Rilla wanted to cry , too -- but she would not . What was that horrid old Mrs. Drew saying to mother , in that melancholy whine of hers ? `` I do n't know how you can stand this , Mrs. Blythe . I could n't if it was my pore boy . '' And mother -- oh , mother could always be depended on ! How her grey eyes flashed in her pale face . `` It might have been worse , Mrs. Drew . I might have had to urge him to go . '' Mrs. Drew did not understand but Rilla did . She flung up her head . Her brother did not have to be urged to go . Rilla found herself standing alone and listening to disconnected scraps of talk as people walked up and down past her . `` I told Mark to wait and see if they asked for a second lot of men . If they did I 'd let him go -- but they wo n't , '' said Mrs. Palmer Burr . `` I think I 'll have it made with a crush girdle of velvet , '' said Bessie Clow . `` I 'm frightened to look at my husband 's face for fear I 'll see in it that he wants to go too , '' said a little over-harbour bride . `` I 'm scared stiff , '' said whimsical Mrs. Jim Howard . `` I 'm scared Jim will enlist -- and I 'm scared he wo n't . '' `` The war will be over by Christmas , '' said Joe Vickers . `` Let them European nations fight it out between them , '' said Abner Reese .
`` When he was a boy I gave him many a good trouncing , '' shouted Norman Douglas , who seemed to be referring to some one high in military circles XXXXX Charlottetown .
Drew Howard If between by in of on to with