Anne of the Island - L. M. Montgomery [0]
L. M. Montgomery
TO ALL THE GIRLS ALL OVER THE WORLD
WHO HAVE “WANTED MORE” ABOUT ANNE
All precious things discovered late
To those that seek them issue forth,
For Love in sequel works with Fate,
And draws the veil from hidden worth.
—TENNYSON
Contents
Epigraph
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. An Unwelcome Lover and a Welcome Friend
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
Chapter XLI. Love Takes Up the Glass of Time
About the Author
Copyright
About the Publisher
CHAPTER I
The Shadow of Change
“Harvest is ended and summer is gone,” quoted Anne Shirley, gazing across the shorn fields dreamily. She and Diana Barry had been picking apples in the Green Gables orchard, but were now resting from their labors in a sunny corner, where airy fleets of thistledown drifted by on the wings of a wind that was still summer-sweet with the incense of ferns in the Haunted Wood.
But everything in the landscape around them spoke of autumn. The sea was roaring hollowly in the distance, the fields were bare and sere, scarfed with goldenrod, the brook valley below Green Gables overflowed with asters of ethereal purple, and the Lake of Shining Waters was blue—blue—blue; not the changeful blue of spring, nor the pale azure of summer, but a clear, steadfast, serene blue, as if the water were past all moods and tenses of emotion and had settled down to a tranquility unbroken by fickle dreams.
“It has been a nice summer,” said Diana, twisting the new ring on her left hand with a smile. “And Miss Lavendar’s wedding seemed to come as a sort of crown to it. I suppose Mr. and Mrs. Irving are on the Pacific coast now.”
“It seems to me they have been gone long enough to go around the world,” sighed Anne. “I can’t believe it is only a week since they were married. Everything has changed. Miss Lavendar and Mr. and Mrs. Allan gone—how lonely the manse looks with the shutters all closed! I went past it last night, and it made me feel as if everybody in it had died.”
“We’ll never get another minister as nice as Mr. Allan,” said Diana, with gloomy conviction. “I suppose we’ll have all kinds of supplies this winter, and half the Sundays no preaching at all. And you and Gilbert gone—it will be awfully dull.”
“Fred will be here,” insinuated Anne slyly.
“When is Mrs. Lynde going to move up?” asked Diana, as if she had not heard Anne’s remark.
“Tomorrow. I’m glad she’s coming—but it will be another change. Marilla and I cleared everything out of the spare room yesterday. Do you know, I hated to do it? Of course, it was silly—but it did seem as if we were committing sacrilege. That old spare room has always seemed like a shrine to me. When I was a child I thought it the most wonderful apartment in the world. You remember