It 's heartbreaking , after all the trouble we 've had . '' `` How on earth could such a mistake have happened ? '' wailed Diana . The blame of this unmerciful disaster was eventually narrowed down to the Pyes . The Improvers had decided to use Morton-Harris paints and the Morton-Harris paint cans were numbered according to a color card . A purchaser chose his shade on the card and ordered by the accompanying number . Number 147 was the shade of green desired and when Mr. Roger Pye sent word to the Improvers by his son , John Andrew , that he was going to town and would get their paint for them , the Improvers told John Andrew to tell his father to get 147 . John Andrew always averred that he did so , but Mr. Roger Pye as stanchly declared that John Andrew told him 157 ; and there the matter stands to this day . That night there was blank dismay in every Avonlea house where an Improver lived . The gloom at Green Gables was so intense that it quenched even Davy . Anne wept and would not be comforted . `` I must cry , even if I am almost seventeen , Marilla , '' she sobbed . `` It is so mortifying . And it sounds the death knell of our society . We 'll simply be laughed out of existence . '' In life , as in dreams , however , things often go by contraries . The Avonlea people did not laugh ; they were too angry . Their money had gone to paint the hall and consequently they felt themselves bitterly aggrieved by the mistake . Public indignation centered on the Pyes . Roger Pye and John Andrew had bungled the matter between them ; and as for Joshua Pye , he must be a born fool not to suspect there was something wrong when he opened the cans and saw the color of the paint .
Joshua Pye , when thus animadverted upon , retorted that the Avonlea taste in colors was no business of his , whatever his private opinion might be ; he had been hired XXXXX paint the hall , not to talk about it ; and he meant to have his money for it .
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