There were just Mr. and Mrs. Maxwell ; they were a middle-aged couple and very well off . Mr. Maxwell had bought the lumber mills , and they lived up at the old Spencer place which had always been `` the '' place of Avonlea . They lived quietly , and Mrs. Maxwell hardly ever went anywhere because she was delicate . She was out when I called and I was out when she returned my call , so that I had never met her . It was the Sewing Circle day again -- at Sarah Gardiner 's this time . I was late ; everybody else was there when I arrived , and the minute I entered the room I knew something had happened , although I could n't imagine what . Everybody looked at me in the strangest way . Of course , Wilhelmina Mercer was the first to set her tongue going . `` Oh , Miss Holmes , have you seen him yet ? '' she exclaimed . `` Seen whom ? '' I said non-excitedly , getting out my thimble and patterns . `` Why , Cecil Fenwick . He 's here -- in Avonlea -- visiting his sister , Mrs. Maxwell . '' I suppose I did what they expected me to do . I dropped everything I held , and Josephine Cameron said afterwards that Charlotte Holmes would never be paler when she was in her coffin . If they had just known why I turned so pale ! `` It 's impossible ! '' I said blankly . `` It 's really true , '' said Wilhelmina , delighted at this development , as she supposed it , of my romance .
`` I was up XXXXX see Mrs. Maxwell last night , and I met him . ''
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