`` I think Avonlea is a lovely place ; and the people in it are very nice , too . '' `` I guess you 've got a spice of temper , '' commented Mr. Harrison , surveying the flushed cheeks and indignant eyes opposite him . `` It goes with hair like yours , I reckon . Avonlea is a pretty decent place or I would n't have located here ; but I suppose even you will admit that it has SOME faults ? '' `` I like it all the better for them , '' said loyal Anne . `` I do n't like places or people either that have n't any faults . I think a truly perfect person would be very uninteresting . Mrs. Milton White says she never met a perfect person , but she 's heard enough about one ... her husband 's first wife . Do n't you think it must be very uncomfortable to be married to a man whose first wife was perfect ? '' `` It would be more uncomfortable to be married to the perfect wife , '' declared Mr. Harrison , with a sudden and inexplicable warmth . When tea was over Anne insisted on washing the dishes , although Mr. Harrison assured her that there were enough in the house to do for weeks yet . She would dearly have loved to sweep the floor also , but no broom was visible and she did not like to ask where it was for fear there was n't one at all . `` You might run across and talk to me once in a while , '' suggested Mr. Harrison when she was leaving . '' 'T is n't far and folks ought to be neighborly . I 'm kind of interested in that society of yours . Seems to me there 'll be some fun in it . Who are you going to tackle first ? '' `` We are not going to meddle with PEOPLE ... it is only PLACES we mean to improve , '' said Anne , in a dignified tone . She rather suspected that Mr. Harrison was making fun of the project . When she had gone Mr. Harrison watched her from the window ... a lithe , girlish shape , tripping lightheartedly across the fields in the sunset afterglow .
`` I 'm a crusty , lonesome , crabbed old chap , '' he said aloud , `` but there 's something about that little girl makes me feel young again ... and it 's such a pleasant sensation I 'd like to have it repeated once XXXXX a while . ''
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