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

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  Speaker 1: Chapter thirty seven 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 Coleman dot com.
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  Speaker 1: Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery, Chapter thirty seven.
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  Speaker 1: The Reaper whose name is Death. Matthew, Matthew, what is
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  Speaker 1: the matter? Matthew? Are you sick? It was Marilla who
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  Speaker 1: spoke alarm in every jerky word. Anne came through the hall,
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  Speaker 1: her hands full of white narcissus. It was long before
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  Speaker 1: Anne could love the sight or odor of white narcissus again,
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  Speaker 1: in time to hear her and to see Matthew standing
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  Speaker 1: in the porch doorway, a folded paper in his hand
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  Speaker 1: and his face strangely drawn and gray. Anne dropped her
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  Speaker 1: flowers and sprang across the kitchen to him at the
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  Speaker 1: same moment as Marilla. They were both too late. Before
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  Speaker 1: they could reach him, Matthew had fallen across the threshold.
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  Speaker 1: He's fainted, gasped Marilla. Anne. Run for Martin, quick quick,
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  Speaker 1: He's at the barn. Martin the hired man, who had
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  Speaker 1: just driven home from the post office, started at once
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  Speaker 1: for the doctor, calling at Orchard Slope on his way
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  Speaker 1: to send mister and missus Barry over. Missus Lynde, who
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  Speaker 1: was there on an errand came too. They found Anne
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  Speaker 1: and Marilla distractedly trying to restore Matthew to consciousness. Missus
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  Speaker 1: Lynde pushed them gently aside, tried his pulse, and then
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  Speaker 1: laid her ear over his heart. She looked at their
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  Speaker 1: anxious faces sorrowfully, and the tears came into her eyes. Oh, Marilla,
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  Speaker 1: she said gravely, I don't think we can do anything
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  Speaker 1: for him. Missus Lynde, you don't think you can't think
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  Speaker 1: Matthew is is. Anne could not say the dreadful word.
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  Speaker 1: She turned sick and pallid. Child. Yes, I'm afraid of it.
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  Speaker 1: Look at his face. When you've seen that look as
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  Speaker 1: often as I have, you'll know what it means. Anne
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  Speaker 1: looked at the still face, and there beheld the seal
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  Speaker 1: of the great presence. When the doctor came, he said
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  Speaker 1: the death had been instantaneous and probably painless, caused in
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  Speaker 1: all likelihood by some sudden shock. The secret of the
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  Speaker 1: shock was discovered to be in the paper Matthew had
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  Speaker 1: held and which Martin had brought from the office that morning.
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  Speaker 1: It contained an account of the failure of the abbey bank.
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  Speaker 1: The news spread quickly through Avonlea, and all day friends
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  Speaker 1: an neighbors thronged green Gables and came and went on
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  Speaker 1: errands of kindness for the dead and living. For the
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  Speaker 1: first time, shy, quiet, Matthew Cuthbert was a person of
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  Speaker 1: central importance. The white majesty of death had fallen on
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  Speaker 1: him and set him apart as one crowned. When the
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  Speaker 1: calm night came softly down over green Gables, the old
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  Speaker 1: house was hushed and tranquil. In the parlor lay Matthew
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  Speaker 1: Cuthbert in his coffin, his long gray hair framing his
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  Speaker 1: placid face, on which there was a little kindly smile,
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  Speaker 1: as if he but slept dreaming pleasant dreams. There were
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  Speaker 1: flowers about him, sweet old fashioned flowers, which his mother
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  Speaker 1: had planted in the homestead garden in her bridal days,
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  Speaker 1: and for which Matthew had always had a secret, wordless love.
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  Speaker 1: Anne had gathered them and brought them to him, her anguished,
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  Speaker 1: tearless eyes burning in her white face. It was the
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  Speaker 1: last thing she could do for him. The berries and
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  Speaker 1: missus Lynde stayed with them that night. Diana, going to
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  Speaker 1: the east gable where Anne was standing at her window,
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  Speaker 1: said gently, Anne, dear, would you like to have me
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  Speaker 1: sleep with you tonight? Thank you? Diana. Anne looked earnestly
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  Speaker 1: into her friend's face. I think you won't misunderstand me
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  Speaker 1: when I say that I want to be alone. I'm
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  Speaker 1: not afraid. I haven't been alone one minute since it happened,
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  Speaker 1: and I want to be I want to be quite
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  Speaker 1: silent and quiet and try to realize it. I can't
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  Speaker 1: realize it. Half the time, it seems to me that
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  Speaker 1: Matthew can't be dead, and the other half it seems
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  Speaker 1: as if he must have been dead for a long time.
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  Speaker 1: And I've had this horrible dull ache ever since. Diana
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  Speaker 1: did not quite understand Marilla's impassioned grief, breaking all the
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  Speaker 1: bounds of natural reserve and lifelong habit in its stormy rush.
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  Speaker 1: She could comprehend better than Anne's tearless agony, but she
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  Speaker 1: went away kindly, leaving Anne alone to keep her first
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  Speaker 1: vigil with sorrow. Anne hoped that tears would come in solitude.
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  Speaker 1: It seemed to her a terrible thing that she could
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  Speaker 1: not shed a tear for Matthew, whom she had loved
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  Speaker 1: so much and who had been so kind to her,
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  Speaker 1: Matthew who had walked with her last evening at sunset,
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  Speaker 1: and was now lying in the dim room below with
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  Speaker 1: that awful peace on his brow. But no tears came
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  Speaker 1: at first, even when she knelt by her window in
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  Speaker 1: the darkness and prayed, looking up to the stars beyond
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  Speaker 1: the hills. No tears, only the same horrible dull ache
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  Speaker 1: of misery that kept on aching until she fell asleep,
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  Speaker 1: worn out with the day's pain and excitement. In the night,
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  Speaker 1: she awakened with the stillness in the darkness about her,
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  Speaker 1: and the recollection of the day came over her like
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  Speaker 1: a wave of sorrow. She could see Matthew's face smiling
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  Speaker 1: at her, as he had smiled when they parted at
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  Speaker 1: the gate that last evening. She could hear his voice saying,
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  Speaker 1: my girl, my girl that I'm proud of. Then the
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  Speaker 1: tears came, and Anne wept her heart out. Marilla heard
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  Speaker 1: her and crept in to comfort her. There there, don't cry,
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  Speaker 1: so dearie. It can't bring him back it. It isn't
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  Speaker 1: right to cry. So I knew that today, but I
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  Speaker 1: couldn't help it then. He'd always been such a good,
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  Speaker 1: kind brother to me. But God knows best. Oh, just
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  Speaker 1: let me cry, Marilla sobbed. Anne. The tears don't hurt
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  Speaker 1: me like that. Ache did stay here for a little
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  Speaker 1: while with me and keep your arm round me. So
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  Speaker 1: I couldn't have Diana stay. She's good and kind and sweet,
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  Speaker 1: but it's not her sorrow. She's outside of it, and
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  Speaker 1: she couldn't come close enough to my heart to help me.
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  Speaker 1: It's our sorrow, yours and mine. Oh Marilla, what will
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  Speaker 1: we do without him? We've got each other. Anne. I
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  Speaker 1: don't know what I'd do if you weren't here, if
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  Speaker 1: you'd never come. Oh Anne, I know I've been kind
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  Speaker 1: of strict and harsh with you, maybe, but you mustn't
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  Speaker 1: think I didn't love you as well as Matthew did.
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  Speaker 1: For all that. I want to tell you now when
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  Speaker 1: I can. It's never been easy for me to say
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  Speaker 1: things out of my heart, but at times like this
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  Speaker 1: it's easier. I love you as dear, as if you
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  Speaker 1: were my own flesh and blood, and you've been my
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  Speaker 1: joy and comfort ever since you came to Green Gables.
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  Speaker 1: Two days afterwards, they carried Matthew Cuthbert over his homestead
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  Speaker 1: threshold and away from the fields he had tilled, and
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  Speaker 1: the orchards he had loved, and the trees he had planted.
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  Speaker 1: And then Avonlea settled back to its usual placidity, and
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  Speaker 1: even at Green Gables, affairs slipped into their old groove,
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  Speaker 1: and work was done and duties fulfilled with regularity as before,
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  Speaker 1: although always with an aching sense of loss in all
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  Speaker 1: familiar things. Anne new to grief, thought it almost sad
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  Speaker 1: that it could be so that they could go on
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  Speaker 1: in the old way without Matthew. She felt something like
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  Speaker 1: shame and remorse when she discovered that the sun rise
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  Speaker 1: behind the firs, and the pale pink buds opening in
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  Speaker 1: the garden gave her the old in rush of gladness
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  Speaker 1: when she saw them, That Diana's visits were pleasant to her,
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  Speaker 1: and that Diana's merry words and ways moved her to
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  Speaker 1: laughter and smiles, That in brief, the beautiful world of
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  Speaker 1: blossom and love and friendship had lost none of its
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  Speaker 1: power to please her fancy and thrill her heart. That
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  Speaker 1: life still called to her with many insistent voices. It
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  Speaker 1: seems like disloyalty to Matthew somehow to find pleasure in
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  Speaker 1: these things now that he has gone, she said wistfully
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  Speaker 1: to missus Allan one evening, when they were together in
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  Speaker 1: the man's garden. I miss him so much all the time,
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  Speaker 1: and yet, Missus Allan, the world and life seemed very,
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  Speaker 1: very beautiful and interesting to me for all to day.
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  Speaker 1: Diana said something funny, and I found myself laughing. I
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  Speaker 1: thought when it happened, I could never laugh again, And
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  Speaker 1: it somehow seems as if I oughtn't to. When Matthew
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  Speaker 1: was here, he liked to hear you laugh, and he
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  Speaker 1: liked to know that you found pleasure in the pleasant
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  Speaker 1: things around you, said Missus Allan gently. He is just
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  Speaker 1: away now, and he likes to know it just the same.
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  Speaker 1: I am sure we should not shut our hearts against
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  Speaker 1: the healing influences that nature offers us. But I understand
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  Speaker 1: your feeling. I think we all experience the same thing.
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  Speaker 1: We resent the thought that anything can please us when
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  Speaker 1: someone we love is no longer here to share the
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  Speaker 1: pleasure with us, and we almost feel as if we
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  Speaker 1: were unfaithful to our sorrow when we find our interest
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  Speaker 1: in life returning to us. I was down to the
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  Speaker 1: graveyard to plant a rose bush on Matthew's grave this afternoon,
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  Speaker 1: said Anne dreamily. I took a slip of the little
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  Speaker 1: white Scotch rose bush his mother brought out from Scotland
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  Speaker 1: long ago. Matthew always liked those roses the best. They
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  Speaker 1: were so small and sweet on their thorny stems. It
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  Speaker 1: made me feel glad that I could plant it by
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  Speaker 1: his grave, as if I were doing something that must
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  Speaker 1: please him in taking it there to be near him.
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  Speaker 1: I hope he has roses like them in heaven. Perhaps
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  Speaker 1: the souls of all those little white roses that he
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  Speaker 1: has loved so many summers were all there to meet him.
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  Speaker 1: I must go home now. Marilla is all alone, and
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  Speaker 1: she gets lonely. At twilight she will be lonelier still.
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  Speaker 1: I fear when you go away again to college, said
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  Speaker 1: missus Allen. Anne did not reply. She said good night
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  Speaker 1: and went slowly back to Green Gables. Marilla was sitting
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  Speaker 1: on the front door steps, and Anne sat down beside her.
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  Speaker 1: The front door was opened behind them, held back by
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  Speaker 1: a big pink conk shell, with its hints of sea
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  Speaker 1: sunsets and its smooth inner convolutions. Anne gathered some sprays
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  Speaker 1: of pale yellow honeysuckle and put them in her hair.
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  Speaker 1: She liked the delicious hint of fragrance, as of some
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  Speaker 1: aerial benediction above her every time she moved. Doctor Spencer
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  Speaker 1: was here while you are away, Marilla said. He says
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  Speaker 1: that the specialists will be in town tomorrow, and he
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  Speaker 1: insists that I must go in and have my eyes examined.
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  Speaker 1: I suppose i'd better go and have it over. I'll
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  Speaker 1: be more than thankful if the man can give me
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  Speaker 1: the right kind of glasses to suit my eyes. You
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  Speaker 1: won't mind standing here alone while I'm away, will you.
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  Speaker 1: Martin will have to drive me in, and there's ironing
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  Speaker 1: and baking to do. I shall be all right. Diana
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  Speaker 1: will come over for company for me. I shall attend
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  Speaker 1: to the ironing and baking beautifully. You needn't fear that
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  Speaker 1: I'll stretch the handkerchiefs or flavor the cake with liniment.
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  Speaker 1: Marilla laughed. What a girl you were for making mistakes
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  Speaker 1: in them days, Anne, You are always getting into scrapes.
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  Speaker 1: I did used to think you were possessed. Do you
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  Speaker 1: mind the time you dyed your hair? Yes, indeed, I
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  Speaker 1: shall never forget it, smiled Anne, touching the heavy braid
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  Speaker 1: of hair that was wound about her shapely head. I
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  Speaker 1: laugh a little now sometimes when I think what a
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  Speaker 1: worry my hair used to be to me. But I
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  Speaker 1: don't laugh much, because it was a very real trouble then.
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  Speaker 1: I did suffer terribly over my hair and my freckles.
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  Speaker 1: My freckles are really gone, and people are nice enough
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  Speaker 1: to tell me my hair is auburn now all. But
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  Speaker 1: Josie Pye she informed me yesterday that she really thought
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  Speaker 1: it was redder than ever, or at least my black
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  Speaker 1: dress made it look redder. And she asked me if
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  Speaker 1: people who had red hair ever got used to having it. Marilla,
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  Speaker 1: I've almost decided to give up trying to like Josie Pye.
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  Speaker 1: I've made what I would once have called a heroic
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  Speaker 1: effort to like her. But Josie Pye won't be liked.
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  Speaker 1: Josie is a pie, said Marilla sharply, so she can't
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  Speaker 1: help being disagreeable. I suppose people of that kind serve
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  Speaker 1: some useful purpose in society, but I must say I
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  Speaker 1: don't know what it is any more than I know
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  Speaker 1: the use of thistles. Is Josie going to teach? No,
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  Speaker 1: She's going back to Queen's next year. So are Moody,
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  Speaker 1: Spurgeon and Charlie Sloane. Jane and Ruby are going to teach,
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  Speaker 1: and they have both got schools, Jane at Newbridge and
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  Speaker 1: Ruby at some place up west Gilbert Blythe is going
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  Speaker 1: to teach too, isn't he? Yes? Briefly, what a nice
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  Speaker 1: looking young fellow he is, said Marilla absently. I saw
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  Speaker 1: him in church last Sunday and he seemed so tall
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  Speaker 1: and manly. He looks a lot like his father did
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  Speaker 1: at the same age. John Blythe was a nice boy.
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  Speaker 1: We used to be real good friends. He and I.
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  Speaker 1: People called him my beau. Anne looked up with swift interest. Oh, Marilla,
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  Speaker 1: and what happened? Why didn't you? We had a quarrel.
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  Speaker 1: I wouldn't forgive him when he asked me to. I
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  Speaker 1: meant to after a while, but I was sulky and angry,
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  Speaker 1: and I wanted to punish him first. He never came back.
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  Speaker 1: The Blithes were all mighty independent, but I always felt
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  Speaker 1: rather sorry. I've always kind of wished I'd forgiven him
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  Speaker 1: when I had the chance. So you've had a bit
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  Speaker 1: of romance in your life, too, said Anne softly. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: I suppose you might call it that. You wouldn't think
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  Speaker 1: so to look at me, would you. But you never
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  Speaker 1: can tell about people from their outsides. Everybody has forgot
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  Speaker 1: about me and John. I'd forgotten myself, but it all
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  Speaker 1: came back to me when I saw Gilbert last Sunday,
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  Speaker 1: end of chapter thirty seven, recorded by Annie Coleman Rothenburg
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  Speaker 1: in Saint Louis, Missouri, in August two thousand eight.