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with a smile on his faceā€”a smile which seemed to Anne at once triumphant and taunting. In reality it was nothing of the kind. Gilbert was merely smiling with appreciation of the whole affair in general and of the effect produced by Anneā€™s slender white form and spiritual face against a background of palms in particular. Josie Pye, whom he had driven over, sat beside him, and her face certainly was both triumphant and taunting. But Anne did not see Josie, and would not have cared if she had. She drew a long breath and flung her head up proudly, courage and determination tingling over her like an electric shock. She WOULD NOT fail before Gilbert Blytheā€”he should never be able to laugh at her, never, never! Her fright and nervousness vanished; and she began her recitation, her clear, sweet voice reaching to the farthest corner of the room without a tremor or a break. Self-possession was fully restored to her, and in the reaction from that horrible moment of powerlessness she recited as she had never done before. When she finished there were bursts of honest applause. Anne, stepping back to her seat, blushing with shyness and delight, found her hand vigorously clasped and shaken by the stout lady in pink silk.

ā€œMy dear, you did splendidly,ā€ she puffed. ā€œIā€™ve been crying like a baby, actually I have. There, theyā€™re encoring youā€” theyā€™re bound to have you back!ā€

ā€œOh, I canā€™t go,ā€ said Anne confusedly. ā€œBut yetā€”I must, or Matthew will be disappointed. He said they would encore me.ā€

ā€œThen donā€™t disappoint Matthew,ā€ said the pink lady, laughing.

Smiling, blushing, limpid eyed, Anne tripped back and gave a quaint, funny little selection that captivated her audience still further. The rest of the evening was quite a little triumph for her.

When the concert was over, the stout, pink ladyā€”who was the wife of an American millionaireā€”took her under her wing, and introduced her to everybody; and everybody was very nice to her. The professional elocutionist, Mrs. Evans, came and chatted with her, telling her that she had a charming voice and ā€œinterpretedā€ her selections beautifully. Even the white-lace girl paid her a languid little compliment. They had supper in the big, beautifully decorated dining room; Diana and Jane were invited to partake of this, also, since they had come with Anne, but Billy was nowhere to be found, having decamped in mortal fear of some such invitation. He was in waiting for them, with the team, however, when it was all over, and the three girls came merrily out into the calm, white moonshine radiance. Anne breathed deeply, and looked into the clear sky beyond the dark boughs of the firs.

Oh, it was good to be out again in the purity and silence of the night! How great and still and wonderful everything was, with the murmur of the sea sounding through it and the darkling cliffs beyond like grim giants guarding enchanted coasts.

ā€œHasnā€™t it been a perfectly splendid time?ā€ sighed Jane, as they drove away. ā€œI just wish I was a rich American and could spend my summer at a hotel and wear jewels and low-necked dresses and have ice cream and chicken salad every blessed day. Iā€™m sure it would be ever so much more fun than teaching school. Anne, your recitation was simply great, although I thought at first you were never going to begin. I think it was better than Mrs. Evansā€™s.ā€

ā€œOh, no, donā€™t say things like that, Jane,ā€ said Anne quickly, ā€œbecause it sounds silly. It couldnā€™t be better than Mrs. Evansā€™s, you know, for she is a professional, and Iā€™m only a schoolgirl, with a little knack of reciting. Iā€™m quite satisfied if the people just liked mine pretty well.ā€

ā€œIā€™ve a compliment for you, Anne,ā€ said Diana. ā€œAt least I think it must be a compliment because of the tone he said it in. Part of it was anyhow. There was an American sitting behind Jane and meā€”such a romantic-looking man, with coal-black hair and eyes. Josie Pye says he is a distinguished artist, and that her motherā€™s cousin in Boston is married to a man that used to go to school with him. Well, we heard him sayā€”didnā€™t we, Jane?ā€”`Who is that girl on the platform with the splendid Titian hair? She has a face I should like to paint.ā€™ There now, Anne. But what does Titian hair mean?ā€

ā€œBeing interpreted it means plain red, I guess,ā€ laughed Anne. ā€œTitian was a very famous artist who liked to paint red-haired women.ā€

ā€œDID you see all the diamonds those ladies wore?ā€ sighed Jane. ā€œThey were simply dazzling. Wouldnā€™t you just love to be rich, girls?ā€

ā€œWe ARE rich,ā€ said Anne staunchly. ā€œWhy, we have sixteen years to our credit, and weā€™re happy as queens, and weā€™ve all got imaginations, more or less. Look at that sea, girlsā€”all silver and shadow and vision of things not seen. We couldnā€™t enjoy its loveliness any more if we had millions of dollars and ropes of diamonds. You wouldnā€™t change into any of those women if you could. Would you want to be that white-lace girl and wear a sour look all your life, as if youā€™d been born turning up your nose at the world? Or the pink lady, kind and nice as she is, so stout and short that youā€™d really no figure at all? Or even Mrs. Evans, with that sad, sad look in her eyes? She must have been dreadfully unhappy sometime to have such a look. You KNOW you wouldnā€™t, Jane Andrews!ā€

ā€œI DONā€™T knowā€”exactly,ā€ said Jane unconvinced. ā€œI think diamonds would comfort a person for a good deal.ā€

ā€œWell, I donā€™t want to be anyone but myself, even if I go uncomforted by diamonds all my life,ā€ declared Anne. ā€œIā€™m quite content to be Anne of Green Gables, with my string of pearl beads. I know Matthew gave me as much love with them as ever went with Madame the Pink Ladyā€™s jewels.ā€

CHAPTER XXXIV A Queenā€™s Girl

The next three weeks were busy ones at Green Gables, for Anne was getting ready to go to Queenā€™s, and there was much sewing to be done, and many things to be talked over and arranged. Anneā€™s outfit was ample and pretty, for Matthew saw to that, and Marilla for once made no objections whatever to anything he purchased or suggested. Moreā€” one evening she went up to the east gable with her arms full of a delicate pale green material.

ā€œAnne, hereā€™s something for a nice light dress for you. I donā€™t suppose you really need it; youā€™ve plenty of pretty waists; but I thought maybe youā€™d like something real dressy to wear if you were asked out anywhere of an evening in town, to a party or anything like that. I hear that Jane and Ruby and Josie have got `evening dresses,ā€™ as they call them, and I donā€™t mean you shall be behind them. I got Mrs. Allan to help me pick it in town last week, and weā€™ll get Emily Gillis to make it for you. Emily has got taste, and her fits arenā€™t to be equaled.ā€

ā€œOh, Marilla, itā€™s just lovely,ā€ said Anne. ā€œThank you so much. I donā€™t believe you ought to be so kind to meā€”itā€™s making it harder every day for me to go away.ā€

The green dress was made up with as many tucks and frills and shirrings as Emilyā€™s taste permitted. Anne put it on one evening for Matthewā€™s and Marillaā€™s benefit, and recited ā€œThe Maidenā€™s Vowā€ for them in the kitchen. As Marilla watched the bright, animated face and graceful motions her thoughts went back to the evening Anne had arrived at Green Gables, and memory recalled a vivid picture of the odd, frightened child in her preposterous yellowish-brown wincey dress, the heartbreak looking out of her tearful eyes. Something in the memory brought tears to Marillaā€™s own eyes.

ā€œI declare, my recitation has made you cry, Marilla,ā€ said Anne gaily stooping over Marillaā€™s chair to drop a butterfly kiss on that ladyā€™s cheek. ā€œNow, I call that a positive triumph.ā€

ā€œNo, I wasnā€™t crying over your piece,ā€ said Marilla, who would have scorned to be betrayed into such weakness by any poetry stuff. ā€œI just couldnā€™t help thinking of the little girl you used to be, Anne. And I was wishing you could have stayed a little girl, even with all your queer ways. Youā€™ve grown up now and youā€™re going away; and you look so tall and stylish and soā€”soā€”different altogether in that dressā€”as if you didnā€™t belong in Avonlea at allā€” and I just got lonesome thinking it all over.ā€

ā€œMarilla!ā€ Anne sat down on Marillaā€™s gingham lap, took Marillaā€™s lined face between her hands, and looked gravely and tenderly into Marillaā€™s eyes. ā€œIā€™m not a bit changedā€” not really. Iā€™m only just pruned down and branched out. The real MEā€”back hereā€”is just the same. It wonā€™t make a bit of difference where I go or how much I change outwardly; at heart I shall always be your little Anne, who will love you and Matthew and dear Green Gables more and better every day of her life.ā€

Anne laid her fresh young cheek against Marillaā€™s faded one, and reached out a hand to pat Matthewā€™s shoulder. Marilla would have given much just then to have possessed Anneā€™s power of putting her feelings into words; but nature and habit had willed it otherwise, and she could only put her arms close about her girl and hold her tenderly to her heart, wishing that she need never let her go.

Matthew, with a suspicious moisture in his eyes, got up and went out-of-doors. Under the stars of the blue summer night he walked agitatedly across the yard to the gate under the poplars.

ā€œWell now, I guess she ainā€™t been much spoiled,ā€ he muttered, proudly. ā€œI guess my putting in my oar occasional never did much harm after all. Sheā€™s smart and pretty, and loving, too, which is better than all the rest. Sheā€™s been a blessing to us, and there never was a luckier mistake than what Mrs. Spencer madeā€”if it WAS luck. I donā€™t believe it was any such thing. It was Providence, because the Almighty saw we needed her, I reckon.ā€

The day finally came when Anne must go to town. She and Matthew drove in one fine September morning, after a tearful parting with Diana and an untearful practical oneā€” on Marillaā€™s side at leastā€”with Marilla. But when Anne had gone Diana dried her tears and went to a beach picnic at White Sands with some of her Carmody cousins, where she contrived to enjoy herself tolerably well; while Marilla plunged fiercely into unnecessary work and kept at it all day long with the bitterest kind of heartacheā€”the ache that burns and gnaws and cannot wash itself away in ready tears. But that night, when Marilla went to bed, acutely and miserably conscious that the little gable room at the end of the hall was untenanted by any vivid young life and unstirred by any soft breathing, she buried her face in her pillow, and wept for her girl in a passion of sobs that appalled her when she grew calm enough to reflect how very wicked it must be to take on so about a sinful fellow creature.

Anne and the rest of the Avonlea scholars reached town just in time to hurry off to the Academy. That first day passed pleasantly enough in a whirl of excitement, meeting all the new students, learning to know the professors by sight and being assorted and organized into classes. Anne intended taking up the Second Year work being advised to do so by Miss Stacy; Gilbert Blythe elected to do the same. This meant getting a First Class teacherā€™s license in one year instead of two, if they were successful;

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