But I was honour-bound to Avery -- I did n't dream you cared . You must marry me next Wednesday , Janet -- we 'll have a double wedding . You wo n't mind -- being married -- so soon ? '' `` Oh , no -- I wo n't -- mind , '' said Janet dazedly . `` Only -- oh , Randall -- I must tell you -- I did n't mean to tell you -- I 'd have rather died -- but now -- I must tell you about it now -- because I ca n't bear anything hidden between us . I went to old Granny Thomas -- and got a love ointment from her -- to make Avery love you , because I knew she did n't -- and I wanted you to be happy -- Randall , do n't -- I ca n't talk when you do that ! Do you think Granny 's ointment could have made her care for Bruce ? '' Randall laughed -- the little , low laugh of the triumphant lover . `` If it did , I 'm glad of it . CHAPTER I. HOME AGAIN It was a clear , apple-green evening in May , and Four Winds Harbour was mirroring back the clouds of the golden west between its softly dark shores . The sea moaned eerily on the sand-bar , sorrowful even in spring , but a sly , jovial wind came piping down the red harbour road along which Miss Cornelia 's comfortable , matronly figure was making its way towards the village of Glen St. Mary . Miss Cornelia was rightfully Mrs. Marshall Elliott , and had been Mrs. Marshall Elliott for thirteen years , but even yet more people referred to her as Miss Cornelia than as Mrs. Elliott . The old name was dear to her old friends , only one of them contemptuously dropped it . Susan Baker , the gray and grim and faithful handmaiden of the Blythe family at Ingleside , never lost an opportunity of calling her `` Mrs. Marshall Elliott , '' with the most killing and pointed emphasis , as if to say `` You wanted to be Mrs. and Mrs. you shall be with a vengeance as far as I am concerned . '' Miss Cornelia was going up to Ingleside to see Dr. and Mrs. Blythe , who were just home from Europe . They had been away for three months , having left in February to attend a famous medical congress in London ; and certain things , which Miss Cornelia was anxious to discuss , had taken place in the Glen during their absence . For one thing , there was a new family in the manse . And such a family ! Miss Cornelia shook her head over them several times as she walked briskly along . Susan Baker and the Anne Shirley of other days saw her coming , as they sat on the big veranda at Ingleside , enjoying the charm of the cat 's light , the sweetness of sleepy robins whistling among the twilit maples , and the dance of a gusty group of daffodils blowing against the old , mellow , red brick wall of the lawn .
Anne was sitting on the steps , her hands clasped over her knee , looking , in the kind dusk , as girlish as a mother of many has any right to be ; and the beautiful gray-green eyes , gazing down the harbour road , were XXXXX full of unquenchable sparkle and dream as ever .
If along among as at because between down for from