`` I wo n't despair . We are not conquered -- no , if Germany overruns all France we are not conquered . I am ashamed of myself for this hour of despair . You wo n't see me slump again like that , I 'm going to ring up town at once and ask for particulars . '' But town could not be got . The long-distance operator there was submerged by similar calls from every part of the distracted country . Rilla finally gave up and slipped away to Rainbow Valley . There she knelt down on the withered grey grasses in the little nook where she and Walter had had their last talk together , with her head bowed against the mossy trunk of a fallen tree . The sun had broken through the black clouds and drenched the valley with a pale golden splendour . The bells on the Tree Lovers twinkled elfinly and fitfully in the gusty March wind . `` Oh God , give me strength , '' Rilla whispered . `` Just strength -- and courage . '' Then like a child she clasped her hands together and said , as simply as Jims could have done , `` Please send us better news tomorrow . '' She knelt there a long time , and when she went back to Ingleside she was calm and resolute . The doctor had arrived home , tired but triumphant , little Douglas Haig Marwood having made a safe landing on the shores of time . Gertrude was still pacing restlessly but Mrs. Blythe and Susan had reacted from the shock , and Susan was already planning a new line of defence for the channel ports . `` As long as we can hold them , '' she declared , `` the situation is saved . Paris has really no military significance . '' `` Do n't , '' said Gertrude sharply , as if Susan had run something into her . She thought the old worn phrase ` no military significance ' nothing short of ghastly mockery under the circumstances , and more terrible to endure than the voice of despair would have been .
`` I heard up XXXXX Marwood 's of the line being broken , '' said the doctor , `` but this story of the Germans shelling Paris seems to be rather incredible .
against as at by for in like on under with