“Oh, Susan!”
“Calm yourself, Mrs. Dr. dear. She did
not succeed. But I really do not blame her for
trying, for her husband is a terrible man. But
she was very foolish to think of hanging herself and
leaving the way clear for him to marry some other woman.
If I had been in her shoes, Mrs. Dr. dear, I would
have gone to work to worry him so that he would try
to hang himself instead of me. Not that I hold
with people hanging themselves under any circumstances,
Mrs. Dr. dear.”
“What is the matter with Harrison Miller, anyway?”
said Anne impatiently. “He is always driving
some one to extremes.”
“Well, some people call it religion and some
call it cussedness, begging your pardon, Mrs. Dr.
dear, for using such a word. It seems they cannot
make out which it is in Harrison’s case.
There are days when he growls at everybody because
he thinks he is fore-ordained to eternal punishment.
And then there are days when he says he does not
care and goes and gets drunk. My own opinion
is that he is not sound in his intellect, for none
of that branch of the Millers were. His grandfather
went out of his mind. He thought he was surrounded
by big black spiders. They crawled over him
and floated in the air about him. I hope I shall
never go insane, Mrs. Dr. dear, and I do not think
I will, because it is not a habit of the Bakers.
But, if an all-wise Providence should decree it,
I hope it will not take the form of big black spiders,
for I loathe the animals. As for Mrs. Miller,
I do not know whether she really deserves pity or not.
There are some who say she just married Harrison
to spite Richard Taylor, which seems to me a very
peculiar reason for getting married. But then,
of course, I am no judge of things matrimonial,
Mrs. Dr. dear. And there is Cornelia Bryant
at the gate, so I will put this blessed brown baby
on his bed and get my knitting.”
“Where are the other children?” asked
Miss Cornelia, when the first greetings—cordial
on her side, rapturous on Anne’s, and dignified
on Susan’s—were over.
“Shirley is in bed and Jem and Walter and the
twins are down in their beloved Rainbow Valley,”
said Anne. “They just came home this afternoon,
you know, and they could hardly wait until supper
was over before rushing down to the valley. They
love it above every spot on earth. Even the
maple grove doesn’t rival it in their affections.”
“I am afraid they love it too well,” said
Susan gloomily. “Little Jem said once he
would rather go to Rainbow Valley than to heaven when
he died, and that was not a proper remark.”
“I suppose they had a great time in Avonlea?”
said Miss Cornelia.
“Enormous. Marilla does spoil them terribly.
Jem, in particular, can do no wrong in her eyes.”
“Miss Cuthbert must be an old lady now,”
said Miss Cornelia, getting out her knitting, so that
she could hold her own with Susan. Miss Cornelia
held that the woman whose hands were employed always
had the advantage over the woman whose hands were
not.
