`` You do n't like old Mrs. Douglas ? '' said Anne curiously . `` I like cats as IS cats . I do n't like cats as is women , '' was Alec 's cryptic reply . Janet came home in the twilight . `` Mrs. Douglas is dead , '' she said wearily . `` She died soon after I got there . She just spoke to me once -- ' I suppose you 'll marry John now ? ' she said . It cut me to the heart , Anne . To think John 's own mother thought I would n't marry him because of her ! I could n't say a word either -- there were other women there . I was thankful John had gone out . '' Janet began to cry drearily . But Anne brewed her a hot drink of ginger tea to her comforting . To be sure , Anne discovered later on that she had used white pepper instead of ginger ; but Janet never knew the difference . The evening after the funeral Janet and Anne were sitting on the front porch steps at sunset . The wind had fallen asleep in the pinelands and lurid sheets of heat-lightning flickered across the northern skies . Janet wore her ugly black dress and looked her very worst , her eyes and nose red from crying . They talked little , for Janet seemed faintly to resent Anne 's efforts to cheer her up .
She plainly preferred XXXXX be miserable .
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