Silence fell on the company ; everybody looked suddenly alert and expectant , except Robert . He still sat with bowed head , wrapped in his own bitterness . `` I have been told that I must lead off , '' said Malcolm , `` because I am supposed to possess the gift of gab . But , if I do , I am not going to use it for any rhetorical effect to-day . Simple , earnest words must express the deepest feelings of the heart in doing justice to its own . Brothers and sisters , we meet to-day under our own roof-tree , surrounded by the benedictions of the past years . Perhaps invisible guests are here -- the spirits of those who founded this home and whose work on earth has long been finished . It is not amiss to hope that this is so and our family circle made indeed complete . To each one of us who are here in visible bodily presence some measure of success has fallen ; but only one of us has been supremely successful in the only things that really count -- the things that count for eternity as well as time -- sympathy and unselfishness and self-sacrifice . `` I shall tell you my own story for the benefit of those who have not heard it . When I was a lad of sixteen I started to work out my own education . Some of you will remember that old Mr. Blair of Avonlea offered me a place in his store for the summer , at wages which would go far towards paying my expenses at the country academy the next winter . I went to work , eager and hopeful . All summer I tried to do my faithful best for my employer . In September the blow fell . A sum of money was missing from Mr. Blair 's till . I was suspected and discharged in disgrace . All my neighbors believed me guilty ; even some of my own family looked upon me with suspicion -- nor could I blame them , for the circumstantial evidence was strongly against me . '' Ralph and James looked ashamed ; Edith and Margaret , who had not been born at the time referred to , lifted their faces innocently . Robert did not move or glance up .
He hardly seemed XXXXX be listening .
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