`` There are four children , you say ? '' asked Anne , beginning to mother them already in her heart . `` Yes . They run up just like the steps of a stair . Gerald 's the oldest . He 's twelve and they call him Jerry . He 's a clever boy . Faith is eleven . She is a regular tomboy but pretty as a picture , I must say . '' `` She looks like an angel but she is a holy terror for mischief , Mrs. Dr. dear , '' said Susan solemnly . `` I was at the manse one night last week and Mrs. James Millison was there , too . She had brought them up a dozen eggs and a little pail of milk -- a VERY little pail , Mrs. Dr. dear . Faith took them and whisked down the cellar with them . Near the bottom of the stairs she caught her toe and fell the rest of the way , milk and eggs and all . You can imagine the result , Mrs. Dr. dear . But that child came up laughing . ' I do n't know whether I 'm myself or a custard pie , ' she said . And Mrs. James Millison was very angry . She said she would never take another thing to the manse if it was to be wasted and destroyed in that fashion . '' `` Maria Millison never hurt herself taking things to the manse , '' sniffed Miss Cornelia .
`` She just took them that night as an excuse XXXXX curiosity .
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