September slipped by into a gold and crimson graciousness of October . One Friday evening Diana came over . `` I 'd a letter from Ella Kimball today , Anne , and she wants us to go over to tea tomorrow afternoon to meet her cousin , Irene Trent , from town . But we ca n't get one of our horses to go , for they 'll all be in use tomorrow , and your pony is lame ... so I suppose we ca n't go . '' `` Why ca n't we walk ? '' suggested Anne . `` If we go straight back through the woods we 'll strike the West Grafton road not far from the Kimball place . I was through that way last winter and I know the road . It 's no more than four miles and we wo n't have to walk home , for Oliver Kimball will be sure to drive us . He 'll be only too glad of the excuse , for he goes to see Carrie Sloane and they say his father will hardly ever let him have a horse . '' It was accordingly arranged that they should walk , and the following afternoon they set out , going by way of Lover 's Lane to the back of the Cuthbert farm , where they found a road leading into the heart of acres of glimmering beech and maple woods , which were all in a wondrous glow of flame and gold , lying in a great purple stillness and peace . `` It 's as if the year were kneeling to pray in a vast cathedral full of mellow stained light , is n't it ? '' said Anne dreamily . `` It does n't seem right to hurry through it , does it ? It seems irreverent , like running in a church . '' `` We MUST hurry though , '' said Diana , glancing at her watch . `` We 've left ourselves little enough time as it is . '' `` Well , I 'll walk fast but do n't ask me to talk , '' said Anne , quickening her pace . `` I just want to drink the day 's loveliness in ... I feel as if she were holding it out to my lips like a cup of airy wine and I 'll take a sip at every step . '' Perhaps it was because she was so absorbed in `` drinking it in '' that Anne took the left turning when they came to a fork in the road .
She should have taken the right , but ever afterward she counted it the most fortunate mistake XXXXX her life .
as at because for from of so than through to