Anne of Windy Poplars - L. M. Montgomery [65]
‘Oh, Miss Brooke, look at that sunset!’ said Anne rapturously from the squeaky, cushionless rocker to which Katherine had ungraciously pointed her.
‘I’ve seen a good many sunsets,’ said the latter coldly, without moving. ‘Condescending to me with your sunsets!’ she thought bitterly.
‘You haven’t seen this one. No two sunsets are alike. Just sit down here and let us let it sink into our souls,’ said Anne. Thought Anne, ‘Do you ever say anything pleasant?’
‘Don’t be ridiculous, please!’
The most insulting words in the world! With an added edge of insult in Katherine’s contemptuous tones. Anne turned from her sunset and looked at Katherine, much more than half inclined to get up and walk out. But Katherine’s eyes looked a trifle strange. Had she been crying? Surely not. You couldn’t imagine Katherine Brooke crying.
‘You don’t make me feel very welcome,’ Anne said slowly.
‘I can’t pretend things. I haven’t your notable gift for doing the queen act: saying exactly the right thing to everyone. You’re not welcome. What sort of a room is this to welcome anyone to?’
Katherine made a scornful gesture at the faded walls, the shabby, bare chairs, and the wobbly dressing-table with its petticoat of limp muslin.
‘It isn’t a nice room, but why do you stay here if you don’t like it?’
‘Oh, why, why? You wouldn’t understand. It doesn’t matter. I don’t care what anybody thinks. What brought you here tonight? I don’t suppose you came just to soak in the sunset.’
‘I came to ask if you would spend the Christmas holidays with me at Green Gables.’
‘Now,’ thought Anne, ‘for another broadside of sarcasm! I do wish she’d sit down at least. She just stands there as if waiting for me to go.’
But there was silence for a moment. Then Katherine said slowly, ‘Why do you ask me? It isn’t because you like me. Even you couldn’t pretend that.’
‘It’s because I can’t bear to think of any human being spending Christmas in a place like this,’ said Anne candidly.
The sarcasm came then. ‘Oh, I see. A seasonable outburst of charity. I’m hardly a candidate for that yet, Miss Shirley.’
Anne got up. She was out of patience with this strange, aloof creature. She walked across the room and looked Katherine squarely in the eye. ‘Katherine Brooke, whether you know it or not, what you want is a good spanking.’
They gazed at each other for a moment.
‘It must have relieved you to say that,’ said Katherine. But somehow the insulting tone had gone out of her voice. There was even a faint twitch at the corners of her mouth.
‘It has,’ said Anne. ‘I’ve been wanting to tell you just that for some time. I didn’t ask you to Green Gables out of charity; you know that perfectly well. I told you my true reason. Nobody ought to spend Christmas here. The very idea is indecent.’
‘You asked me to Green Gables just because you are sorry for me.’
‘I am sorry for you. Because you’ve shut out life – and now life is shutting you out. Stop it, Katherine. Open your doors to life, and life will come in.’
‘The Anne Shirley version of the old bromide:
If you bring a smiling visage
To the glass you meet a smile,’
said Katherine, with a shrug.
‘Like all bromides, that’s absolutely true. Now, are you coming to Green Gables, or are you not?’
‘What would you say if I accepted – to yourself, not to me?’
‘I’d say you were showing the first faint glimmer of common sense I’d ever detected in you,’ retorted Anne.
Katherine laughed, surprisingly. She walked across to the window, scowled at the fiery streak, which was all that was left of the scorned sunset, and then turned.
‘Very well; I’ll go. Now you can go through the motions of telling me you’re delighted, and that we’ll have a jolly time.’
‘I am delighted. But I don’t know if you’ll have a jolly time or not. That will depend a good deal on yourself, Miss Brooke.’
‘Oh, I’ll behave myself decently. You’ll be surprised. You won’t find me a very exhilarating guest, I suppose, but I promise you I won’t eat with my knife, or insult people when they tell me