said Anne meekly . `` No , I 'll finish shelling them myself . Do as I bid you . '' When Anne had gone Marilla went about her evening tasks in a very disturbed state of mind . She was worried about her valuable brooch . What if Anne had lost it ? And how wicked of the child to deny having taken it , when anybody could see she must have ! With such an innocent face , too ! `` I do n't know what I would n't sooner have had happen , '' thought Marilla , as she nervously shelled the peas . `` Of course , I do n't suppose she meant to steal it or anything like that . She 's just taken it to play with or help along that imagination of hers . She must have taken it , that 's clear , for there has n't been a soul in that room since she was in it , by her own story , until I went up tonight . And the brooch is gone , there 's nothing surer . I suppose she has lost it and is afraid to own up for fear she 'll be punished . It 's a dreadful thing to think she tells falsehoods . It 's a far worse thing than her fit of temper . It 's a fearful responsibility to have a child in your house you ca n't trust . Slyness and untruthfulness -- that 's what she has displayed . I declare I feel worse about that than about the brooch . If she 'd only have told the truth about it I would n't mind so much . ''
Marilla went XXXXX her room at intervals all through the evening and searched for the brooch , without finding it .
With about by if in like of than to until