So Janet had a beau ! Anne was delighted . Janet would make a paragon of a wife -- cheery , economical , tolerant , and a very queen of cooks . It would be a flagrant waste on Nature 's part to keep her a permanent old maid . `` John Douglas asked me to take you up to see his mother , '' said Janet the next day . `` She 's bed-rid a lot of the time and never goes out of the house . But she 's powerful fond of company and always wants to see my boarders . Can you go up this evening ? '' Anne assented ; but later in the day Mr. Douglas called on his mother 's behalf to invite them up to tea on Saturday evening . `` Oh , why did n't you put on your pretty pansy dress ? '' asked Anne , when they left home . It was a hot day , and poor Janet , between her excitement and her heavy black cashmere dress , looked as if she were being broiled alive . `` Old Mrs. Douglas would think it terrible frivolous and unsuitable , I 'm afraid . John likes that dress , though , '' she added wistfully . The old Douglas homestead was half a mile from `` Wayside '' cresting a windy hill . The house itself was large and comfortable , old enough to be dignified , and girdled with maple groves and orchards . There were big , trim barns behind it , and everything bespoke prosperity . Whatever the patient endurance in Mr. Douglas ' face had meant it had n't , so Anne reflected , meant debts and duns . John Douglas met them at the door and took them into the sitting-room , where his mother was enthroned in an armchair . Anne had expected old Mrs. Douglas to be tall and thin , because Mr. Douglas was .
Instead , she was a tiny scrap of a woman , XXXXX soft pink cheeks , mild blue eyes , and a mouth like a baby 's .
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