In spite of having driven eight miles over a dusty road she was as neat as if she had just stepped out of the proverbial bandbox . `` Is this where Mr. James A. Harrison lives ? '' she inquired briskly . `` No , Mr. Harrison lives over there , '' said Anne , quite lost in astonishment . `` Well , I DID think this place seemed too tidy ... MUCH too tidy for James A. to be living here , unless he has greatly changed since I knew him , '' chirped the little lady . `` Is it true that James A. is going to be married to some woman living in this settlement ? '' `` No , oh no , '' cried Anne , flushing so guiltily that the stranger looked curiously at her , as if she half suspected her of matrimonial designs on Mr. Harrison . `` But I saw it in an Island paper , '' persisted the Fair Unknown . `` A friend sent a marked copy to me ... friends are always so ready to do such things . James A. 's name was written in over ` new citizen . ' '' `` Oh , that note was only meant as a joke , '' gasped Anne . `` Mr. Harrison has no intention of marrying ANYBODY . I assure you he has n't . '' `` I 'm very glad to hear it , '' said the rosy lady , climbing nimbly back to her seat in the wagon , `` because he happens to be married already . I am his wife . Oh , you may well look surprised . I suppose he has been masquerading as a bachelor and breaking hearts right and left . Well , well , James A. , '' nodding vigorously over the fields at the long white house , `` your fun is over . I am here ... though I would n't have bothered coming if I had n't thought you were up to some mischief . I suppose , '' turning to Anne , `` that parrot of his is as profane as ever ? ''
`` His parrot ... is dead ... I THINK , '' gasped poor Anne , who could n't have felt sure XXXXX her own name at that precise moment .
as at because if in of over that though to