Anne of Green Gables (Penguin) Page 3

  ‘Well now, I’m afraid I can’t,’ said Matthew, who was getting a little dizzy. He felt as he had once felt in his rash youth, when another boy had enticed him on the merry-go-round at a picnic.

  ‘Well, whatever it was it must have been something nice because she was divinely beautiful. Have you ever imagined what it must feel like to be divinely beautiful?’

  ‘Well now, no, I haven’t,’ confessed Matthew ingenuously.

  ‘I have, often. Which would you rather be if you had the choice — divinely beautiful or dazzlingly clever or angelically good?’

  ‘Well now, I — I don’t know exactly.’

  ‘Neither do I. I can never decide. But it doesn’t make much real difference, for it isn’t likely I’ll ever be either. It’s certain I’ll never be angelically good. Mrs Spencer says — oh, Mr Cuthbert! Oh, Mr Cuthbert!! Oh, Mr Cuthbert!!!’

  That was not what Mrs Spencer had said; neither had the child tumbled out of the buggy, nor had Matthew done anything astonishing. They had simply rounded a curve in the road and found themselves in the ‘Avenue’.

  The ‘Avenue’, so called by the Newbridge people, was a stretch of road four or five hundred yards long, completely arched over with huge, wide-spreading apple-trees, planted years ago by an eccentric old farmer. Overhead was one long canopy of snowy, fragrant bloom. Below the boughs the air was full of a purple twilight and far ahead a glimpse of painted sunset sky shone like a great rose window at the end of a cathedral aisle.

  Its beauty seemed to strike the child dumb. She leaned back in the buggy, her thin hands clasped before her, her face lifted rapturously to the white splendour above. Even when they had passed out and were driving down the long slope to Newbridge she never moved or spoke. Still with rapt face she gazed afar into the sunset west, with eyes that saw visions trooping splendidly across that glowing background. Through Newbridge, a bustling little village where dogs barked at them and small boys hooted and curious faces peered from the windows, they drove, still in silence. When three more miles had dropped away behind them the child had not spoken. She could keep silence, it was evident, as energetically as she could talk.

  ‘I guess you’re feeling pretty tired and hungry,’ Matthew ventured at last, accounting for her long visitation of dumbness with the only reason he could think of. ‘But we haven’t very far to go now — only another mile.’

  She came out of her reverie with a deep sigh and looked at him with the dreamy gaze of a soul that had been wandering afar, star-led.

  ‘Oh, Mr Cuthbert,’ she whispered, ‘that place we came through — that white place — what was it?’

  ‘Well now, you must mean the Avenue,’ said Matthew after a few moments’ profound reflection. ‘It is a kind of pretty place.’

  ‘Pretty? Oh, pretty doesn’t seem the right word to use. Nor beautiful, either. They don’t go far enough. Oh, it was wonderful — wonderful. It’s the first thing I ever saw that couldn’t be improved upon by imagination. It just satisfied me here’ — she put one hand on her breast — ‘it made a queer funny ache and yet it was a pleasant ache. Did you ever have an ache like that, Mr Cuthbert?’

  ‘Well now, I just can’t recollect that I ever had.’

  ‘I have it lots of times — whenever I see anything royally beautiful. But they shouldn’t call that lovely place the Avenue. There is no meaning in a name like that. They should call it — let me see — the White Way of Delight. Isn’t that a nice imaginative name? When I don’t like the name of a place or a person I always imagine a new one and always think of them so. There was a girl at the asylum whose name was Hepzibah Jenkins, but I always imagined her as Rosalia De Vere. Other people may call that place the Avenue, but I shall always call it the White Way of Delight. Have we really only another mile to go before we get home? I’m glad and I’m sorry. I’m sorry because this drive has been so pleasant and I’m always sorry when pleasant things end. Something still pleasanter may come after, but you can never be sure. And it’s so often the case that it isn’t pleasanter. That has been my experience anyhow. But I’m glad to think of getting home. You see, I’ve never had a real home since I can remember. It gives me that pleasant ache again just to think of coming to a really truly home. Oh, isn’t that pretty?’

  They had driven over the crest of a hill. Below them was a pond, looking almost like a river so long and winding was it. A bridge spanned it midway, and from there to its lower end, where an amber-hued belt of sand-hills shut it in from the dark blue gulf beyond, the water was a glory of many shifting hues — the most spiritual shadings of crocus and rose and ethereal green, with other elusive tintings for which no name has ever been found. Above the bridge the pond ran up into fringing groves of fir and maple and lay all darkly translucent in their wavering shadows. Here and there a wild plum leaned out from the bank like a white-clad girl tiptoeing to her own reflection. From the marsh at the head of the pond came the clear, mournfully sweet chorus of the frogs. There was a little grey house peering around a white apple orchard on a slope beyond, and, although it was not yet quite dark, a light was shining from one of its windows.

  ‘That’s Barry’s pond,’ said Matthew.

  ‘Oh, I don’t like that name, either. I shall call it — let me see — the Lake of Shining Waters. Yes, that is the right name for it. I know because of the thrill. When I hit on a name that suits exactly it gives me a thrill. Do things ever give you a thrill?’

  Matthew ruminated.

  ‘Well now, yes. It always kind of gives me a thrill to see them ugly white grubs that spade up in the cucumber beds. I hate the look of them.’

  ‘Oh, I don’t think that can be exactly the same kind of a thrill. Do you think it can? There doesn’t seem to be much connexion between grubs and lakes of shining water, does there? But why do other people call it Barry’s pond?’

  ‘I reckon because Mr Barry lives up there in that house. Orchard Slope’s the name of his place. If it wasn’t for that big bush behind it you could see Green Gables from here. But we have to go over the bridge and round by the road, so it’s near half a mile further.’

  ‘Has Mr Barry any little girls? Well, not so very little either — about my size?’

  ‘He’s got one about eleven. Her name is Diana.’

  ‘Oh!’ with a long indrawing of breath. ‘What a perfectly lovely name!’

  ‘Well now, I dunno. There’s something dreadful heathenish about it, seems to me. I’d rather Jane or Mary or some sensible name like that. But when Diana was born there was a schoolmaster boarding there and they gave him the naming of her and he called her Diana.’

  ‘I wish there had been a schoolmaster like that around when I was born, then. Oh, here we are at the bridge. I’m going to shut my eyes tight. I’m always afraid going over bridges. I can’t help imagining that perhaps, just as we get to the middle, they’ll crumple up like a jack-knife and nip us. So I shut my eyes. But I always have to open them for all when I think we’re getting near the middle. Because, you see, if the bridge did crumple up I’d want to see it crumple. What a jolly rumble it makes! I always like the rumble part of it. Isn’t it splendid there are so many things to like in this world? There, we’re over. Now I’ll look back. Good night, dear Lake of Shining Waters. I always say good night to the things I love, just as I would to people. I think they like it. That water looks as if it was smiling at me.’

  When they had driven up the further hill and around a corner Matthew said:

  ‘We’re pretty near home now. That’s Green Gables over —’

  ‘Oh, don’t tell me,’ she interrupted breathlessly, catching at his partially raised arm and shutting her eyes that she might not see his gesture. ‘Let me guess. I’m sure I’ll guess right.’

  She opened her eyes and looked about her. They were on the crest of a hill. The sun had set some time since, but the landscape was still clear in the mellow afterlight. To the west a dark church spire rose up against a marigold sky. Below was a little valley, and beyond a l
ong, gently rising slope with snug farmsteads scattered along it. From one to another the child’s eyes darted, eager and wistful. At last they lingered on one away to the left, far back from the road, dimly white with blossoming trees in the twilight of the surrounding woods. Over it, in the stainless southwest sky, a great crystal-white star was shining like a lamp of guidance and promise.

  ‘That’s it, isn’t it?’ she said, pointing.

  Matthew slapped the reins on the sorrel’s back delightedly.

  ‘Well now, you’ve guessed it! But I reckon Mrs Spencer described it so’s you could tell.’

  ‘No, she didn’t — really she didn’t. All she said might just as well have been about most of those other places. I hadn’t any real idea what it looked like. But just as soon as I saw it I felt it was home. Oh it seems as if I must be in a dream. Do you know, my arm must be black and blue from the elbow up, for I’ve pinched myself so many times today. Every little while a horrible sickening feeling would come over me and I’d be so afraid it was all a dream. Then I’d pinch myself to see if it was real — until suddenly I remembered that even supposing it was only a dream I’d better go on dreaming as long as I could; so I stopped pinching. But it is real, and we’re nearly home.’

  With a sigh of rapture she relapsed into silence. Matthew stirred uneasily. He felt glad that it would be Marilla and not he who would have to tell this waif of the world that the home she longed for was not to be hers after all. They drove over Lynde’s Hollow, where it was already quite dark, but not so dark that Mrs Rachel could not see them from her window vantage, and up the hill and into the long lane of Green Gables. By the time they arrived at the house Matthew was shrinking from the approaching revelation with an energy he did not understand. It was not of Marilla or himself he was thinking or of the trouble this mistake was probably going to make for them, but of the child’s disappointment. When he thought of that rapt light being quenched in her eyes he had an uncomfortable feeling that he was going to assist at murdering something — much the same feeling that came over him when he had to kill a lamb or calf or any other innocent little creature.

  The yard was quite dark as they turned into it, and the poplar leaves were rustling silkily all round it.

  ‘Listen to the trees talking in their sleep,’ she whispered, as he lifted her to the ground. ‘What nice dreams they must have!’

  Then, holding tightly to the carpet bag which contained ‘all her worldly goods’, she followed him into the house.

  3

  Marilla Cuthbert is Surprised

  Marilla came briskly forward as Matthew opened the door. But when her eyes fell on the odd little figure in the stiff, ugly dress, with the long braids of red hair and the eager, luminous eyes, she stopped short in amazement.

  ‘Matthew Cuthbert, who’s that?’ she ejaculated. ‘Where is the boy?’

  ‘There wasn’t any boy,’ said Matthew wretchedly. ‘There was only her.’

  He nodded at the child, remembering that he had never even asked her name.

  ‘No boy! But there must have been a boy,’ insisted Marilla. ‘We sent word to Mrs Spencer to bring a boy.’

  ‘Well, she didn’t. She brought her. I asked the station-master. And I had to bring her home. She couldn’t be left there, no matter where the mistake had come in.’

  ‘Well, this is a pretty piece of business!’ ejaculated Marilla.

  During this dialogue the child had remained silent, her eyes roving from one to the other, all the animation fading out of her face. Suddenly she seemed to grasp the full meaning of what had been said. Dropping her precious carpet-bag she sprang forward a step and clasped her hands.

  ‘You don’t want me!’ she cried. ‘You don’t want me because I’m not a boy! I might have expected it. Nobody ever did want me. I might have known it was all too beautiful to last. I might have known nobody really did want me. Oh, what shall I do? I’m going to burst into tears!’

  Burst into tears she did. Sitting down on a chair by the table, flinging her arms out upon it, and burying her face in them, she proceeded to cry stormily. Marilla and Matthew looked at each other deprecatingly across the stove. Neither of them knew what to say or do. Finally Marilla stepped lamely into the breach.

  ‘Well, well, there’s no need to cry so about it.’

  ‘Yes, there is need!’ The child raised her head quickly, revealing a tear-stained face and trembling lips. ‘You would cry, too, if you were an orphan and had come to a place you thought was going to be home and found that they didn’t want you because you weren’t a boy. Oh, this is the most tragical thing that ever happened to me!’

  Something like a reluctant smile, rather rusty from long disuse, mellowed Marilla’s grim expression.

  ‘Well, don’t cry any more. We’re not going to turn you out of doors tonight. You’ll have to stay here until we investigate this affair. What’s your name?’

  The child hesitated for a moment.

  ‘Will you please call me Cordelia?’ she said eagerly.

  ‘Call you Cordelia! Is that your name?’

  ‘No-o-o, it’s not exactly my name, but I would love to be called Cordelia. It’s such a perfectly elegant name.’

  ‘I don’t know what on earth you mean. If Cordelia isn’t your name, what is?’

  ‘Anne Shirley,’ reluctantly faltered forth the owner of that name, ‘but oh, please do call me Cordelia. It can’t matter much to you what you call me if I’m only going to be here a little while, can it? And Anne is such an unromantic name.’

  ‘Unromantic fiddlesticks!’ said the unsympathetic Marilla. Anne is a real good plain sensible name. You’ve no need to be ashamed of it.’

  ‘Oh, I’m not ashamed of it,’ explained Anne, ‘only I like Cordelia better. I’ve always imagined that my name was Cordelia — at least, I always have of late years. When I was young I used to imagine it was Geraldine, but I like Cordelia better now. But if you call me Anne, please call me Anne spelled with an e.’

  ‘What difference does it make how it’s spelled?’ asked Marilla with another rusty smile as she picked up the teapot.

  ‘Oh, it makes such a difference. It looks so much nicer. When you hear a name pronounced can’t you always see it in your mind, just as if it was printed out? I can; and A-N-N looks dreadful, but A-N-N-E looks so much more distinguished. If you’ll only call me Anne spelled with an e I shall try to reconcile myself to not being called Cordelia.’

  ‘Very well, then, Anne spelled with an e, can you tell us how this mistake came to be made? We sent word to Mrs Spencer to bring us a boy. Were there no boys at the asylum?’

  ‘Oh, yes, there was an abundance of them. But Mrs Spencer said distinctly that you wanted a girl about eleven years old. And the matron said she thought I would do. You don’t know how delighted I was. I couldn’t sleep all last night for joy. Oh,’ she added reproachfully, turning to Matthew, ‘why didn’t you tell me at the station that you didn’t want me and leave me there? If I hadn’t seen the White Way of Delight and the Lake of Shining Waters it wouldn’t be so hard.’

  ‘What on earth does she mean?’ demanded Marilla staring at Matthew.

  ‘She — she’s just referring to some conversation we had on the road,’ said Matthew hastily. ‘I’m going out to put the mare in, Marilla. Have tea ready when I come back.’

  ‘Did Mrs Spencer bring anybody over besides you?’ continued Marilla when Matthew had gone out.

  ‘She brought Lily Jones for herself. Lily is only five years old and she is very beautiful. She has nut-brown hair. If I was very beautiful and had nut-brown hair would you keep me?’

  ‘No. We want a boy to help Matthew on the farm. A girl would be of no use to us. Take off your hat. I’ll lay it and your bag on the hall table.’

  Anne took off her hat meekly. Matthew came back presently and they sat down to supper. But Anne could not eat. In vain she nibbled at the bread and butter and pecked at the crab-apple preserve out of the little scalloped glass dish by
her plate. She did not really make any headway at all.

  ‘You’re not eating anything,’ said Marilla sharply, eyeing her as if it were a serious shortcoming.

  Anne sighed.

  ‘I can’t. I’m in the depths of despair. Can you eat when you are in the depths of despair?’

  ‘I’ve never been in the depths of despair, so I can’t say,’ responded Marilla.

  ‘Weren’t you? Well, did you ever try to imagine you were in the depths of despair?’

  ‘No, I didn’t.’

  ‘Then I don’t think you can understand what it’s like. It’s a very uncomfortable feeling indeed. When you try to eat a lump comes right up in your throat and you can’t swallow anything, not even if it was a chocolate caramel. I had one chocolate caramel once two years ago and it was simply delicious. I’ve often dreamed since then that I had a lot of chocolate caramels, but I always wake up just when I’m going to eat them. I do hope you won’t be offended because I can’t eat. Everything is extremely nice, but still I cannot eat.’

  ‘I guess she’s tired,’ said Matthew, who hadn’t spoken since his return from the barn. ‘Best put her to bed, Marilla.’

  Marilla had been wondering where Anne should be put to bed. She had prepared a couch in the kitchen chamber for the desired and expected boy. But, although it was neat and clean, it did not seem quite the thing to put a girl there somehow. But the spare room was out of the question for such a stray waif, so there remained only the east gable room. Marilla lighted a candle and told Anne to follow her which Anne spiritlessly did, taking her hat and carpet-bag from the hall table as she passed. The hall was fearsomely clean; the little gable chamber in which she presently found herself seemed still cleaner.

  Marilla set the candle on a three-legged, three-cornered table and turned down the bedclothes.

  ‘I suppose you have a nightgown?’ she questioned.

  Anne nodded.