Anne's House of Dreams - L. M. Montgomery [104]
‘That might be fitly called a cat-astrophe,’ said Gilbert.
‘Oh, you may laugh, doctor, dear, but it would be no laughing matter.’
‘Cats never suck babies’ breaths,’ said Gilbert. ‘That is only an old superstition, Susan.’
‘Oh, well, it may be a superstition or it may not, doctor, dear. All that I know is, it has happened. My sister’s husband’s nephew’s wife’s cat sucked their baby’s breath, and the poor innocent was all but gone when they found it. And superstition or not, if I find that yellow beast lurking near our baby I will whack him with the poker, Mrs Doctor, dear.’
Mr and Mrs Marshall Elliott were living comfortably and harmoniously in the green house. Leslie was busy with sewing, for she and Owen were to be married at Christmas. Anne wondered what she would do when Leslie was gone.
‘Changes come all the time. Just as soon as things get really nice they change,’ she said with a sigh.
‘The old Morgan place up at the Glen is for sale,’ said Gilbert, apropos of nothing in especial.
‘Is it?’ asked Anne indifferently.
‘Yes. Now that Mr Morgan has gone, Mrs Morgan wants to go to live with her children in Vancouver. She will sell cheaply, for a big place like that in a small village like the Glen will not be very easy to dispose of.’
‘Well, it’s certainly a beautiful place, so it is likely she will find a purchaser,’ said Anne, absently, wondering whether she should hemstitch or feather-stitch Little Jem’s ‘short’ dresses. He was to be shortened the next week, and Anne felt ready to cry at the thought of it.
‘Suppose we buy it, Anne?’ remarked Gilbert quietly.
Anne dropped her sewing and stared at him.
‘You’re not in earnest, Gilbert?’
‘Indeed I am, dear.’
‘And leave this darling spot – our house of dreams?’ said Anne incredulously. ‘Oh, Gilbert, it’s – it’s unthinkable!’
‘Listen patiently to me, dear. I know just how you feel about it. I feel the same. But we’ve always known we would have to move some day.’
‘Oh, but not so soon, Gilbert – not just yet.’
‘We may never get such a chance again. If we don’t buy the Morgan place someone else will – and there is no other house in the Glen we would care to have, and no other really good site on which to build. This little house is – well, it is and has been what no other house can ever be to us, I admit, but you know it is out-of-the-way down here for a doctor. We have felt the inconvenience, though we’ve made the best of it. And it’s a tight fit for us now. Perhaps, in a few years, when Jem wants a room of his own, it will be entirely too small.’
‘Oh, I know – I know,’ said Anne, tears filling her eyes. ‘I know all that can be said against it, but I love it so – and it’s so beautiful here.’
‘You would find it very lonely here after Leslie goes – and Captain Jim has gone too. The Morgan place is beautiful, and in time we would love it. You know you have always admired it, Anne.’
‘Oh, yes, but – but – this has all seemed to come up so suddenly, Gilbert. I’m dizzy. Ten minutes ago I had no thought of leaving this dear spot. I was planning what I meant to do for it in the spring – what I meant to do in the garden. And if we leave this place who will get it? It is out-of-the-way, so it’s likely some poor, shiftless, wandering family will rent it – and overrun it – and oh, that would be desecration. It would hurt me horribly.’
‘I know. But we cannot sacrifice our own interests to such considerations, Anne-girl. The Morgan place will suit us in every essential particular – we really can’t afford to miss such a chance. Think of that big lawn with those magnificent old trees; and of that splendid hardwood grove behind it – twelve acres of it. What a play place for our children! There’s a fine orchard, too, and you’ve always admired that high brick wall around the garden with the door in it – you’ve thought it was so like a story-book garden. And there is almost as fine a view of the harbour and the dunes from the Morgan place as from here.’
‘You can’t see the lighthouse star from it.’
‘Yes. You can see it from