felt the sting of his defeat.
Mr. Phillips might not be a very good teacher; but a pupil so inflexibly
determined on learning as Anne was could hardly escape making progress
under any kind of teacher. By the end of the term Anne and Gilbert were
both promoted into the fifth class and allowed to begin studying the
elements of the branches --by which Latin, geometry, French, and
algebra were meant. In geometry Anne met her Waterloo.
It s perfectly awful stuff, Marilla, she groaned. I m sure I ll never
be able to make head or tail of it. There is no scope for imagination in
it at all. Mr. Phillips says I m the worst dunce he ever saw at it.
And Gil--I mean some of the others are so smart at it. It is extremely
mortifying, Marilla.
Even Diana gets along better than I do. But I don t mind being beaten
by Diana. Even although we meet as strangers now I still love her with
an _inextinguishable_ love. It makes me very sad at times to think about
her. But really, Marilla, one can t stay sad very long in such an
interesting world, can one?
CHAPTER XVIII. Anne to the Rescue
ALL things great are wound up with all things little. At first glance
it might not seem that the decision of a certain Canadian Premier to
include Prince Edward Island in a political tour could have much or
anything to do with the fortunes of little Anne Shirley at Green Gables.
But it had.
It was a January the Premier came, to address his loyal supporters and
such of his nonsupporters as chose to be present at the monster mass
meeting held in Charlottetown. Most of the Avonlea people were on
Premier s side of politics; hence on the night of the meeting nearly
all the men and a goodly proportion of the women had gone to town thirty
miles away. Mrs. Rachel Lynde had gone too. Mrs. Rachel Lynde was a
red-hot politician and couldn t have believed that the political rally
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