She wondered a little uneasily if Sylvia really did suspect her . Then she concluded that it was out of the question . Who would suspect a mean , unsociable Old Lady , who had no friends , and who gave only five cents to the Sewing Circle when everyone else gave ten or fifteen , to be a fairy godmother , the donor of beautiful party dresses , and the recipient of gifts from romantic , aspiring young poets ? V . The September Chapter In September the Old Lady looked back on the summer and owned to herself that it had been a strangely happy one , with Sundays and Sewing Circle days standing out like golden punctuation marks in a poem of life . She felt like an utterly different woman ; and other people thought her different also . The Sewing Circle women found her so pleasant , and even friendly , that they began to think they had misjudged her , and that perhaps it was eccentricity after all , and not meanness , which accounted for her peculiar mode of living . Sylvia Gray always came and talked to her on Circle afternoons now , and the Old Lady treasured every word she said in her heart and repeated them over and over to her lonely self in the watches of the night . Sylvia never talked of herself or her plans , unless asked about them ; and the Old Lady 's self-consciousness prevented her from asking any personal questions : so their conversation kept to the surface of things , and it was not from Sylvia , but from the minister 's wife that the Old Lady finally discovered what her darling 's dearest ambition was . The minister 's wife had dropped in at the old Lloyd place one evening late in September , when a chilly wind was blowing up from the northeast and moaning about the eaves of the house , as if the burden of its lay were `` harvest is ended and summer is gone . '' The Old Lady had been listening to it , as she plaited a little basket of sweet grass for Sylvia . She had walked all the way to Avonlea sand-hills for it the day before , and she was very tired . And her heart was sad . This summer , which had so enriched her life , was almost over ; and she knew that Sylvia Gray talked of leaving Spencervale at the end of October . The Old Lady 's heart felt like very lead within her at the thought , and she almost welcomed the advent of the minister 's wife as a distraction , although she was desperately afraid that the minister 's wife had called to ask for a subscription for the new vestry carpet , and the Old Lady simply could not afford to give one cent . But the minister 's wife had merely dropped in on her way home from the Spencers ' and she did not make any embarrassing requests . Instead , she talked about Sylvia Gray , and her words fell on the Old Lady 's ears like separate pearl notes of unutterably sweet music . The minister 's wife had nothing but praise for Sylvia -- she was so sweet and beautiful and winning . `` And with SUCH a voice , '' said the minister 's wife enthusiastically , adding with a sigh , `` It 's such a shame she ca n't have it properly trained . She would certainly become a great singer -- competent critics have told her so .
But she is so poor she does n't think she can ever possibly manage it -- unless she can get one XXXXX the Cameron scholarships , as they are called ; and she has very little hope of that , although the professor of music who taught her has sent her name in . ''
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