could get to heaven without it.
I suppose we must have Mr. and Mrs. Allan up to tea someday soon, said
Marilla reflectively. They ve been most everywhere but here. Let me
see. Next Wednesday would be a good time to have them. But don t say a
word to Matthew about it, for if he knew they were coming he d find some
excuse to be away that day. He d got so used to Mr. Bentley he didn t
mind him, but he s going to find it hard to get acquainted with a new
minister, and a new minister s wife will frighten him to death.
I ll be as secret as the dead, assured Anne. But oh, Marilla, will
you let me make a cake for the occasion? I d love to do something for
Mrs. Allan, and you know I can make a pretty good cake by this time.
You can make a layer cake, promised Marilla.
Monday and Tuesday great preparations went on at Green Gables.
Having the minister and his wife to tea was a serious and important
undertaking, and Marilla was determined not to be eclipsed by any of
the Avonlea housekeepers. Anne was wild with excitement and delight. She
talked it all over with Diana Tuesday night in the twilight, as they
sat on the big red stones by the Dryad s Bubble and made rainbows in the
water with little twigs dipped in fir balsam.
Everything is ready, Diana, except my cake which I m to make in the
morning, and the baking-powder biscuits which Marilla will make just
before teatime. I assure you, Diana, that Marilla and I have had a busy
two days of it. It s such a responsibility having a minister s family to
tea. I never went through such an experience before. You should just see
our pantry. It s a sight to behold. We re going to have jellied chicken
and cold tongue. We re to have two kinds of jelly, red and yellow, and
whipped cream and lemon pie, and cherry pie, and three kinds of cookies,
and fruit cake, and Marilla s famous yellow plum preserves that she
keeps especially for ministers, and pound cake and layer cake, and
biscuits as aforesaid; and new bread and old both, in case the minister
is dyspeptic and can t eat new. Mrs. Lynde says ministers are dyspeptic,
but I don t think Mr. Allan has been a minister long enough for it to
have had a bad effect on him. I just grow cold when I think of my layer
cake. Oh, Diana, what if it shouldn t be good! I dreamed last night that
I was chased all around by a fearful goblin with a big layer cake for a
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