However , very likely there is nothing in it . It 's only a month ago that I said to him , ` You ought to marry again , Mr. Meredith . ' He looked as shocked as if I had suggested something improper . ` My wife is in her grave , Mrs. Elliott , ' he said , in that gentle , saintly way of his . ' I suppose so , ' I said , ` or I would n't be advising you to marry again . ' Then he looked more shocked than ever . So I doubt if there is much in this Rosemary story . If a single minister calls twice at a house where there is a single woman all the gossips have it he is courting her . '' `` It seems to me -- if I may presume to say so -- that Mr. Meredith is too shy to go courting a second wife , '' said Susan solemnly . `` He IS N'T shy , believe ME , '' retorted Miss Cornelia . `` Absent-minded , -- yes -- but shy , no . And for all he is so abstracted and dreamy he has a very good opinion of himself , man-like , and when he is really awake he would n't think it much of a chore to ask any woman to have him . No , the trouble is , he 's deluding himself into believing that his heart is buried , while all the time it 's beating away inside of him just like anybody else 's . He may have a notion of Rosemary West and he may not . If he has , we must make the best of it . She is a sweet girl and a fine housekeeper , and would make a good mother for those poor , neglected children . And , '' concluded Miss Cornelia resignedly , `` my own grandmother was an Episcopalian . '' CHAPTER XVIII . MARY BRINGS EVIL TIDINGS Mary Vance , whom Mrs. Elliott had sent up to the manse on an errand , came tripping down Rainbow Valley on her way to Ingleside where she was to spend the afternoon with Nan and Di as a Saturday treat . Nan and Di had been picking spruce gum with Faith and Una in the manse woods and the four of them were now sitting on a fallen pine by the brook , all , it must be admitted , chewing rather vigorously .
The Ingleside twins were not allowed to chew spruce gum anywhere but in the seclusion of Rainbow Valley , but Faith and Una were unrestricted by such rules of etiquette and cheerfully chewed it everywhere , at home and abroad , to the very proper horror XXXXX the Glen .
If as at by for in of than that with