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34 - Anne of Green Gables (version 4) by Lucy Maud Montgomery · Anne of Green Gables (version 4)

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  Speaker 1: Chapter thirty four of Anne of green Gables. This is
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  Speaker 1: a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
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  Speaker 1: Recorded by Annie Coleman www dot Annie Coleman dot com.
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  Speaker 1: Anne of green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery, chapter thirty four,
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  Speaker 1: A Queen's Girl. The next three weeks were busy ones
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  Speaker 1: at green Gables, for Anne was getting ready to go
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  Speaker 1: to Queen's and there was much sewing to be done,
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  Speaker 1: and many things to be talked over and arranged. Anne's
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  Speaker 1: outfit was ample and pretty, for Matthew saw to that,
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  Speaker 1: and Marilla for once made no objections whatever to anything
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  Speaker 1: he purchased or suggested more. One evening, she went up
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  Speaker 1: to the east gable with her arms full of a delicate,
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  Speaker 1: pale green material. Anne, here's something for a nice light
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  Speaker 1: dress for you. I don't suppose you really need it.
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  Speaker 1: You've plenty of pretty waists, but I thought maybe you'd
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  Speaker 1: like something real dressy to wear if you are asked
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  Speaker 1: out anywhere of an evening in town, to a party,
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  Speaker 1: or anything like that. I hear that Jane and Ruby
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  Speaker 1: and Josie have got evening dresses, as they call them,
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  Speaker 1: and I don't mean you shall be behind them. I
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  Speaker 1: got missus Allen to help me pick it in town
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  Speaker 1: last week, and we'll get Emily Gillis to make it
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  Speaker 1: for you. Emily has got taste and her fits aren't
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  Speaker 1: to be equalled. Oh Marilla, it's just lovely, said Anne.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you so much. I don't believe you ought to
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  Speaker 1: be so kind to me. It's making it harder every
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  Speaker 1: day for me to go away. The green dress was
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  Speaker 1: made up with as many tucks and frills and shirrings
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  Speaker 1: as Emily's taste permitted. Anne put it on one evening
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  Speaker 1: for Matthew and Marilla's benefit, and recited the maiden's vow
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  Speaker 1: for them in the kitchen. As Marilla watched the bright
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  Speaker 1: animated face and grace motions, her thoughts went back to
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  Speaker 1: the evening Anne had arrived at Green Gables, and memory
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  Speaker 1: recalled a vivid picture of the odd, frightened child in
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  Speaker 1: her preposterous yellowish brown wincey dress, the heartbreak looking out
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  Speaker 1: of her tearful eyes. Something in the memory brought tears
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  Speaker 1: to Marilla's own eyes. I declare my recitation has made
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  Speaker 1: you cry, Marilla, said Anne, gaily, stooping over Marilla's chair
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  Speaker 1: to drop a butterfly kiss on that lady's cheek. Now,
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  Speaker 1: I call that a positive triumph. No, I wasn't crying
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  Speaker 1: over your peace, said Marilla, who would have scorned to
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  Speaker 1: be betrayed into such weakness by any poetry stuff. I
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  Speaker 1: just couldn't help thinking of the little girl you used
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  Speaker 1: to be, Anne, and I was wishing you could have
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  Speaker 1: stayed a little girl, even with all your queer ways.
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  Speaker 1: You've grown up now and you're going away, and you
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  Speaker 1: look so tall and stylish and so so different altogether
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  Speaker 1: in that dress, as if you didn't belong in Avonlea
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  Speaker 1: at all, And I just got lonesome thinking it all
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  Speaker 1: over Marilla. Anne sat down on Marilla's gingham lap, took
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  Speaker 1: Marilla's lined face between her hands, and looked gravely and
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  Speaker 1: tenderly into Marilla's eyes. I'm not a bit changed, not really,
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  Speaker 1: I'm only just pruned down and branched out. The real
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  Speaker 1: me back here is just the same. It won't make
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  Speaker 1: a bit of difference where I go or how much
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  Speaker 1: I change outwardly. At heart, I shall always be your
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  Speaker 1: little Anne. Who will love you and Matthew in dear
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  Speaker 1: green Gables more and better every day of her life.
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  Speaker 1: Anne laid her fresh, young cheek against Marilla's faded one
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  Speaker 1: and reached out a hand to pat Matthew's shoulder. Marilla
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  Speaker 1: would have given much just then to have possessed Anne's
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  Speaker 1: power of putting her feelings into words, but nature and
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  Speaker 1: habit had will it otherwise, and she could only put
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  Speaker 1: her arms close about her girl and hold her tenderly
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  Speaker 1: to her heart, wishing that she need never let her go. Matthew,
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  Speaker 1: with a suspicious moisture in his eyes, got up and
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  Speaker 1: went out of doors under the stars of the blue
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  Speaker 1: summer night. He walked agitatedly across the yard to the
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  Speaker 1: gate under the poplars. Well, now, I guess she ain't
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  Speaker 1: been much spoiled, he muttered proudly. I guess my puttin
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  Speaker 1: in my oar occasional never did much harm. After all,
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  Speaker 1: she's smart and pretty and loving too, which is better
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  Speaker 1: than all the rest. She's been a blessing to us.
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  Speaker 1: An there never was a lukier mistake than what missus
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  Speaker 1: Spencer made. If it was, look, I don't believe it
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  Speaker 1: was any such thing. It was providence, cause the Almighty
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  Speaker 1: saw we needed her. I reckon. The day finally came
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  Speaker 1: when Anne must go to town. She and Matthew drove
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  Speaker 1: in one fine September morning, after a tearful parting with
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  Speaker 1: Diana and an untearful practical one on Marilla's side, at
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  Speaker 1: least with Marilla. But when Anne had gone, Diana dried
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  Speaker 1: her tears and went to a beach picnic at White
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  Speaker 1: Sands with some of her Carmity cousins, where she contrived
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  Speaker 1: to enjoy herself tolerably well, while Marilla plunged fiercely into
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  Speaker 1: unnecessary work and kept at it all day long with
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  Speaker 1: the bitterest kind of a heart ache, the ache that
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  Speaker 1: burns and gnaws and cannot wash itself away in ready tears.
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  Speaker 1: But that night, when Marilla went to bed, acutely and
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  Speaker 1: miserably conscious that the little gable room at the end
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  Speaker 1: of the hall was untenanted by any vivid young life
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  Speaker 1: and unstirred by any soft breathing, she buried her face
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  Speaker 1: in her pillow and wept for her girl, in a
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  Speaker 1: passion of sobs that appalled her. When she grew calm
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  Speaker 1: enough to reflect how very wicked it must be to
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  Speaker 1: take on so about a sinful fellow creature. Anne and
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  Speaker 1: the rest of the Avonlea scholars reached town just in
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  Speaker 1: time to hurry off to the academy. That first day
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  Speaker 1: passed pleasantly enough, in a whirl of excitement, meeting all
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  Speaker 1: the new students, learning to know the professors by sight,
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  Speaker 1: and being assorted and organized into classes. Anne intended taking
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  Speaker 1: up the second year work, being advised to do so
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  Speaker 1: by Miss Stacy Gilbert Blythe elected to do the same.
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  Speaker 1: This meant getting a first class teacher's license in one
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  Speaker 1: year instead of two if they were successful, but it
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  Speaker 1: also meant much more and harder work. Jane Ruby, Josie Charlie,
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  Speaker 1: and Moody Spurgeon, not being troubled with the stirrings of ambition,
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  Speaker 1: were content to take up the second class work. Anne
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  Speaker 1: was conscious of a pang of loneliness when she found
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  Speaker 1: herself in a room with fifty other students, not one
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  Speaker 1: of whom she knew except the tall, brown haired boy
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  Speaker 1: across the room, and knowing him in the fashion she
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  Speaker 1: did did not help her much, as she reflected pessimistically.
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  Speaker 1: Yet she was undeniably glad that they were in the
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  Speaker 1: same class. The old rivalry could still be carried on,
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  Speaker 1: and Anne would hardly have known what to do if
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  Speaker 1: it had been lacking. I wouldn't feel comfortable without it,
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  Speaker 1: she thought. Gilbert looks awfully determined. I suppose he's making
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  Speaker 1: up his mind here and now to win the medal.
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  Speaker 1: What a splendid chin he has. I never noticed it before.
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  Speaker 1: I do wish Jane and Ruby had gone in for
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  Speaker 1: first class too. I suppose I won't feel so much
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  Speaker 1: like a cat in a strange garret when I get acquainted, though,
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  Speaker 1: I wonder which of the girls here are going to
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  Speaker 1: be my friends. It's really an interesting speculation. Of course.
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  Speaker 1: I've promised Diana that no queen's girl, no matter how
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  Speaker 1: much I liked her, should ever be as dear to
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  Speaker 1: me as she is. But I've lots of second best
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  Speaker 1: affections to bestow. I like the look of that girl
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  Speaker 1: with the brown eyes and the crimson waist. She looks
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  Speaker 1: vivid and red rosy. There's that pale fair one gazing
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  Speaker 1: out of the window. She has lovely and looks as
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  Speaker 1: if she knew a thing or two about dreams. I'd
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  Speaker 1: like to know them both know them well well enough
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  Speaker 1: to walk with my arms about their waists and call
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  Speaker 1: them nicknames. But just now I don't know them, and
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  Speaker 1: they don't know me, and probably don't want to know
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  Speaker 1: me particularly. Oh, it's lonesome. It was lonesomer still when
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  Speaker 1: Anne found herself alone in her hall bedroom that night
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  Speaker 1: at twilight. She was not to board with the other girls,
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  Speaker 1: who all had relatives in town to take pity on them.
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  Speaker 1: Miss Josephine Barry would have liked to board her, but
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  Speaker 1: Beechwood was so far from the Academy that it was
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  Speaker 1: out of the question. So Miss Barry hunted up a
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  Speaker 1: boarding house, assuring Matthew and Marilla that it was the
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  Speaker 1: very place for Anne. The lady who keeps it as
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  Speaker 1: a reduced gentlewoman, explained Miss Barry, her husband was a
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  Speaker 1: British officer, and she is very careful what sort of
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  Speaker 1: border she takes. Anne will not meet with any objectionable
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  Speaker 1: persons under her roof. The table is good, and the
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  Speaker 1: house is near the Academy in a quiet neighborhood. All
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  Speaker 1: this might be quite true, and indeed proved to be so,
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  Speaker 1: but it did not materially help Anne in the first
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  Speaker 1: agony of homesickness that seized upon her. She looked dismally
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  Speaker 1: about her narrow little room, with its dull, papered, pictureless walls,
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  Speaker 1: its small iron bedstead, and empty bookcase, and a horrible
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  Speaker 1: choke came into her throat as she thought of her
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  Speaker 1: own white room at Green Gables, where she would have
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  Speaker 1: the pleasant consciousness of a great green still outdoors, of
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  Speaker 1: sweet peas growing in the garden, and moonlight falling on
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  Speaker 1: the orchard, of the brook below the slope, and the
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  Speaker 1: spruce boughs tossing in the night wind beyond it, of
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  Speaker 1: a vast starry sky, and the light from Diana's window
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  Speaker 1: shining out through the gap in the trees. Here there
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  Speaker 1: was nothing of this. Anne knew that outside of her
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  Speaker 1: window was a hard street, with a network of telephone
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  Speaker 1: wires shutting out the sky, the tramp of alien feet,
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  Speaker 1: and a thousand lights gleaming on stranger faces. She knew
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  Speaker 1: that she was going to cry, and fought against it.
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  Speaker 1: I won't cry. It's silly and weak. There's the third
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  Speaker 1: tear splashing down by my nose. There are more coming.
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  Speaker 1: I must think of something funny to stop them. But
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  Speaker 1: there's nothing funny except what is connected with Avonlea, and
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  Speaker 1: that only makes things worse. Four five. I'm going home
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  Speaker 1: next Friday, but that seems a hundred years away. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: Matthew is nearly home by now, and Marilla is at
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  Speaker 1: the gate looking down the lane for him. Six seven, eight. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: there's no use in counting them. They're coming in a
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  Speaker 1: flood presently. I can't cheer up. I don't want to
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  Speaker 1: cheer up. It's nicer to be miserable. The flood of
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  Speaker 1: tears would have come, no doubt, had not Josie Pye appeared.
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  Speaker 1: At that moment. In the joy of seeing a familiar face,
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  Speaker 1: Anne forgot that there had never been much love lost
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  Speaker 1: between her and Josie. As a part of Avonlea life,
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  Speaker 1: even a pie was welcome. I'm so glad you came up,
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  Speaker 1: Anne said, sincerely, you've been crying, remarked Josie with aggravating pity.
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  Speaker 1: I suppose you're homesick. Some people have so little self
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  Speaker 1: control in that respect. I've no intention of being homesick.
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  Speaker 1: I can tell you town's too jolly. After that, poky
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  Speaker 1: old Avonlea, I wonder how I ever existed there so long.
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  Speaker 1: You shouldn't cry, Anne, It isn't becoming for your nose
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  Speaker 1: and eyes get red, and then you seem all red.
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  Speaker 1: I had a perfectly scrumptious time in the academy to day.
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  Speaker 1: Our French professor is simply a duck. His mustache would
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  Speaker 1: give you kerwallops of the heart. Have you anything eatable around, Anne,
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  Speaker 1: I'm literally starving. Ah. I guess likely Marilla would load
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  Speaker 1: you up with That's why I called round. Otherwise I'd
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  Speaker 1: have gone to the park to hear the band play
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  Speaker 1: with Frank Stockley. He board same place as I do,
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  Speaker 1: and he's a sport. He noticed you in class today
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  Speaker 1: and asked me who the red headed girl was. I
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  Speaker 1: told him you were an orphan that the Cuthberts had adopted,
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  Speaker 1: and nobody knew very much about what you'd been before that.
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  Speaker 1: Anne was wondering if, after all, solitude and tears were
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  Speaker 1: not more satisfactory than Josie Pye's companionship. When Jane and
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  Speaker 1: Ruby appeared, each with an inch of Queen's color ribbon
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  Speaker 1: purple and scarlet, pinned proudly to her coat. As Josie
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  Speaker 1: was not speaking to Jane just then, she had to
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  Speaker 1: subside into comparative harmlessness. Well, said Jane with a sigh.
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  Speaker 1: I feel as if I've lived many moons since the morning.
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  Speaker 1: I ought to be home studying my Virgil. That horrid
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  Speaker 1: old professor gave us twenty lines to start in on tomorrow,
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  Speaker 1: but I simply couldn't settle down to study to night.
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  Speaker 1: Anne methinks I see the traces of tears. If you've
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  Speaker 1: been crying, do own up. It will restore my self
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  Speaker 1: respect for I was shedding tears freely before Ruby came along.
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  Speaker 1: I don't mind being a goose so much if somebody
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  Speaker 1: else is goosey too. Cake, you'll give me a teeny piece,
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  Speaker 1: won't you? Thank you? It has the real avonleaf flavor. Ruby,
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  Speaker 1: perceiving the Queen's calendar lying on the table, wanted to
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  Speaker 1: know if Anne meant to try for the gold medal.
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  Speaker 1: Anne blushed and admitted she was thinking of it. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: that reminds me, said Josie. Queen's is to get one
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  Speaker 1: of the Avery scholarships. After all, the word came to
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  Speaker 1: day Frank Stockley told me his uncle is one of
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  Speaker 1: the board of governors. You know, will be announced in
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  Speaker 1: the academy tomorrow. An Avery's scholarship. Anne felt her heart
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  Speaker 1: beat more quickly, and the horizons of her ambition shifted
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  Speaker 1: and broadened, as if by magic. Before Josie had told
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  Speaker 1: the news, Anne's highest pinnacle of aspiration had been a
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  Speaker 1: teacher's provincial license class first at the end of the year,
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  Speaker 1: and perhaps the medal. But now, in one moment, Anne
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  Speaker 1: saw herself winning the Avery Scholarship, taking an arts course
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  Speaker 1: at Redmond College, and graduating in a gown and mortar board,
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  Speaker 1: all before the echo of Josie's words had died away.
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  Speaker 1: For the Avery Scholarship was in English, and Anne felt
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  Speaker 1: that here her foot was on her native heath. A
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  Speaker 1: wealthy manufacturer of New Brunswick had died and left part
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  Speaker 1: of his fortune to endow a large number of scholarships
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  Speaker 1: to be distributed among the various high schools and academics
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  Speaker 1: of the Maritime provinces according to their respective standings. There
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  Speaker 1: had been much doubt whether one would be allotted to
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  Speaker 1: Queen's but the matter was settled at last, and at
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  Speaker 1: the end of the year the graduate who made the
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  Speaker 1: highest mark in English and English literature would win the
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  Speaker 1: scholarship two hundred and fifty dollars a year for four
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  Speaker 1: years at Redmond College. No wonder that Anne went to
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  Speaker 1: bed that night with tingling cheeks. I'll win that scholarship
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  Speaker 1: if hard work can do it, she resolved. Wouldn't Matthew
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  Speaker 1: be proud if I got to be a b A. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: It's delightful to have ambitions. I'm so glad I have
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  Speaker 1: such a lot. And there never seems to be any
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  Speaker 1: end to them. That's the best of it. Just as
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  Speaker 1: soon as you attained to one ambition, you see another
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  Speaker 1: one glittering higher up. Still, it does make life so interesting.
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  Speaker 1: End of chapter thirty four, recorded by Annie Coleman in
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  Speaker 1: Saint Louis, Missouri, in March two thousand eight.