Mistress Blythe . It ca n't keep us apart forever . '' `` I am glad you have told me about her , '' said Anne . `` I have often wondered why you had lived all your life alone . '' `` I could n't ever care for anyone else . Lost Margaret took my heart with her -- out there , '' said the old lover , who had been faithful for fifty years to his drowned sweetheart . `` You wo n't mind if I talk a good deal about her , will you , Mistress Blythe ? It 's a pleasure to me -- for all the pain went out of her memory years ago and jest left its blessing . I know you 'll never forget her , Mistress Blythe . And if the years , as I hope , bring other little folks to your home , I want you to promise me that you 'll tell THEM the story of lost Margaret , so that her name wo n't be forgotten among humankind . '' CHAPTER 21 BARRIERS SWEPT AWAY `` Anne , '' said Leslie , breaking abruptly a short silence , `` you do n't know how GOOD it is to be sitting here with you again -- working -- and talking -- and being silent together . '' They were sitting among the blue-eyed grasses on the bank of the brook in Anne 's garden . The water sparkled and crooned past them ; the birches threw dappled shadows over them ; roses bloomed along the walks . The sun was beginning to be low , and the air was full of woven music . There was one music of the wind in the firs behind the house , and another of the waves on the bar , and still another from the distant bell of the church near which the wee , white lady slept . Anne loved that bell , though it brought sorrowful thoughts now . She looked curiously at Leslie , who had thrown down her sewing and spoken with a lack of restraint that was very unusual with her . `` On that horrible night when you were so ill , '' Leslie went on , `` I kept thinking that perhaps we 'd have no more talks and walks and WORKS together . And I realised just what your friendship had come to mean to me -- just what YOU meant -- and just what a hateful little beast I had been . '' `` Leslie !
XXXXX !
Anne Blythe Leslie Margaret drowned firs humankind left night years