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

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  Speaker 1: Chapter thirty six 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 Rothenberg Www dot Annie Cooleman dot com.
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  Speaker 1: Anne of green Gables by lucymaud Montgomery, Chapter thirty six,
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  Speaker 1: The Glory and the Dream. On the morning when the
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  Speaker 1: final results of all the examinations were to be posted
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  Speaker 1: on the bulletin board at Queen's, Anne and Jane walked
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  Speaker 1: down the street together. Jane was smiling and happy. Examinations
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  Speaker 1: were over, and she was comfortably sure she had made
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  Speaker 1: a pass at least. Further considerations troubled Jane not at all.
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  Speaker 1: She had no soaring ambitions and consequently was not affected
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  Speaker 1: with the unrest attendant thereon. For we pay a price
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  Speaker 1: for everything we get or take in this world, and
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  Speaker 1: although ambitions are well worth having, they are not to
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  Speaker 1: be cheaply won, but exact their dues of work and
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  Speaker 1: self denial, anxiety, and discouragement. Anne was pale and quiet.
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  Speaker 1: In ten more minutes she would know who had won
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  Speaker 1: the medal and who the avery beyond those ten minutes
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  Speaker 1: there did not seem just then to be anything worth
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  Speaker 1: being called time. Of course, you'll win one of them, anyhow,
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  Speaker 1: said Jane, who couldn't understand how the faculty could be
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  Speaker 1: so unfair as to order it otherwise, I have no
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  Speaker 1: hope of the avery, said Anne. Everybody says Emily Clay
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  Speaker 1: will win it. And I'm not going to march up
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  Speaker 1: to that bulletin board and look at it before everybody.
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  Speaker 1: I haven't the moral courage. I'm going straight to the
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  Speaker 1: girl's dressing room. You must read the announcements and then
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  Speaker 1: come and tell me, Jane, and I implore you, in
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  Speaker 1: the name of our old friendship, to do it as
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  Speaker 1: quickly as possible. If I have failed, just say so
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  Speaker 1: without trying to break it gently. And whatever you do,
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  Speaker 1: don't sympathize with me. Promise me this, Jane. Jane promised solemnly,
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  Speaker 1: But as it happened, there was no necessity for such
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  Speaker 1: a promise. When they went up the entrance steps of
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  Speaker 1: Queen's they found the hall full of boys who were
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  Speaker 1: carrying Gilbert blythe around on their shoulders and yelling at
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  Speaker 1: the tops of their voices hooray for blythe medalist. For
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  Speaker 1: a moment, Anne felt one sickening pang of defeat and disappointment.
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  Speaker 1: So she had failed and Gilbert had won. Well, Matthew
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  Speaker 1: would be sorry. He had been so sure she would win.
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  Speaker 1: And then somebody called out three cheers for miss Shirley,
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  Speaker 1: winner of the Avery. Oh, Anne, gasped Jane as they
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  Speaker 1: fled to the girl's dressing room, amid hearty cheers, Oh Anne,
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  Speaker 1: I'm so proud, isn't it splendid? And then the girls
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  Speaker 1: were around them, and Anne was the center of a laughing,
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  Speaker 1: congratulating group. Her shoulders were thumped and her hands shaken vigorously.
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  Speaker 1: She was pushed and pulled and hugged, and among it
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  Speaker 1: all she managed to whisper to Jane, Oh, won't Matthew
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  Speaker 1: and Marilla be pleased? I must write the news home
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  Speaker 1: right away. Commencement was the next important happening. The exercises
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  Speaker 1: were held in the big assembly hall of the academy.
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  Speaker 1: Addresses were given, essays, read, songs sung, the public award
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  Speaker 1: of diplomas, prizes and medals made. Matthew and Marilla were
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  Speaker 1: there with eyes and ears for only one student on
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  Speaker 1: the platform, a tall girl in pale green with faintly
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  Speaker 1: flushed cheeks and starry eyes, who read the best essay
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  Speaker 1: and was pointed out and whispered about as the Avery winner. Reckon,
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  Speaker 1: you're glad we kept her, Marilla, whispered Matthew, speaking for
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  Speaker 1: the first time since he had entered the hall when
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  Speaker 1: Anne had finished her essay. It's not the first time
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  Speaker 1: I've been glad, retorted Marilla. You do like to rub
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  Speaker 1: things in Matthew Cuthbert. Miss Barry, who was sitting behind them,
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  Speaker 1: leaned forward and poked Marilla in the back with her parasol.
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  Speaker 1: Aren't you proud of that, aunt girl? I am, she said.
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  Speaker 1: Anne went home to Avonlea with Matthew and Marilla that evening.
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  Speaker 1: She had not been home since April, and she felt
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  Speaker 1: that she could not wait another day. The apple blossoms
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  Speaker 1: were out and the world was fresh, and young Diana
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  Speaker 1: was atchering gables to meet her in her own white room,
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  Speaker 1: where Marilla had set a flowering house rose on the
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  Speaker 1: window sill. Anne looked about her and drew a long
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  Speaker 1: breath of happiness. Oh Diana, it's so good to be
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  Speaker 1: back again. It's so good to see those pointed firs
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  Speaker 1: coming out against the pink sky and that white orchard
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  Speaker 1: and the old snow Queen. Isn't the breath of the
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  Speaker 1: mint delicious? And that tea rose? Why? It's a song
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  Speaker 1: and a hope and a prayer all in one. And
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  Speaker 1: it's good to see you again, Diana. I thought you
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  Speaker 1: liked that Stella Maynard better than me, said Diana, reproachfully.
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  Speaker 1: Josie Pye told me you did. Josie said you were
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  Speaker 1: infatuated with her. Anne laughed and pelted Diana with the
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  Speaker 1: faded June lilies of her bouquet. Stella Maynard is the
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  Speaker 1: dearest girl in the world except one, and you are
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  Speaker 1: that one, Diana, She said. I love you more than ever,
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  Speaker 1: and I've so many things to tell you, But just
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  Speaker 1: now I feel as if it were joy enough to
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  Speaker 1: sit here and look at you. I'm tired, I think,
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  Speaker 1: tired of being studious and ambitious. I mean to spend
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  Speaker 1: at least two hours tomorrow lying out in the orchard
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  Speaker 1: grass thinking of absolutely nothing. You've done splendidly, Anne, I
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  Speaker 1: suppose you won't be teaching now that you've won the Avery. No,
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to Redmond in September, doesn't it seem wonderful.
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  Speaker 1: I have a brand new stock of ambition laid in
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  Speaker 1: by that time, after three glorious golden months of vacation,
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  Speaker 1: Jane and Ruby are going to teach. Isn't it splendid
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  Speaker 1: to think we all got through, even to Moody Spurgeon
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  Speaker 1: and Josie Pye. The Newbridge trustees have offered Jane their
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  Speaker 1: school already, said Diana. Gilbert blythe is going to teach too.
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  Speaker 1: He has to. His father can't afford to send him
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  Speaker 1: to college next year, after all, so he means to
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  Speaker 1: earn his own way through. I expect he'll get the
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  Speaker 1: school here. If miss Ames decides to leave. Anne felt
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  Speaker 1: a queer little sensation of dismayed surprise. She had not
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  Speaker 1: known this. She had expected that Gilbert would be going
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  Speaker 1: to Redmond. Also, what would she do without their inspiring rivalry?
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  Speaker 1: Would not work even at a co educational college with
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  Speaker 1: a real degree in prospect, be rather flat without her
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  Speaker 1: friend the enemy. The next morning, at breakfast, it suddenly
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  Speaker 1: struck Anne that Matthew was not looking well. Surely he
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  Speaker 1: was much grayer than he had been a year before. Marilla,
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  Speaker 1: she said, hesitatingly, when he had gone out, is Matthew
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  Speaker 1: quite well. No he isn't, said Marilla in a troubled tone.
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  Speaker 1: He's had some real bad spells with his heart this spring,
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  Speaker 1: and he won't spare himself a mite. I've been real
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  Speaker 1: worried about him, but he's some better this while back,
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  Speaker 1: and we've got a good hired man, so I'm hoping
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  Speaker 1: whole kind of rest and pick up. Maybe he will
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  Speaker 1: now your home. You always cheer him up. Anne Lee
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  Speaker 1: to cross the table and took Marilla's face in her hands.
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  Speaker 1: You are not looking as well yourself as i'd like
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  Speaker 1: to see you, Marilla. You look tired. I'm afraid you've
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  Speaker 1: been working too hard. You must take a rest now
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  Speaker 1: that I'm home. I'm just going to take this one
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  Speaker 1: day off to visit all the dear old spots and
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  Speaker 1: hunt up my old dreams. And then it will be
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  Speaker 1: your turn to be lazy while I do the work.
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  Speaker 1: Marilla smiled affectionately at her girl. It's not the work,
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  Speaker 1: it's my head. I have a pain so often now
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  Speaker 1: behind my eyes. Doctor Spencer's been fussing with glasses, but
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  Speaker 1: they don't do me any good. There is a distinguished
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  Speaker 1: oculist coming to the island. The last of June, and
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  Speaker 1: the doctor says I must see him. I guess I'll
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  Speaker 1: have to. I can't read or sew with any comfort. Now, well, Anne,
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  Speaker 1: you've done real well a queen's I must say, to
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  Speaker 1: take first class license in one year and win the
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  Speaker 1: Avery Scholarship. Well well, missus. Lynde says pride goes before
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  Speaker 1: a fall, and she doesn't believe in the higher education
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  Speaker 1: of women at all. She says it unfits them for
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  Speaker 1: women's true sphere. I don't believe a word of it.
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  Speaker 1: Speaking of Rachel, reminds me did you hear anything about
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  Speaker 1: the Abbey Bank lately? Anne? I heard that it was shaky,
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  Speaker 1: answered Anne, Why that is what Rachel said? She was
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  Speaker 1: up here one day last week and said there was
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  Speaker 1: some talk about it. Matthew felt real worried. All we
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  Speaker 1: have saved is in that bank, every penny. I wanted
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  Speaker 1: Matthew to put it in the savings bank in the
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  Speaker 1: first place, but old mister Abbey was a great friend
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  Speaker 1: of father's and he'd always banked with him. Matthew said,
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  Speaker 1: any bank with him at the head of it was
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  Speaker 1: good enough for anybody. I think he has only been
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  Speaker 1: its nominal head for many years, said Anne. He is
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  Speaker 1: a very old man. His nephews are really at the
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  Speaker 1: head of the institution. Well, when Rachel told us that
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  Speaker 1: I wanted Matthew to draw our money right out, and
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  Speaker 1: he said he'd think of it, But mister Russell told
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  Speaker 1: him yesterday that the bank was all right. Anne had
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  Speaker 1: her good day in the companionship of the outdoor world.
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  Speaker 1: She never forgot that day. It was so bright and
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  Speaker 1: golden and fair, so free from shadow, and so lavish
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  Speaker 1: of blossom. Anne spent some of its rich hours in
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  Speaker 1: the orchard. She went to the Dryad's Bubble, and Willowmere
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  Speaker 1: and Violet Vale. She called at the manse and had
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  Speaker 1: a satisfying talk with missus Allen, And finally in the
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  Speaker 1: evening she went with Matthew for the cows through Lover's
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  Speaker 1: Lane to the back pasture. The woods were all gloried
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  Speaker 1: through with sunset, and the warm splendor of its streamed
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  Speaker 1: down through the hill gaps. In the west. Matthew walked
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  Speaker 1: slowly with bent head. Anne tall and erect suited her
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  Speaker 1: springing step to his. You've been working too hard to day, Matthew,
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  Speaker 1: she said, reproachfully. Why don't you take things easier. Well,
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  Speaker 1: now I can't seem to, said Matthew, as he opened
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  Speaker 1: the yard gate to let the cows through. It's only
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  Speaker 1: that I'm getting old, Anne, and keep forgetting it. Well, well,
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  Speaker 1: I've always worked pretty hard, and i'd rather drop in harness.
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  Speaker 1: If I had been the boy you sent for, said
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  Speaker 1: Anne wistfully. I'd be able to help you so much
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  Speaker 1: now and spare you in a hundred ways. I could
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  Speaker 1: find it in my heart to wish I had been
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  Speaker 1: just for that. Well, now, I'd rather have you than
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  Speaker 1: a dozen boys, Anne, said Matthew, patting her hand. Just
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  Speaker 1: mind you that rather than a dozen boys. Well, now,
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  Speaker 1: I guess it wasn't a boy that took the Avery scholarship,
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  Speaker 1: was it. It was a girl, My girl, My girl,
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  Speaker 1: that I am proud of. He smiled his shy smile
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  Speaker 1: at her as he went into the yard. Anne took
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  Speaker 1: the memory of it with her when she went to
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  Speaker 1: her room that night, and sat for a long time
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  Speaker 1: while at her open window, thinking of the past and
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  Speaker 1: dreaming of the future. Outside, the snow Queen was mistily
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  Speaker 1: white in the moonshine. The frogs were singing in the
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  Speaker 1: marsh beyond orchard slope. Anne always remembered the silvery, peaceful
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  Speaker 1: beauty and fragrant calm of that night. It was the
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  Speaker 1: last night before sorrow touched her life. And no life
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  Speaker 1: is ever quite the same again, when once that cold,
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  Speaker 1: sanctifying touch has been laid upon it. End of Chapter
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  Speaker 1: thirty six, recorded by Annie Coleman Rothenberg in Saint Louis, Missouri,
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  Speaker 1: in June to thousand eight,