`` It might n't . Somehow , institutional care , no matter how good it may be , does n't always succeed with delicate babies . But you know what it means if you want it kept here , Rilla . '' `` I 've taken care of it for a fortnight -- and it has gained half a pound , '' cried Rilla . `` I think we 'd better wait until we hear from its father anyhow . He might n't want to have it sent to an orphan asylum , when he is fighting the battles of his country . '' The doctor and Mrs. Blythe exchanged amused , satisfied smiles behind Rilla 's back ; and nothing more was said about Hopetown . Then the smile faded from the doctor 's face ; the Germans were twenty miles from Paris . Horrible tales were beginning to appear in the papers of deeds done in martyred Belgium . Life was very tense at Ingleside for the older people . `` We eat up the war news , '' Gertrude Oliver told Mrs. Meredith , trying to laugh and failing . `` We study the maps and nip the whole Hun army in a few well-directed strategic moves . But Papa Joffre has n't the benefit of our advice -- and so Paris -- must -- fall . '' `` Will they reach it -- will not some mighty hand yet intervene ? '' murmured John Meredith . `` I teach school like one in a dream , '' continued Gertrude ; `` then I come home and shut myself in my room and walk the floor . I am wearing a path right across Nan 's carpet . We are so horribly near this war . '' `` Them German men are at Senlis . Nothing nor nobody can save Paris now , '' wailed Cousin Sophia .
Cousin Sophia had taken to reading the newspapers and had learned more about the geography XXXXX northern France , if not about the pronunciation of French names , in her seventy-first year than she had ever known in her schooldays .
about across behind for from if like of to until