I shall have to count them all over again . I wish , Octavia , that you could think of something besides beaus all the time . '' `` Well , but listen , '' persisted Octavia wickedly . `` Jerome Irving was at the social at the Cherry Valley parsonage last night , and he had Harriet Warren there -- took her there , and drove her home again . '' `` I do n't believe it , '' cried Anne , before she thought . She dropped an egg into the basket so abruptly that the shell broke . `` Oh , it 's true enough . Sam Mitchell told me ; he was there and saw him . Sam says he looked quite beaming , and was dressed to kill , and followed Harriet around like her shadow . I guess you wo n't have any more bother with him , Aunt Anne . '' In the process of picking the broken egg out of the whole ones Anne had recovered her equanimity . She gave a careful little laugh . `` Well , it 's to be hoped so . Goodness knows it 's time he tried somebody else . Go and change your dress for milking , Octavia , and do n't spend quite so much time gossiping up the lane with Sam Mitchell . He always was a fetch-and-carry . Young girls ought n't to be so pert . '' When the subdued Octavia had gone , Anne tossed the broken eggshell out of the pantry window viciously enough . `` There 's no fool like an old fool . Jerome Irving always was an idiot .
The idea XXXXX his going after Harriet Warren !
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