He ai n't any common child . And make Robert drive round all the puddles in the road . I wo n't have that new buggy splashed . '' As they drove away Jims threw kisses at Mrs. Matilda Pitman as long as he could see her , and Mrs. Matilda Pitman waved her sock back at him . Robert spoke no word , either good or bad , all the way to the station , but he remembered the puddles . When Rilla got out at the siding she thanked him courteously . The only response she got was a grunt as Robert turned his horse and started for home . `` Well '' -- Rilla drew a long breath -- `` I must try to get back into Rilla Blythe again . I 've been somebody else these past few hours -- I do n't know just who -- some creation of that extraordinary old person 's . I believe she hypnotized me . What an adventure this will be to write the boys . '' And then she sighed . Bitter remembrance came that there were only Jerry , Ken , Carl and Shirley to write it to now . Jem -- who would have appreciated Mrs. Matilda Pitman keenly -- where was Jem ? CHAPTER XXXII WORD FROM JEM 4th August 1918 `` It is four years tonight since the dance at the lighthouse -- four years of war . It seems like three times four . I was fifteen then . I am nineteen now . I expected that these past four years would be the most delightful years of my life and they have been years of war -- years of fear and grief and worry -- but I humbly hope , of a little growth in strength and character as well . `` Today I was going through the hall and I heard mother saying something to father about me .
I did n't mean XXXXX listen -- I could n't help hearing her as I went along the hall and upstairs -- so perhaps that is why I heard what listeners are said never to hear -- something good of myself .
FROM as at for like of since that through to