But three years is n't any too much time to get ready for housekeeping , for I have n't a speck of fancy work made yet . But I 'm going to begin crocheting doilies tomorrow . Myra Gillis had thirty-seven doilies when she was married and I 'm determined I shall have as many as she had . '' `` I suppose it would be perfectly impossible to keep house with only thirty-six doilies , '' conceded Anne , with a solemn face but dancing eyes . Diana looked hurt . `` I did n't think you 'd make fun of me , Anne , '' she said reproachfully . `` Dearest , I was n't making fun of you , '' cried Anne repentantly . `` I was only teasing you a bit . I think you 'll make the sweetest little housekeeper in the world . And I think it 's perfectly lovely of you to be planning already for your home o'dreams . '' Anne had no sooner uttered the phrase , `` home o'dreams , '' than it captivated her fancy and she immediately began the erection of one of her own . It was , of course , tenanted by an ideal master , dark , proud , and melancholy ; but oddly enough , Gilbert Blythe persisted in hanging about too , helping her arrange pictures , lay out gardens , and accomplish sundry other tasks which a proud and melancholy hero evidently considered beneath his dignity . Anne tried to banish Gilbert 's image from her castle in Spain but , somehow , he went on being there , so Anne , being in a hurry , gave up the attempt and pursued her aerial architecture with such success that her `` home o'dreams '' was built and furnished before Diana spoke again . `` I suppose , Anne , you must think it 's funny I should like Fred so well when he 's so different from the kind of man I 've always said I would marry ... the tall , slender kind ? But somehow I would n't want Fred to be tall and slender ... because , do n't you see , he would n't be Fred then . Of course , '' added Diana rather dolefully , `` we will be a dreadfully pudgy couple . But after all that 's better than one of us being short and fat and the other tall and lean , like Morgan Sloane and his wife . Mrs. Lynde says it always makes her think of the long and short of it when she sees them together . '' `` Well , '' said Anne to herself that night , as she brushed her hair before her gilt framed mirror , `` I am glad Diana is so happy and satisfied . But when my turn comes ... if it ever does ... I do hope there 'll be something a little more thrilling about it .
But then XXXXX thought so too , once .
Blythe Diana Fred Gilbert Gillis Lynde Sloane doilies night years