She was not pretty but there was a certain charm of interest and mystery in her face , and Rilla found her fascinating . Even her occasional moods of gloom and cynicism had allurement for Rilla . These moods came only when Miss Oliver was tired . At all other times she was a stimulating companion , and the gay set at Ingleside never remembered that she was so much older than themselves . Walter and Rilla were her favourites and she was the confidante of the secret wishes and aspirations of both . She knew that Rilla longed to be `` out '' -- to go to parties as Nan and Di did , and to have dainty evening dresses and -- yes , there is no mincing matters -- beaux ! In the plural , at that ! As for Walter , Miss Oliver knew that he had written a sequence of sonnets `` to Rosamond '' -- i.e. , Faith Meredith -- and that he aimed at a Professorship of English literature in some big college . She knew his passionate love of beauty and his equally passionate hatred of ugliness ; she knew his strength and his weakness . Walter was , as ever , the handsomest of the Ingleside boys . Miss Oliver found pleasure in looking at him for his good looks -- he was so exactly like what she would have liked her own son to be . Glossy black hair , brilliant dark grey eyes , faultless features . And a poet to his fingertips ! That sonnet sequence was really a remarkable thing for a lad of twenty to write . Miss Oliver was no partial critic and she knew that Walter Blythe had a wonderful gift . Rilla loved Walter with all her heart . He never teased her as Jem and Shirley did . He never called her `` Spider . '' His pet name for her was `` Rilla-my-Rilla '' -- a little pun on her real name , Marilla . She had been named after Aunt Marilla of Green Gables , but Aunt Marilla had died before Rilla was old enough to know her very well , and Rilla detested the name as being horribly old-fashioned and prim .
Why could n't they have called her by her first name , Bertha , which was beautiful and dignified , instead of that silly `` XXXXX '' ?
English Gables Ingleside Meredith Nan Rilla Walter beaux evening plural