Mr. Leonard had to leave for the Assembly in another week and Stephen 's neighbours were beginning to talk about him . They said that a man who spent all his time hanging around the yard with a spyglass , and trusting everything to a hired boy , could n't be altogether right in his mind . I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw Emmeline driving away one day alone . As soon as she was out of sight I whisked over , and Anne Shirley and Diana Barry went with me . They were visiting me that afternoon . Diana 's mother was my second cousin , and , as we visited back and forth frequently , I 'd often seen Diana . But I 'd never seen her chum , Anne Shirley , although I 'd heard enough about her to drive anyone frantic with curiosity . So when she came home from Redmond College that summer I asked Diana to take pity on me and bring her over some afternoon . I was n't disappointed in her . I considered her a beauty , though some people could n't see it . She had the most magnificent red hair and the biggest , shiningest eyes I ever saw in a girl 's head . As for her laugh , it made me feel young again to hear it . She and Diana both laughed enough that afternoon , for I told them , under solemn promise of secrecy , all about poor Prissy 's love affair . So nothing would do them but they must go over with me . The appearance of the house amazed me . All the shutters were closed and the door locked . I knocked and knocked , but there was no answer . Then I walked around the house to the only window that had n't shutters -- a tiny one upstairs . I knew it was the window in the closet off the room where the girls slept . I stopped under it and called Prissy .
Before long XXXXX came and opened it .
Barry College Diana Emmeline Prissy Stephen afternoon right second spyglass