invited to take tea at the manse. The morning, in spite of Matthew s
predictions, was fine and Anne s spirits soared to their highest.
Oh, Marilla, there is something in me today that makes me just love
everybody I see, she exclaimed as she washed the breakfast dishes.
You don t know how good I feel! Wouldn t it be nice if it could last? I
believe I could be a model child if I were just invited out to tea every
day. But oh, Marilla, it s a solemn occasion too. I feel so anxious.
What if I shouldn t behave properly? You know I never had tea at a
manse before, and I m not sure that I know all the rules of etiquette,
although I ve been studying the rules given in the Etiquette Department
of the Family Herald ever since I came here. I m so afraid I ll do
something silly or forget to do something I should do. Would it be
good manners to take a second helping of anything if you wanted to _very_
much?
The trouble with you, Anne, is that you re thinking too much about
yourself. You should just think of Mrs. Allan and what would be nicest
and most agreeable to her, said Marilla, hitting for once in her life
on a very sound and pithy piece of advice. Anne instantly realized this.
You are right, Marilla. I ll try not to think about myself at all.
Anne evidently got through her visit without any serious breach of
etiquette, for she came home through the twilight, under a great,
high-sprung sky gloried over with trails of saffron and rosy cloud, in
a beatified state of mind and told Marilla all about it happily, sitting
on the big red-sandstone slab at the kitchen door with her tired curly
head in Marilla s gingham lap.
A cool wind was blowing down over the long harvest fields from the rims
of firry western hills and whistling through the poplars. One clear star
hung over the orchard and the fireflies were flitting over in Lover s
Lane, in and out among the ferns and rustling boughs. Anne watched them
as she talked and somehow felt that wind and stars and fireflies were
all tangled up together into something unutterably sweet and enchanting.
Oh, Marilla, I ve had a most _fascinating_ time. I feel that I have not
lived in vain and I shall always feel like that even if I should never
be invited to tea at a manse again. When I got there Mrs. Allan met me
at the door. She was dressed in the sweetest dress of pale-pink organdy,
161