I 'll go and explain to him if you like . '' `` No , indeed , I 'm not as mean as that , '' exclaimed Anne . `` This is all my fault and I 'm certainly not going to let you take my punishment . I 'll go myself and I 'll go at once . The sooner it 's over the better , for it will be terribly humiliating . '' Poor Anne got her hat and her twenty dollars and was passing out when she happened to glance through the open pantry door . On the table reposed a nut cake which she had baked that morning ... a particularly toothsome concoction iced with pink icing and adorned with walnuts . Anne had intended it for Friday evening , when the youth of Avonlea were to meet at Green Gables to organize the Improvement Society . But what were they compared to the justly offended Mr. Harrison ? Anne thought that cake ought to soften the heart of any man , especially one who had to do his own cooking , and she promptly popped it into a box . She would take it to Mr. Harrison as a peace offering . `` That is , if he gives me a chance to say anything at all , '' she thought ruefully , as she climbed the lane fence and started on a short cut across the fields , golden in the light of the dreamy August evening . `` I know now just how people feel who are being led to execution . '' III Mr. Harrison at Home Mr. Harrison 's house was an old-fashioned , low-eaved , whitewashed structure , set against a thick spruce grove . Mr. Harrison himself was sitting on his vineshaded veranda , in his shirt sleeves , enjoying his evening pipe . When he realized who was coming up the path he sprang suddenly to his feet , bolted into the house , and shut the door . This was merely the uncomfortable result of his surprise , mingled with a good deal of shame over his outburst of temper the day before . But it nearly swept the remnant of her courage from Anne 's heart . `` If he 's so cross now what will he be when he hears what I 've done , '' she reflected miserably , as she rapped at the door . But Mr. Harrison opened it , smiling sheepishly , and invited her to enter in a tone quite mild and friendly , if somewhat nervous .
He had laid aside his pipe and donned his coat ; he offered Anne a very dusty chair very politely , and her reception would have passed off pleasantly enough XXXXX it had not been for the telltale of a parrot who was peering through the bars of his cage with wicked golden eyes .
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