I was only seventeen and I was alone . Dick had gone off in the Four Sisters . I hoped he would n't be home very much more . The sea had always been in his blood . I had no other hope . 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 .
XXXXX is a dear soul , but she is an outsider .
Anne Dick Gilbert Jim Leslie Susan downwards first girlhood paper-lantern