I 'm sixteen and a half , ` obstinate as a mule , ' as Mrs. Lynde once told me , '' laughed Anne . `` Oh , Marilla , do n't you go pitying me . I do n't like to be pitied , and there is no need for it . I 'm heart glad over the very thought of staying at dear Green Gables . Nobody could love it as you and I do -- so we must keep it . '' `` You blessed girl ! '' said Marilla , yielding . `` I feel as if you 'd given me new life . I guess I ought to stick out and make you go to college -- but I know I ca n't , so I ai n't going to try . I 'll make it up to you though , Anne . '' When it became noised abroad in Avonlea that Anne Shirley had given up the idea of going to college and intended to stay home and teach there was a good deal of discussion over it . Most of the good folks , not knowing about Marilla 's eyes , thought she was foolish . Mrs. Allan did not . She told Anne so in approving words that brought tears of pleasure to the girl 's eyes . Neither did good Mrs. Lynde . She came up one evening and found Anne and Marilla sitting at the front door in the warm , scented summer dusk . They liked to sit there when the twilight came down and the white moths flew about in the garden and the odor of mint filled the dewy air . Mrs. Rachel deposited her substantial person upon the stone bench by the door , behind which grew a row of tall pink and yellow hollyhocks , with a long breath of mingled weariness and relief . `` I declare I 'm getting glad to sit down . I 've been on my feet all day , and two hundred pounds is a good bit for two feet to carry round .
It 's a great blessing not XXXXX be fat , Marilla .
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