Anne of Ingleside - L. M. Montgomery [47]
During the whole call Anne had not uttered one word. Why should she when Mrs Elliott was doing her work for her so cleverly and unconsciously? But as Richard Chase bowed them out he suddenly bent forward confidentially.
‘You’ve got the finest pair of ankles I’ve ever seen, Mrs Blythe, and I’ve been about a bit in my time.’
‘Isn’t he dreadful?’ gasped Miss Cornelia as they went down the lane. ‘He’s always saying outrageous things like that to women. You mustn’t mind him, Anne, dearie.’
Anne didn’t. She rather liked Richard Chase.
‘I don’t think,’ she reflected, ‘that he quite liked the idea of Stella not being popular with the men, in spite of the fact that their grandfathers were monkeys. I think he’d like to “show folks”, too. Well, I have done all I can do. I have interested Alden and Stella in each other; and, between us, Miss Cornelia and I have, I think, made Mrs Churchill and Mr Chase rather for the match than against it. Now I must just sit tight and see how it turns out.’
A month later Stella Chase came to Ingleside and again sat down by Anne on the veranda steps… thinking, as she did so, that she hoped she would look like Mrs Blythe some day… with that ripened look… the look of a woman who has lived fully and graciously.
The cool, smoky evening had followed a cool, yellowish-grey day in early September. It was threaded with the gentle moan of the sea.
‘The sea is unhappy tonight,’ Walter would say when he heard that sound.
Stella seemed absent-minded and quiet. Presently she said abruptly, looking up at a sorcery of stars that was being woven in the purple night, ‘Mrs Blythe, I want to tell you something.’
‘Yes, dear?’
‘I’m engaged to Alden Churchill,’ said Stella desperately. ‘We’ve been engaged ever since last Christmas. We told Father and Mrs Churchill right away but we’ve kept it a secret from everyone else just because it was so sweet to have such a secret. We hated to share it with the world. But we are going to be married next month.’
Anne gave an excellent imitation of a woman who had been turned to stone.
Stella was still staring at the stars so that she did not see the expression on Mrs Blythe’s face. She went on, a little more easily:
‘Alden and I met at a party in Lowbridge last November. We… we loved each other from the very first moment. He said he had always dreamed of me, had always been looking for me. He said to himself, “There is my wife,” when he saw me come in at the door. And I… I felt just the same. Oh, we are so happy, Mrs Blythe.’
Still Anne said nothing, several times over.
‘The only cloud on my happiness is your attitude about the matter, Mrs Blythe. Won’t you try to approve? You’ve been such a dear friend to me since I came to Glen St Mary… I’ve felt as if you were an older sister. And I’ll feel so badly if I think my marriage is against your wish.’
There was a sound of tears in Stella’s voice. Anne recovered her power of speech.
‘Dearest, your happiness is all I’ve wanted. I like Alden… he’s a splendid fellow… only he had the reputation of being a flirt…’
‘But he isn’t. He was just looking for the right one, don’t you see, Mrs Blythe? And he couldn’t find her.’
‘How does your father regard it?’
‘Oh, Father is greatly pleased. He took to Alden from the start. They used to argue for hours about evolution. Father said he always meant to let me marry when the right man came along. I feel dreadfully about leaving him, but he says young birds have a right to their own nest. Cousin Delia Chase is coming to keep house for him and Father likes her very much.’
‘And Alden’s mother?’
‘She is quite willing, too. When Alden told her last Christmas that we were engaged she went to the Bible and the very first verse she turned up was, “A man shall leave father and mother and cleave unto his wife.” She said it was perfectly clear then what she ought to do and she consented