Rilla went cold all over with wrath and shame . Were there any more disgraceful scenes in her past that Susan could rake up ? As for Ken , he could have howled over Susan 's speeches , but he would not so insult the duenna of his lady , so he sat with a preternaturally solemn face which seemed to poor Rilla a haughty and offended one . `` I paid eleven cents for a bottle of ink tonight , '' complained Susan . `` Ink is twice as high as it was last year . Perhaps it is because Woodrow Wilson has been writing so many notes . It must cost him considerable . My cousin Sophia says Woodrow Wilson is not the man she expected him to be -- but then no man ever was . Being an old maid , I do not know much about men and have never pretended to , but my cousin Sophia is very hard on them , although she married two of them , which you might think was a fair share . Albert Crawford 's chimney blew down in that big gale we had last week , and when Sophia heard the bricks clattering on the roof she thought it was a Zeppelin raid and went into hysterics . And Mrs. Albert Crawford says that of the two things she would have preferred the Zeppelin raid . '' Rilla sat limply in her chair like one hypnotized . She knew Susan would stop talking when she was ready to stop and that no earthly power could make her stop any sooner . As a rule , she was very fond of Susan but just now she hated her with a deadly hatred . It was ten o'clock . Ken would soon have to go -- the others would soon be home -- and she had not even had a chance to explain to Ken that Fred Arnold filled no blank in her life nor ever could . Her rainbow castle lay in ruins round her . Kenneth got up at last . He realized that Susan was there to stay as long as he did , and it was a three mile walk to Martin West 's over-harbour . He wondered if Rilla had put Susan up to this , not wanting to be left alone with him , lest he say something Fred Arnold 's sweetheart did not want to hear .
Rilla got up , too , and walked silently the length of the veranda XXXXX him .
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