Then , just as Anne laid down the last shining spoon , they heard the front door shut . Both sought comfort fearfully in each other 's eyes . `` Oh , Miss Shirley , ma'am , '' gasped Charlotta , `` if he 's going away this early there 's nothing into it and never will be . '' They flew to the window . Mr. Irving had no intention of going away . He and Miss Lavendar were strolling slowly down the middle path to the stone bench . `` Oh , Miss Shirley , ma'am , he 's got his arm around her waist , '' whispered Charlotta the Fourth delightedly . `` He must have proposed to her or she 'd never allow it . '' Anne caught Charlotta the Fourth by her own plump waist and danced her around the kitchen until they were both out of breath . `` Oh , Charlotta , '' she cried gaily , `` I 'm neither a prophetess nor the daughter of a prophetess but I 'm going to make a prediction . There 'll be a wedding in this old stone house before the maple leaves are red . Do you want that translated into prose , Charlotta ? '' `` No , I can understand that , '' said Charlotta . `` A wedding ai n't poetry . Why , Miss Shirley , ma'am , you 're crying ! What for ? '' `` Oh , because it 's all so beautiful ... and story bookish ... and romantic ... and sad , '' said Anne , winking the tears out of her eyes . `` It 's all perfectly lovely ... but there 's a little sadness mixed up in it too , somehow . '' `` Oh , of course there 's a resk in marrying anybody , '' conceded Charlotta the Fourth , `` but , when all 's said and done , Miss Shirley , ma'am , there 's many a worse thing than a husband . '' XXIX Poetry and Prose For the next month Anne lived in what , for Avonlea , might be called a whirl of excitement .
The preparation XXXXX her own modest outfit for Redmond was of secondary importance .
around as because before by down into of to until