Anne Shirley

“ Back in the schoolroom Anne was sitting alone at her desk, as she had sat on the first day of school two years before, her face leaning on her hand, her dewy eyes looking wistfully out of the window to the Lake of Shining Waters. Her heart was so wrung over the parting with her pupils that for a moment college had lost all its charm. She still felt the clasp of Annetta Bell’s arms about her neck and heard the childish wail, “I’ll never love any teacher as much as you, Miss Shirley, never, never.” ”

“ Douglas smiled benevolently and told John to take “dear Janet” out into the garden and get her some roses. “Miss Shirley will keep me company while you are out—won’t you?” she said plaintively. She settled down in her armchair with a sigh.
“I am a very frail old woman, Miss Shirley. For over twenty years I’ve been a great sufferer. For twenty long, weary years I’ve been dying by inches.”
“How painful!” said Anne, trying to be sympathetic and succeeding only in feeling idiotic. ”

“ My health would not permit it, Miss Shirley. I am indeed thankful that John has made such a wise choice. I hope and believe that he will be happy. He is my only son, Miss Shirley, and his happiness lies very near my heart.”
“Of course,” said Anne stupidly. For the first time in her life she was stupid. Yet she could not imagine why. She seemed to have absolutely nothing to say to this sweet, smiling, angelic old lady who was patting her hand so kindly.
“Come and see me soon again, dear Janet,” said Mrs. Douglas lovingly, when they left. “You don’t come half often enough. ”

“ Her many friends regarded her with honest admiration; her few foes with scornful envy. Josie Pye said she believed Anne Shirley had just copied the story; she was sure she remembered reading it in a paper years before. The Sloanes, who had found out or guessed that Charlie had been “turned down,” said they didn’t think it was much to be proud of; almost any one could have done it, if she tried. Aunt Atossa told Anne she was very sorry to hear she had taken to writing novels; nobody born and bred in Avonlea would do it ”

“ I never saw such an infatuated man. The more she talks and the odder the things she says, the more he’s delighted evidently. Anne Shirley, you come right in here this minute, do you hear me!”
A series of staccato taps on the west window brought Anne flying in from the yard, eyes shining, cheeks faintly flushed with pink, unbraided hair streaming behind her in a torrent of brightness.
“Oh, Marilla,” she exclaimed breathlessly, “there’s going to be a Sunday-school picnic next week—in Mr. Harmon Andrews’s field, right near the lake of Shining Waters. And Mrs. ”

“ Ministers never have much money. But she wouldn’t mind having one hat or none at all, because she would have Jonas.
“Anne Shirley, don’t you dare to say or hint or think that I’ve fallen in love with Mr. Blake. Could I care for a lank, poor, ugly theologue—named Jonas? As Uncle Mark says, ‘It’s impossible, and what’s more it’s improbable.’
“Good night,
PHIL.”
“P.S. It is impossible—but I am horribly afraid it’s true. I’m happy and wretched and scared. He can never care for me, I know. Do you think I could ever develop into a passable minister’s wife, Anne? ”

“ Tom don’t drink and he don’t growl because he has to work between meals, and when all’s said and done I’m satisfied, Miss Shirley, ma’am.”
“Does he call you Leonora?” asked Anne.
“Goodness, no, Miss Shirley, ma’am. I wouldn’t know who he meant if he did. Of course, when we got married he had to say, 'I take thee, Leonora,’ and I declare to you, Miss Shirley, ma’am, I’ve had the most dreadful feeling ever since that it wasn’t me he was talking to and I haven’t been rightly married at all. And so you’re going to be married yourself, Miss Shirley, ma’am? ”

“ We should not despise plain features, nor a laborious yet honest occupation, should we? Look at the subject of your panegyric,—he is there in the garden," she continued, pointing through an aperture in the clustering creepers; and by that aperture Louis Moore was visible, coming slowly down the walk.
"He is not ugly, Shirley," pleaded Caroline; "he is not ignoble; he is sad: silence seals his mind; but I believe him to be intelligent; and be certain, if he had not something very commendable in his disposition, Mr. Hall would never seek his society as he does." ”

“ Pryor, take care of this future magistrate, this churchwarden in perspective, this captain of yeomanry, this young squire of Briarfield, in a word. Don't let him exert himself too much; don't let him break his neck in hunting; especially, let him mind how he rides down that dangerous hill near the Hollow."
"I like a descent," said Shirley; "I like to clear it rapidly; and especially I like that romantic Hollow with all my heart."
"Romantic, with a mill in it?"
"Romantic with a mill in it. The old mill and the white cottage are each admirable in its way."
"And the counting-house, Mr. Keeldar?" ”

“ Carfax entered a room bright with fire and candle-light, in which her husband sat comfortably ensconced in an arm-chair opposite to Miss Page, who was passing him hot cakes of a delicious crispness.
Anne went quickly across the room.
“It’s quite right. Don’t worry,” she hastened to say, as she kissed her visitor. “I’m just telling your husband all about it.”
“Sylvia must come home!” declared her [309] mother, after Anne’s recital. Her hand was still trembling as she put down her tea-cup. “She’s not fit to be left alone in a great wicked city. ”

“ She used to trudge over with buttermilk last summer.”
“Then the Arnestens have a cow?”
“I should say they do! It’s always breaking into the garden and eating up the pease. We mind that, because Mr. Arnesten supplies us with vegetables.”
“And with chickens too, I suppose, Polly?”
“Yes; Hop Kee cooks chickens beautifully.”
“Doesn’t he? It seems odd enough, Pauline, to think of your having our Chinaman.”
“He came to our house in just the right time, Molly. Mrs. Cannon was so sick she couldn’t have worked for us another day.”
“Hop Kee is a diamond, Polly.” ”

“ After tea Shirley reads, and she is just about as tenacious of her book as she is lax of her needle. Her study is the rug, her seat a foot-stool, or perhaps only the carpet at Mrs. Pryor's feet—there she always learned her lessons when a child, and old habits have a strong power over her. The tawny and lion-like bulk of Tartar is ever stretched beside her; his negro muzzle laid on his fore paws, straight, strong, and shapely as the limbs of an Alpine wolf. One hand of the mistress generally reposes on the loving serf's rude head, because if she takes it away he groans and is discontented. ”

“ Forgetting politeness, in his sullen rage, Malone pushed into the parlour before Miss Keeldar. He glanced at Miss Helstone; he could scarcely bring himself to bend to her. He glared on both the ladies: he looked as if, had either of them been his wife, he would have made a glorious husband at the moment: in each hand he seemed as if he would have liked to clutch one and gripe her to death.
However, Shirley took pity: she ceased to laugh; and Caroline was too true a lady to smile even at any one under mortification. Tartar was dismissed ”

“ She said I was the only person besides her solicitor, Pearson Hall, and Mr. Helstone and Mr. Yorke, who knew anything about it; and to me, she intimated, she wished specially to explain its provisions."
"Go on, Harry."
"'Because,' she said, looking down on me with her beautiful eyes—oh! they are beautiful, Mr. Moore! I love them! I love her! She is my star! Heaven must not claim her! She is lovely in this world, and fitted for this world. Shirley is not an angel; she is a woman, and she shall live with men. ”

“ He rose hastily. "We must leave this place; they must pack up at once."
"Do not hurry my aunt and cousins; give them time."
"No more intercourse; she's not proper."
He made his way to the door. He came back for his handkerchief. He dropped his snuff-box, leaving the contents scattered on the carpet; he stumbled out. Tartar lay outside across the mat; Mr. Sympson almost fell over him. In the climax of his exasperation he hurled an oath at the dog and a coarse epithet at his mistress.
"Poor Mr. Sympson! he is both feeble and vulgar," said Shirley to herself. ”

“ Harry, he affirmed, could be rolled into any corner like a foot-ball.
“The question is simply this, children,” said Mrs. Rowe, buttering a biscuit for Donald to eat on the car; “will you devote a part of your vacation to your little neighbor, or will you spend the whole of it in amusing yourselves? You shall decide.”
“O mamma! please don’t leave it that way. [41] Don’t put us on our honor,” entreated Molly, with a shrug.
“Because, when you put us on our honor, we have to do a thing, even if we hate it like poison,” added Kirke, groping under the sideboard for the yellow kitten. ”

“ I shall succeed, or perish in the attempt. Have you got that flowered gown you used to wear in the garden at Dymfield? I suppose not. Yes? Très bien! Bring it, I want to try an effect.”
He was interrupted by René, who came up at the moment, and laid his hand lightly on Anne’s arm.
“I want you to go and talk to Matignon, dear,” he said in a low voice. “He’s always bad tempered if you don’t pay him enough attention. Go and make love to the old boy.”
A vague uneasiness passed from François’s mind at the sound of his friend’s voice, always gentle when he spoke to Anne. ”

“ While the summer thus passed with Moore, how did it lapse with Shirley and Caroline? Let us first visit the [Pg 338] heiress. How does she look? Like a love-lorn maiden, pale and pining for a neglectful swain? Does she sit the day long bent over some sedentary task? Has she for ever a book in her hand, or sewing on her knee, and eyes only for that, and words for nothing, and thoughts unspoken?
By no means. Shirley is all right. If her wistful cast of physiognomy is not gone, no more is her careless smile. She keeps her dark old manor-house light and bright with her cheery presence. ”

“ Inexplicable creature! even this boy reproves you."
"I have forgotten 'Auld Langsyne,' you see, Harry," said Miss Keeldar, answering young Sympson, and not heeding Caroline.
"Wich you never should have done. You don't deserve to be a man's morning star, if you have so short a memory."
"A man's morning star indeed! and by 'a man,' is meant your worshipful self, I suppose? Come, drink your new milk while it is warm."
The young cripple rose and limped towards the fire: he had left his crutch near the mantelpiece.
"My poor lame darling!" murmured Shirley, in her softest voice, aiding him. ”

“ Now, what is your inference from all you have told me? put it into words."
"That Shirley thinks she is going to die."
"She referred to her health?"
"Not once; but I assure you she is wasting: her hands are growing quite thin, and so is her cheek."
"Does she ever complain to your mother or sisters?"
"Never. She laughs at them when they question her. Mr. Moore, she is a strange being—so fair and girlish: not a man-like woman at all—not an Amazon, and yet lifting her head above both help and sympathy."
"Do you know where she is now, Henry? Is she in the house, or riding out?" ”

“ Pray sit down, sir, Mr. Bellamy will return soon with your hat.
Blith. Oh, thank you, ma’am! (Crosses R., to table.)
Mrs. S. He does not look like a poet, but who can judge by outward appearances?
Blith. (aside) . Why does she examine me so minutely? This is a funny family!
Mrs. S. I presume you belong to the same club as my husband, since you exchanged hats.
Blith. Oh, no! I don’t belong——
Sel. (aside to Blithers) . Don’t deny it unless you would ruin me.
Blith. (aside) . I see! He doesn’t want it known that he dined out at the Dobbinson’s last night!
Mrs. S. (sentimentally to Blithers) . ”

“ But you know, Mrs. Pryor, it is scarcely living to measure time as I do at the Rectory. The hours pass, and I get them over somehow, but I do not live. I endure existence, but I rarely enjoy it. Since Miss Keeldar and you came, I have been—I was going to say—happier, but that would be untrue." She paused.
"How, untrue? You are fond of Miss Keeldar, are you not, my dear?"
"Very fond of Shirley: I both like and admire her: but I am painfully circumstanced: for a reason I cannot explain, I want to go away from this place, and to forget it."
"You told me before you wished to be a governess ”

“ Pauline and the others laughed in concert, for Mr. Wasson was exceedingly tall.
“This is Molly Rowe,” said Pauline affably; “and this is her brother Kirke. They’re visiting at our camp, and Paul and I have brought them to see the ranch.”
“Always pleased to have folks come, particularly young folks.—Mother,” Mr. Wasson glanced over his shoulder and shouted,—“Hello, mother, here’s company!”
“That’s Mr. Wasson’s wife; he always calls her mother,” whispered Paul to Kirke, as a woman appeared at the door of the house and hastily retreated. ”

“ Miss Evans followed more slowly, pausing [164] midway to peep over the rail down into the sluggish water of the moat beneath her. Owing to a vegetable growth upon its surface, this water was as green and velvety as a meadow.
“I should think that pasture-y look would fool near-sighted cows, shouldn’t you, Miss Evans?” said Kirke at her elbow; and he was gratified that she positively laughed at his nonsense. This made the second time she had laughed that day. Entranced by the beauty and antiquity of the spot, she ran about the park with Weezy like a gay young girl ”

“ Mrs. S. (to Selwyn) . You hear! A nice character you have picked up!
Enter Blithers, C., still with hat.
Mrs. S. Mr. Tompkins!—I cannot stay here to be degraded in the presence of a poet! (Exit Mrs. Selwyn, R. 2 E.)
Blith. (to Fred) . Welcome, son-in-law! Welcome! Come to my arms!
Fred. Oh! Father-in-law!
Sel. (aside) . They have made it up!
Blith. My girl has confessed that she loves you—and you alone—she never cared for that Captain Katskill.
Fred. I knew she didn’t!
Sel. (aside) . Oh! So Fred knew Lottie all this while!
Blith. When will you be married?
Fred. Oh, we’ve arranged all that! ”