. It
• 6:54:18
  will be horribly lonesome here next winter, she mourned. One twilight when the
• 6:54:23
  moonlight was raining airy silver through the cherry boughs and filling the east gable with
• 6:54:27
  a soft, dreamlike radiance. In which the two girls sat and talked,
• 6:54:32
  Anne on her low rocker by the window, Diana sitting turk fashion on the
• 6:54:36
  bed. You and Gilbert will be gone, and the Allens too. They
• 6:54:41
  are going to call mister Allen to Charlotte twn and of course he will accept.
• 6:54:45
  It's too mean. We'll be vacant all winter, I suppose, and
• 6:54:51
  have to listen to a long string of candidates, and half of them won't
• 6:54:56
  be any good. I hope they won't call mister Baxter from East gro Often
• 6:55:00
  here anyhow, said Anne decidedly. He wants the call, but he does
• 6:55:03
  preach such gloomy sermons. Mister Bell says he's a minister of the old school,
• 6:55:08
  but missus Lynde says there's nothing whatever the matter with him but indigestion.
• 6:55:12
  His wife isn't a very good cook, it seems, and Missus Lynde says
• 6:55:17
  that when a man has to eat sour bread two weeks out of three,
• 6:55:19
  his theology is bound to get a kink in it. Somewhere. Missus Allan
• 6:55:23
  feels very badly about going away. She says everybody has been so kind to
• 6:55:27
  her since she came here as a bride, that she feels as if she
• 6:55:30
  were leaving lifelong friends. And then there's the baby's grave, you know.
• 6:55:36
  She says, she doesn't see how she can go away and leave that it
• 6:55:38
  was such a little mite of a thing and only three months old, and
• 6:55:41
  she says she is afraid it will miss its mother, although she knows better
• 6:55:45
  and wouldn't say so to mister Allan for anything. She says she has slipped
• 6:55:49
  through the birch grove back of the manse nearly every night to the graveyard and
• 6:55:52
  sung a little lullaby to it. She told me all about it last evening,
• 6:55:56
  when I was up putting some of those early wild roses on Matthew's grave.
• 6:56:00
  I promised her that as long as I was in Avonlea, I would
• 6:56:03
  put flowers on the baby's grave. And when I was away, I felt
• 6:56:07
  sure that that I would do it, supplied Diana heartily. Of course I
• 6:56:12
  will, and now I'll put them on Matthew's grave too, for your sake,
• 6:56:15
  an, Oh, thank you. I meant to ask you if you
• 6:56:19
  would, and on little hester Gray's too. Please don't forget hers. Do
• 6:56:23
  you know I've thought and dreamed so much about Little hester Gray that she has
• 6:56:27
  become strangely real to me. I think of her back there in her little
• 6:56:32
  garden, in that cool, still green corner, and I have a fancy
• 6:56:36
  that if I could steal back there some spring evening, just at the magic
• 6:56:40
  time TwixT light and dark, and tiptoe so softly up the beech hill that
• 6:56:44
  my footsteps could not frighten her, I would find the garden just as it
• 6:56:48
  used to be, all sweet with June lilies and early roses, with the
• 6:56:52
  tiny house beyond it all hung with vines, and little hester Gray would be
• 6:56:56
  there, with her soft eyes and the wind ruffling her dark hair, wandering
• 6:57:00
  about, putting her finger tips under the chins of the lilies, and whispering
• 6:57:04
  secrets with the roses. And I would go forward, oh so softly,
• 6:57:10
  and hold out my hands and say to her, little hester Gray, won't
• 6:57:14
  you let me be your playmate? For I love the roses too. And
• 6:57:18
  we would sit down on the old bench and talk a little, and dream
• 6:57:21
  a little, or just be beautifully silent together. And then the moon would
• 6:57:25
  rise and I would look around me and there would be no hester Gray,
• 6:57:29
  and no little vine hung house, and no roses, only an old waste
• 6:57:33
  garden starred with June lilies amid the grasses, and the wind sighing oh so
• 6:57:37
  sorrowfully in the cherry trees, and I would not know whether it had been
• 6:57:41
  real or if I had just imagined it all. Diana crawled up and got
• 6:57:45
  her back against the headboard of the bed. When your companion of twilight hour
• 6:57:49
  said such spooky things, it was just as well not to be able to
• 6:57:53
  fancy there was anything behind you. I'm afraid the Improvement Society will go down
• 6:57:57
  when you and Gilbert abe, she remarked dolefully. Not a bit of fear
• 6:58:03
  of it, said Anne briskly, coming back from dreamland to the affairs of
• 6:58:07
  practical life. It is too firmly established for that, especially since the older
• 6:58:12
  people are becoming so enthusiastic about it. Look what they are doing this summer
• 6:58:17
  for their lawns and lanes. Besides, I'll be watching for hints at Redmond,
• 6:58:22
  and i'll write a paper for it next winter and send it over.
• 6:58:25
  Don't take such a gloomy view of things, Diana, and don't grudge me
• 6:58:29
  my little hour of gladness and jubilation now. Later on, when I have
• 6:58:33
  to go away, I'll feel anything but glad. It's all right for you
• 6:58:36
  to be glad. You're getting to college, and you'll have a jolly time
• 6:58:40
  and make heaps of lovely new friends. I hope I shall make new friends,
• 6:58:45
  said Anne thoughtfully. The possibilities of making new friends help to make life
• 6:58:48
  very fascinating. But no matter how many friends I make, they'll never be
• 6:58:53
  as dear to me as the old ones. Especially a certain girl with black
• 6:58:57
  eyes and dimples. Can you guess she is Diana? But there'll be so
• 6:59:02
  many clever girls of Redmond, sighed Diana. And I'm only a stupid little
• 6:59:07
  country girl who says I seen sometimes, though I really know better when I
• 6:59:12
  stopped to think. Well, of course, these past two years have really
• 6:59:18
  been too pleasant to last. I know somebody who is glad you are going
• 6:59:22
  to Redmond. Anyhow, Anne, I'm going to ask you a question,
• 6:59:27
  a serious question. Don't be vexed, and do answer seriously. Do you
• 6:59:34
  care anything for Gilbert ever? So much as a friend, and not a
• 6:59:38
  bit in the way you mean, said Anne, calmly and decidedly. She
• 6:59:42
  also thought she was speaking sincerely. Diana sighed. She wished somehow that Anne
• 6:59:48
  had answered differently. Don't you mean ever to be married? Anne? Perhaps
• 6:59:53
  someday when I meet the right one, said Anne, smiling dreamily up at
• 6:59:59
  the moon light. But how can you be sure when you do meet the
• 7:00:03
  right one, persisted Diana. Oh I should know him, something would tell
• 7:00:07
  me. You know what my ideal is, Diana. But people's ideals change
• 7:00:12
  sometimes mine won't. And I couldn't care for any man who didn't fulfill it.
• 7:00:18
  What if you never meet him, then I shall die an old maid,
• 7:00:22
  was the cheerful response. I dare say it isn't the hardest death by
• 7:00:25
  any means. Oh, I suppose the dying would be easy enough. It's
• 7:00:30
  the living an old maid I shouldn't like, said Diana, with no intention
• 7:00:34
  of being humorous. Although I wouldn't mind being an old maid very much if
• 7:00:41
  I could be one like miss Lavender, But I never could be. When
• 7:00:45
  I'm forty five, I'll be horribly fat. And while there might be some
• 7:00:48
  romance about a thin old maid, there couldn't possibly be any about a fat
• 7:00:53
  one. Oh mind you. Nelson Atkins proposed to Ruby Gillis three weeks ago.
• 7:01:00
  Ruby told me all about it. She says she never had any intention
• 7:01:04
  of taking him because anyone who married him will have to go in with the
• 7:01:08
  old folks. But Ruby says that he made such a perfectly beautiful and romantic
• 7:01:15
  proposal that it simply swept her off her feet. But she didn't want to
• 7:01:19
  do anything rash, so she asked for a week to consider. And two
• 7:01:23
  days later she was at a meeting of the sewing circle at his mother's and
• 7:01:27
  there was a book called The Complete Guide to Etiquette lying on the parlor table.
• 7:01:33
  Ruby said she simply couldn't describe her feelings when in a section of it,
• 7:01:37
  headed the Deportment of Courtship and Marriage, she found the very proposal Nelson
• 7:01:44
  had made, word for word. She went home and wrote him a perfectly
• 7:01:48
  scathing refusal, and she says his father and mother have taken terms watching him
• 7:01:53
  ever since. Profeyre he'll drown himself in the river, but Ruby says there
• 7:01:59
  needn't be a friend. Four. In the Deportment of courtchip and Marriage,
• 7:02:03
  it told how a rejected lover should behave, and there's nothing about drowning in
• 7:02:07
  that. And she says Wilbur Blair is literally pining away for her, but
• 7:02:11
  she's perfectly helpless in the matter. Anne made an impatient movement. I hate
• 7:02:18
  to say it, it seems so disloyal, but well, I don't like
• 7:02:22
  Ruby Gillis now. I liked her when we went to school in Queen's together,
• 7:02:26
  though not so well as you and Jane, of course, But this
• 7:02:30
  last year at Carmody, she seems so different. So so I know,
• 7:02:34
  nodded Diana. It's the Gillis coming out in her. She can't help it.
• 7:02:40
  Missus Lynde says that if ever a Gillis girl thought about anything but the
• 7:02:44
  boys, she never showed it. In her walk and conversation. She talks
• 7:02:48
  about nothing but boys and what compliments they pay her, and how crazy they
• 7:02:55
  all are about her Carmody. And the strange thing is they ah too.
• 7:03:00
  Diana admitted this somewhat resentfully. Last night. When I saw her in mister
• 7:03:06
  Blair's store, she whispered to me that she'd just made a new mash.
• 7:03:10
  I wouldn't ask her who it was, because I knew she was dying to
• 7:03:12
  be asked. Well, it's what Ruby always wanted. I suppose you remember,
• 7:03:18
  even when she was little, she always said she meant to have dozens
• 7:03:22
  of birds when she grew up, and have the very gayest time she could
• 7:03:26
  before she settled down. She's so different from Jane, isn't she. Jane
• 7:03:30
  is such a nice, sensible, lady like girl. Dear old Jane is
• 7:03:36
  a jewel agreed Anne. But she added, leaning forward to bestow a tender
• 7:03:41
  pat on the plump, dimpled little hand hanging over the pillow. There's nobody
• 7:03:45
  like my own Diana. After all? Do you remember that evening we first
• 7:03:49
  met Diana and swore eternal friendship in your garden? We've kept that oath.
• 7:03:55
  I think we've never had a quarrel, nor even a coolness. I shall
• 7:03:59
  never forget the thrill that went over me the day you told me you loved
• 7:04:02
  me. I had had such a lonely, starved heart all through my childhood.
• 7:04:07
  I'm just beginning to realize how starved and lonely it really was. Nobody
• 7:04:11
  cared anything for me or wanted to be bothered with me. I should have
• 7:04:14
  been miserable if it hadn't been for that strange little dream life of mine,
• 7:04:18
  wherein I imagined all the friends in love I craved. But when I came
• 7:04:22
  to Green Gables, everything was changed. And then I met you. You
• 7:04:26
  don't know what your friendship meant to me. I want to thank you here
• 7:04:30
  and now, dear, for the warm and true affection you've always given me
• 7:04:34
  and always always will. Sobbed Diana. I shall never love anybody, any
• 7:04:41
  girl half as well as I love you. And if I ever do marry
• 7:04:45
  and have a little girl of my own, I'm going to name her Anne.
• 7:04:52
  End of Chapter twenty six. Chapter twenty seven, An afternoon at the
• 7:04:56
  stone House. Where are you going? I'll dressed up, Anne, Davy
• 7:05:03
  wanted to know you look bully in that dress. Anne had come down to
• 7:05:07
  dinner in a new dress of pale green muslin, the first color she had
• 7:05:11
  worn since Matthew's death. It became her perfectly, bringing out all the delicate
• 7:05:17
  flower like tints of her face and the gloss and burnish of her hair.
• 7:05:22
  Davy, how many times have I told you that you mustn't use that word?
• 7:05:26
  She rebuked. I'm going to Echo Lodge. Take me with you,
• 7:05:30
  entreated Davy. I would if I were driving, but I'm going to walk,
• 7:05:34
  and it's too far for your eight year old legs. Besides, Paul
• 7:05:37
  is going with me, and I fear you don't enjoy yourself in his company.
• 7:05:41
  Oh, I like Paul Lutts better, and I did, said Davy,
• 7:05:45
  beginning to make fearful inroads into his pudding. Since I've got pretty good
• 7:05:49
  myself, I don't mind his being gooder so much. If I can keep
• 7:05:53
  on, I'll catch up with him some day, both in legs and goodness
• 7:06:00
  sides. Paul's real nice to us second primer boys in school. He won't
• 7:06:03
  let the other big boys meddle with us, and he shows us lots of
• 7:06:07
  games. How came Paul to fall into the brook at noon hour yesterday?
• 7:06:12
  Asked Anne. I met him on the playground such a dripping figure that I
• 7:06:17
  sent him promptly home for clothes, without waiting to find out what had happened.
• 7:06:21
  Well, it was partly a z accident, explained Davy. He stuck
• 7:06:26
  his head in on purpose, but the rest of him fell in ZA accidentally.
• 7:06:30
  We was all down at the brook, and Prillie Rogerson got mad at
• 7:06:34
  Paul about something. She's awful, mean and horrid anyway, if she is
• 7:06:38
  pretty, and said that his grandmother put his hair up in curl rags every
• 7:06:45
  night. Paul wouldn't have minded what she said, I guess, but Gracie
• 7:06:48
  Andrews laughed, and Paul got awful red because Gracie's his girl. You know,
• 7:06:55
  he's clean, gone on her, brings her flowers and carries her books
• 7:07:00
  as far as the shore road. He got as red as a beat and
• 7:07:03
  said his grandmother didn't do any such thing, and his hair was born curly.
• 7:07:08
  And then he laid down on the bank and stuck his head right into
• 7:07:12
  the spring to show them. Oh, it wasn't the spring we drunk out
• 7:07:17
  of. Seeing a horrified look on Marilla's face. It was the little one
• 7:07:21
  lowered down. But the bank's awful slippy, and Paul went right in.
• 7:07:26
  I tell you he made a bully splash. Oh, Anne, Anne,
• 7:07:30
  I didn't mean to say that. It just slipped out before I thought.
• 7:07:34
  He made a splendid splash. But he looked so funny when he crawled out.
• 7:07:40
  I'll wet and muddy. The girls laughed more never, but Gracie didn't
• 7:07:45
  laugh. She looked sorry. Gracie's a nice girl, but she's got a
• 7:07:49
  snub nose. When I get big enough to have a girl, I won't
• 7:07:53
  have one with a snub nose. I'll pick one with a pretty nose like
• 7:07:57
  yours. Anne, boy who makes such a mess of syrup all over his
• 7:08:02
  face when he is eating his pudding, we'll never get a girl to look
• 7:08:04
  at him, said Marilla severely. But I'll wash my face before I go
• 7:08:10
  courting, protested Davy, trying to improve matters by rubbing the back of his
• 7:08:14
  hand over the smears. And I'll wash behind my ears too, without being
• 7:08:18
  told. I remember too this morning, Marilla, I don't forget half as
• 7:08:23
  often as I did. But, and Davy sighed, there's so many corners
• 7:08:29
  about a fellow that it's awful hard to remember them all. Well, if
• 7:08:33
  I can't go to Miss Lavender's, I'll go over and see Missus Harrison.
• 7:08:37
  Missus Harrison's an awful nice woman. I tell you. She keeps a jar
• 7:08:41
  of cookies in her pantry, a purpose for little boys, and she always
• 7:08:47
  gives me the scrapings out of a pant She's mixed up a plum cake in
• 7:08:51
  a good many plums stick to the sides, you see. Mister Harrison was
• 7:08:56
  always a nice man, but he's twice as nice since he got married.
• 7:09:00
  Over again, I guess getting married makes folks nicer. Why don't you get
• 7:09:04
  married, Marilla? I want to know Marilla's state of single blessedness had never
• 7:09:11
  been a sore point with her, so she answered amiably, with an exchange
• 7:09:15
  of significant looks with Anne, that she supposed it was because nobody would have
• 7:09:18
  her. But maybe you never asked anybody to have you, protested Davy.
• 7:09:23
  Oh, Davy, said Dora, primly shocked into speaking without being spoken to.
• 7:09:30
  It's the men that have to do the asking. I don't know why
• 7:09:33
  they have to do it, always, grumbled Davy. Seems to me everything's
• 7:09:37
  put on the men in this world. Can I have some more pudding,
• 7:09:41
  Marilla? You've had as much as was good for you, said Marilla,
• 7:09:45
  but she gave him a moderate second helping. I wish people could live on
• 7:09:49
  pudding. Why can't they, Marilla? I want to know, because they'd
• 7:09:55
  soon get tired of it. I'd like to try that for myself, said
• 7:09:59
  skeptical Dan. But I guess it's better to have putting only on fish and
• 7:10:03
  company days than none at all. They never have any at Milty bolters.
• 7:10:07
  Milty says, when company comes, his mother gives them cheese and cuts it
• 7:10:11
  herself. One little bit at peace and one over for manners. If Milty
• 7:10:18
  bolter talks like that about his mother. At least you needn't repeat it,
• 7:10:22
  said Marilla, severely, bless my soul. Davy had picked this expression up
• 7:10:27
  from mister Harrison and used it with great gusto. Milty meant it as a
• 7:10:32
  compliment. He's awful proud of his mother because folks say she could scratch a
• 7:10:37
  living on a rock. I I suppose them pesky hens are in my pansy
• 7:10:41
  bed again, said Marilla, rising and going out hurriedly. The slandered hens
• 7:10:48
  were nowhere near the pansy bed, and Marilla did not even glance at it.
• 7:10:52
  Instead, she sat down on the cellar hatch and laughed until she was
• 7:10:56
  ashamed of herself. When Anne and Paul reached the stone House that afternoon,
• 7:11:00
  they found Miss Lavender and Charlotta the Fourth in the garden weeding, raking,
• 7:11:04
  clipping and trimming as if for dear life. Miss Lavender, herself, all
• 7:11:10
  gay and sweet in the frills and laces she loved, dropped her shears and
• 7:11:14
  ran joyously to meet her guests, while Charlotta the Fourth grinned cheerfully. Welcome,
• 7:11:19
  Anne, I thought you'd come today. You belonged to the afternoon.
• 7:11:23
  So it brought you things that belong together are sure to come together. What
• 7:11:29
  a lot of trouble that would save some people if they only knew it.
• 7:11:32
  But they don't, and so they waste beautiful energy moving heaven and earth to
• 7:11:37
  bring things together that don't belong. And do you, Paul, why you've
• 7:11:41
  grown? You're half a head taller than when you were here before. Yes,
• 7:11:47
  I've begun to grow like pigweed in the night, as missus Lynde says,
• 7:11:51
  said Paul, in frank delight over the fact. Grandma says, it's
• 7:11:55
  the porridge taking effect at last. Perhaps it is goodness. No, Paul
• 7:12:00
  sighed deeply. I've eaten enough to make anyone grow. I do hope now
• 7:12:06
  that I've begun, I'll keep on till him as tal as father. He
• 7:12:10
  is six feet you know, Miss Lavendar, Yes, Miss Lavendar did know.
• 7:12:14
  The flush on her pretty cheeks deepened a little. She took Paul's hand
• 7:12:18
  on one side and Anne's on the other, and walked to the house in
• 7:12:21
  silence. Is it a good day for the echoes, miss Lavender, queried
• 7:12:25
  Paul anxiously. The day of his first visit had been too windy, for
• 7:12:29
  echoes, and Paul had been much disappointed. Yes, just the best kind
• 7:12:33
  of day, answered Miss Lavendar, rousing herself from her reverie. At first,
• 7:12:38
  we are all going to have something to eat. I know you two
• 7:12:42
  folks didn't walk all the way back here through those beech woods without getting hungry.
• 7:12:48
  And Charlotta the Fourth and I can eat any hour of the day.
• 7:12:52
  We have such obliging appetites, so we'll just make a raid on the pantry.
• 7:12:57
  Fortunately, it's lovely. And I had the presentiment that I was going
• 7:13:02
  to have company today, and Charlotta the Fourth and I prepared. I think
• 7:13:06
  you are one of the people who always have nice things in their pantry,
• 7:13:10
  declared Paul. Grandma's like that too, But she doesn't approve of snacks between
• 7:13:15
  meals. I wonder, he added meditatively, if I ought to eat them
• 7:13:19
  away from home when I know she doesn't approve. Oh, I don't think
• 7:13:22
  she would disapprove after if you have had such a long walk. That makes
• 7:13:27
  a difference, said Miss Lavendar, exchanging amused glances with Anne over Paul's brown
• 7:13:33
  curls. I suppose that snacks are extremely unwholesome. That is why we have
• 7:13:38
  them so often at Echo Lodge, we Charlotte of the Fourth and I live
• 7:13:44
  in defiance of every known law of diet. We eat all sorts of indigestible
• 7:13:49
  things whenever we happen to think of it, by day or night, and
• 7:13:53
  we flourished like green bay trees. We are always intending to reform. When
• 7:14:00
  we read any article in a paper warning us against something we like, we
• 7:14:03
  cut it out and pin it up on the kitchen wall so that we'll remember
• 7:14:07
  it. But we never can, somehow until after we've gone and eaten that
• 7:14:12
  very thing. Nothing has killed us yet, but Charlotte Fourth has been known
• 7:14:18
  to have bad dreams after we have eaten donuts and mince pie and fruitcake before
• 7:14:22
  we went to bed. Grandma lets me have a glass of milk and a
• 7:14:26
  slice of bread and butter before I go to bed. And on Sunday nights
• 7:14:29
  she puts jam on the bread, said Paul. So I'm always glad when
• 7:14:33
  it's Sunday night for more reasons than one. Sunday is a very long day
• 7:14:37
  on the shore road. Grandma says it's all too short for her, and
• 7:14:41
  that father never found Sunday's tiresome when he was a little boy. It wouldn't
• 7:14:45
  seem so long if I could talk to my rock people, but I never
• 7:14:49
  do that because Grandma doesn't approve of it. On Sundays, I think a
• 7:14:53
  good deal, but I'm afraid my thoughts are worldly. Grandma says we should
• 7:14:59
  never think any but religious thoughts on Sundays. But Teacher here said once that
• 7:15:03
  every really beautiful thought was religious, no matter what it was about or what
• 7:15:08
  day we thought it on. But I feel sure Grandma thinks that sermons and
• 7:15:12
  Sunday school lessons are the only things you can think truly religious thoughts about.
• 7:15:18
  And when it comes to a difference of opinion between Grandma and teacher, I
• 7:15:22
  don't know what to do in my heart. Paul laid his hand on his
• 7:15:26
  breast and raised very serious blue eyes to Miss Lavender's immediately sympathetic face. I
• 7:15:33
  agree with teacher, But then you see, Grandma has brought father up her
• 7:15:37
  way and made a brilliant success of him, and Teacher has never brought anybody
• 7:15:41
  up yet, though she's helping with Davy and Dora, But you can't tell
• 7:15:45
  how they'll turn out till they are grown up. So sometimes I feel as
• 7:15:51
  if it might be safer to go by Grandma's opinions. I think it would,
• 7:15:55
  agreed Anne solemnly. Anyway, I dare say that if your grandma and
• 7:16:00
  I both got down to what we really do mean under our different ways of
• 7:16:03
  expressing it, we'd find out we both meant much the same thing. You'd
• 7:16:07
  better go by her way of expressing it, since it's been the result of
• 7:16:10
  experience. We'll have to wait until we see how the twins do turn out
• 7:16:14
  before we can be sure that my way is equally good. After lunch,
• 7:16:18
  they went back to the garden, where Paul made the acquaintance of the echoes
• 7:16:22
  to his wonder and delight, while Anne and Miss Lavender sat on the stone
• 7:16:26
  bench under the poplar and talked. So you are going away in the fall,
• 7:16:30
  said Miss Lavendar wistfully. I ought to be glad for your sake,
• 7:16:33
  Anne, but I'm horribly selfishly sorry. I shall miss you so much.
• 7:16:41
  Oh, Sometimes I think it is of no use to make friends. They
• 7:16:45
  only go out of your life after a while and leave a hurt that is
• 7:16:48
  worse than the emptiness before they came. That sounds like something Miss Eliza Andrews
• 7:16:53
  might say, but never Miss Lavender said Anne. Nothing is worse than emptiness,
• 7:16:59
  and I'm not going out of your life. There are such things as
• 7:17:03
  letters and vacations, Dearest. I'm afraid you're looking a little pale and tired.
• 7:17:07
  Ohoo, went Paul on the dike, where he had been making noises
• 7:17:15
  diligently, not all of them melodious in the making, but all coming back
• 7:17:18
  transmuted into the very gold and silver of sound by the fairy alchemists. Over
• 7:17:22
  the river. Miss Lavender made an impatient movement with her pretty hands. I'm
• 7:17:27
  just tired of everything, even the echoes. There is nothing in life but
• 7:17:33
  echoes, echoes of lost hopes and dreams and joys. They're beautiful and mocking.
• 7:17:41
  Oh Anne, It's hard of me to talk like this when I have
• 7:17:44
  company. It's just that I'm getting old and it doesn't agree with me.
• 7:17:49
  I know I'll be fearfully cranky by the time I'm sixty, But perhaps all
• 7:17:55
  I need is a course of blue pills. At this moment, Charlotta the
• 7:17:59
  Fourth, who had disappeared after lunch, returned and announced that the northeast corner
• 7:18:03
  of mister John Kimball's pasture was red with early strawberries. And wouldn't missurely like
• 7:18:08
  to go and pick some early strawberries for tea? Exclaimed Miss Lavender. Oh
• 7:18:14
  I'm not so old as I thought, and I don't need a single blue
• 7:18:18
  pill. Girls. When you come back with your strawberries, we'll have tea
• 7:18:22
  out here under the silver poplar. I'll have it all ready for you,
• 7:18:26
  with homegrown cream. Anne and Charlotta the Fourth accordingly betook themselves back to mister
• 7:18:30
  Kimball's pasture, a green, remote place where the air was as soft as
• 7:18:36
  velvet and fragrant as a bed of violets, and golden as amber. Oh
• 7:18:41
  isn't it sweet and fresh back here? Breathed Anne. I just feel as
• 7:18:45
  if I were drinking in the sunshine. Yes, ma'am, so do I.
• 7:18:48
  That's just exactly how awful too, ma'am, agreed Charlotta the Fourth,
• 7:18:52
  who would have said precisely the same thing if Anne had remarked that she felt
• 7:18:56
  like a pelican of the wilderness. Always after Anne had visited Echo Lodge,
• 7:19:02
  Charlotta the Fourth mounted to her little room over the kitchen and tried before her
• 7:19:06
  looking glass to speak and look and move like Anne. Charlotta could never flatter
• 7:19:11
  herself that she quite succeeded. But practice makes perfect, as Charlotta had learned
• 7:19:17
  at school, and she fondly hoped that in time she might catch the trick
• 7:19:21
  of that dainty uplift of chin, that quick, starry out flashing of eyes,
• 7:19:26
  that fashion of walking as if you were a bough swaying in the wind.
• 7:19:29
  It seemed so easy when you watched Anne. Charlotta the Fourth admired Anne
• 7:19:33
  wholeheartedly. It was not that she thought her so very handsome. Diana Barry's
• 7:19:38
  beauty of crimson cheek and black curls was much more to Charlotta the Fourth's taste
• 7:19:44
  than Anne's moonshine charm of luminous gray eyes and the pale, ever changing roses
• 7:19:48
  of her cheeks. But I'd rather look like you than be pretty, she
• 7:19:53
  told Anne sincerely. Anne laughed, sipped the honey from the tribute, and
• 7:19:59
  cast away the sun she was used to taking her compliments. Mixed public opinion
• 7:20:03
  never agreed on Anne's looks. People who had heard her called handsome met her
• 7:20:08
  and were disappointed. People who had heard her called plane saw her and wondered
• 7:20:12
  where other people's eyes were. Anne herself would never believe that she had any
• 7:20:17
  claim to beauty. When she looked in the glass, all she saw was
• 7:20:21
  a little pale face with seven freckles on the nose. Thereof her mirror never
• 7:20:26
  revealed to her the elusive, ever varying play of feeling that came and went
• 7:20:30
  over her features like a rosy illuminating flame, or the charm of dream and
• 7:20:34
  laughter alternating in her big eyes. While Anne was not beautiful in any strictly
• 7:20:40
  defined sense of the word, she possessed a certain evasive charm and distinction of
• 7:20:45
  appearance that left beholders with a pleasurable sense of satisfaction in that softly rounded girlhood
• 7:20:51
  of hers, with all its strongly felt potentialities. Those who knew Anne best
• 7:20:57
  felt, without realizing that they felt, felt it that her greatest attraction was
• 7:21:02
  the aura of possibility surrounding her, the power of future development that was in
• 7:21:07
  her. She seemed to walk in an atmosphere of things about to happen.
• 7:21:11
  As they picked Charlotte at the fourth confided to Anne her fears regarding Miss Lavender.
• 7:21:17
  The warm hearted little handmaiden was honestly worried over her adored mistress's condition.
• 7:21:22
  Miss Lavender isn't well, Miss sure Lee, ma'am. I'm sure she is,
• 7:21:25
  in though she never complains. She hasn't seemed like herself this long while,
• 7:21:29
  ma'am. Not since that day you and Paul were here together before.
• 7:21:33
  I feel sure she called cold. That night, ma'am, after you and
• 7:21:37
  him had gone, she went out and walked in the garden for a long
• 7:21:38
  after dark, with nothing but her little shawl on her. There was a
• 7:21:41
  lot of snow on the walks, and I feel sure she got a chill,
• 7:21:45
  ma'am. Ever since then, I've noticed her acting tide and lonesome like.
• 7:21:48
  She don't seem to take an interest in anything, ma'am. She never
• 7:21:52
  pretends company's coming, nor fixes up for it, nor nothing, ma'am.
• 7:21:56
  It's only when you come she seems to chirk up a bit. The worst
• 7:22:00
  sign of all, miserly, ma'am. Charlotta the Fourth lowered her voice as
• 7:22:03
  if she were about to tell some exceedingly weird and awful symptom. Indeed,
• 7:22:07
  is that she never gets cross. Now when I breaks things, why,
• 7:22:11
  mesuurly, ma'am. Yesterday I broke a green and yellow bowl that's always stood
• 7:22:14
  in the bookcase. Her grandmother brought it out from England, and Miss Lavendar
• 7:22:18
  was awful choice of it. I was dusting it just as careful, missonly,
• 7:22:22
  ma'am, and it slipped out so fashion a fire could grab hold of
• 7:22:25
  it and broken too, about forty million pieces. I'll tell you I was
• 7:22:29
  sorry and scared. I thought Miss Lavender would scold me, awful, ma'am.
• 7:22:33
  I'd rather she had than take it the way she did. She just
• 7:22:36
  come and hurriedly looked at it and said, it's no matter, Charlotta,
• 7:22:37
  take up the pieces and throw them away, just like that. Mes.
• 7:22:41
  Surely, ma'am, take up the pieces and throw them away as if it
• 7:22:45
  wasn't her grandmother's bowl from England. Oh, she isn't well, and I
• 7:22:48
  feel awful bad about it. She's got nobody to look after her but me.
• 7:22:52
  Charlotta the Fourth's eyes brimmed up with tears. Anne patted the little brown
• 7:22:56
  paw holding the cracked pink cup sympathetically. I think Miss Lavendar needs a change,
• 7:23:02
  Charlotta. She stays here alone too much. Can't we induce her to
• 7:23:06
  go away for a little trip. Charlotta shook her head with its rampant bows
• 7:23:11
  disconsolately I don't think so. Mens, surely, ma'am. Miss Lavendar hates
• 7:23:15
  visiting. She's only got three relations. She never visits, and she says
• 7:23:18
  she just goes to see them as a family duty. Last time, when
• 7:23:22
  she come home, she says she wasn't going to visit for family duty no
• 7:23:26
  more. I've come home in love with loneliness, Charlotta, she says to
• 7:23:30
  me. And I never want to stray from my own mind and fig tree
• 7:23:33
  again. My relations try so hard to make an old lady of me,
• 7:23:36
  and it has a bad effect on me, just like that. Mens,
• 7:23:38
  surely, ma'am, it has a very bad effect on me. So I
• 7:23:41
  don't think it would do any good to coax her to go visiting. We
• 7:23:45
  must see what can be done, said Anne decidedly, as she put the
• 7:23:49
  last possible berry in her pink cup. Just as soon as I have my
• 7:23:53
  vacation, I'll come through and spend a whole week with you. We'll have
• 7:23:56
  a picnic every day and pretend all sorts of interesting things and see if we
• 7:24:00
  can't cheer Miss Lavender up. That will be the very thing, surely,
• 7:24:03
  ma'am, exclaimed Charlotta the Fourth in rapture. She was glad for Miss Lavender's
• 7:24:08
  sake, and for her own too. With a whole week in which to
• 7:24:11
  study Anne constantly, she would surely be able to learn how to move and
• 7:24:15
  behave like her. When the girls got back to Echo Lodge, they found
• 7:24:21
  that Miss Lavendar and Paul had carried the little square table out of the kitchen
• 7:24:23
  to the garden and had everything ready for tea. Nothing ever tasted so delicious
• 7:24:29
  as those strawberries and cream eaten under a great blue sky, all curdled over
• 7:24:33
  with fluffy little white clouds, and in the long shadows of the wood,
• 7:24:37
  with its lispings and its murmurings. After tea, Anne helped Charlotta wash the
• 7:24:42
  dishes in the kitchen, while Miss Lavendar sat on the stone bench with Paul
• 7:24:47
  and heard all about his rock people. She was a good listener, this
• 7:24:51
  sweet Miss Lavendar. But just at the last it struck Paul that she had
• 7:24:55
  suddenly lost interest in the Twin Sailors. Miss Lavender, why do you look
• 7:25:00
  at me like that? He asked gravely. How do I look, Paul,
• 7:25:04
  just as if you were looking through me at somebody I put you in
• 7:25:07
  mind of, said Paul, who had such occasional flashes of uncanny insight that
• 7:25:12
  it wasn't quite safe to have secrets when he was about you. Do put
• 7:25:17
  me in mind of somebody I knew long ago, said miss Lavendar dreamily,
• 7:25:21
  when you were young? Yes, when I was young? Do I seem
• 7:25:25
  very old to you? Paul? Do you know? I can't make up
• 7:25:29
  my mind about that? Said Paul confidentially. Your hair looks old. I
• 7:25:34
  never knew a young person with white hair. But your eyes are as young
• 7:25:37
  as my beautiful teachers. When you laugh, I tell you what, Miss
• 7:25:41
  Lavender, Paul's voice and face were as solemn as a judge's. I think
• 7:25:45
  you would make a splendid mother. You have just the right look in your
• 7:25:49
  eyes, the look my little mother always had. I think it's a pity
• 7:25:55
  you haven't any boys of your home. I have a little dream boy,
• 7:25:57
  Paul, Oh, have you really? How old is he? About your
• 7:26:02
  age? I think he ought to be older, because I dreamed him long
• 7:26:06
  before you were born. But I'll never let him get any older than eleven
• 7:26:10
  or twelve, because if I did, someday he might grow up altogether,
• 7:26:14
  and then I'd lose him, I know, nodded Paul, that's the beauty
• 7:26:18
  of dream people. They stay any age you want them. You and my
• 7:26:22
  beautiful teacher and me myself are the only folks in the world that I know
• 7:26:26
  of that have dream people. Isn't it funny and nice? We should all
• 7:26:32
  know each other, But I guess that kind of people always find each other
• 7:26:36
  out. Grandma never has dream people. And Marry Joe thinks I'm in the
• 7:26:40
  wrong upper story because I have them. But I think it's splendid to have
• 7:26:44
  them. You know, Miss Lavendar, tell me all about your little dream
• 7:26:48
  boy. He has blue eyes and curly hair. He steals in and awakens
• 7:26:52
  me with a kiss every morning. Then all day he plays here in the
• 7:26:56
  garden, and I play with him such games as we have. We run
• 7:27:03
  races and talk with the echoes, and I tell him stories. And when
• 7:27:10
  the twilight comes, I know interrupted Paul eagerly he comes and sits beside you.
• 7:27:15
  So, because of course at twelve, he'd be too big to climb
• 7:27:21
  into your lap and lays his head on your shoulder. So and you put
• 7:27:26
  your arms about him and hold him tight tight, and rest your cheek on
• 7:27:29
  his head. Yes, that's a very way. Oh you do know,
• 7:27:32
  Miss Lavendar. Anne found the two of them there when she came out of
• 7:27:36
  the stone house, and something in Miss Lavender's face made her hate to disturb
• 7:27:40
  them. I'm afraid we must go, Paul, if we want to get
• 7:27:44
  home before dark. Miss Lavender, I'm going to invite myself to Echo Lodge
• 7:27:48
  for a whole week pretty soon. If you come for a week, I'll
• 7:27:51
  keep you for two threatened Miss Lavender, end of chapter twenty seven. Chapter
• 7:27:57
  twenty eight comes back to the Enchanted Palace. The last day of school came
• 7:28:04
  and went. A triumphant semi annual examination was held, and Anne's pupils acquitted
• 7:28:11
  themselves splendidly. At the close, they gave her an address and a writing
• 7:28:15
  desk. All the girls and ladies present cried, and some of the boys
• 7:28:18
  had it cast up to them later on that they cried too, although they
• 7:28:22
  always denied it. Missus Harmon Andrews, Missus Peter Sloane, and Missus William
• 7:28:27
  Bell walked home together and talked things over. I do think it's such a
• 7:28:33
  pity Anne of leaving when the children seemed so much attached to her, sighed
• 7:28:38
  Missus Peter Sloane, who had a habit of sighing over everything, and even
• 7:28:42
  finished off her jokes that way. To be sure, she added hastily,
• 7:28:48
  we all know we'll have a good teacher next year too. Jane will do
• 7:28:52
  her duty, I've no doubt, said missus Andrews, rather stiffly. I
• 7:28:56
  don't suppose she'll tell the children quite so many fits fairy tales, or spend
• 7:29:00
  so much time roaming about the woods with them. But she has her name
• 7:29:04
  on the inspector's role of honor, and the Newbridge people are in a terrible
• 7:29:10
  state over her leaving. I'm real glad Anne is going to college, said
• 7:29:14
  missus Bell. She has always wanted it and it will be a splendid thing
• 7:29:18
  for her. Well, I don't know, missus Andrews was determined not to
• 7:29:22
  agree fully with anybody that day. I don't see that Anne needs any more
• 7:29:27
  education. She'll probably be marrying Gilbert blythe if his infatuation for her last till
• 7:29:34
  he gets through college. And what good will Latin and Greek do her?
• 7:29:37
  Then? If they taught you at college how to manage a man, there
• 7:29:41
  might be some sense in her going. Missus Harmon Andrews so avonlea gossip whispered
• 7:29:48
  had never learned how to manage her man, and as a result, the
• 7:29:52
  Andrews household was not exactly a model of domestic happiness. I see that the
• 7:29:56
  Charlottetown call to mister Allen is up before the presbytery, said missus Bell.
• 7:30:00
  That means we'll be losing him soon. I suppose they're not going before September,
• 7:30:07
  said missus Sloane. It will be a great loss to the community.
• 7:30:11
  Though I always did think that Missus Allen dressed rather too gay for a minister's
• 7:30:17
  wife. But we are none of us perfect. Did you notice how neat
• 7:30:22
  and snug mister Harrison looked today. I never saw such a changed man.
• 7:30:29
  He goes to church every Sunday and has subscribed to the salary. Hasn't that
• 7:30:34
  Paul Irving grown to be a big boy, said Missus Andrews. He was
• 7:30:38
  such a mite for his age when he came here. I declare I hardly
• 7:30:42
  know him today. He's getting to look a lot like his father. He's
• 7:30:47
  a smart boy, said missus Bell. He's smart enough, But Missus Andrews
• 7:30:52
  lowered her voice. I believe he tells queer stories. Gracie came home from
• 7:30:56
  school one day last week with the greatest rigmar. He had told her about
• 7:31:00
  people who lived down at the shore. Stories. There couldn't be a word
• 7:31:04
  of truth in you know. I told Gracie not to believe them, and
• 7:31:08
  she said Paul didn't intend her to. But if he didn't, what did
• 7:31:12
  he tell them to her? For? Anne says, Paul is a genius,
• 7:31:18
  said Missus Sloane. He may be. You never know what to expect
• 7:31:22
  of them Americans, said Missus Andrews. Missus Andrews's only acquaintance with the word
• 7:31:27
  genius was derived from the colloquial fashion of calling any eccentric individual a queer genius.
• 7:31:34
  She probably thought with Mary Joe that it meant a person with something wrong
• 7:31:38
  in his upper story. Back in the school room, Anne was sitting alone
• 7:31:42
  at her desk as she had sat on the first day of school two years
• 7:31:45
  before, her face leaning on her hand, her dewy eyes looking wistfully out
• 7:31:51
  of the window to the lake of Shining Waters. Her heart was so wrung
• 7:31:55
  over the parting with her pupils that for a moment college had lost all its
• 7:31:59
  charm. She still felt the clasp of Annetta Belle's arms about her neck and
• 7:32:03
  heard the childish wail, I'll never love any teacher as much as you miss
• 7:32:07
  Shirley, Never never. For two years she had worked earnestly and faithfully,
• 7:32:14
  making many mistakes, and learning from them. She had had her reward.
• 7:32:18
  She had taught her scholars something, but she felt that they had taught her
• 7:32:22
  much more, lessons of tenderness, self control, innocent wisdom, lore of
• 7:32:26
  childish hearts. Perhaps she had not succeeded in inspiring any wonderful ambitions in her
• 7:32:33
  pupils, but she had taught them more by her own sweet personality than by
• 7:32:37
  all her careful precepts. That it was good and necessary, in the years
• 7:32:41
  that were before them, to live their lives finely and graciously, holding fast
• 7:32:47
  to truth and courtesy and kindness, keeping aloof from all that savored of falsehood
• 7:32:52
  and meanness and vulgarity. They were perhaps all unconscious of having learned such lessons,
• 7:32:59
  but they would remember and practiced them long after they had forgotten. The
• 7:33:03
  capital of Afghanistan and the dates of the wars of the Roses. Another chapter
• 7:33:07
  in my life is closed, said Anne Aloud as she locked her desk.
• 7:33:12
  She really felt very sad over it, but the romance in the idea of
• 7:33:17
  that closed chapter did comfort her a little. Anne spent a fortnight at Echo
• 7:33:22
  Lodge early in her vacation, and everybody concerned had a good time. She
• 7:33:26
  took Miss Lavendar on a shopping expedition to town and persuaded her to buy a
• 7:33:30
  new Organdy dress. Then came the excitement of cutting and making it together,
• 7:33:36
  while the happy Charlotta the Fourth basted and swept up clippings. Miss Lavendar had
• 7:33:41
  complained that she could not feel much interest in anything, but the sparkle came
• 7:33:45
  back to her eyes over her pretty dress. What a foolish, frivolous person
• 7:33:48
  I am, she sighed. I'm wholesomely ashamed to think that a new dress,
• 7:33:55
  even it is a forget me not Organdy, should exhilarate me. So
• 7:33:59
  when a good conscience and an extra contribution to foreign missions couldn't do it.
• 7:34:03
  Midway in her visit, Anne went home to Green Gables for a day to
• 7:34:07
  mend the twin stockings and settle up Davy's accumulated store of questions. In the
• 7:34:11
  evening, she went down to the shore road to see Paul Irving. As
• 7:34:15
  she passed by the low square window of the Irving sitting room. She caught
• 7:34:19
  a glimpse of Paul on somebody's lap. But the next moment he came flying
• 7:34:23
  through the hall. Oh, miss Shirley, he cried excitedly. You can't
• 7:34:29
  think what has happened, something so splendid. Father is here? Just think
• 7:34:33
  of that, Father is here. Come right in, Father, This is
• 7:34:37
  my beautiful teacher, you know. Father Stephen Irving came forward to meet Anne
• 7:34:41
  with a smile. He was a tall, handsome man of middle age,
• 7:34:45
  with iron gray hair, deep set, dark blue eyes, and a strong,
• 7:34:51
  sad face splendidly modeled about chin and brow. Just the face for a
• 7:34:56
  hero of romance. Anne thought, with a thrill of intense satisfaction. It
• 7:35:00
  was so disappointing to meet someone who ought to be a hero and find him
• 7:35:03
  bald, or stooped, or otherwise lacking in manly beauty. Anne would have
• 7:35:08
  thought it dreadful if the object of Miss Lavendar's romance had not looked the part.
• 7:35:12
  So this is my little son's beautiful teacher, of whom I have heard
• 7:35:17
  so much, said mister Irving with a hearty handshake. Paul's letters have been
• 7:35:21
  so full of you, Miss Shirley, that I feel as if I were
• 7:35:23
  pretty well acquainted with you already. I want to thank you for what you
• 7:35:27
  have done for Paul. I think that your influence has been just what he
• 7:35:32
  needed. Mother is one of the best and dearest of women, but a
• 7:35:36
  robust, matter of fact Scotch common sense could not always understand a temperament like
• 7:35:41
  my laddie's. What was lacking in her you have supplied between you. I
• 7:35:47
  think Paul's training in these past two years has been as nearly ideal as a
• 7:35:52
  motherless boy's could be. Everybody likes to be appreciated under mister Irving's praise.
• 7:35:57
  Anne's face burst flower like to rosy bloom, and the busy, weary man
• 7:36:02
  of the world, looking at her, thought he had never seen a fairer,
• 7:36:06
  sweeter slip of girlhood than this little down East school teacher with her red
• 7:36:10
  hair and wonderful eyes. Paul sat between them, blissfully happy. I never
• 7:36:15
  dreamed father was coming, he said radiantly. Even Grandma didn't know it.
• 7:36:21
  It was a great surprise as a general thing. Paul shook his brown pearls
• 7:36:26
  gravely. I don't like to be surprised you lose all the fun of expecting
• 7:36:30
  things when you're surprised. But in a case like this, it is all
• 7:36:33
  right. Father came last night after I'd gone to bed, and after Grandma
• 7:36:37
  married Joe had stopped being surprised. He and Grandma came upstairs to look at
• 7:36:41
  me, not meaning to wake me up till morning. But I woke right
• 7:36:45
  up in soul. Father, I tell you, I just sprang at him
• 7:36:48
  with a hug. Theirs, said mister Irving, putting his arms around Paul's
• 7:36:53
  shoulder, smilingly. I heard that he knew my boy. He had grown
• 7:36:56
  so big and brown and sturdy. I don't know which was the most pleased
• 7:37:00
  to see Father, Grandma or I continued Paul. Grandma's been in the kitchen
• 7:37:06
  all day, making the things father likes to eat. She wouldn't trust them
• 7:37:10
  to marry Joe, she says, that's her way of showing gladness. I
• 7:37:15
  like best just to sit and talk with Father, But I'm going to leave
• 7:37:18
  you for a little while, if you'll excuse me, I must get the
• 7:37:21
  couch from Mary. Joe. That is one of my daily duties. When
• 7:37:23
  Paul had scampered away to do his daily duty, mister Irving talked to Anne
• 7:37:29
  of various matters, but Anne felt that he was thinking of something else underneath
• 7:37:33
  all the time. Presently it came to the surface. In Paul's last letter,
• 7:37:37
  he spoke of going with you to visit an old friend of mine,
• 7:37:41
  Miss Lewis, at the Stonehouse in Grafton. Do you know her well?
• 7:37:47
  Yes, indeed she is a very dear friend of mine, was Anne's demure
• 7:37:51
  reply, which gave no hint of the sudden thrill that tingled over her from
• 7:37:55
  head to foot at mister Irving's question, Anne felt instinctively that Roan Mance was
• 7:38:00
  peeping at her around a corner. Mister Irving rose and went to the window,
• 7:38:04
  looking out on a great golden, billowing sea, where a wild wind
• 7:38:07
  was harping. For a few moments, there was silence in the little,
• 7:38:11
  dark walled room. Then he turned and looked down into Anne's sympathetic face with
• 7:38:17
  a smile, half whimsical, half tender. I wonder how much you know,
• 7:38:22
  he said, I know all about it, replied Anne promptly. You
• 7:38:26
  see, she explained hastily, Miss Lavendar and I are very intimate. She
• 7:38:32
  wouldn't tell things of such a sacred nature to everybody. We are kindred spirits.
• 7:38:37
  Yes, I believe you are. Well. I'm going to ask a
• 7:38:41
  favorite of you. I would like to go and see Miss Lavendar if she
• 7:38:44
  will let me. Will you ask it? Or if I may come?
• 7:38:48
  Would she not? Oh? Indeed she would. Yes. This was romance,
• 7:38:52
  the very the real thing, with all the charm of rhyme and story
• 7:38:56
  and dream. It was a little belated, perhaps like a rose blooming in
• 7:39:00
  October, which should have bloomed in June, but none the less arose all
• 7:39:04
  sweetness and fragrance, with the gleam of gold in its heart. Never did
• 7:39:10
  Anne's feet bear her on a more willing errand than on that walk through the
• 7:39:12
  beech woods to Grafton. The Next morning she found Miss Lavendar in the garden.
• 7:39:18
  Anne was fearfully excited. Her hands grew cold, and her voice trembled.
• 7:39:23
  Miss Lavendar, I have something to tell you, something very important.
• 7:39:27
  Can you guess what it is? Anne never supposed that Miss Lavendar could guess.
• 7:39:33
  But Miss Lavender's face grew very pale, and Miss Lavendar said in a
• 7:39:37
  quiet, still voice from which all the color and sparkle that Miss Lavender's voice
• 7:39:41
  usually suggested had faded. Stephen Irving is home. How did you know who
• 7:39:47
  told you? Cried Anne, disappointedly vexed that her great revelation had been anticipated.
• 7:39:52
  Nobody I knew that must be it, just from the way you spoke.
• 7:39:56
  He wants to come and see you, said Anne. May I send
• 7:40:00
  him word that he may? Yes, of course, fluttered Miss Lavendar.
• 7:40:04
  There's no reason why he shouldn't. He is only coming as any old friend
• 7:40:10
  might. Anne had her own opinion about that, as she hastened into the
• 7:40:14
  house to write a note at Miss Lavendar's desk. Oh, it's delightful to
• 7:40:18
  be living in a story book, she thought, gaily. It will come
• 7:40:22
  out all right, of course it must, and Paul will have a mother
• 7:40:25
  after his own heart, and everybody will be happy. But mister Irving will
• 7:40:29
  take Miss Lavendar away, and dear knows what will happen to the little stone
• 7:40:33
  house. And so there are two sides to it, as there seems to
• 7:40:37
  be to everything in this world. The important note was written, and Anne
• 7:40:41
  herself carried it to the Grafton Post Office, where she waylaid the mail carrier
• 7:40:45
  and asked him to leave it at the avonlea office. It's so very important,
• 7:40:51
  Anne assured him anxiously. The mail carrier was a rather grumpy old personage
• 7:40:56
  who did not at all look the part of a messenger of Cupid, and
• 7:40:59
  Anne was none too certain that his memory was to be trusted. But he
• 7:41:03
  said he would do his best to remember, and she had to be contented
• 7:41:06
  with that. Charlotta the Fourth felt that some mystery pervaded the stone house that
• 7:41:11
  afternoon, a mystery from which she was excluded. Miss Lavender roamed about the
• 7:41:15
  garden in a distracted fashion. Anne too, seemed possessed by a demon of
• 7:41:21
  unrest, and walked to and fro and went up and down. Charlotta the
• 7:41:26
  fourth endured it till patience ceased to be a virtue. Then she confronted Anne
• 7:41:30
  on the occasion of that romantic young person's third aimless peregrination through the kitchen.
• 7:41:36
  Please, monsieurly, ma'am, said Charlotta the fourth, with an indignant toss
• 7:41:40
  of her very blue bows. It's plain to see you and miss Lavendar have
• 7:41:44
  got a secret, and I think making your pardon if I'm too forward,
• 7:41:47
  monsieurly, ma'am, that it's real mean not to tell me would all been
• 7:41:51
  such chums. Oh, Charlotta, dear, I'd have told you all about
• 7:41:55
  it if it were my secret. But it's miss Lavender's, you see.
• 7:41:57
  However, I'll tell you this much, and if nothing comes of it,
• 7:42:00
  you must never breathe a word about it to a living soul. You see,
• 7:42:06
  Prince Charming is coming tonight. He came long ago, but in a
• 7:42:10
  foolish moment went away and wandered afar and forgot the secret of the magic pathway
• 7:42:14
  to the enchanted castle where the princess was weeping her faithful heart out for him.
• 7:42:18
  But at last he remembered it again. And the princess is waiting still
• 7:42:22
  because nobody but her own dear Prince could carry her off. Oh miss Shirley,
• 7:42:26
  ma'am, what is that in prose, gasped the mystified Charlotta. Anne
• 7:42:32
  laughed in prose, an old friend of miss Lavendar's is coming to see her
• 7:42:36
  tonight. Do you mean an old bull of hers? Demanded the literal Charlotta,
• 7:42:41
  That is probably what I do mean in prose, answered Anne gravely.
• 7:42:47
  It is Paul's father, Stephen Irving, and goodness knows what will come of
• 7:42:52
  it, But let us hope for the best, Charlotta, I hope that
• 7:42:55
  he'll marry Miss Lavendar, was Charlotta's unequivocal response. Some women say intended from
• 7:43:00
  the start to the old maids, and I'm afraid I'm one of them,
• 7:43:03
  Miss Sally, ma'am, because I've awful little patience with the men. But
• 7:43:07
  Miss Lavendar never was. I've been awful worried thinking what on earth she'd do
• 7:43:11
  when I got so big, I'd have to go to Boston. There ain't
• 7:43:15
  any more girls in our family. And dear knows what she'd do if she'd
• 7:43:18
  got some stranger that might laugh at her pretendings and leave things lying round out
• 7:43:22
  of their place, and not be willing to be cold shell out of the
• 7:43:23
  fifth. She might get someone who wouldn't be as unlucky as me in breaking
• 7:43:29
  dishes, but she'd never get anyone who'd love her better. And the faithful
• 7:43:32
  little handmaid and dashed to the oven door with a sniff. They went through
• 7:43:36
  the form of having tea as usual that night at Echo Lodge, but nobody
• 7:43:40
  really ate anything. After tea, Miss Lavender went to her room and put
• 7:43:44
  on her new Forget Me Not Organdy, while Anne did her hair for her.
• 7:43:48
  Both were dreadfully excited, but miss Lavendar pretended to be very calm and
• 7:43:52
  indifferent. I must really mend that rent in the curtain tomorrow, she said,
• 7:43:56
  anxiously, inspecting it as if it were the only thing of any importance.
• 7:44:00
  Just then, those curtains have not worn as well as they should,
• 7:44:03
  considering the price I paid. Dear me, Charlotta has forgotten to dust the
• 7:44:10
  stair railing again. I really must speak to her about it. Anne was
• 7:44:15
  sitting on the porch steps when Stephen Irving came down the lane and across the
• 7:44:18
  garden. This is the one place where a time stands still, he said,
• 7:44:22
  looking around him with delighted eyes. There is nothing changed about this house
• 7:44:26
  or garden since I was there twenty five years ago. It makes me feel
• 7:44:32
  young again. You know, time always does stand still in an enchanted palace,
• 7:44:37
  said Anne seriously. It is only when the Prince comes that things begin
• 7:44:41
  to happen. Mister Irving smiled a little sadly into her uplifted face, all
• 7:44:45
  astar with its youth and promise. Sometimes the Prince comes too late, he
• 7:44:52
  said. He did not ask Anne to translate her remark into prose like all
• 7:44:56
  kindred spirits, he understood. Oh no, oh, not if he is
• 7:45:00
  the real prince coming to the true princess, said Anne, shaking her red
• 7:45:04
  head decidedly as she opened the parlor door. When he had gone in,
• 7:45:08
  she shut it tightly behind him and turned to confront Charlotta the fourth, who
• 7:45:14
  was in the hall. All nods and backs and wreathed smiles. Oh mons,
• 7:45:18
  surely, ma'am, she breathed a peek from the kitchen window. And
• 7:45:22
  he's awful handsome, and just write h for miss Lamondar And oh men,
• 7:45:26
  surely, ma'am. Do you think it would be much harm to listen at
• 7:45:29
  the door? It would be dreadful, Charlotta, said Anne firmly. So
• 7:45:33
  just you come away with me, out of the reach of temptation. I
• 7:45:37
  can't do anything, and it's awful to hang round just waiting, sighed Charlotta.
• 7:45:41
  What if you don't propose after all? Monsieur le ma'am. You can
• 7:45:45
  never be sure of them men, my older sister, Charlotta the first thought
• 7:45:49
  she was engaged to one once, but it turned out he had a different
• 7:45:52
  opinion, and she says she'll never trust one of them again. And I
• 7:45:56
  heard of another case where a man thought he wondered one girl awful, when
• 7:46:00
  it was really her sister. He wanted all the time when a man don't
• 7:46:03
  know his own mind, mons Surley, ma'am, how's a poor woman going
• 7:46:06
  to be sure of it? We'll go to the kitchen and clean the silver
• 7:46:08
  spoons, said Anne. That's a task which won't require much thinking, fortunately,
• 7:46:15
  for I couldn't think tonight, And it will pass the time. It
• 7:46:18
  passed an hour. Then, just as Anne laid down the last shining spoon,
• 7:46:22
  they heard the front door shut. Both sought comfort fearfully in each other's
• 7:46:27
  eyes. Oh, mon, Surley, ma'am, gasped Charlotta. If he's
• 7:46:32
  going away this early, there's nothing into it, and never will be.
• 7:46:36
  They flew to the window. Mister Irving had no intention of going away.
• 7:46:41
  He and Miss Lavendar were strolling slowly down the middle path to the stone bench.
• 7:46:45
  Oh my, Shurley, ma'am, he's got his arm around her waist,
• 7:46:48
  whispered Charlotta the Fourth delightedly. He must have proposed her, or she'd
• 7:46:52
  never allow it. Anne caught Charlotta the Fourth by her own plump waist and
• 7:46:56
  danced her around the kitchen until they were both out of breath. Oh,
• 7:47:00
  oh, Charlotta, she cried gaily. I'm neither a prophetess nor the daughter
• 7:47:04
  of a prophetess, but I'm going to make a prediction. There will be
• 7:47:07
  a wedding in this old stone house before the maple leaves are read. Do
• 7:47:11
  you want that translated into prose, Charlotta, No, I can understand that,
• 7:47:15
  said Charlotta. A wedding ain't poetry. Why, monsieur le, ma'am,
• 7:47:19
  you're crying? What for? Oh? Because it's all so beautiful and
• 7:47:25
  story bookish and romantic and sad, said Anne, winking the tears out of
• 7:47:30
  her eyes. It's all perfectly lovely. But there's a little sadness mixed up
• 7:47:34
  in it too, somehow. Oh, of course, there's a resk in
• 7:47:37
  marrying anybody, conceded Charlotta the fourth. But when all said and down,
• 7:47:41
  mess Shurley, ma'am, there's many a worse thing than a husband. End
• 7:47:47
  of Chapter twenty eight, Chapter twenty nine, Poetry and prose. For the
• 7:47:55
  next month, Anne lived in what for Avonlea might be called a whirl of
• 7:47:59
  excite. The preparation of her own modest outfit for Redmond was of secondary importance.
• 7:48:04
  Miss Lavender was getting ready to be married, and the Stone House was
• 7:48:08
  the scene of endless consultations and plannings and discussions with Charlotta the Fourth hovering on
• 7:48:15
  the outskirts of things in agitated delight and wonder. Then the dressmaker came,
• 7:48:21
  and there was the rapture and wretchedness of choosing fashions and being fitted. Anne
• 7:48:26
  and Diana spent half their time at Echo Lodge, and there were nights when
• 7:48:30
  Anne could not sleep for worrying whether she had done right in advising Miss Lavender
• 7:48:34
  to select brown rather than navy blue for her traveling dress, and to have
• 7:48:38
  her gray silk made princess. Everybody concerned in Miss Lavender's story was very happy.
• 7:48:45
  Paul Irving rushed to Green Gables to talk the news over with Anne.
• 7:48:48
  As soon as his father had told him. I knew I could trust father
• 7:48:52
  to pick me out a nice little second mother, he said, proudly.
• 7:48:56
  It's a fine thing to have a father you can depend on. Teacher.
• 7:48:59
  I just love Miss Lavendar. Grandma is pleased too, She says she's real
• 7:49:03
  glad father didn't pick out an American for a second wife, because although it
• 7:49:07
  turned out alright the first time, such a thing wouldn't be likely to happen
• 7:49:11
  twice. Missus Lynd says she thoroughly approves of the match and thinks it's likely
• 7:49:17
  Miss Lavendar will give up her queer notions and be like other people now that
• 7:49:21
  she's going to be married. But I hope she won't give her queer notions
• 7:49:25
  up, teacher, because I like them, and I don't want her to
• 7:49:27
  be like other people. There are too many other people around as it is,
• 7:49:33
  you know, Teacher Charlotta the fourth was another radiant person. Almost surely,
• 7:49:38
  ma'am, it is all turn out so beautiful. When mister Irving and
• 7:49:41
  Miss Lavendar come back from their tower, I'm to go up to Boston and
• 7:49:45
  live with them. And me only fifteen, and the other girls never went
• 7:49:48
  till they were sixteen. Ain't mister Irvan splendid? He just worships the ground
• 7:49:53
  she treads on, And it makes me feel so queer sometimes to see the
• 7:49:56
  look in his eyes when he's watching her. It begs description shurely, ma'am.
• 7:50:00
  I'm awful, thankful they're so fond of each other. It's the best
• 7:50:03
  way when it's all said and done, though some folks can get along without
• 7:50:07
  it. I've got an aunt who's been married three times, and she says
• 7:50:11
  she married the first time for love and the last few times for strictly business,
• 7:50:15
  and was happy with all three except the times of the funerals. But
• 7:50:18
  I think she took a resk. Mis Shurley, ma'am, oh, it's
• 7:50:21
  all so romantic, breathed Anne to Marilla that night. If I hadn't taken
• 7:50:26
  the wrong path that day we went to mister Kimball's, I'd never have known
• 7:50:30
  Miss Lavendar. And if I hadn't met her, I'd never have taken Paul
• 7:50:33
  there, and he'd never have written to his father about visiting Miss Lavendar,
• 7:50:37
  just as mister Irving was starting for San Francisco. Mister Irving says, when
• 7:50:41
  he got that letter, he made up his mind to send his partner to
• 7:50:45
  San Francisco and come here instead. He hadn't heard anything of Miss Lavendar for
• 7:50:49
  fifteen years. Somebody had told him then that she was to be married,
• 7:50:53
  and he thought she was and never asked anybody anything about her. And now
• 7:50:57
  everything has come right, and I had a hand in bringing it about,
• 7:51:03
  perhaps as missus Lynde says, everything is foreordained and it was bound to happen
• 7:51:07
  anyway. But even so, it's nice to think one was an instrument used
• 7:51:11
  by predestination. Yes, indeed, it's very romantic. I can't see that
• 7:51:17
  it's so terribly romantic at all, said Marilla rather crisply. Marilla thought Anne
• 7:51:22
  was too worked up about it and had plenty to do with getting ready for
• 7:51:26
  college without trapsing to Echo Lodge two days out of three helping miss Lavender in
• 7:51:30
  the first place, two young fools quarrel and turn sulky. Then Steve Irving
• 7:51:36
  goes to the States and after a spell, gets married up there and is
• 7:51:38
  perfectly happy from all accounts. Then his wife dies, and after a decent
• 7:51:42
  interval, he thinks he'll come home and see if his first fancy he'll have
• 7:51:45
  him. Meanwhile, she's been living single, probably because nobody nice enough came
• 7:51:51
  along to want her. And they meet and agree to be married after all,
• 7:51:55
  Now where is the romance and all that? Oh, there isn't any
• 7:51:57
  when you put it that way, gasped Anne, rather as if somebody had
• 7:52:02
  thrown cold water over her. I suppose that's how it looks in prose,
• 7:52:07
  but it's very different if you look at it through poetry, and I think
• 7:52:11
  it's nicer. Anne recovered herself, and her eyes shone and her cheeks flushed
• 7:52:15
  to look at it through poetry. Marilla glanced at the radiant young face and
• 7:52:21
  refrained from further sarcastic comments. Perhaps some realization came to her that, after
• 7:52:26
  all, it was better to have like Anne, the vision and the faculty
• 7:52:30
  divine that gift which the world cannot bestow or take away, of looking at
• 7:52:34
  life through some transfiguring or revealing medium, whereby everything seemed apparelled in celestial light,
• 7:52:41
  wearing a glory and a freshness not visible to those who, like herself
• 7:52:45
  and Charlotta the Fourth, looked at things only through prose. When's the wedding
• 7:52:51
  to be, she asked, after a pause, The last Wednesday in August.
• 7:52:56
  They are to be married in the garden under the honeysuckle trellis the very
• 7:53:00
  spot where mister Irving proposed to her twenty five years ago. Marilla, that
• 7:53:03
  is romantic, even in prose. There's to be nobody there except missus Irving
• 7:53:08
  and Paul and Gilbert and Diana and I and Miss Lavender's cousins, and they
• 7:53:12
  will leave on the six o'clock train for a trip to the Pacific coast.
• 7:53:17
  When they come back in the fall, Paul and Charlotta the Fourth are to
• 7:53:19
  go up to Boston to live with them, But Echo Lodge is to be
• 7:53:23
  left just as it is. Only, of course they'll sell the hens and
• 7:53:26
  cow and board up the windows, and every summer they're coming down to live
• 7:53:30
  in it. I'm so glad. It would have hurt me dreadfully next winter
• 7:53:34
  at Redmond to think of that dear stone house all stripped and deserted with empty
• 7:53:38
  rooms, or far worse still, with other people living in it. But
• 7:53:42
  I can think of it now just as I've always seen it, waiting happily
• 7:53:47
  for the summer to bring life and laughter back to it again. There was
• 7:53:52
  more romance in the world than that which had fallen to the share of the
• 7:53:55
  middle aged lovers of the stone House. Anne stumbled suddenly on it one evening
• 7:53:59
  when she went over to Orchard Slope by the Woodcut and came out into the
• 7:54:03
  berry garden. Diana, Barry and Fred Wright were standing together under the big
• 7:54:07
  willow. Diana was leaning against the gray trunk, her lashes cast down on
• 7:54:11
  very crimson cheeks. One hand was held by Fred, who stood with his
• 7:54:17
  face bent toward her, stammering something in low, earnest tones. There were
• 7:54:22
  no other people in the world except their two selves at that magic moment,
• 7:54:26
  so neither of them saw Anne, who, after one dazed glance of comprehension,
• 7:54:30
  turned and sped noiselessly back through the spruce wood, never stopping till she
• 7:54:34
  gained her own gable room, where she sat breathlessly down by her window and
• 7:54:38
  tried to collect her scattered wits. Diana and Fred are in love with each
• 7:54:44
  other, she gasped, Oh, it does seem so so, so hopelessly.
• 7:54:51
  Grown up Anne of late had not been without her suspicions that Diana was
• 7:54:56
  proving false to the melancholy, byronic hero of her early But as things seen
• 7:55:02
  are mightier than things heard or suspected, the realization that it was actually so
• 7:55:07
  came to her with almost the shock of perfect surprise. This was succeeded by
• 7:55:11
  a queer, little, lonely feeling as if somehow Diana had gone forward into
• 7:55:17
  a new world, shutting a gate behind her, leaving Anne on the outside.
• 7:55:22
  Things are changing so fast it almost frightens me. Anne thought a little
• 7:55:26
  sadly. And I'm afraid that this can't help making some difference between Diana and
• 7:55:30
  me. I'm sure I can't tell her all my secrets. After this,
• 7:55:34
  she might tell Fred. And what can she see in Fred? He's very
• 7:55:40
  nice and jolly, but he's just Fred Wright. It is always a very
• 7:55:45
  puzzling question. What can somebody see in somebody else? But how fortunate after
• 7:55:51
  all that it is so for if everybody saw alike, well, in that
• 7:55:55
  case, as the old Indian said, everybody would want my squaw. It
• 7:55:59
  was playing that Diana did see something in Fred Wright. However, Anne's eyes
• 7:56:03
  might be holden. Diana came to Green Gables the next evening, a pensive,
• 7:56:07
  shy young lady, and told Anne the whole story. In the dusky
• 7:56:11
  seclusion of the East Gable, both girls cried and kissed and laughed. I'm
• 7:56:17
  so happy, said Diana. But it does seem ridiculous to think of me
• 7:56:22
  being engaged. What is it really like to be engaged? Asked Anne curiously.
• 7:56:27
  Well, that all depends on who you're engaged to, answered Diana,
• 7:56:33
  with that maddening air of superior wisdom always assumed by those who are engaged over
• 7:56:37
  those who are not. It's perfectly lovely to be engaged to Fred, but
• 7:56:42
  I think it would be simply horrid to be engaged to anyone else. There's
• 7:56:47
  not much comfort for the rest of us in that, seeing that there is
• 7:56:49
  only one Fred laughed. Anne. Oh, Anne, you don't understand,
• 7:56:56
  said Diana in vexation. I didn't mean that. It's so hard to explain.
• 7:57:02
  Never mind, you'll understand sometime when your own turn comes. Bless you,
• 7:57:07
  dearest of Diana, as I understand now, what is an imagination for
• 7:57:11
  if not to enable you to peep at life through other people's eyes. You
• 7:57:15
  must be my bridesmaid, you know. Anne. Promise me that wherever you
• 7:57:19
  may be when I'm married, I'll come from the ends of the earth if
• 7:57:23
  necessary, promised Anne solemnly. Of course, it won't be forever so long
• 7:57:29
  yet, said Diana, blushing. Three years of the very least, for
• 7:57:33
  I'm only eighteen, and mother says no daughter of hers shall be married before
• 7:57:37
  she's twenty one. Besides, Fred's father is going to buy the Abraham Fletcher
• 7:57:42
  farm for him, and he says he's got to have it two thirds paid
• 7:57:47
  for before he'll give it to him in his own name. But three years
• 7:57:51
  isn't any too much time to get ready for housekeeping. For I haven't a
• 7:57:55
  speck of fancy work made yet, but I'm going to begin Croshey saying doilies
• 7:58:00
  tomorrow. Mara Gillis had thirty seven doilies when she was married, and I'm
• 7:58:06
  determined I shall have as many as she had. I suppose it would be
• 7:58:10
  perfectly impossible to keep house with only thirty six doilies, conceded Anne with a
• 7:58:15
  solemn face, but dancing eyes. Diana looked hurt. I didn't think you'd
• 7:58:19
  make fun of me, Anne, she said, reproachfully, dearest, I
• 7:58:25
  wasn't making fun of you, cried Anne, repentantly. I was only teasing
• 7:58:30
  you a bit. I think you'll make the sweetest little housekeeper in the world,
• 7:58:33
  and I think it's perfectly lovely of you to be planning already for your
• 7:58:37
  home o'dreams. Anne had no sooner uttered the phrase home o'dreams than it captivated
• 7:58:42
  her fancy, and she immediately began the erection of one of her own.
• 7:58:47
  It was, of course, tenanted by an ideal master dark proud and melancholy.
• 7:58:52
  But oddly enough, Gilbert blythe persisted in hanging about two, helping her
• 7:58:57
  arrange pictures, lay out gardens, and accomplish sundry other tasks which a proud
• 7:59:03
  and melancholy hero evidently considered beneath his dignity. Anne tried to banish Gilbert's image
• 7:59:08
  from her castle in Spain, but somehow he went on being there, so
• 7:59:12
  Anne, being in a hurry, gave up the attempt and pursued her aerial
• 7:59:18
  architecture with such success that her home A Dreams was built and furnished. Before
• 7:59:22
  Diana spoke again, I suppose, and you must think it's funny that I
• 7:59:26
  should like Fred so well when he's so different from the kind of man.
• 7:59:30
  I've always said I would marry the tall, slender kind. But somehow I
• 7:59:37
  wouldn't want Fred to be tall and slender, because don't you see he wouldn't
• 7:59:41
  be Fred. Then, of course, added Diana, rather dolefully. We
• 7:59:47
  will be a dreadfully pudgy couple, but after all, that's better than one
• 7:59:52
  of us being short and fat, on the other tall and lean like Morgan
• 7:59:56
  Sloane and his wife Missus Lynde's said, it always makes her think of the
• 8:00:00
  long and the short of it when she sees them together. Well, said
• 8:00:06
  Anne to herself that night, as she brushed her hair before her guilt framed
• 8:00:10
  mirror. I am glad Diana is so happy and satisfied. But when my
• 8:00:15
  turn comes, if it ever does, I do hope there'll be something a
• 8:00:18
  little more thrilling about it. But then Diana thought so too. Once I've
• 8:00:22
  heard her say time and again she'd never get engaged any pokey, commonplace way.
• 8:00:27
  He'd have to do something splendid to win her. But she has changed.
• 8:00:32
  Perhaps I'll change too, but I won't, and I'm determined I won't.
• 8:00:37
  Oh, I think these engagements are dreadfully unsettling things when they happen to
• 8:00:41
  your intimate friends. End of Chapter twenty nine, Chapter thirty A wedding at
• 8:00:48
  the stone House the last week in August came Miss Lavendar was to be married
• 8:00:55
  in it. Two weeks later, Anne and Gilbert would leave for Redmond College.
• 8:01:00
  In a week's time. Missus Rachel Lynde would move to Green Gables and
• 8:01:03
  set up her lairs and pennants in the erstwhile spare room, which was already
• 8:01:07
  prepared for her coming. She had sold all her superfluous household plenishings by auction,
• 8:01:14
  and was at present reveling in the congenial occupation of helping the Allans pack
• 8:01:18
  up. Mister Allan was to preach his farewell sermon the next Sunday. The
• 8:01:23
  old order was changing rapidly to give place to the new, as Anne felt
• 8:01:27
  with a little sadness threading all her excitement and happiness. Changes ain't totally pleasant,
• 8:01:33
  but they're excellent things, said mister Harrison philosophically. Two years as but
• 8:01:37
  as long enough for things to say exactly the same. If they stayed put
• 8:01:42
  any longer, they might grow mossy. Mister Harrison was smoking on his veranda.
• 8:01:48
  His wife had self sacrificingly told him that he might smoke in the house
• 8:01:52
  if he took care to sit by an open window. Mister Harrison rewarded this
• 8:01:56
  concession by going outdoors altogether to smoke in fine weather, and so mutual goodwill
• 8:02:00
  reigned. Anne had come over to ask Missus Harrison for some of her yellow
• 8:02:04
  dahlias. She and Diana were going through to Echo Lodge that evening to help
• 8:02:10
  Miss Lavender and Charlotta the fourth with their final preparations for the Morrow's bridle.
• 8:02:15
  Miss Lavender herself never had dahlia's. She did not like them, and they
• 8:02:18
  would not have suited the fine retirement of her old fashioned garden. But flowers
• 8:02:23
  of any kind were rather scarce in Avonlea and the neighboring districts that summer thanks
• 8:02:29
  to Uncle Abe's storm, and Anne and Diana thought that a certain old,
• 8:02:33
  cream colored stone jug, usually kept sacred to doughnuts, brimmed over with yellow
• 8:02:38
  dahlias, would be just the thing to set in a dim angle of the
• 8:02:41
  stone house stairs against the dark background of red hall paper. I suppose you'll
• 8:02:48
  be starting off a college in a fortnight's time, continued mister Harrison. Well,
• 8:02:52
  we're going to miss you an awful lot, Emily and me to be
• 8:02:56
  sure, Miss Lynne will be over there in your place. There ain't no
• 8:03:00
  but a substitute can be found for them. The irony of mister Harrison's tone
• 8:03:03
  is quite untransferable to paper. In spite of his wife's intimacy with Missus Lynde,
• 8:03:10
  the best that could be said of the relationship between her and mister Harrison,
• 8:03:14
  even under the new regime was that they preserved an armed neutrality. Yes,
• 8:03:18
  I'm going, said Anne. I'm very glad with my head and very
• 8:03:22
  sorry with my heart. I suppose you'll be scooping up all the honors that
• 8:03:27
  are lying round LUs at Redman. I may try for one or two of
• 8:03:30
  them, confessed Anne. But I don't care so much for things like that
• 8:03:34
  as I did two years ago. What I want to get out of my
• 8:03:37
  college course is some knowledge of the best way of living life and doing the
• 8:03:41
  most and best with it. I want to learn to understand and help other
• 8:03:45
  people in myself. Mister Harrison nodded. That's the idea exactly. That's what
• 8:03:52
  college ought to be for, instead of for turning out a lot of ba's
• 8:03:56
  so chock full of book learning and vanity that there ain't room for anything else.
• 8:04:00
  You're all right, college won't be able to do you much harm,
• 8:04:03
  I reckon. Diana and Anne drove over to Echo Lodge after tea, taking
• 8:04:07
  with them all the flowery spoil that several predatory expeditions in their own and their
• 8:04:12
  neighbor's gardens had yielded. They found the Stone House a gob with excitement.
• 8:04:18
  Charlotta the Fourth was flying around with such vim and briskness that her blue bows
• 8:04:22
  seemed really to possess the power of being everywhere at once, like the helmet
• 8:04:27
  of Navarre. Charlotta's blue bows waved ever in the thickest of the fray.
• 8:04:33
  Praise be to goodness you've come, she said, devoutly, for there's heaps
• 8:04:37
  of things to do, and the frosting on that cake won't harden, and
• 8:04:41
  there's all the silver to be rubbed up yet, and the horsehair trunk to
• 8:04:44
  be packed, and the boosters filled the chicken salad are running out there beyond
• 8:04:47
  the henhouse yet, crowing men. Surely, ma'am, and miss Lavendar ain't
• 8:04:49
  to be trusted to do a thing. I was thankful when mister Irvingham a
• 8:04:53
  few minutes ago and took her off for a walk in the woods. Cordon's
• 8:04:56
  all right in as plays mens, surely, ma'am. But if you try
• 8:04:59
  to make sit up with cooking, scouring everything spoiled, that's my opinion of
• 8:05:03
  surely, ma'am. Anne and Diana worked so heartily that by ten o'clock even
• 8:05:07
  Charlotta the Fourth was satisfied. She braided her hair in innumerable plates and took
• 8:05:12
  her weary little bones off to bed. But I'm sure I Shannsley but blessed
• 8:05:17
  wink, Miss surely, ma'am, for fear that something will go wrong at
• 8:05:19
  the last minute, the cream won't whip, or mister Irving will have a
• 8:05:22
  stroke and not be able to come. He isn't in the habit of having
• 8:05:26
  strokes, is he asked Diana, the dimpled corners of her mouth twitching to
• 8:05:32
  Diana, Charlotta the Fourth was, if not exactly a thing of beauty,
• 8:05:36
  certainly a joy forever. They're not things that go by habit, said Charlotta
• 8:05:41
  the Fourth with dignity. They just happen, and there you are. Anybody
• 8:05:45
  can have a stroke. You don't have to learn how. Mister Irving looks
• 8:05:48
  a lot like an uncle of mine that had one once, just as he
• 8:05:51
  was sitting down to dinner one day. But maybe everything will go right in
• 8:05:56
  this world. You've just got to hope for the best and prepare for the
• 8:05:59
  worst, and take whatever or God's sends. The only thing I'm worried about
• 8:06:03
  is that it won't be fine tomorrow, said Diana. Uncle Abe predicted rain
• 8:06:07
  for the middle of the week, and ever since the big storm. I
• 8:06:11
  can't help believing there's a good deal in what Uncle Abe, says Anne,
• 8:06:15
  who knew better than Diana just how much Uncle Abe had to do with the
• 8:06:18
  storm, was not much disturbed by this. She slept the sleep of the
• 8:06:22
  just and weary, and was roused at an unearthly hour by Charlotta the Fourth.
• 8:06:27
  Oh Mis, Shurley, ma'am, it's awful to call you so early,
• 8:06:32
  came wailing through the keyhole. But there's so much to do yet,
• 8:06:34
  And oh my, shurley, ma'am, I'm scared it's going to rain,
• 8:06:37
  and I wish you'd get up and tell me you think it ain't. Anne
• 8:06:41
  flew to the window, hoping against hope that Charlotta the Fourth was saying this
• 8:06:44
  merely by way of rousing her effectually. But alas the morning did look unpropitious.
• 8:06:51
  Below the window, Miss Lavender's garden, which should have been a glory
• 8:06:55
  of pale, virgin sunshine, lay dim and windless, and the sky over
• 8:06:59
  the furs was dark with moody clouds. Isn't it too mean? Said Diana.
• 8:07:04
  We must hope for the best, said Anne, determinedly, If it
• 8:07:08
  only doesn't actually rain a cool, pearly gray day like this would really be
• 8:07:14
  nicer than hot sunshine. But it will rain, mourned Charlotta, creeping into
• 8:07:18
  the room a figure of fun, with her many braids wound about her head,
• 8:07:22
  the ends tied up with white thread sticking out in all directions. It'll
• 8:07:27
  hold off till the last minute, and they're poor cats and dogs, and
• 8:07:32
  all the folks will get stopping and track mattal over the house, and they
• 8:07:34
  won't be able to be married under the honeysuckle. And it's awful unlucky for
• 8:07:38
  no sun to shine on a bride. Say what you will, missurely,
• 8:07:41
  ma'am. I knew things were going too well to last. Charlotta the Fourth
• 8:07:45
  seemed certainly to have borrowed a leaf out of Miss Eliza Andrews's book. It
• 8:07:51
  did not rain, though it kept on looking as if it meant to.
• 8:07:53
  By noon, the rooms were decorated, the table beautifully laid, and upstairs
• 8:07:59
  was waiting Abrud adorned for her husband. You do look sweet, said Anne,
• 8:08:03
  rapturously lovely, echoed Diana. Everything's ready, man, surely, ma'am.
• 8:08:10
  And nothing dreadful has happened yet was Charlotta's cheerful statement. As she betook
• 8:08:15
  herself to her little back room to dress. Out came all the braids.
• 8:08:18
  The resultant rampant crinkliness, was plaited into two tails and tied not with two
• 8:08:23
  bows alone, but with four of brand new ribbon brightly blue. The two
• 8:08:30
  upper bows rather gave the impression of overgrown wings sprouting from Charlotta's neck, somewhat
• 8:08:34
  after the fashion of Raphael's cherubs. But Charlotta the fourth thought them very beautiful,
• 8:08:40
  And after she had rustled into a white dress so stiffly starched that it
• 8:08:44
  could stand alone, she surveyed herself in her glass with great satisfaction, a
• 8:08:48
  satisfaction which lasted until she went out in the hall and caught a glimpse through
• 8:08:53
  the spare room door of a tall girl in some softly clinging gown, pinning
• 8:08:57
  white star like on the smooth ripples of her ruddy hair. Oh I'll never
• 8:09:03
  be able to look like me, surely, thought poor Charlotta, despairingly.
• 8:09:07
  You just have to be born, so I guess, don't seems if any
• 8:09:11
  amount of practice could give you that air. By one o'clock the guests had
• 8:09:14
  come, including mister and Missus Allen. For mister Allan was to perform the
• 8:09:18
  ceremony in the absence of the Grafton Minister on his vacation. There was no
• 8:09:22
  formality about the marriage. Miss Lavendar came down the stairs to meet her bridegroom
• 8:09:27
  at the foot, and as he took her hand, she lifted her big
• 8:09:30
  brown eyes to his with a look that made Charlotta the Fourth, who intercepted
• 8:09:34
  it, feel queerer than ever. They went out to the Honeysuckle Arbor,
• 8:09:38
  where mister Allen was awaiting them. The guests grouped themselves as they pleased.
• 8:09:44
  Anne and Diana stood by the old stone bench, with Charlotta the Fourth between
• 8:09:48
  them, desperately clutching their hands in her cold, tremulous little pause, mister
• 8:09:55
  Allan opened his blue book and the ceremony proceeded. Just as Miss Lavender and
• 8:10:00
  Stephen Irving were pronounced man and wife, a very beautiful and symbolic thing happened.
• 8:10:04
  The sun suddenly burst through the gray and poured a flood of radiance on
• 8:10:08
  the happy bride. Instantly the garden was alive with dancing shadows and flickering lights.
• 8:10:15
  What a lovely omen, thought Anne as she ran to kiss the bride.
• 8:10:19
  Then the three girls left the rest of the guests laughing around the bridal
• 8:10:23
  pair while they flew into the house to see that all was in readiness for
• 8:10:26
  the feast. Thanks be to goodness, it's over, Miss Shurley, ma'am,
• 8:10:30
  breathed Charlotta the Fourth, And they're married, safe and sound, no
• 8:10:33
  matter what happens now. The bags of rice are in the Pantryms shurlyy,
• 8:10:37
  ma'am, and the old shoes are behind the door, and the cream for
• 8:10:40
  the whipping is on the cellar steps. At half past two, mister and
• 8:10:44
  missus Irving left, and everybody went to bright River to see them off on
• 8:10:48
  the afternoon train. As Miss Lavender I beg her pardon, Missus Irving stepped
• 8:10:53
  from the door of her old home. Gilbert and the girls through the rice,
• 8:10:56
  and Charlotta the Fourth hurled an old shoe with such excellent aim that she
• 8:11:00
  struck mister Allen squarely on the head. But it was reserved for Paul to
• 8:11:04
  give the prettiest send off. He popped out of the porch, ringing furiously
• 8:11:08
  a huge old brass dinner bell, which had adorned the dining room mantle.
• 8:11:14
  Paul's only motive was to make a joyful noise. But as the clangor died
• 8:11:18
  away from point and curve and hill across the river, came the chime of
• 8:11:22
  fairy wedding bells, ringing clearly, sweetly, faintly and more faint, as
• 8:11:26
  if Miss Lavender's beloved echoes were bidding her greeting and farewell. And so amid
• 8:11:33
  this benediction of sweet sounds, Miss Lavender drove away from the old life of
• 8:11:37
  dreams and make believes, to a fuller life of realities in the busy world
• 8:11:41
  beyond. Two hours later, Anne and Charlotta the Fourth came down the lane
• 8:11:47
  again. Gilbert had gone to West Grafton on an errand, and Diana had
• 8:11:52
  to keep an engagement at home. Anne and Charlotta had come back to put
• 8:11:56
  things in order and lock up the little stone house. The garden was a
• 8:12:00
  pool of late golden sunshine, with butterflies hovering and bees booming. But the
• 8:12:04
  little house had already that indefinable air of desolation which always follows a festivity.
• 8:12:10
  Oh dear me, don't it look Clonesim sniffed Charlotta the Fourth, who had
• 8:12:14
  been crying all the way home from the station. A wedding ain't much cheerfuller
• 8:12:18
  than a funeral, after all, when it's all over, Mons Shurley,
• 8:12:19
  ma'am. A busy evening followed. The decorations had to be removed, the
• 8:12:25
  dishes washed, the uneaten delicacies packed into a basket for the delectation of Charlotta
• 8:12:30
  the fort's young brothers. At home, Anne would not rest until everything was
• 8:12:33
  in apple pie order. After Charlotta had gone home with her plunder, Anne
• 8:12:38
  went over the still rooms, feeling like one who trod alone some banquet hall,
• 8:12:42
  deserted and closed the blinds. Then she locked the door and sat down
• 8:12:48
  under the silver poplar to wait for Gilbert. Feeling very tired but still unweariedly
• 8:12:52
  thinking long, long thoughts. What do you think you go? Anne asked
• 8:12:56
  Gilbert, coming down the walk. He had left his horse and buggy out
• 8:13:00
  at the road of Miss Lavendar and mister Irving. Answered Anne dreamily, isn't
• 8:13:07
  it beautiful to think how everything has turned out, how they have come together
• 8:13:11
  again after all the years of separation and misunderstanding. Yes, it's beautiful,
• 8:13:15
  said Gilbert, looking steadily down into Anne's uplifted face. But wouldn't it have
• 8:13:22
  been more beautiful still, Anne, if there had been no separation or misunderstanding,
• 8:13:26
  if they had come hand in hand all the way through life, with
• 8:13:30
  no memories behind them but those which belonged to each other. For a moment,
• 8:13:33
  Anne's heart fluttered queerly, and for the first time her eyes faltered under
• 8:13:38
  Gilbert's gaze, and a rosy flush stained the paleness of her face. It
• 8:13:44
  was as if a veil that had hung before her inner consciousness had been lifted,
• 8:13:48
  giving to her view a revelation of unsuspected feelings and realities. Perhaps,
• 8:13:52
  after all, romance did not come into one's life with pomp and blare,
• 8:13:56
  like a gay night riding down. Perhaps it crept to one side, like
• 8:14:00
  an old friend, through quiet ways. Perhaps it revealed itself in seeming prose
• 8:14:07
  until some sudden shaft of illumination flung athwart its pages, betrayed the rhythm and
• 8:14:11
  the music. Perhaps perhaps love unfolded naturally out of a beautiful friendship, as
• 8:14:18
  a golden hearted rose slipping from its green sheath. Then the veil dropped again.
• 8:14:25
  But the Ann who walked up the dark lane was not quite the same
• 8:14:27
  Ann, who had driven gaily down at the evening before, the page of
• 8:14:32
  girlhood, had been turned as by an unseen finger, and the page of
• 8:14:36
  womanhood was before her, with all its charm and mystery, its pain and
• 8:14:40
  gladness. Gilbert wisely said nothing more, but in his silence he read the
• 8:14:45
  history of the next four years in the light of Anne's remembered blush. Four
• 8:14:49
  years of earnest, happy work, and then the garridon of a useful knowledge
• 8:14:53
  gained and a sweetheart won. Behind them in the garden, the little stone
• 8:14:59
  House brooded among the shadows. It was lonely, but not forsaken. It
• 8:15:03
  had not yet done with dreams and laughter and the joy of life. There
• 8:15:07
  were to be future summers for the Little Stone House. Meanwhile, it could
• 8:15:11
  wait, and over the river in purple Durrance, the echoes bided their time.
• 8:15:18
  End of Chapter thirty