The Collected Works of Lucy Maud Montgomery E-Book

Lucy Maud Montgomery

• Herausgeber: PergamonMedia
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

This comprehensive eBook presents the complete works or all the significant works - the Œuvre - of this famous and brilliant writer in one ebook - 7400 pages easy-to-read and easy-to-navigate: • Anne of Green Gables • Anne of Avonlea • Anne of the Island • Anne's House of Dreams • Rilla of Ingleside • Rainbow Valley • Chronicles of Avonlea • Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories • The Story Girl • Further Chronicles of Avonlea • The Golden Road • Kilmeny of the Orchard • A Golden Wedding • A Redeeming Sacrifice • A Soul that Was Not At Home • Abel And His Great Adventure • Akin to Love • Aunt Philippa and the Men • Bessie's Doll • Charlotte's Ladies • Christmas at Red Butte • How We Went to the Wedding • Jessamine • Miss Sally's Letter • My Lady Jane • Robert Turner's Revenge • The Fillmore Elderberries • The Finished Story • The Garden of Spices • The Girl and the Photograph • The Gossip of Valley View • The Letters • The Life-Book of Uncle Jesse • The Little Black Doll • The Man on the Train • The Romance of Jedediah • The Tryst of the White Lady • Uncle Richard's New Year Dinner • White Magic • Short Stories • A Case of Trespass • A Christmas Inspiration • A Christmas Mistake • A Strayed Allegiance • An Invitation Given on Impulse • Detected by the Camera • In Spite of Myself • Kismet • Lillian's Business Venture • Miriam's Lover • Miss Calista's Peppermint Bottle • The Jest that Failed • The Pennington's Girl • The Red Room • The Setness of Theodosia • The Story of An Invitation • The Touch of Fate • The Waking of Helen • The Way of Winning Anne • Young Si • etc.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

RAINBOW VALLEY

TO THE MEMORY OF GOLDWIN LAPP, ROBERT BROOKES AND MORLEY SHIER WHO MADE THE SUPREME SACRIFICE THAT THE HAPPY VALLEYS OF THEIR HOME LAND MIGHT BE KEPT SACRED FROM THE RAVAGE OF THE INVADER

RAINBOW VALLEY

CHAPTER I. HOME AGAIN

CHAPTER II. SHEER GOSSIP

CHAPTER III. THE INGLESIDE CHILDREN

CHAPTER IV. THE MANSE CHILDREN

CHAPTER V. THE ADVENT OF MARY VANCE

CHAPTER VI. MARY STAYS AT THE MANSE

CHAPTER VII. A FISHY EPISODE

CHAPTER VIII. MISS CORNELIA INTERVENES

CHAPTER IX. UNA INTERVENES

CHAPTER X. THE MANSE GIRLS CLEAN HOUSE

CHAPTER XI. A DREADFUL DISCOVERY

CHAPTER XII. AN EXPLANATION AND A DARE

CHAPTER XIII. THE HOUSE ON THE HILL

CHAPTER XIV. MRS. ALEC DAVIS MAKES A CALL

CHAPTER XV. MORE GOSSIP

CHAPTER XVI. TIT FOR TAT

CHAPTER XVII. A DOUBLE VICTORY

CHAPTER XVIII. MARY BRINGS EVIL TIDINGS

CHAPTER XIX. POOR ADAM!

CHAPTER XX. FAITH MAKES A FRIEND

CHAPTER XXI. THE IMPOSSIBLE WORD

CHAPTER XXII. ST. GEORGE KNOWS ALL ABOUT IT

CHAPTER XXIII. THE GOOD-CONDUCT CLUB

CHAPTER XXIV. A CHARITABLE IMPULSE

CHAPTER XXV. ANOTHER SCANDAL AND ANOTHER "EXPLANATION"

"TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

"FAITH MEREDITH."

CHAPTER XXVI. MISS CORNELIA GETS A NEW POINT OF VIEW

CHAPTER XXVII. A SACRED CONCERT

CHAPTER XXVIII. A FAST DAY

CHAPTER XXIX. A WEIRD TALE

CHAPTER XXX. THE GHOST ON THE DYKE

CHAPTER XXXI. CARL DOES PENANCE

CHAPTER XXXII. TWO STUBBORN PEOPLE

CHAPTER XXXIII. CARL IS—NOT—WHIPPED

CHAPTER XXXIV. UNA VISITS THE HILL

CHAPTER XXXV. "LET THE PIPER COME"

THE STORY GIRL

By L. M. Montgomery

Author of "Anne of Green Gables," "Anne of Avonlea," "Kilmeny of the Orchard," etc.

With frontispiece and cover in colour by George Gibbs (not available in this file)

TO MY COUSIN Frederica E. Campbell IN REMEMBRANCE OF OLD DAYS, OLD DREAMS, AND OLD LAUGHTER

THE STORY GIRL

CHAPTER I. THE HOME OF OUR FATHERS

CHAPTER II. A QUEEN OF HEARTS

CHAPTER III. LEGENDS OF THE OLD ORCHARD

CHAPTER IV. THE WEDDING VEIL OF THE PROUD PRINCESS

CHAPTER V. PETER GOES TO CHURCH

CHAPTER VI. THE MYSTERY OF GOLDEN MILESTONE

CHAPTER VII. HOW BETTY SHERMAN WON A HUSBAND

CHAPTER VIII. A TRAGEDY OF CHILDHOOD

CHAPTER IX. MAGIC SEED

CHAPTER X. A DAUGHTER OF EVE

CHAPTER XI. THE STORY GIRL DOES PENANCE

CHAPTER XII. THE BLUE CHEST OF RACHEL WARD

CHAPTER XIII. AN OLD PROVERB WITH A NEW MEANING

CHAPTER XIV. FORBIDDEN FRUIT

CHAPTER XV. A DISOBEDIENT BROTHER

CHAPTER XVI. THE GHOSTLY BELL

CHAPTER XVII. THE PROOF OF THE PUDDING

CHAPTER XVIII. HOW KISSING WAS DISCOVERED

CHAPTER XIX. A DREAD PROPHECY

CHAPTER XX. THE JUDGMENT SUNDAY

CHAPTER XXI. DREAMERS OF DREAMS

CHAPTER XXII. THE DREAM BOOKS

CHAPTER XXIII. SUCH STUFF AS DREAMS ARE MADE ON

CHAPTER XXIV. THE BEWITCHMENT OF PAT

"SARA STANLEY."

CHAPTER XXV. A CUP OF FAILURE

CHAPTER XXVI. PETER MAKES AN IMPRESSION

CHAPTER XXVII. THE ORDEAL OF BITTER APPLES

CHAPTER XXVIII. THE TALE OF THE RAINBOW BRIDGE

CHAPTER XXIX. THE SHADOW FEARED OF MAN

"SARA RAY.

"S. R."

CHAPTER XXX. A COMPOUND LETTER

CECILY'S LETTER

"CECILY KING.

FELICITY'S LETTER

"FELICITY KING.

FELIX' LETTER

SARA RAY'S LETTER

"SARA RAY.

DAN'S LETTER

THE STORY GIRL'S LETTER

"SARA STANLEY."

PETER'S LETTER

"PETER CRAIG."

CHAPTER XXXI. ON THE EDGE OF LIGHT AND DARK

CHAPTER XXXII. THE OPENING OF THE BLUE CHEST

ANNE OF GREEN GABLES

By Lucy Maud Montgomery

ANNE OF GREEN GABLES

CHAPTER I. Mrs. Rachel Lynde is Surprised

CHAPTER II. Matthew Cuthbert is surprised

CHAPTER III. Marilla Cuthbert is Surprised

CHAPTER IV. Morning at Green Gables

CHAPTER V. Anne's History

CHAPTER VI. Marilla Makes Up Her Mind

CHAPTER VII. Anne Says Her Prayers

CHAPTER VIII. Anne's Bringing-up Is Begun

CHAPTER IX. Mrs. Rachel Lynde Is Properly Horrified

CHAPTER X. Anne's Apology

CHAPTER XI. Anne's Impressions of Sunday-School

CHAPTER XII. A Solemn Vow and Promise

CHAPTER XIII. The Delights of Anticipation

CHAPTER XIV. Anne's Confession

CHAPTER XV. A Tempest in the School Teapot

CHAPTER XVI. Diana Is Invited to Tea with Tragic Results

CHAPTER XVII. A New Interest in Life

CHAPTER XVIII. Anne to the Rescue

CHAPTER XIX. A Concert a Catastrophe and a Confession

CHAPTER XX. A Good Imagination Gone Wrong

CHAPTER XXI. A New Departure in Flavorings

CHAPTER XXII. Anne is Invited Out to Tea

CHAPTER XXIII. Anne Comes to Grief in an Affair of Honor

CHAPTER XXIV. Miss Stacy and Her Pupils Get Up a Concert

CHAPTER XXV. Matthew Insists on Puffed Sleeves

CHAPTER XXVI. The Story Club Is Formed

CHAPTER XXVII. Vanity and Vexation of Spirit

CHAPTER XXVIII. An Unfortunate Lily Maid

CHAPTER XXIX. An Epoch in Anne's Life

CHAPTER XXX. The Queens Class Is Organized

CHAPTER XXXI. Where the Brook and River Meet

CHAPTER XXXII. The Pass List Is Out

CHAPTER XXXIII. The Hotel Concert

CHAPTER XXXIV. A Queen's Girl

CHAPTER XXXV. The Winter at Queen's

CHAPTER XXXVI. The Glory and the Dream

CHAPTER XXXVII. The Reaper Whose Name Is Death

CHAPTER XXXVIII. The Bend in the road

ANNE OF THE ISLAND

by Lucy Maud Montgomery

to all the girls all over the world who have "wanted more" about ANNE

ANNE OF THE ISLAND

by Lucy Maud Montgomery

Chapter I

The Shadow of Change

Chapter II

Garlands of Autumn

Chapter III

Greeting and Farewell

Chapter IV

April's Lady

Chapter V

Letters from Home

Chapter VI

In the Park

Chapter VII

Home Again

Chapter VIII

Anne's First Proposal

Chapter IX

Chapter X

Patty's Place

Chapter XI

The Round of Life

Chapter XII

"Averil's Atonement"

Chapter XIII

The Way of Transgressors

Chapter XIV

The Summons

Chapter XV

A Dream Turned Upside Down

Chapter XVI

Adjusted Relationships

Chapter XVII

A Letter from Davy

Chapter XVIII

Miss Josephine Remembers the Anne-girl

Chapter XIX

An Interlude

Chapter XX

Gilbert Speaks

Chapter XXI

Roses of Yesterday

Chapter XXII

Spring and Anne Return to Green Gables

Chapter XXIII

Paul Cannot Find the Rock People

Chapter XXIV

Enter Jonas

Chapter XXV

Enter Prince Charming

Chapter XXVI

Enter Christine

Chapter XXVII

Mutual Confidences

Chapter XXVIII

A June Evening

Chapter XXIX

Diana's Wedding

Chapter XXX

Mrs. Skinner's Romance

Chapter XXXI

Anne to Philippa

Chapter XXXII

Tea with Mrs. Douglas

Chapter XXXIII

"He Just Kept Coming and Coming"

Chapter XXXIV

John Douglas Speaks at Last

Chapter XXXV

The Last Redmond Year Opens

Chapter XXXVI

The Gardners'Call

Chapter XXXVII

Full-fledged B.A.'s

Chapter XXXVIII

False Dawn

Chapter XXXIX

Deals with Weddings

Chapter XL

A Book of Revelation

XLI

Love Takes Up the Glass of Time

Anne's House of Dreams

"To Laura, in memory of the olden time."

CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1

IN THE GARRET OF GREEN GABLES

CHAPTER 2

THE HOUSE OF DREAMS

CHAPTER 3

THE LAND OF DREAMS AMONG

CHAPTER 4

THE FIRST BRIDE OF GREEN GABLES

CHAPTER 5

THE HOME COMING

CHAPTER 6

CAPTAIN JIM

CHAPTER 7

THE SCHOOLMASTER'S BRIDE

CHAPTER 8

MISS CORNELIA BRYANT COMES TO CALL

CHAPTER 9

AN EVENING AT FOUR WINDS POINT

CHAPTER 10

LESLIE MOORE

CHAPTER 11

THE STORY OF LESLIE MOORE

CHAPTER 12

LESLIE COMES OVER

CHAPTER 13

A GHOSTLY EVENING

CHAPTER 14

NOVEMBER DAYS

CHAPTER 15

CHRISTMAS AT FOUR WINDS

CHAPTER 16

NEW YEAR'S EVE AT THE LIGHT

CHAPTER 17

A FOUR WINDS WINTER

CHAPTER 18

SPRING DAYS

CHAPTER 19

DAWN AND DUSK

CHAPTER 20

LOST MARGARET

CHAPTER 21

BARRIERS SWEPT AWAY

CHAPTER 22

MISS CORNELIA ARRANGES MATTERS

CHAPTER 23

OWEN FORD COMES

CHAPTER 24

THE LIFE-BOOK OF CAPTAIN JIM

CHAPTER 25

THE WRITING OF THE BOOK

CHAPTER 26

OWEN FORD'S CONFESSION

CHAPTER 27

ON THE SAND BAR

CHAPTER 28

ODDS AND ENDS

CHAPTER 29

GILBERT AND ANNE DISAGREE

CHAPTER 30

LESLIE DECIDES

CHAPTER 31

THE TRUTH MAKES FREE

CHAPTER 32

MISS CORNELIA DISCUSSES THE AFFAIR

CHAPTER 33

LESLIE RETURNS

CHAPTER 34

THE SHIP O'DREAMS COMES TO HARBOR

CHAPTER 35

POLITICS AT FOUR WINDS

CHAPTER 36

BEAUTY FOR ASHES

CHAPTER 37

MISS CORNELIA MAKES A STARTLING ANNOUNCEMENT

CHAPTER 38

RED ROSES

CHAPTER 39

CAPTAIN JIM CROSSES THE BAR

CHAPTER 40

FAREWELL TO THE HOUSE OF DREAMS

CHRONICLES OF AVONLEA

Contents

CHRONICLES OF AVONLEA

I. The Hurrying of Ludovic

II. Old Lady Lloyd

III. Each In His Own Tongue

IV. Little Joscelyn

V. The Winning of Lucinda

VI. Old Man Shaw's Girl

VII. Aunt Olivia's Beau

VIII. The Quarantine at Alexander Abraham's

IX. Pa Sloane's Purchase

X. The Courting of Prissy Strong

XI. The Miracle at Carmody

XII. The End of a Quarrel

ANNE OF AVONLEA

I

An Irate Neighbor

II

Selling in Haste and Repenting at Leisure

III

Mr. Harrison at Home

IV

Different Opinions

V

A Full-fledged Schoolma'am

VI

All Sorts and Conditions of Men . . . and women

VII

The Pointing of Duty

VIII

Marilla Adopts Twins

IX

A Question of Color

X

Davy in Search of a Sensation

XI

Facts and Fancies

XII

A Jonah Day

XIII

A Golden Picnic

XIV

A Danger Averted

XV

The Beginning of Vacation

XVI

The Substance of Things Hoped For

XVII

A Chapter of Accidents

XVIII

An Adventure on the Tory Road

XIX

Just a Happy Day

XX

The Way It Often Happens

XXI

Sweet Miss Lavendar

XXII

Odds and Ends

XXIII

Miss Lavendar's Romance

XXIV

A Prophet in His Own Country

XXV

An Avonlea Scandal

XXVI

Around the Bend

XXVII

An Afternoon at the Stone House

XXVIII

The Prince Comes Back to the Enchanted Palace

XXIX

Poetry and Prose

XXX

A Wedding at the Stone House

FURTHER CHRONICLES OF AVONLEA

INTRODUCTION

Part of the power of Miss Montgomery—and the largest part—is due to her skill in compounding humor and pathos. The humor is honest and golden; it never wearies the reader; the pathos is never sentimentalized, never degenerates into bathos, is never morbid. This combination holds throughout all her works, longer or shorter, and is particularly manifest in the present collection of fifteen short stories, which, together with those in the first volume of the Chronicles of Avonlea, present a series of piquant and fascinating pictures of life in Prince Edward Island.

NATHAN HASKELL DOLE.

CONTENTS

FURTHER CHRONICLES OF AVONLEA

I. AUNT CYNTHIA'S PERSIAN CAT

II. THE MATERIALIZING OF CECIL

III. HER FATHER'S DAUGHTER

IV. JANE'S BABY

V. THE DREAM-CHILD

VI. THE BROTHER WHO FAILED

VII. THE RETURN OF HESTER

VIII. THE LITTLE BROWN BOOK OF MISS EMILY

IX. SARA'S WAY

X. THE SON OF HIS MOTHER

XI. THE EDUCATION OF BETTY

XII. IN HER SELFLESS MOOD

XIII. THE CONSCIENCE CASE OF DAVID BELL

XIV. ONLY A COMMON FELLOW

XV. TANNIS OF THE FLATS

THE GOLDEN ROAD

By L. M. Montgomery

FOREWORD

THE GOLDEN ROAD

CHAPTER I. A NEW DEPARTURE

CHAPTER II. A WILL, A WAY AND A WOMAN

CHAPTER III. THE CHRISTMAS HARP

CHAPTER IV. NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS

CHAPTER V. THE FIRST NUMBER OF "OUR MAGAZINE"

CHAPTER VI. GREAT-AUNT ELIZA'S VISIT

CHAPTER VII. WE VISIT COUSIN MATTIE'S

CHAPTER VIII. WE VISIT PEG BOWEN

CHAPTER IX. EXTRACTS FROM THE FEBRUARY AND MARCH NUMBERS OF "OUR MAGAZINE"

CHAPTER X. DISAPPEARANCE OF PADDY

CHAPTER XI. THE WITCH'S WISHBONE

CHAPTER XII. FLOWERS O' MAY

CHAPTER XIII. A SURPRISING ANNOUNCEMENT

CHAPTER XIV. A PRODIGAL RETURNS

CHAPTER XV. THE RAPE OF THE LOCK

CHAPTER XVI. AUNT UNA'S STORY

CHAPTER XVII. AUNT OLIVIA'S WEDDING

CHAPTER XVIII. SARA RAY HELPS OUT

CHAPTER XIX. BY WAY OF THE STARS

CHAPTER XX. EXTRACTS FROM "OUR MAGAZINE"

CHAPTER XXI. PEG BOWEN COMES TO CHURCH

CHAPTER XXII. THE YANKEE STORM

CHAPTER XXIII. A MISSIONARY HEROINE

CHAPTER XXIV. A TANTALIZING REVELATION

CHAPTER XXV. THE LOVE STORY OF THE AWKWARD MAN

(Written by the Story Girl)

CHAPTER XXVI. UNCLE BLAIR COMES HOME

CHAPTER XXVII. THE OLD ORDER CHANGETH

CHAPTER XXVIII. THE PATH TO ARCADY

CHAPTER XXIX. WE LOSE A FRIEND

CHAPTER XXX. PROPHECIES

CHAPTER XXXI. THE LAST NUMBER OF OUR MAGAZINE

CHAPTER XXXII. OUR LAST EVENING TOGETHER

CHAPTER XXXIII. THE STORY GIRL GOES

KILMENY OF THE ORCHARD

By L. M. MONTGOMERY

Author of "Anne's House of Dreams," "Rainbow Valley," "Rilla of Ingleside," etc.

TO MY COUSIN Beatrice A. McIntyre THIS BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED

KILMENY OF THE ORCHARD

CHAPTER I. THE THOUGHTS OF YOUTH

CHAPTER II. A LETTER OF DESTINY

CHAPTER III. THE MASTER OF LINDSAY SCHOOL

CHAPTER IV. A TEA TABLE CONVERSATION

CHAPTER V. A PHANTOM OF DELIGHT

CHAPTER VI. THE STORY OF KILMENY

CHAPTER VII. A ROSE OF WOMANHOOD

CHAPTER VIII. AT THE GATE OF EDEN

CHAPTER IX. THE STRAIGHT SIMPLICITY OF EVE

CHAPTER X. A TROUBLING OF THE WATERS

CHAPTER XI. A LOVER AND HIS LASS

CHAPTER XII. A PRISONER OF LOVE

CHAPTER XIII. A SWEETER WOMAN NE'ER DREW BREATH

CHAPTER XIV. IN HER SELFLESS MOOD

CHAPTER XV. AN OLD, UNHAPPY, FAR-OFF THING

CHAPTER XVI. DAVID BAKER'S OPINION

CHAPTER XVII. A BROKEN FETTER

"ERIC, ERIC, LOOK BEHIND YOU—LOOK BEHIND YOU!"

CHAPTER XVIII. NEIL GORDON SOLVES HIS OWN PROBLEM

"It is a miracle!" said Thomas Gordon in an awed tone.

CHAPTER XIX. VICTOR FROM VANQUISHED ISSUES

Rilla of Ingleside

by

Lucy Maud Montgomery

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

GLEN "NOTES" AND OTHER MATTERS

CHAPTER II

DEW OF MORNING

CHAPTER III

MOONLIT MIRTH

CHAPTER IV

THE PIPER PIPES

CHAPTER V

"THE SOUND OF A GOING"

CHAPTER VI

SUSAN, RILLA, AND DOG MONDAY MAKE A RESOLUTION

CHAPTER VII

A WAR-BABY AND A SOUP TUREEN

CHAPTER VIII

RILLA DECIDES

CHAPTER IX

DOC HAS A MISADVENTURE

CHAPTER X

THE TROUBLES OF RILLA

CHAPTER XI

DARK AND BRIGHT

CHAPTER XII

IN THE DAYS OF LANGEMARCK

CHAPTER XIII

A SLICE OF HUMBLE PIE

CHAPTER XIV

THE VALLEY OF DECISION

CHAPTER XV

UNTIL THE DAY BREAK

CHAPTER XVI

REALISM AND ROMANCE

CHAPTER XVII

THE WEEKS WEAR BY

CHAPTER XVIII

A WAR-WEDDING

CHAPTER XIX

"THEY SHALL NOT PASS"

CHAPTER XX

NORMAN DOUGLAS SPEAKS OUT IN MEETING

CHAPTER XXI

"LOVE AFFAIRS ARE HORRIBLE"

CHAPTER XXII

LITTLE DOG MONDAY KNOWS

CHAPTER XXIII

"AND SO, GOODNIGHT"

CHAPTER XXIV

MARY IS JUST IN TIME

CHAPTER XXV

SHIRLEY GOES

CHAPTER XXVI

SUSAN HAS A PROPOSAL OF MARRIAGE

CHAPTER XXVII

WAITING

CHAPTER XXVIII

BLACK SUNDAY

CHAPTER XXIX

"WOUNDED AND MISSING"

CHAPTER XXX

THE TURNING OF THE TIDE

CHAPTER XXXI

MRS. MATILDA PITTMAN

CHAPTER XXXII

WORD FROM JEM

CHAPTER XXXIII

VICTORY!

CHAPTER XXXIV

MR. HYDE GOES TO HIS OWN PLACE AND SUSAN TAKES A HONEYMOON

CHAPTER XXXV

"RILLA-MY-RILLA!"

Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories, 1896 to 1901

Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories, 1902 to 1903

Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories, 1904

Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories, 1905 to 1906

Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories, 1907 to 1908

Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories, 1909 to 1922

First Edition

 

RAINBOW VALLEY

TO THE MEMORY OF  GOLDWIN LAPP, ROBERT BROOKES AND MORLEY SHIER  WHO MADE THE SUPREME SACRIFICE THAT THE HAPPY VALLEYS OF THEIR HOME LAND MIGHT BE KEPT SACRED FROM THE RAVAGE OF THE INVADER

RAINBOW VALLEY

CHAPTER I. HOME AGAIN

It was a clear, apple-green evening in May, and Four Winds Harbour was mirroring back the clouds of the golden west between its softly dark shores. The sea moaned eerily on the sand-bar, sorrowful even in spring, but a sly, jovial wind came piping down the red harbour road along which Miss Cornelia's comfortable, matronly figure was making its way towards the village of Glen St. Mary. Miss Cornelia was rightfully Mrs. Marshall Elliott, and had been Mrs. Marshall Elliott for thirteen years, but even yet more people referred to her as Miss Cornelia than as Mrs. Elliott. The old name was dear to her old friends, only one of them contemptuously dropped it. Susan Baker, the gray and grim and faithful handmaiden of the Blythe family at Ingleside, never lost an opportunity of calling her "Mrs. Marshall Elliott," with the most killing and pointed emphasis, as if to say "You wanted to be Mrs. and Mrs. you shall be with a vengeance as far as I am concerned."

Miss Cornelia was going up to Ingleside to see Dr. and Mrs. Blythe, who were just home from Europe. They had been away for three months, having left in February to attend a famous medical congress in London; and certain things, which Miss Cornelia was anxious to discuss, had taken place in the Glen during their absence. For one thing, there was a new family in the manse. And such a family! Miss Cornelia shook her head over them several times as she walked briskly along.

Susan Baker and the Anne Shirley of other days saw her coming, as they sat on the big veranda at Ingleside, enjoying the charm of the cat's light, the sweetness of sleepy robins whistling among the twilit maples, and the dance of a gusty group of daffodils blowing against the old, mellow, red brick wall of the lawn.

Anne was sitting on the steps, her hands clasped over her knee, looking, in the kind dusk, as girlish as a mother of many has any right to be; and the beautiful gray-green eyes, gazing down the harbour road, were as full of unquenchable sparkle and dream as ever. Behind her, in the hammock, Rilla Blythe was curled up, a fat, roly-poly little creature of six years, the youngest of the Ingleside children. She had curly red hair and hazel eyes that were now buttoned up after the funny, wrinkled fashion in which Rilla always went to sleep.

Shirley, "the little brown boy," as he was known in the family "Who's Who," was asleep in Susan's arms. He was brown-haired, brown-eyed and brown-skinned, with very rosy cheeks, and he was Susan's especial love. After his birth Anne had been very ill for a long time, and Susan "mothered" the baby with a passionate tenderness which none of the other children, dear as they were to her, had ever called out. Dr. Blythe had said that but for her he would never have lived.

"I gave him life just as much as you did, Mrs. Dr. dear," Susan was wont to say. "He is just as much my baby as he is yours." And, indeed, it was always to Susan that Shirley ran, to be kissed for bumps, and rocked to sleep, and protected from well-deserved spankings. Susan had conscientiously spanked all the other Blythe children when she thought they needed it for their souls' good, but she would not spank Shirley nor allow his mother to do it. Once, Dr. Blythe had spanked him and Susan had been stormily indignant.

"That man would spank an angel, Mrs. Dr. dear, that he would," she had declared bitterly; and she would not make the poor doctor a pie for weeks.

She had taken Shirley with her to her brother's home during his parents' absence, while all the other children had gone to Avonlea, and she had three blessed months of him all to herself. Nevertheless, Susan was very glad to find herself back at Ingleside, with all her darlings around her again. Ingleside was her world and in it she reigned supreme. Even Anne seldom questioned her decisions, much to the disgust of Mrs. Rachel Lynde of Green Gables, who gloomily told Anne, whenever she visited Four Winds, that she was letting Susan get to be entirely too much of a boss and would live to rue it.

"Here is Cornelia Bryant coming up the harbour road, Mrs. Dr. dear," said Susan. "She will be coming up to unload three months' gossip on us."

"I hope so," said Anne, hugging her knees. "I'm starving for Glen St. Mary gossip, Susan. I hope Miss Cornelia can tell me everything that has happened while we've been away—EVERYTHING—who has got born, or married, or drunk; who has died, or gone away, or come, or fought, or lost a cow, or found a beau. It's so delightful to be home again with all the dear Glen folks, and I want to know all about them. Why, I remember wondering, as I walked through Westminster Abbey which of her two especial beaux Millicent Drew would finally marry. Do you know, Susan, I have a dreadful suspicion that I love gossip."

"Well, of course, Mrs. Dr. dear," admitted Susan, "every proper woman likes to hear the news. I am rather interested in Millicent Drew's case myself. I never had a beau, much less two, and I do not mind now, for being an old maid does not hurt when you get used to it. Millicent's hair always looks to me as if she had swept it up with a broom. But the men do not seem to mind that."

"They see only her pretty, piquant, mocking, little face, Susan."

"That may very well be, Mrs. Dr. dear. The Good Book says that favour is deceitful and beauty is vain, but I should not have minded finding that out for myself, if it had been so ordained. I have no doubt we will all be beautiful when we are angels, but what good will it do us then? Speaking of gossip, however, they do say that poor Mrs. Harrison Miller over harbour tried to hang herself last week."

"Oh, Susan!"

"Calm yourself, Mrs. Dr. dear. She did not succeed. But I really do not blame her for trying, for her husband is a terrible man. But she was very foolish to think of hanging herself and leaving the way clear for him to marry some other woman. If I had been in her shoes, Mrs. Dr. dear, I would have gone to work to worry him so that he would try to hang himself instead of me. Not that I hold with people hanging themselves under any circumstances, Mrs. Dr. dear."

"What is the matter with Harrison Miller, anyway?" said Anne impatiently. "He is always driving some one to extremes."

"Well, some people call it religion and some call it cussedness, begging your pardon, Mrs. Dr. dear, for using such a word. It seems they cannot make out which it is in Harrison's case. There are days when he growls at everybody because he thinks he is fore-ordained to eternal punishment. And then there are days when he says he does not care and goes and gets drunk. My own opinion is that he is not sound in his intellect, for none of that branch of the Millers were. His grandfather went out of his mind. He thought he was surrounded by big black spiders. They crawled over him and floated in the air about him. I hope I shall never go insane, Mrs. Dr. dear, and I do not think I will, because it is not a habit of the Bakers. But, if an all-wise Providence should decree it, I hope it will not take the form of big black spiders, for I loathe the animals. As for Mrs. Miller, I do not know whether she really deserves pity or not. There are some who say she just married Harrison to spite Richard Taylor, which seems to me a very peculiar reason for getting married. But then, of course, I am no judge of things matrimonial, Mrs. Dr. dear. And there is Cornelia Bryant at the gate, so I will put this blessed brown baby on his bed and get my knitting."

CHAPTER II. SHEER GOSSIP

"Where are the other children?" asked Miss Cornelia, when the first greetings—cordial on her side, rapturous on Anne's, and dignified on Susan's—were over.