Anne of Green Gables - Lucy Maud Montgomery (read novels website .TXT) š
- Author: Lucy Maud Montgomery
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āWell, Marilla, Iāll just tell you plain that I think youāre doing a mighty foolish thingāa risky thing, thatās what. You donāt know what youāre getting. Youāre bringing a strange child into your house and home and you donāt know a single thing about him nor what his disposition is like nor what sort of parents he had nor how heās likely to turn out. Why, it was only last week I read in the paper how a man and his wife up west of the Island took a boy out of an orphan asylum and he set fire to the house at nightāset it ON PURPOSE, Marillaāand nearly burnt them to a crisp in their beds. And I know another case where an adopted boy used to suck the eggsāthey couldnāt break him of it. If you had asked my advice in the matterāwhich you didnāt do, MarillaāIād have said for mercyās sake not to think of such a thing, thatās what.ā
This Jobās comforting seemed neither to offend nor to alarm Marilla. She knitted steadily on.
āI donāt deny thereās something in what you say, Rachel. Iāve had some qualms myself. But Matthew was terrible set on it. I could see that, so I gave in. Itās so seldom Matthew sets his mind on anything that when he does I always feel itās my duty to give in. And as for the risk, thereās risks in pretty near everything a body does in this world. Thereās risks in peopleās having children of their own if it comes to thatāthey donāt always turn out well. And then Nova Scotia is right close to the Island. It isnāt as if we were getting him from England or the States. He canāt be much different from ourselves.ā
āWell, I hope it will turn out all right,ā said Mrs. Rachel in a tone that plainly indicated her painful doubts. āOnly donāt say I didnāt warn you if he burns Green Gables down or puts strychnine in the wellāI heard of a case over in New Brunswick where an orphan asylum child did that and the whole family died in fearful agonies. Only, it was a girl in that instance.ā
āWell, weāre not getting a girl,ā said Marilla, as if poisoning wells were a purely feminine accomplishment and not to be dreaded in the case of a boy. āIād never dream of taking a girl to bring up. I wonder at Mrs. Alexander Spencer for doing it. But there, SHE wouldnāt shrink from adopting a whole orphan asylum if she took it into her head.ā
Mrs. Rachel would have liked to stay until Matthew came home with his imported orphan. But reflecting that it would be a good two hours at least before his arrival she concluded to go up the road to Robert Bellās and tell the news. It would certainly make a sensation second to none, and Mrs. Rachel dearly loved to make a sensation. So she took herself away, somewhat to Marillaās relief, for the latter felt her doubts and fears reviving under the influence of Mrs. Rachelās pessimism.
āWell, of all things that ever were or will be!ā ejaculated Mrs. Rachel when she was safely out in the lane. āIt does really seem as if I must be dreaming. Well, Iām sorry for that poor young one and no mistake. Matthew and Marilla donāt know anything about children and theyāll expect him to be wiser and steadier that his own grandfather, if so beās he ever had a grandfather, which is doubtful. It seems uncanny to think of a child at Green Gables somehow; thereās never been one there, for Matthew and Marilla were grown up when the new house was builtāif they ever WERE children, which is hard to believe when one looks at them. I wouldnāt be in that orphanās shoes for anything. My, but I pity him, thatās what.ā
So said Mrs. Rachel to the wild rose bushes out of the fulness of her heart; but if she could have seen the child who was waiting patiently at the Bright River station at that very moment her pity would have been still deeper and more profound.
Matthew Cuthbert and the sorrel mare jogged comfortably over the eight miles to Bright River. It was a pretty road, running along between snug farmsteads, with now and again a bit of balsamy fir wood to drive through or a hollow where wild plums hung out their filmy bloom. The air was sweet with the breath of many apple orchards and the meadows sloped away in the distance to horizon mists of pearl and purple; while
āThe little birds sang as if it were The one day of summer in all the year.ā
Matthew enjoyed the drive after his own fashion, except during the moments when he met women and had to nod to themā for in Prince Edward island you are supposed to nod to all and sundry you meet on the road whether you know them or not.
Matthew dreaded all women except Marilla and Mrs. Rachel; he had an uncomfortable feeling that the mysterious creatures were secretly laughing at him. He may have been quite right in thinking so, for he was an odd-looking personage, with an ungainly figure and long iron-gray hair that touched his stooping shoulders, and a full, soft brown beard which he had worn ever since he was twenty. In fact, he had looked at twenty very much as he looked at sixty, lacking a little of the grayness.
When he reached Bright River there was no sign of any train; he thought he was too early, so he tied his horse in the yard of the small Bright River hotel and went over to the station house. The long platform was almost deserted; the only living creature in sight being a girl who was sitting on a pile of shingles at the extreme end. Matthew, barely noting that it WAS a girl, sidled past her as quickly as possible without looking at her. Had he looked he could hardly have failed to notice the tense rigidity and expectation of her attitude and expression. She was sitting there waiting for something or somebody and, since sitting and waiting was the only thing to do just then, she sat and waited with all her might and main.
Matthew encountered the stationmaster locking up the ticket office preparatory to going home for supper, and asked him if the five-thirty train would soon be along.
āThe five-thirty train has been in and gone half an hour ago,ā answered that brisk official. āBut there was a passenger dropped off for youāa little girl. Sheās sitting out there on the shingles. I asked her to go into the ladiesā waiting room, but she informed me gravely that she preferred to stay outside. `There was more scope for imagination,ā she said. Sheās a case, I should say.ā
āIām not expecting a girl,ā said Matthew blankly. āItās a boy Iāve come for. He should be here. Mrs. Alexander Spencer was to bring him over from Nova Scotia for me.ā
The stationmaster whistled.
āGuess thereās some mistake,ā he said. āMrs. Spencer came off the train with that girl and gave her into my charge. Said you and your sister were adopting her from an orphan asylum and that you would be along for her presently. Thatās all I know about itāand I havenāt got any more orphans concealed hereabouts.ā
āI donāt understand,ā said Matthew helplessly, wishing that Marilla was at hand to cope with the situation.
āWell, youād better question the girl,ā said the stationmaster carelessly. āI dare say sheāll be able to explainā sheās got a tongue of her own, thatās certain. Maybe they were out of boys of the brand you wanted.ā
He walked jauntily away, being hungry, and the unfortunate Matthew was left to do that which was harder for him than bearding a lion in its denāwalk up to a girlāa strange girlāan orphan girlāand demand of her why she wasnāt a boy. Matthew groaned in spirit as he turned about and shuffled gently down the platform towards her.
She had been watching him ever since he had passed her and she had her eyes on him now. Matthew was not looking at her and would not have seen what she was really like if he had been, but an ordinary observer would have seen this: A child of about eleven, garbed in a very short, very tight, very ugly dress of yellowish-gray wincey. She wore a faded brown sailor hat and beneath the hat, extending down her back, were two braids of very thick, decidedly red hair. Her face was small, white and thin, also much freckled; her mouth was large and so were her eyes, which looked green in some lights and moods and gray in others.
So far, the ordinary observer; an extraordinary observer might have seen that the chin was very pointed and pronounced; that the big eyes were full of spirit and vivacity; that the mouth was sweet-lipped and expressive; that the forehead was broad and full; in short, our discerning extraordinary observer might have concluded that no commonplace soul inhabited the body of this stray woman-child of whom shy Matthew Cuthbert was so ludicrously afraid.
Matthew, however, was spared the ordeal of speaking first, for as soon as she concluded that he was coming to her she stood up, grasping with one thin brown hand the handle of a shabby, old-fashioned carpet-bag; the other she held out to him.
āI suppose you are Mr. Matthew Cuthbert of Green Gables?ā she said in a peculiarly clear, sweet voice. āIām very glad to see you. I was beginning to be afraid you werenāt coming for me and I was imagining all the things that might have happened to prevent you. I had made up my mind that if you didnāt come for me tonight Iād go down the track to that big wild cherry-tree at the bend, and climb up into it to stay all night. I wouldnāt be a bit afraid, and it would be lovely to sleep in a wild cherry-tree all white with bloom in the moonshine, donāt you think? You could imagine you were dwelling in marble halls, couldnāt you? And I was quite sure you would come for me in the morning, if you didnāt tonight.ā
Matthew had taken the scrawny little hand awkwardly in his; then and there he decided what to do. He could not tell this child with the glowing eyes that there had been a mistake; he would take her home and let Marilla do that. She couldnāt be left at Bright River anyhow, no matter what mistake had been made, so all questions and explanations might as well be deferred until he was safely back at Green Gables.
āIām sorry I was late,ā he said shyly. āCome along. The horse is over in the yard. Give me your bag.ā
āOh, I can carry it,ā the child responded cheerfully. āIt isnāt heavy. Iāve got all my worldly goods in it, but it isnāt heavy. And if it isnāt carried in just a certain way the handle pulls outāso Iād better keep it because I know the exact knack of it. Itās an extremely old carpet-bag. Oh, Iām very glad youāve come, even if it would have been nice to sleep in a wild cherry-tree. Weāve got to drive a long piece, havenāt we? Mrs. Spencer said it was eight miles. Iām glad because I love driving. Oh, it seems so wonderful that Iām going to live with you and belong to you. Iāve never belonged to anybodyānot really. But the asylum was the worst. Iāve only been in it four months, but that was enough. I donāt suppose you ever were an
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