Well , Captain Jim brought him home , as you know -- and that 's all there is to say . You know me now , Anne -- the worst of me -- the barriers are all down . And you still want to be my friend ? '' Anne looked up through the birches , at the white paper-lantern of a half moon drifting downwards to the gulf of sunset . Her face was very sweet . `` I am your friend and you are mine , for always , '' she said . `` Such a friend as I never had before . I have had many dear and beloved friends -- but there is a something in you , Leslie , that I never found in anyone else . You have more to offer me in that rich nature of yours , and I have more to give you than I had in my careless girlhood . We are both women -- and friends forever . '' They clasped hands and smiled at each other through the tears that filled the gray eyes and the blue . CHAPTER 22 MISS CORNELIA ARRANGES MATTERS Gilbert insisted that Susan should be kept on at the little house for the summer . Anne protested at first . `` Life here with just the two of us is so sweet , Gilbert . It spoils it a little to have anyone else . Susan is a dear soul , but she is an outsider . It wo n't hurt me to do the work here . '' `` You must take your doctor 's advice , '' said Gilbert . `` There 's an old proverb to the effect that shoemakers ' wives go barefoot and doctors ' wives die young . I do n't mean that it shall be true in my household .
You will keep XXXXX until the old spring comes back into your step , and those little hollows on your cheeks fill out . ''
Anne Gilbert Jim Leslie Susan downwards first girlhood paper-lantern shoemakers