Mrs. Blythe cried and laughed and cried again . `` God just put out His hand and touched them -- ` thus far -- no farther ' , '' said Mr. Meredith that evening . Rilla was singing upstairs as she put the baby to bed . Paris was saved -- the war was over -- Germany had lost -- there would soon be an end now -- Jem and Jerry would be back . The black clouds had rolled by . `` Do n't you dare have colic this joyful night , '' she told the baby . `` If you do I 'll clap you back into your soup tureen and ship you off to Hopetown -- by freight -- on the early train . You have got beautiful eyes -- and you 're not quite as red and wrinkled as you were -- but you have n't a speck of hair -- and your hands are like little claws -- and I do n't like you a bit better than I ever did . But I hope your poor little white mother knows that you 're tucked in a soft basket with a bottle of milk as rich as Morgan allows instead of perishing by inches with old Meg Conover . And I hope she does n't know that I nearly drowned you that first morning when Susan was n't there and I let you slip right out of my hands into the water . Why will you be so slippery ? No , I do n't like you and I never will but for all that I 'm going to make a decent , upstanding infant of you . You are going to get as fat as a self-respecting child should be , for one thing . I am not going to have people saying ` what a puny little thing that baby of Rilla Blythe 's is ' as old Mrs. Drew said at the senior Red Cross yesterday . If I ca n't love you I mean to be proud of you at least . '' CHAPTER IX DOC HAS A MISADVENTURE `` The war will not be over before next spring now , '' said Dr. Blythe , when it became apparent that the long battle of the Aisne had resulted in a stalemate . Rilla was murmuring `` knit four , purl one '' under her breath , and rocking the baby 's cradle with one foot . Morgan disapproved of cradles for babies but Susan did not , and it was worth while to make some slight sacrifice of principle to keep Susan in good humour . She laid down her knitting for a moment and said , `` Oh , how can we bear it so long ? '' -- then picked up her sock and went on .
The Rilla XXXXX two months before would have rushed off to Rainbow Valley and cried .
If at by in into like of to under with