smile which exalted that infatuated youth
straightway into the
seventh heaven of delight and caused him to make such fearful
errors in his dictation that Mr. Phillips kept him in after
school to rewrite it.
But as,
The Caesar's
pageant shorn of Brutus' bust
Did but of Rome's best son
remind her more.
so the marked
absence of any
tribute or
recognition from Diana
Barry who was sitting with Gertie Pye embittered Anne's little
triumph.
"Diana might just have smiled at me once, I think," she mourned
to Marilla that night. But the next morning a note most
fearfully and
wonderfully twisted and folded, and a small parcel
were passed across to Anne.
Dear Anne (ran the former)
Mother says I'm not to play with you or talk to you even in
school. It isn't my fault and don't be cross at me, because I
love you as much as ever. I miss you
awfully to tell all my
secrets to and I don't like Gertie Pye one bit. I made you one
of the new bookmarkers out of red
tissue paper. They are
awfullyfashionable now and only three girls in school know how to make
them. When you look at it remember
Your true friend
Diana Barry.
Anne read the note, kissed the bookmark, and dispatched a prompt
reply back to the other side of the school.
My own
darling Diana:--
Of course I am not cross at you because you have to obey your
mother. Our spirits can
commune. I shall keep your lovely
present forever. Minnie Andrews is a very nice little
girl--although she has no
imagination--but after having been
Diana's busum friend I cannot be Minnie's. Please excuse
mistakes because my
spelling isn't very good yet, although much
improoved.
Yours until death us do part
Anne or Cordelia Shirley.
P.S. I shall sleep with your letter under my pillow tonight.
A. OR C.S.
Marilla pessimistically expected more trouble since Anne had
again begun to go to school. But none developed. Perhaps Anne
caught something of the "model" spirit from Minnie Andrews; at
least she got on very well with Mr. Phillips thenceforth. She
flung herself into her studies heart and soul, determined not to
be outdone in any class by Gilbert Blythe. The
rivalry between
them was soon
apparent; it was entirely good natured on Gilbert's
side; but it is much to be feared that the same thing cannot be
said of Anne, who had certainly an unpraiseworthy tenacity for
holding grudges. She was as
intense in her hatreds as in her
loves. She would not stoop to admit that she meant to rival
Gilbert in schoolwork, because that would have been to
acknowledge his
existence which Anne persistently ignored; but
the
rivalry was there and honors fluctuated between them. Now
Gilbert was head of the
spelling class; now Anne, with a toss of
her long red braids, spelled him down. One morning Gilbert had
all his sums done
correctly and had his name written on the
blackboard on the roll of honor; the next morning Anne, having
wrestled wildly with decimals the entire evening before, would be
first. One awful day they were ties and their names were written
up together. It was almost as bad as a take-notice and Anne's
mortification was as
evident as Gilbert's
satisfaction. When the
written examinations at the end of each month were held the
suspense was terrible. The first month Gilbert came out three
marks ahead. The second Anne beat him by five. But her
triumphwas marred by the fact that Gilbert congratulated her heartily
before the whole school. It would have been ever so much sweeter
to her if he had felt the sting of his defeat.
Mr. Phillips might not be a very good teacher; but a pupil so
inflexibly determined on
learning as Anne was could hardly escape
making progress under any kind of teacher. By the end of the
term Anne and Gilbert were both promoted into the fifth class and
allowed to begin studying the elements of "the branches"--by
which Latin, geometry, French, and algebra were meant. In
geometry Anne met her Waterloo.
"It's
perfectly awful stuff, Marilla," she groaned. "I'm sure
I'll never be able to make head or tail of it. There is no scope
for
imagination in it at all. Mr. Phillips says I'm the worst
dunce he ever saw at it. And Gil--I mean some of the others are
so smart at it. It is
extremely mortifying, Marilla.
Even Diana gets along better than I do. But I don't mind being
beaten by Diana. Even although we meet as strangers now I still
love her with an INEXTINGUISHABLE love. It makes me very sad at
times to think about her. But really, Marilla, one can't stay
sad very long in such an interesting world, can one?"
CHAPTER XVIII
Anne to the Rescue
ALL things great are wound up with all things little. At first
glance it might not seem that the decision of a certain Canadian
Premier to include Prince Edward Island in a political tour could
have much or anything to do with the fortunes of little Anne
Shirley at Green Gables. But it had.
It was a January the Premier came, to address his loyal
supporters and such of his nonsupporters as chose to be present
at the
monster mass meeting held in Charlottetown. Most of the
Avonlea people were on Premier's side of
politics; hence on the
night of the meeting nearly all the men and a
goodly proportion
of the women had gone to town thirty miles away. Mrs. Rachel
Lynde had gone too. Mrs. Rachel Lynde was a red-hot politician
and couldn't have believed that the political rally could be
carried through without her, although she was on the opposite
side of
politics. So she went to town and took her
husband--Thomas would be useful in looking after the horse--and
Marilla Cuthbert with her. Marilla had a sneaking interest in
politics herself, and as she thought it might be her only chance
to see a real live Premier, she
promptly took it, leaving Anne
and Matthew to keep house until her return the following day.
Hence, while Marilla and Mrs. Rachel were enjoying themselves
hugely at the mass meeting, Anne and Matthew had the cheerful
kitchen at Green Gables all to themselves. A bright fire was
glowing in the
old-fashioned Waterloo stove and blue-white frost
crystals were shining on the windowpanes. Matthew nodded over a
FARMERS' ADVOCATE on the sofa and Anne at the table
studied her
lessons with grim
determination,
despitesundrywistful glances
at the clock shelf, where lay a new book that Jane Andrews had
lent her that day. Jane had
assured her that it was warranted to
produce any number of thrills, or words to that effect, and
Anne's fingers tingled to reach out for it. But that would mean
Gilbert Blythe's
triumph on the
morrow. Anne turned her back on
the clock shelf and tried to imagine it wasn't there.
"Matthew, did you ever study geometry when you went to school?"
"Well now, no, I didn't," said Matthew, coming out of his doze
with a start.
"I wish you had," sighed Anne, "because then you'd be able to
sympathize with me. You can't sympathize
properly if you've
never
studied it. It is casting a cloud over my whole life. I'm
such a dunce at it, Matthew."
"Well now, I dunno," said Matthew soothingly. "I guess you're
all right at anything. Mr. Phillips told me last week in
Blair's store at Carmody that you was the smartest
scholar in
school and was making rapid progress. `Rapid progress' was his
very words. There's them as runs down Teddy Phillips and says he
ain't much of a teacher, but I guess he's all right."
Matthew would have thought anyone who praised Anne was "all
right."
"I'm sure I'd get on better with geometry if only he wouldn't
change the letters," complained Anne. "I learn the proposition
off by heart and then he draws it on the blackboard and puts
different letters from what are in the book and I get all mixed
up. I don't think a teacher should take such a mean advantage,
do you? We're studying
agriculture now and I've found out at
last what makes the roads red. It's a great comfort. I wonder
how Marilla and Mrs. Lynde are enjoying themselves. Mrs. Lynde
says Canada is going to the dogs the way things are being run at
Ottawa and that it's an awful
warning to the electors. She says
if women were allowed to vote we would soon see a
blessed change.
What way do you vote, Matthew?"
"Conservative," said Matthew
promptly. To vote Conservative was
part of Matthew's religion.
"Then I'm Conservative too," said Anne
decidedly. "I'm glad
because Gil--because some of the boys in school are Grits. I
guess Mr. Phillips is a Grit too because Prissy Andrews's father
is one, and Ruby Gillis says that when a man is courting he
always has to agree with the girl's mother in religion and her
father in
politics. Is that true, Matthew?"
"Well now, I dunno," said Matthew.
"Did you ever go courting, Matthew?"
"Well now, no, I dunno's I ever did," said Matthew, who had
certainly never thought of such a thing in his whole
existence.
Anne reflected with her chin in her hands.
"It must be rather interesting, don't you think, Matthew? Ruby
Gillis says when she grows up she's going to have ever so many
beaus on the string and have them all crazy about her; but I
think that would be too exciting. I'd rather have just one in
his right mind. But Ruby Gillis knows a great deal about such
matters because she has so many big sisters, and Mrs. Lynde says
the Gillis girls have gone off like hot cakes. Mr. Phillips
goes up to see Prissy Andrews nearly every evening. He says it
is to help her with her lessons but Miranda Sloane is studying
for Queen's too, and I should think she needed help a lot more
than Prissy because she's ever so much stupider, but he never
goes to help her in the evenings at all. There are a great many
things in this world that I can't understand very well, Matthew."
"Well now, I dunno as I
comprehend them all myself," acknowledged Matthew.
"Well, I suppose I must finish up my lessons. I won't allow
myself to open that new book Jane lent me until I'm through. But
it's a terrible
temptation, Matthew. Even when I turn my back on
it I can see it there just as plain. Jane said she cried herself
sick over it. I love a book that makes me cry. But I think I'll
carry that book into the sitting room and lock it in the jam
closet and give you the key. And you must NOT give it to me,
Matthew, until my lessons are done, not even if I
implore you on
my bended knees. It's all very well to say
resisttemptation,
but it's ever so much easier to
resist it if you can't get the
key. And then shall I run down the
cellar and get some russets,
Matthew? Wouldn't you like some russets?"
"Well now, I dunno but what I would," said Matthew, who never ate
russets but knew Anne's
weakness for them.
Just as Anne emerged
triumphantly from the
cellar with her
plateful of russets came the sound of flying footsteps on the icy
board walk outside and the next moment the kitchen door was flung
open and in rushed Diana Barry, white faced and
breathless, with
a shawl wrapped
hastily around her head. Anne
promptly let go of
her candle and plate in her surprise, and plate, candle, and
apples crashed together down the
cellarladder and were found at
the bottom embedded in melted
grease, the next day, by Marilla,
who gathered them up and thanked mercy the house hadn't been set
on fire.
"Whatever is the matter, Diana?" cried Anne. "Has your mother
relented at last?"
"Oh, Anne, do come quick,"
implored Diana
nervously. "Minnie May
is awful sick--she's got croup. Young Mary Joe says--and Father
and Mother are away to town and there's nobody to go for the