Did he kill anybody ? Or steal the collection cents ? I want to know . '' Fortunately Mrs. Lynde came driving up the lane at this moment and Marilla made off , feeling that she had escaped from the snare of the fowler , and wishing devoutly that Mr. Bell were not quite so highly figurative in his public petitions , especially in the hearing of small boys who were always `` wanting to know . '' Anne , left alone in her glory , worked with a will . The floor was swept , the beds made , the hens fed , the muslin dress washed and hung out on the line . Then Anne prepared for the transfer of feathers . She mounted to the garret and donned the first old dress that came to hand ... a navy blue cashmere she had worn at fourteen . It was decidedly on the short side and as `` skimpy '' as the notable wincey Anne had worn upon the occasion of her debut at Green Gables ; but at least it would not be materially injured by down and feathers . Anne completed her toilet by tying a big red and white spotted handkerchief that had belonged to Matthew over her head , and , thus accoutred , betook herself to the kitchen chamber , whither Marilla , before her departure , had helped her carry the feather bed . A cracked mirror hung by the chamber window and in an unlucky moment Anne looked into it . There were those seven freckles on her nose , more rampant than ever , or so it seemed in the glare of light from the unshaded window . `` Oh , I forgot to rub that lotion on last night , '' she thought . `` I 'd better run down to the pantry and do it now . '' Anne had already suffered many things trying to remove those freckles . On one occasion the entire skin had peeled off her nose but the freckles remained . A few days previously she had found a recipe for a freckle lotion in a magazine and , as the ingredients were within her reach , she straightway compounded it , much to the disgust of Marilla , who thought that if Providence had placed freckles on your nose it was your bounden duty to leave them there . Anne scurried down to the pantry , which , always dim from the big willow growing close to the window , was now almost dark by reason of the shade drawn to exclude flies . Anne caught the bottle containing the lotion from the shelf and copiously anointed her nose therewith by means of a little sponge sacred to the purpose . This important duty done , she returned to her work .
Any one who has ever shifted feathers from one tick to another will not need to be told that when Anne finished she was a sight XXXXX behold .
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