`` Trust me , Anne , dearie . I was n't born yesterday . Oh , a plague on all the men ! One of them ruined Leslie 's life to begin with , and now another of the tribe comes and makes her still more wretched . Anne , this world is an awful place , believe me . '' `` There 's something in the world amiss Will be unriddled by and by , '' quoted Anne dreamily . `` If it is , it 'll be in a world where there are n't any men , '' said Miss Cornelia gloomily . `` What have the men been doing now ? '' asked Gilbert , entering . `` Mischief -- mischief ! What else did they ever do ? '' `` It was Eve ate the apple , Miss Cornelia . '' '' 'T was a he-creature tempted her , '' retorted Miss Cornelia triumphantly . Leslie , after her first anguish was over , found it possible to go on with life after all , as most of us do , no matter what our particular form of torment has been . It is even possible that she enjoyed moments of it , when she was one of the gay circle in the little house of dreams . But if Anne ever hoped that she was forgetting Owen Ford she would have been undeceived by the furtive hunger in Leslie 's eyes whenever his name was mentioned . Pitiful to that hunger , Anne always contrived to tell Captain Jim or Gilbert bits of news from Owen 's letters when Leslie was with them . The girl 's flush and pallor at such moments spoke all too eloquently of the emotion that filled her being . But she never spoke of him to Anne , or mentioned that night on the sand-bar . One day her old dog died and she grieved bitterly over him .
`` He 's been my friend so long , '' she said sorrowfully to XXXXX .
Anne Cornelia Ford Gilbert Jim Leslie Owen day first night