Oh, she can talk fast enough. I saw that at once. It s nothing in her
favor, either. I don t like children who have so much to say. I don t
want an orphan girl and if I did she isn t the style I d pick out.
There s something I don t understand about her. No, she s got to be
despatched straightway back to where she came from.
I could hire a French boy to help me, said Matthew, and she d be
company for you.
I m not suffering for company, said Marilla shortly. And I m not
going to keep her.
Well now, it s just as you say, of course, Marilla, said Matthew
rising and putting his pipe away. I m going to bed.
To bed went Matthew. And to bed, when she had put her dishes away, went
Marilla, frowning most resolutely. And up-stairs, in the east gable, a
lonely, heart-hungry, friendless child cried herself to sleep.
CHAPTER IV. Morning at Green Gables
IT was broad daylight when Anne awoke and sat up in bed, staring
confusedly at the window through which a flood of cheery sunshine was
pouring and outside of which something white and feathery waved across
glimpses of blue sky.
For a moment she could not remember where she was. First came a
delightful thrill, as of something very pleasant; then a horrible
remembrance. This was Green Gables and they didn t want her because she
wasn t a boy!
But it was morning and, yes, it was a cherry-tree in full bloom outside
of her window. With a bound she was out of bed and across the floor.
She pushed up the sash--it went up stiffly and creakily, as if it hadn t
been opened for a long time, which was the case; and it stuck so tight
that nothing was needed to hold it up.
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