fortunate you knew what to do. I wouldn t have had any idea myself, for
I never saw a case of croup. There now, never mind talking till you ve
had your dinner. I can tell by the look of you that you re just full up
with speeches, but they ll keep.
Marilla had something to tell Anne, but she did not tell it just then
for she knew if she did Anne s consequent excitement would lift her
clear out of the region of such material matters as appetite or dinner.
Not until Anne had finished her saucer of blue plums did Marilla say:
Mrs. Barry was here this afternoon, Anne. She wanted to see you, but I
wouldn t wake you up. She says you saved Minnie May s life, and she is
very sorry she acted as she did in that affair of the currant wine. She
says she knows now you didn t mean to set Diana drunk, and she hopes
you ll forgive her and be good friends with Diana again. You re to go
over this evening if you like for Diana can t stir outside the door
on account of a bad cold she caught last night. Now, Anne Shirley, for
pity s sake don t fly up into the air.
The warning seemed not unnecessary, so uplifted and aerial was Anne s
expression and attitude as she sprang to her feet, her face irradiated
with the flame of her spirit.
Oh, Marilla, can I go right now--without washing my dishes? I ll wash
them when I come back, but I cannot tie myself down to anything so
unromantic as dishwashing at this thrilling moment.
Yes, yes, run along, said Marilla indulgently. Anne Shirley--are you
crazy? Come back this instant and put something on you. I might as well
call to the wind. She s gone without a cap or wrap. Look at her tearing
through the orchard with her hair streaming. It ll be a mercy if she
doesn t catch her death of cold.
Anne came dancing home in the purple winter twilight across the snowy
places. Afar in the southwest was the great shimmering, pearl-like
sparkle of an evening star in a sky that was pale golden and ethereal
rose over gleaming white spaces and dark glens of spruce. The tinkles
of sleigh bells among the snowy hills came like elfin chimes through
the frosty air, but their music was not sweeter than the song in Anne s
heart and on her lips.
131