He let Anne and Leslie read the manuscript and criticise it ; and the concluding chapter of the book , which the critics , later on , were pleased to call idyllic , was modelled upon a suggestion of Leslie 's . Anne fairly hugged herself with delight over the success of her idea . `` I knew when I looked at Owen Ford that he was the very man for it , '' she told Gilbert . `` Both humor and passion were in his face , and that , together with the art of expression , was just what was necessary for the writing of such a book . As Mrs. Rachel would say , he was predestined for the part . '' Owen Ford wrote in the mornings . The afternoons were generally spent in some merry outing with the Blythes . Leslie often went , too , for Captain Jim took charge of Dick frequently , in order to set her free . They went boating on the harbor and up the three pretty rivers that flowed into it ; they had clambakes on the bar and mussel-bakes on the rocks ; they picked strawberries on the sand-dunes ; they went out cod-fishing with Captain Jim ; they shot plover in the shore fields and wild ducks in the cove -- at least , the men did . In the evenings they rambled in the low-lying , daisied , shore fields under a golden moon , or they sat in the living room at the little house where often the coolness of the sea breeze justified a driftwood fire , and talked of the thousand and one things which happy , eager , clever young people can find to talk about . Ever since the day on which she had made her confession to Anne Leslie had been a changed creature . There was no trace of her old coldness and reserve , no shadow of her old bitterness . The girlhood of which she had been cheated seemed to come back to her with the ripeness of womanhood ; she expanded like a flower of flame and perfume ; no laugh was readier than hers , no wit quicker , in the twilight circles of that enchanted summer . When she could not be with them all felt that some exquisite savor was lacking in their intercourse . Her beauty was illumined by the awakened soul within , as some rosy lamp might shine through a flawless vase of alabaster . There were hours when Anne 's eyes seemed to ache with the splendor of her . As for Owen Ford , the `` Margaret '' of his book , although she had the soft brown hair and elfin face of the real girl who had vanished so long ago , `` pillowed where lost Atlantis sleeps , '' had the personality of Leslie Moore , as it was revealed to him in those halcyon days at Four Winds Harbor . All in all , it was a never-to-be-forgotten summer -- one of those summers which come seldom into any life , but leave a rich heritage of beautiful memories in their going -- one of those summers which , in a fortunate combination of delightful weather , delightful friends and delightful doings , come as near to perfection as anything can come in this world . `` Too good to last , '' Anne told herself with a little sigh , on the September day when a certain nip in the wind and a certain shade of intense blue on the gulf water said that autumn was hard by . That evening Owen Ford told them that he had finished his book and that his vacation must come to an end .
`` I have a good deal to do to it yet -- revising and pruning and so forth , '' he said , `` but XXXXX the main it 's done .
by for in on that through under up upon within