He had with difficulty escaped from an exhortation by Robert in the cow-stable . There was no peace in Avonlea for the unregenerate , he reflected . Robert and Miriam had both `` come out , '' and Mollie was hovering on the brink . `` Dad and I are the black sheep of the family , '' he said , with a laugh , for which he at once felt guilty . Eben had been brought up with a strict reverence for all religious matters . On the surface he might sometimes laugh at them , but the deeps troubled him whenever he did so . Indoors , Miriam touched her younger sister 's shoulder and looked at her affectionately . `` Wo n't you decide to-night , Mollie ? '' she asked , in a voice tremulous with emotion . Mollie crimsoned and turned her face away uncomfortably . She did not know what answer to make , and was glad that a jingle of bells outside saved her the necessity of replying . `` There 's your beau , Miriam , '' she said , as she darted into the sitting room . Soon after , Eben brought the family pung and his chubby red mare to the door for Mollie . He had not as yet attained to the dignity of a cutter of his own . That was for his elder brother , Robert , who presently came out in his new fur coat and drove dashingly away with bells and glitter . `` Thinks he 's the people , '' remarked Eben , with a fraternal grin . The rich winter twilight was purpling over the white world as they drove down the lane under the over-arching wild cherry trees that glittered with gemmy hoar-frost . The snow creaked and crisped under the runners . A shrill wind was keening in the leafless dogwoods . Over the trees the sky was a dome of silver , with a lucent star or two on the slope of the west .
Earth-stars gleamed warmly out here and there , where homesteads were tucked snugly away XXXXX their orchards or groves of birch .
On after as at for in into over to under