Anne of Ingleside - L. M. Montgomery [16]
‘Mummy,’ he said sleepily, ‘of course I’ll bring you mayflowers next spring… every spring. You can depend on me.’
‘Of course I can, darling,’ said Mother.
‘Well, since every one is over their fit of the fidgets, I suppose we can draw a peaceful breath and go back to our beds,’ said Aunt Mary Maria. But there was some shrewish relief in her tone.
‘It was very silly of me not to remember the window seat,’ said Anne. ‘The joke is on us and the doctor will not let us forget it, you may be certain. Susan, please phone Mr Flagg that we’ve found Jem.’
‘And a nice laugh he will have on me,’ said Susan happily. ‘Not that I care… he can laugh all he likes since Little Jem is safe.’
‘I could do with a cup of tea,’ sighed Aunt Mary Maria plaintively, gathering her dragons about her spare form.
‘I will get it in a jiffy,’ said Susan briskly. ‘We’ll all feel the sprightlier for one. Mrs Doctor dear, when Carter Flagg heard little Jem was safe he said, “Thank God.” I shall never say a word against that man again, no matter what his prices are. And don’t you think we might have a chicken dinner tomorrow, Mrs Doctor dear? Just by way of a little celebration, so to speak. And Little Jem shall have his favourite muffins for breakfast.’
There was another telephone call… this time from Gilbert to say that he was taking a badly burned baby from the Harbour Head to the hospital in town, and not to look for him till morning.
Anne bent from her window for a thankful goodnight look at the world before going to bed. A cool wind was blowing in from the sea. A sort of moonlit rapture was running through the trees in the Hollow. Anne could even laugh… with a quiver behind the laughter… over their panic of an hour ago and Aunt Mary Maria’s absurd suggestions and ghoulish memories. Her child was safe. Gilbert was somewhere battling to save another child’s life… Dear God, help him and help the mother… help all mothers everywhere. We need so much help, with the little sensitive, loving hearts and minds that look to us for guidance and love and understanding.
The friendly enfolding night took possession of Ingleside, and everybody, even Susan… who rather felt that she would like to crawl into some nice quiet hole and pull it in after her… fell asleep under its sheltering roof.
7
‘He’ll have plenty of company… he won’t be lonesome… our four… and my niece and nephew from Montreal are visiting us. What one doesn’t think of the others do.’
Big, sonsy, jolly Mrs Doctor Parker smiled expansively at Walter… who returned the smile somewhat aloofly. He wasn’t altogether sure he liked Mrs Parker in spite of her smiles and jollity. There was too much of her, somehow. Dr Parker he did like; as for ‘our four’ and the niece and nephew from Montreal, Walter had never seen any of them. Lowbridge, where the Parkers lived, was six miles from the Glen and Walter had never been there, though Dr and Mrs Parker and Dr and Mrs Blythe visited back and forth frequently. Dr Parker and Dad were great friends, though Walter had a feeling now and again that Mother could have got along very well without Mrs Parker. Even at six, Walter, as Anne realized, could see things that other children could not.
Walter was not sure, either, that he really wanted to go to Lowbridge. Some visits were splendid. A trip to Avonlea now… ah, there was fun for you. And a night spent with Kenneth Ford at the old House of Dreams was more fun still… though that couldn’t really be called visiting, for the House of Dreams always seemed like a second home to the small fry of Ingleside. But to go to Lowbridge for two whole weeks, among strangers, was a very different matter. However, it seemed to be a settled thing. For some reason which Walter felt but could not understand Dad and Mummy were pleased over the arrangement. Did they want to get rid of all their children Walter wondered, rather sadly