How softly the great feathery boughs of the firs waved and murmured over her ! How elfinly rang the bells of the `` Tree Lovers '' -- just a tinkle now and then as the breeze swept by ! How purple and elusive the haze where incense was being offered on many an altar of the hills ! How the maple leaves whitened in the wind until the grove seemed covered with pale silvery blossoms ! Everything was just the same as she had seen it hundreds of times ; and yet the whole face of the world seemed changed . `` How wicked I was to wish that something dramatic would happen ! '' she thought . `` Oh , if we could only have those dear , monotonous , pleasant days back again ! I would never , never grumble about them again . '' Rilla 's world had tumbled to pieces the very day after the party . As they lingered around the dinner table at Ingleside , talking of the war , the telephone had rung . It was a long-distance call from Charlottetown for Jem . When he had finished talking he hung up the receiver and turned around , with a flushed face and glowing eyes . Before he had said a word his mother and Nan and Di had turned pale . As for Rilla , for the first time in her life she felt that every one must hear her heart beating and that something had clutched at her throat . `` They are calling for volunteers in town , father , '' said Jem . `` Scores have joined up already . I 'm going in tonight to enlist . '' `` Oh -- Little Jem , '' cried Mrs. Blythe brokenly . She had not called him that for many years -- not since the day he had rebelled against it .
`` Oh -- no -- no -- Little XXXXX . ''
Blythe Di Ingleside Jem Nan Rilla days firs first years