It would be inhuman to talk to those tiny , soft , velvety little creatures as we do to great big boys and girls . Babies want love and cuddling and all the sweet baby talk they can get , and Little Jem is going to have it , bless his dear itty heartums . '' `` But you 're the worst I ever heard , Anne , '' protested Gilbert , who , not being a mother but only a father , was not wholly convinced yet that Sir Oracle was wrong . `` I never heard anything like the way you talk to that child . '' `` Very likely you never did . Go away -- go away . Did n't I bring up three pairs of Hammond twins before I was eleven ? You and Sir Oracle are nothing but cold-blooded theorists . Gilbert , JUST look at him ! He 's smiling at me -- he knows what we 're talking about . And oo dest agwees wif evy word muzzer says , do n't oo , angel-lover ? '' Gilbert put his arm about them . `` Oh you mothers ! '' he said . `` You mothers ! God knew what He was about when He made you . '' So Little Jem was talked to and loved and cuddled ; and he throve as became a child of the house of dreams . Leslie was quite as foolish over him as Anne was . When their work was done and Gilbert was out of the way , they gave themselves over to shameless orgies of love-making and ecstasies of adoration , such as that in which Owen Ford had surprised them . Leslie was the first to become aware of him .
Even in the twilight Anne could see the sudden whiteness that swept XXXXX her beautiful face , blotting out the crimson of lip and cheeks .
Leslie about as at like muzzer of over that to