For one thing , he took a week to get a joke through his head , and for another he never asked me . Horatio Reeve was the most interesting beau I ever had . But when he told a story he dressed it up so that you could n't see it for frills . I never could decide whether he was lying or just letting his imagination run loose . '' `` And what about the others , Aunty ? '' `` Go away and unpack , '' said Aunt Jamesina , waving Joseph at them by mistake for a needle . `` The others were too nice to make fun of . I shall respect their memory . There 's a box of flowers in your room , Anne . They came about an hour ago . '' After the first week the girls of Patty 's Place settled down to a steady grind of study ; for this was their last year at Redmond and graduation honors must be fought for persistently . Anne devoted herself to English , Priscilla pored over classics , and Philippa pounded away at Mathematics . Sometimes they grew tired , sometimes they felt discouraged , sometimes nothing seemed worth the struggle for it . In one such mood Stella wandered up to the blue room one rainy November evening . Anne sat on the floor in a little circle of light cast by the lamp beside her , amid a surrounding snow of crumpled manuscript . `` What in the world are you doing ? '' `` Just looking over some old Story Club yarns . I wanted something to cheer AND inebriate . I 'd studied until the world seemed azure . So I came up here and dug these out of my trunk .
They are so drenched in tears and tragedy XXXXX they are excruciatingly funny . ''
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