`` There are n't -- so many of us -- to poke around as there used to be , '' she said softly . `` No , that 's so , '' said Ken gently . `` Jem and Walter and the girls away -- it makes a big blank , does n't it ? But -- '' he leaned forward until his dark curls almost brushed her hair -- `` does n't Fred Arnold try to fill the blank occasionally . I 've been told so . '' At this moment , before Rilla could make any reply , Jims began to cry at the top of his voice in the room whose open window was just above them -- Jims , who hardly ever cried in the evening . Moreover , he was crying , as Rilla knew from experience , with a vim and energy that betokened that he had been already whimpering softly unheard for some time and was thoroughly exasperated . When Jims started in crying like that he made a thorough job of it . Rilla knew that there was no use to sit still and pretend to ignore him . He would n't stop ; and conversation of any kind was out of the question when such shrieks and howls were floating over your head . Besides , she was afraid Kenneth would think she was utterly unfeeling if she sat still and let a baby cry like that . He was not likely acquainted with Morgan 's invaluable volume . She got up . `` Jims has had a nightmare , I think . He sometimes has one and he is always badly frightened by it . Excuse me for a moment . '' Rilla flew upstairs , wishing quite frankly that soup tureens had never been invented . But when Jims , at sight of her , lifted his little arms entreatingly and swallowed several sobs , with tears rolling down his cheeks , resentment went out of her heart . After all , the poor darling was frightened . She picked him up gently and rocked him soothingly until his sobs ceased and his eyes closed .
Then she essayed XXXXX lay him down in his crib .
After At Besides before by for if like to with