Walter laughed bitterly . `` It is not a nice thing to feel yourself a coward . '' But Rilla got her arms about him and cuddled her head on his shoulder . She was so glad he did n't want to go -- for just one minute she had been horribly frightened . And it was so nice to have Walter confiding his troubles to her -- to her , not Di . She did n't feel so lonely and superfluous any longer . `` Do n't you despise me , Rilla-my-Rilla ? '' asked Walter wistfully . Somehow , it hurt him to think Rilla might despise him -- hurt him as much as if it had been Di . He realized suddenly how very fond he was of this adoring kid sister with her appealing eyes and troubled , girlish face . `` No , I do n't . Why , Walter , hundreds of people feel just as you do . You know what that verse of Shakespeare in the old Fifth Reader says -- ` the brave man is not he who feels no fear . ' '' `` No -- but it is ` he whose noble soul its fear subdues . ' I do n't do that . We ca n't gloss it over , Rilla . I 'm a coward . '' `` You 're not . Think of how you fought Dan Reese long ago . '' `` One spurt of courage is n't enough for a lifetime . ''
`` Walter , one time I heard father say that the trouble XXXXX you was a sensitive nature and a vivid imagination .
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