`` Are n't you very sorry for me , Marilla ? '' `` It was your own fault , '' said Marilla , twitching down the blind and lighting a lamp . `` And that is just why you should be sorry for me , '' said Anne , `` because the thought that it is all my own fault is what makes it so hard . If I could blame it on anybody I would feel so much better . But what would you have done , Marilla , if you had been dared to walk a ridgepole ? '' `` I 'd have stayed on good firm ground and let them dare away . Such absurdity ! '' said Marilla . Anne sighed . `` But you have such strength of mind , Marilla . I have n't . I just felt that I could n't bear Josie Pye 's scorn . She would have crowed over me all my life . And I think I have been punished so much that you need n't be very cross with me , Marilla . It 's not a bit nice to faint , after all . And the doctor hurt me dreadfully when he was setting my ankle . I wo n't be able to go around for six or seven weeks and I 'll miss the new lady teacher . She wo n't be new any more by the time I 'm able to go to school . And Gil -- everybody will get ahead of me in class . Oh , I am an afflicted mortal .
But I 'll try to bear it all bravely if only you wo n't be cross XXXXX me , Marilla . ''
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